Moral problems of the story of a man on the clock. Works based on Leskov’s story “The Man on the Clock. The main characters and their characteristics

The plot of Nikolai Leskov’s story “The Man on the Clock” is based on a moral problem. This is the problem of human duty. The hero of the story, the palace guard sentry Postnikov, faces a difficult choice. Standing on guard at the booth, he sees a man drowning in the icy water of the Neva. It's night all around. The duty of humanity and human conscience calls on the soldier to save the drowning man. “Naughty heart” - this is how Postnikov feels it.

But under no circumstances should the guard leave his post. He will face severe punishment, a tribunal, hard labor, even execution.

During the time of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, such rules were adopted in the troops. Duty of service and fear keep the soldier in place. As a result, the soldier can’t stand it, pulls the drowning man out of the water, and, of course, gets caught by his superiors.

The composition of N. Leskov’s story “The Man on the Clock” is structured chronologically. At first, these are the feelings of Postnikov himself, who is faced with a choice. Then the further actions of his superiors are described. The author ironically writes how they perceive the news of a person’s salvation: “Trouble! A terrible misfortune has befallen us!” And the fuss of careerists begins, for whom the main thing is not to reward the savior, but to hide the very fact that the soldier left his post.

Leskov's artistic techniques are mainly irony, sometimes sarcasm.

The idea of ​​N. Leskov’s story “The Man on the Clock” is the absurdity and inhumanity of the system, which is built on fear and “window dressing.” In such a system, the living, the human recede into the background, and most importantly - formalities, “appearance”.

Unscrupulously, the police chief and lieutenant colonel, Kokoshkin and Svinin “cover up the tracks” of the sentry’s exploit. The rescue medal is awarded to another person. This is the officer who “spotted” Postnikov “at the crime scene.” They deceive even the most saved person who wants to pray for the savior in the temple.

The theme of N. Leskov’s story “The Man on the Watch” is the theme of conscience, the theme of humanity, the theme of freedom, the theme of soulless formalism.

The central images of the story “The Man on the Clock”: this is the image of Postnikov himself, a man faithful to both duty and humanity. He is humble and patient in a Christian way; apparently, even his last name was not chosen by chance by the author. Postnikov is capable of sacrificing himself for the sake of another. This is a simple and downtrodden man, he sincerely believes that “God and the sovereign are to blame”, moving away from a useless guard box and saving a human life.

The image of Svinin is also interesting. This is the type of person mired in formalism. His surname is also from the category of “talking”. Most of all, Svinin is interested in his career and his superiors’ opinion of him. He first puts Postnikov in a punishment cell, and then orders him to be punished with canes: they say, he got off so easily. He contemptuously calls the salvation of man “humanity.” The lieutenant colonel covers up his absurd order with idle talk: “there is no point in spreading liberal ideas!”

Captain Miller is also forced to obey him. This smart man, one of the military dullards around him, respects Postnikov’s feat, perhaps more than the soldier himself. But formal duty again tells him to obey his superiors, and he punishes Postnikov. At the end of the story, the bishop and clergyman also shows respect for the formalism of power.

Analysis of N. Leskov’s story “The Man on the Clock”

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Topic: “Moral problems of the story by N.S. Leskov "Man on the Clock" (1887)"

Goals:

Educational:

· Analyze with students the main problems of Leskov’s story

· Determine the idea of ​​the work

· Establish a connection between this story and the previously studied tale about the Tula Lefty

Educational:

· Develop skills in working with text work of art

· Develop students’ skills in determining the author’s position in a work, the role of irony in revealing an idea

· Enrich students’ vocabulary (familiarity with new words “humanism”, “liberalism”)

Educational:

· Foster a sense of true patriotism through examples classical literature

· Foster a culture of speech

· Develop the ability to listen to the answers of classmates, giving them the opportunity to express their thoughts.

Equipment:

For the teacher:

· Lesson summary, text of the story, portrait of the writer (on the board), board with key dates of the era of the 20-30s of the 19th century, multimedia projector, screen, computer, floppy disk with a photo of the monument to Leskov

For students:

· Text of the story, writing materials, notebook, diary

Lesson summary

Used Books:

1. Turyanskaya B.I., Kholodkova L.A., Vinogradova E.A., Komisarova E.V. Literature in 6th grade: Lesson by lesson. – M.: Trade and Publishing House LLC Russian word"-RS", 2000.

