The romantic story “Old Woman Izergil” by Maxim Gorky was written in 1894. The composition of the work is “a story within a story.” The narration is told on behalf of the author and the heroine of the story, the old woman Izergil. The three parts are subordinated to a general idea: reflection on the true value of human life, the meaning of life, and human freedom.
The story “Old Woman Izergil” is studied in the 11th grade literature course. To get acquainted with the works of Gorky’s early work, you can read a summary of “The Old Woman Izergil” chapter by chapter.
Main characters
Old Isergil– an elderly woman, the author’s interlocutor. He talks about the story of his life, the legend of Danko and Larra. He believes that “everyone is their own destiny.”
Larra- son of a woman and an eagle. He despised people. Punished by people with immortality and loneliness.
Danko- a young man who loves people, “the best of all.” He saved people at the cost of his own life, lighting their way out of the forest with his heart torn out of his chest.
Other characters
Narrator– retold the stories he had heard, worked with the Moldovans during the grape harvest.
Chapter 1
The stories that the author tells his readers, he heard in Bessarabia, working together with the Moldovans in the grape harvest. One evening, having finished working, all the workers went to the sea, and only the author and an elderly woman named Izergil remained to rest in the shade of the grapes.
Evening came, shadows of clouds floated across the steppe, and Izergil, pointing to one of the shadows, called her Larra, and told the author an ancient legend.
In one country, where the land is generous and beautiful, a human tribe lived happily. People hunted, herded herds, rested, sang and had fun. One day during a feast, an eagle carried away one of the girls. She returned only twenty years later and brought with her a handsome and stately young man. It turned out that all the past years the stolen tribeswoman had lived with the eagle in the mountains, and the young man was their son. When the eagle began to grow old, it rushed from a height onto the rocks and died, and the woman decided to return home.
The son of the king of birds did not differ in appearance from people, only “his eyes were cold and proud.” He spoke disrespectfully to the elders, and looked down on other people, saying that “there are no more people like him.”
The elders got angry and ordered him to go wherever he wanted - he had no place in the tribe. The young man approached the daughter of one of them and hugged her. But she, fearing her father’s anger, pushed him away. The eagle's son hit the girl, she fell and died. The young man was grabbed and tied up. The tribesmen thought for a long time about what punishment to choose. After listening to the sage, people realized that “the punishment is in himself” and simply released the young man.
The hero began to be called Larra - “outcast”. Larra lived for many years, living freely near the tribe: he stole cattle, stole girls. The arrows of people did not take him, covered with the “invisible veil of the highest punishment.” But one day Larra approached the tribe, making it clear to the people that he would not defend himself. One of the people guessed that Larra wanted to die - and no one began to attack him, not wanting to ease his fate.
Seeing that he would not die at the hands of people, the young man wanted to kill himself with a knife, but it broke. The ground against which Larra was beating his head was moving away from under him. Having made sure that the eagle's son could not die, the people of the tribe rejoiced and left. Since then, left completely alone, the proud young man wanders around the world, no longer understanding the language of people and not knowing what he is looking for. “He has no life, and death does not smile on him.” This is how the man was punished for his exorbitant pride.
Wonderful singing was heard from the shore to the interlocutors.
Chapter 2
Old woman Izergil said that only those who are in love with life can sing so beautifully. She “had enough blood” to live to her age precisely because love was the essence of her life. Izergil told the author about her youth. One after another, images of the old woman Izergil’s beloved passed before him.
Fisherman from the Prut, the heroine’s first love. Hutsul, hanged by the authorities for robbery. A rich Turk, with whose sixteen-year-old son Izergil escaped from the harem “out of boredom” to Bulgaria. A little Pole monk, “funny and mean,” whom the heroine picked up and threw into the river for offensive words. “A worthy gentleman with a hacked-up face,” who loved exploits (for his sake, Izergil refused the love of a man who showered her with gold coins). A Hungarian who left Izergil (he was found in a field with a bullet through his head). Arcadek, a handsome nobleman rescued from captivity by the heroine, is the last love of forty-year-old Izergil.
The woman told her interlocutor about different moments of her “greedy life.” The time came when she realized it was time to start a family. Having left for Moldova, she got married and has been living here for about thirty years. By the time the author met her, her husband had been dead for about a year, and she lived with Moldovans - grape pickers. They need her, she feels good with them.