2. Chertov V.F., Trubina L.A., Ippolitova N.A., etc. Literature lessons: 6th grade: A manual for teachers educational institutions/ Ed. V. F. Chertova. – M.: Education, 2009.

3. Leskov, Nikolai Semenovich - Material from Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2, _%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B9_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%91%D0%BD% D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87

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“The Man on the Clock” was written in 1887 and published in the magazine “Russian Thought”. In the first part, the author, describing the event on which the work is based, calls it both touching and terrible for the main character. In part, it can be considered a historical anecdote, but “not at all” fiction.

The title of the story did not appear immediately: in a letter to the editor, Leskov called his work “The Perishing” or “The Rescue of the Perishing.” The final version gave a broader meaning to the work. The author does not just describe an ordinary incident from life big city, mentioning historical names. The story “The Man on the Clock” is a statement and a unique solution to the philosophical problem of a person’s understanding of his duty.

Valor and military exploits have always been honored in Rus'. Many will immediately remember the names of Russian heroes or great commanders. However, Nikolai Semenovich Leskov transfers the action of his story about the feat of a Russian soldier to Peaceful time. Perhaps this is why he spends so long describing the silence and extraordinary calm that reigned on the streets of St. Petersburg at the moment when the soldier Postnikov first heard cries for help coming from the Jordanian hole.

The sentry experiences an internal conflict: rush to help the victim, but leave his post to do so, or remain at the post, knowing for sure that the person will die in the icy font. For a sentry to leave his post meant more than simply breaking his oath. For such an offense, the soldier faced severe punishment: a tribunal, hard labor, or even execution. Such strict rules were introduced into the army during the reign of Nicholas I.

Postnikov hesitates for a very long time to help the drowning man: he is held back by his duty of service and fear for his own life. And although, as Leskov writes, “the guard at that time did not represent anything dangerous,” because nothing special was required except “precisely standing at the posts,” and Emperor Nikolai Pavlovich had already returned from a walk and had long been seeing third dreams, in any At that moment, an inspector could appear, and then the sentry would be in trouble.

However, humanity takes over, because the hero is completely “torn at heart,” and the young soldier leaves his post in order to prevent the man from perishing in the icy silence of St. Petersburg. The soldier ran down to the Jordanian ice hole, handed the drowning man the butt of his gun and pulled him out onto the hard ice by the bayonet. The unfortunate man was wet and exhausted, and Postnikov did not abandon the tired and frozen man, but took him to the embankment to hand him over to someone passing by.

Unfortunately, this person passing by turns out to be an officer of the court disabled team. Postnikov explained that this man was drowning, the officer put him in his sleigh and took him away, and the sentry, as expected, stood in the booth again. The officer told the bailiff that it was he who saved the drowning man, which caused slight bewilderment (how could he get out of the water unscathed), so they began to make inquiries.

But Postnikov was in for a lot of trouble. Everyone already knew that he left his post for the sake of salvation. His immediate superior N.I. Miller began to consult with a more experienced one - Lieutenant Colonel Svinin. He was not a heartless person, but was a “service worker,” that is, he put discipline at the forefront and demanded punishment for any violation. Therefore, he ordered Private Postnikov to be put in a punishment cell, and then decided to immediately report everything to Chief of Police Kokoshkin, in whom many military men found themselves a “powerful and zealous defender.”

The general reacted in a businesslike manner: he gave the order to meet with all the participants in the story, interviewed the victim (but in his unconsciousness he could not recognize his true savior), read the protocol, met with the disabled officer, promising him a reward for saving the drowned man. Perhaps because he had not slept for a long time before, perhaps because there was no need to “zealously protect” an ordinary private, but Kokoshkin did not attach importance to the bailiff’s words that the savior could not be dry, and completely forgot about Svinin’s initial information, sending him to “rest in peace.”

The next day, he actually presented the medal to the disabled officer, and one could finally forget about the sentry’s case, but Svinin “felt some kind of incompleteness in him” and, three days later, remembering the poor fellow Postnikov, who was languishing in the punishment cell, still ordered him to be flogged in front of the formation of “two hundred rods.”