The woman finished her story. The interlocutors sat watching the night steppe. In the distance blue lights like sparks were visible. Having asked whether the author saw them, Izergil said that these were sparks from “Danko’s burning heart”, and began to tell another ancient legend.
Chapter 3
In ancient times, proud, cheerful people who knew no fear lived in the steppe. Their camps were surrounded on three sides by wild forests. One day, foreign tribes came to the land of people and drove them into the depths of the old impenetrable forest, where there were swamps and eternal darkness. From the stench rising from the swamp, people who were accustomed to the expanses of the steppe died one after another.
Strong and brave, they could have gone to fight with enemies, “but they could not die in battle, because they had covenants, and if they had died, then the covenants would have disappeared from their lives.” People sat and thought about what to do - but from painful thoughts they weakened in spirit and fear settled in their hearts. They were ready to surrender to the enemy, but their comrade Danko “saved everyone alone.” Danko turned to the people, urging them to go through the forest - after all, somewhere the forest had to end. There was so much living fire in the young man’s eyes that people believed and went with him.
The path was long and difficult, people had less and less strength and faith in Danko. One day, during a severe thunderstorm, people despaired. But they could not admit their weakness; instead, they accused Danko of his inability to lead them out of the forest. Like wild animals, they were ready to rush at him and kill him. The young man felt sorry for them, realizing that without him his fellow tribesmen would die. His heart burned with the desire to save people - after all, he loved them. Danko tore his heart out of his chest and raised it high above his head - it blazed brighter than the sun itself. The hero walked forward and forward, illuminating the road with “the torch of great love for people.” Suddenly the forest ended - there was an expanse of steppe in front of the people. Danko looked with joy at the free land - and died.
People did not pay attention to the death of the young man, nor did they see the heart that was still burning near the hero’s body. Only one person noticed the heart, and, fearing something, stepped on it with his foot. The proud heart, splashing sparks around, faded away. Since then, those blue lights that the author saw have appeared in the steppe.
Old woman Izergil finished the story. Everything around became quiet, and it seemed to the author that even the steppe was enchanted by the nobility of the brave Danko, who did not expect a reward for his heart burned for the sake of people.
conclusions
Like any classic work, Gorky’s story leads the reader to think about the most important questions: why does a person live, how should he live, and what life principles should he follow, what is freedom? The retelling of “Old Woman Izergil” gives an idea of the plot, idea, and characters of the work. Reading the full text of the story will allow the reader to plunge into the bright and expressive world of Gorky’s heroes.
Story test
After reading the summary, try to answer the test questions:
Retelling rating
Average rating: 4.3. Total ratings received: 5914.
One of the most striking early works of Gorky, in which he also rethinks traditional ideas about good and evil, beauty and strength, but in a slightly different aspect, is the story “Old Woman Izergil”. This story consists of three parts: the legend of Larra, Izergil’s story about her own life and the legend of Danko, framed by the narration of the author-narrator. What makes these three parts a single whole is the main idea of the work - the desire to reveal the true value of the human personality.
* “In life, you know, there is always room for exploits. And those who do not find them for themselves - ... do not understand life, because if people understood life, everyone would want to leave behind their shadow in it. And then life would not devour people without a trace,” says Izergil, wise from life experience.
These words of hers, addressed to the narrator, sound like a reproach to the boring, vulgar life of many generations of people who disappeared from the face of the earth without a trace. At the same time, these words explain the meaning of the legend about Larra (his name means “rejected, thrown out”), help to better understand the rebellious soul of Izergil herself, who is frightened by the fate of the rejected son of the eagle, casting a shadow on her own life (after all, Izergil herself is from number of proud and freedom-loving heroes). From these words a thread stretches to the legend of Danko’s immortal feat.
The author’s thought in the story “Old Woman Izergil” moves from the image of the strong and beautiful egoist Larra, living only for herself, from the image of Izergil herself, living only by her passions, to the image of Danko, living and performing feats for the sake of other people. Both Larra and Danko are strong personalities, but Larra, in the spirit of the Nietzschean “superman,” considers himself a man-god to whom “everything is allowed,” he wants to have everything and keep himself whole, without sacrificing anything. Danko, on the other hand, performs a feat of self-sacrifice for the sake of people who resigned themselves, “frightened by death,” and were ready to accept a slave life, to offer the most precious thing as a gift to the enemy - their will. Larra's loneliness turns into a terrible punishment for him, since it is unnatural for any person. Larra has lived for thousands of years, and loneliness has dried up his soul, just as the sun “drained his body, blood and bones.”