The astonished Miller called for mercy and forgiveness of the poor soldier, but heard a reproach for “gentleness that does not suit a military man” and received an order to attend the execution in person, promising to come himself. This is how the unfortunate sentry received his “reward”: he was flogged “with the diligent assistance of young comrades newly arrived from the army.” Already lying in the regimental infirmary, Postnikov absolutely sincerely thanked the military commanders for the “fatherly mercy”, because, sitting in a punishment cell for three days, he was counting on at least hard labor, or even execution.

The humiliation of human dignity and the triumph of arbitrariness strengthens the presence of the bishop, in whose image Leskov’s contemporaries saw a portrait of Metropolitan Philaret Drozdov. “Vladyko” assures Svinin that “incomplete truth is not a lie.” Moreover, he “in a quietly murmuring speech” assured the colonel that punishment for Postnikov was much better than a reward, because “for a warrior to endure humiliation and wounds for his feat can be much more useful than to be exalted by a badge.”

The author's position is clearly expressed in last chapter: with irony he writes that if he had been given the opportunity to penetrate the mysteries of existence, then he could know whether God was pleased with “the behavior of the humble soul of Postnikov created by him.” But, counting himself among mortals, the author can confidently say only one thing: there will always be good people who do not expect rewards for their actions. It is from such people that we need to learn humanity, mercy, and compassion. And one human life is sometimes more valuable than an oath, more valuable than any awards and ranks.

In literature lessons we went through Nikolai Leskov’s story “The Man on the Clock.” I can’t say that I really liked the work - after all, the author shows bad things in it.

Most heroes are petty, cowardly, hypocritical people. But the story gave me a lot to think about. Including about your behavior and the behavior of your acquaintances, friends and relatives.

The main character of Leskov's work is the sentry Postnikov. He serves on the palace guard. His duty is to stand guard and under no circumstances leave his booth. He swore this to the king himself! And for breaking an oath in those days they could be sent to hard labor in Siberia, and even shot.

And so soldier Postnikov faces a very difficult choice. Before his eyes, a man is drowning in an ice hole, and it is possible to save him, but to do this he will have to leave the booth... And break his oath. What to do in such a situation? What should I do? Save someone else and risk your life? Or let the person drown, but save yourself from trouble? The guard still chooses the first. He rushes to the aid of the drowning man and pulls him safely to land. But what happens next?

His commander, Lieutenant Colonel Svinin, learns about Postnikov’s actions. And the authorities call this incident “trouble” and “guard.” Moreover, it’s not that a man almost drowned, but that the sentry left the booth... Everyone is very afraid that the tsar and other chief commanders will find out about the violation. They try to hide the incident, and give Postnikov two hundred blows with rods, and then quietly push him into the infirmary. This is the award he receives main character for your courage and humanity! And I’m also glad that I got off so easily. And the medal for rescue is given to a completely different character who takes credit for it.

I think Postnikov, although a sympathetic person, is still stupid and limited. He, of course, did the right thing, but he never realized what a terrible system he lives in. The sentry rejoices at the rods... How intimidated do you have to be?

And the whole system tsarist army thoroughly saturated with lies, falsehood and hypocrisy. Stupid officers cannot see beyond their own noses and value nothing higher than orders. These are not people, but puppets, incapable of ordinary human feelings and experiences. Material from the site

The author makes fun of this system, but I don’t see anything funny in it. And I believe that in our time there are also people like Svinin and his colleagues. For them, the most important thing is work, duty, responsibilities. And everything else is not important. Of course, everyone has some responsibilities, and they need to be fulfilled, because otherwise there will be a mess. But if we are talking about human life, then the rules can be broken. This is my opinion and I hope that all people will someday understand this. This is probably why Leskov wrote his work “The Man on the Clock”!

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Composition

Leskov's story "The Man on the Clock" was written in 1887. The author poses a problem to us moral choice.

Leskov reveals this problem in the scene when the main character Postnikov is on duty and hears the cries of a dying man for help. Postnikov has been tormented by doubts for a long time. On the one hand, if he leaves his post, he will violate the military regulations, and he will be punished. On the other hand, if he does not save a drowning man, his conscience will torment him, and this is worse than military punishment. Nevertheless, Postnikov makes his choice and saves the drowning man, after which he ends up with the military authorities.

The author makes us think about what is more important - human life or soldier's duty. And shows us that human life is more important. One cannot but agree with this, because Postnikov violated the oath for the sake of a good cause, however, the military leadership did not appreciate this act and punished Postnikov. The army authorities are shown to us as “Dead people” - for them, words on paper are more important than human life. The exception is Officer Miller, but such people are not liked “for their humanism.”