The author condemns Larra as the bearer of an egoistic idea, at the same time he condemns the old woman, the bearer of the idea of life for the sake of satisfying her passions. But Danko’s feat is also not appreciated by people. Driven by a feeling of compassion and love for people, he purposefully moves forward, but his impulse is largely emotional, he lacks the powerful power of reason, and therefore the hero’s feat is not enough to transform imperfect people and awaken high spirituality in them. II, nevertheless, the author sympathizes with Danko. Because his act was committed out of great love for people, and, despite the fact that a “cautious” person was found who extinguished the burning heart, his sparks glow, they did not fade. Because Danko’s proud heart was “a torch of great love for people.”
Against the background of these legends, the life story of the old woman Izergil - a bright and self-willed woman in love - also takes on the meaning of a parable. This image contains no less freedom and flight of the soul than the images of Loiko and Radda, Larra, Danko and many others. Izergil’s life, filled with “greedy love,” was subordinated to this insatiable passion. But in love she was freer and did not allow herself to be humiliated or subjugated to anyone’s will.
The motive of insight is associated with the image of the listener (author-storyteller) to whom the truth is revealed.
The story is framed by his requests to Izergil to tell him what he has no idea about yet. And at the end he “thought about Danko’s great burning heart and human imagination, which created so many beautiful and powerful legends.” Gorky's works ignite our hearts with great love for people, the desire for freedom, and the thirst for a living, fulfilling life. And the role of the author himself, especially in his early works, comes down to becoming a kind of guiding star, revealing to a person his own soul, illuminating his life path, filling it with special meaning. Through the captivating beauty of romantic images, the writer leads a person to spiritual transformation; through the wonderful stories of beautiful, proud, brave heroes, Gorky reveals to us the history of our own lives, our aspirations, our destiny.
A person needs beauty - otherwise will he understand his purpose? A person needs a feat - otherwise will he understand that the heart should burn? A person needs a Falcon - otherwise he will continue to lie down, prostrate on the bed of his fate... Gorky gives us this beauty, this feat, sends us this Falcon.
The story “The Old Woman Izergil” (1895) begins with images of fabulously beautiful people, a picture of the evening sky on which clouds wander - “lush, strange shapes and colors.” All this was “strangely beautiful and sad, it seemed like the beginning of a wonderful fairy tale.” And that's it...
The story “Old Woman Izergil” (1894) continues the cycle of romantic works of early Gorky. The main character of the story is the old Moldavian woman Izergil, who tells the story of her difficult life, emphasizing it with two legends, which in an allegorical...
The central image of the romantic works of M. Gorky of the early period is the image of a heroic person, ready for a selfless feat in the name of the good of the people. These works include the story “Old Woman Izergil”, by which the writer...
One of the most outstanding works of Maxim Gorky is his story “The Old Woman Izergil”, written by the author in 1894. In his romantic narrative, the writer used one of the most interesting techniques of literature - “a story consisting of a story.” The entire work, consisting of three parts, is a narrative, which is told not only on behalf of the author, but also on behalf of the main character - the old woman Izergil. At the same time, the author does not retell her stories, but the narration is told in the first person.
In contact with
Introduction
The story itself is the author’s reflection on basic human values: the meaning of life, human freedom and the value of human life. This work is even controversial for some readers - is this story really a story? Or was the author writing a short story?
If we turn to authoritative and popular Internet sources, then Wikipedia describes the work “Old Woman Izergil” as a story, consisting of three independent narratives, each of which carries its own storyline, and has its own main characters and series of events. There you can read a brief retelling of the work and analyze the events described.
The main characters of the story “Old Woman Izergil”
In the story “Old Woman Izergil”, three life stories are described on behalf of the main character, one of which is Izergil’s own story. If we consider the heroes of the story, then they can be divided into main and secondary.
The main characters of the story are:
Minor characters are fellow tribesmen of Larra and Danko, who were eyewitnesses to the events described by the old woman Izergil, and turned these stories into legends. And if in the first part Larra’s fellow tribesmen are described as wise and fair people, then the tribe in which Danko grew up are brave men who have lost heart and cannot find the strength to fight difficult circumstances.
Maxim Gorky “Old Woman Izergil”: a summary of the work
Creativity can be viewed differently
In the early romantic work "Old Woman Izergil" Maxim Gorky poetically reflects on humanity and freedom. The spirit of romanticism simply overflows this story. The author himself considered it one of his best works, built at the highest level. An analysis of Gorky's "Old Woman Izergil" will prove that the author, like many other writers, turned to the most pressing topic - the meaning of life.
Features of the story
M. Gorky's book "The Old Woman Izergil" was published in 1894. The story clearly shows the features of romanticism:
- the main character is opposed to the main characters;
- the hero is credited with qualities presented in superlatives;
- depiction of unusual landscapes (description of the sea, steppe).
It is known that Maxim Gorky traveled a lot around the country, collecting various legends and stories that lived in people’s memories. These are the legends he told in his work “The Old Woman Izergil”. This story deserves the most complete analysis. The reader sees the original book in front of him in the form of a story within a story. Its composition is distinguished by some features:
- contains three independent parts: the legend of Larra, the life quest of the old woman Izergil herself, the Legend of Danko;
- all parts are united by the internal idea and tone of the narrative;
- the contents of the first and third parts of the story are opposite to each other;
- the central part of the book is a story about Izergil’s life;
- The story is narrated from the perspective of the old woman.
An analysis of “The Old Woman Izergil” shows that the work has a basic concept: the opportunity to live without people for oneself (like Larra), to live next to people, but for one’s own benefit (like the old woman Izergil), to give one’s life for the sake of others (like Danko).
Proud and lonely Larra
In the first part, the old woman told about a young handsome guy Larra, whose father was a mountain eagle who once kidnapped the young man’s mother. The reader sees a proud, daring, selfish guy. With such a proud character, it was difficult for him to get along among other tribesmen. It was for these qualities that Larra paid dearly. One day he committed a terrible act - he killed the leader’s daughter, who rejected him. The community came up with a punishment for the young man - eternal exile and loneliness. At first it did not upset Larra in any way, but then it became simply unbearable. After some time, the hero understood the meaning of life, but it was too late: from suffering, he turned into a shadow, reminding people of his existence.
The search for the meaning of life of the old woman Izergil
Where does the analysis of “Old Woman Izergil” lead, namely its second part? The reader is immersed in the life story of the narrator herself. Izergil enjoyed success among men and did not deprive them of her love. She is a travel lover and has visited many corners of the world. She enjoyed playing with other people's feelings. To achieve her goal, she even committed murder once. If the heroine left someone, she never returned. She gave all of herself to love. In the end, Izergil understands that there is no need to look for love at the ends of the world, it is enough to lead a measured life with a loved one and children.
Danko's self-sacrifice
Gorky endowed his hero Danko with romantic traits. Analysis of "Old Woman Izergil" is impossible without this character. Handsome, strong and courageous, Danko was a real leader and knew how to lead people. He was distinguished by his love of freedom and selflessness. This helped him become the leader of his people and lead them out of the dark forest. It was not easy to go; angry people lost faith in their leader. Then Danko tore out his heart, which was burning with love for people, from his chest, and illuminated their path. In this way, he gave the people his warmth and kindness, emanating from a burning heart.
What did he get in return? As soon as people got out of the forest, they immediately forgot about the dying Danko. Someone even stepped on the leader’s fading heart. Only the night sparkles in the expanse of the steppe reminded people of Danko’s selfless act. In the image of this young man, readers see a real hero who saw the meaning of life in serving others.
What are the similarities and differences in the destinies of the heroes?
Ancient legends carry instructive conclusions, the old woman Izergil told them to the younger generation. Actions in legends take place in ancient times. The fate of the narrator herself is somewhat similar to the fates of Larra and Danko. Both had turbulent rebellious lives, both sought to become independent. The ideal of the old woman Izergil and Danko is love for others and self-sacrifice. They dedicate themselves to others.
Like Larra, Izergil forgets about people who become of little interest to her. She knows how to take, but she is also able to give. Larra only greedily took, without giving anything. What did the heroes come to in the end? Larra's behavior led him to loneliness that was impossible to bear. The old woman Izergil pestered random people and lived out her last years with them. The reader has something to think about and try to find the true path in life. Perhaps between Larra’s individualism and Danko’s altruism there will be an ideal point in the coordinate system.