To prove all of the above, I will give an example. Let us recall Maxim Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil,” namely the legend of Danko: Danko, like Postnikov, is faced with a choice and commits a feat of self-sacrifice. He rips out his heart, and it lights the tribe's path. However, Danko's feat went unnoticed. Moreover, there was a man who stepped on his heart with his foot.

Danko made his choice and saved the tribe. Postnikov and Danko placed the possibility of saving someone else's life higher than the desire to preserve their own life.

And in our time there is a place for heroism. Not so long ago, policeman Dmitry Makovkin, who died in a terrorist attack in Volgograd, stopped the terrarist at the entrance to the station building. Thanks to his actions, a large number of human casualties were avoided. Dmitry, just like Postnikov and Danko, was faced with a choice: he could not make up his mind and not stop the terrorist, but, thanks to his courage, he saved a large number of people, and, unfortunately, paid with his life.

All the above-mentioned heroes are united by courage, bravery, the ability to make bold decisions and the ability to put the lives of those around them above their own.

Expert assessment of essay No. 1

Leskov’s story (it would be appropriate to give the author’s initials) “The Man on the Clock” was written in 1887. The author confronts us with the problem of moral choice. (The second sentence in this context should have a pronominal connection with the first - a grammatical error, in addition, the phrase “poses a problem for us” is better replaced with “raises a problem” - a speech defect, the beginning could look like this: In the story by N.S. Leskov "The Man on the Clock", written in 1887, raises the problem of moral choice.)

Leskov (no initials) reveals this problem in the scene when the main character Postnikov is on duty and hears the cries of a dying man for help. Postnikov has been tormented by doubts for a long time. On the one hand, if he leaves his post, then he (speech error: repetition of a word) will violate the military regulations, and he will be punished. On the other hand, if he does not save a drowning man, his conscience will torment him, and this is worse than military punishment. Nevertheless, Postnikov makes his choice and saves the drowning man, after which he ends up with the military authorities.

The author makes us think about what is more important - human life or soldier's duty. And shows us that human life is more important. One cannot but agree with this (this sentence should have been started with a new paragraph), because Postnikov violated the oath for the sake of a good cause, however, (punctuation error: there is no need for a comma after the word “however”) the military leadership did not appreciate this act and punished Postnikov. The army leadership is shown to us as “Dead people” (grammatical error) - for them, words on paper are more important than human life. The exception is Officer Miller, but such people are not liked “for their humanism” (a logical error in the continuation of a sentence that is not related to the previous text and offers a new topic for discussion).

To prove all of the above (it was said above that people like Miller are not loved for their humanism..., the author of the essay apparently refers us to the beginning of the third paragraph, but we should not guess about this, the logical connection should not be broken) , (punctuation error: a comma is not needed) I will give an example (but you should not give an example, but create an evidence base for the thesis being put forward). Let us recall Maxim Gorky’s story “Old Woman Izergil,” namely the legend of Danko: Danko, like Postnikov, is faced with a choice and commits a feat of self-sacrifice. He rips out his heart, and it lights the tribe's path. However, (punctuation error: there is no need for a comma after the word “however”), Danko’s feat went unnoticed. Moreover, there was a man who stepped on his heart with his foot.

Danko made his choice and saved the tribe. Postnikov and Danko placed the possibility of saving someone else’s life higher than the desire to preserve their own life ( speech error- pleonasm: it was enough to use the word “your” or “own”).

And in our time there is a place for heroism. Not so long ago, (punctuation error: no comma needed) policeman Dmitry Makovkin, who died in the terrorist attack in Volgograd, (punctuation error: no comma needed) stopped a terrarist (spelling error: terrorist) at the entrance to the station building. Thanks to his actions, a large number of human casualties were avoided. Dmitry, (punctuation error: no comma needed), just like Postnikov and Danko, was faced with a choice: he could not make up his mind and not stop the terrorist, but, thanks to his courage, he saved a large number of people, and, unfortunately, paid with his life .

All the above-mentioned heroes are united by courage, bravery, the ability to make bold decisions and the ability to put the lives of others (grammatical error: correctly - “the lives of others”) above their own.

All of the above allows us to conclude: Leskov’s story teaches that human duty is most important. It may not always be appreciated, but that’s not the main thing. The main thing is to always act as your conscience and honor tell you.