What happened to Mumu. So why did Gerasim drown Mumu? From the point of view of psychology

Few people were left indifferent by I. Turgenev's story "Mumu" written in the middle of the century before last. Piercing and concise, he colorfully describes the times of serfdom, the lack of rights of the peasants and the permissiveness of the landowners in those difficult times for the common people.

Question without an answer

But the story does not just immerse the reader in the peasant-landlord life of the mid-19th century and makes you feel sad over the tragic end. "Mumu" at the end of the reading leaves us with a question unanswered. The question that everyone who reads the story asks himself, the author or other readers is “Why did Gerasim drown Mumu”?

Was there really no other way out? Indeed, having destroyed his beloved creature, he did not return to his duties in the estate of an extravagant lady and did not begin to continue the life of a disenfranchised serf. He abandoned his former life, returned to his native village and lived there until the end of his life - a bachelor, and without pets.

So why didn't he return to his village with Mumu then?

To answer this question, it is necessary to have an idea of how the serfs lived in Rus'.

The life of serfs in Rus'

They were property, slaves, beings with absolutely no rights and no opinion of their own. They thought and made decisions for them, they were transported from place to place as household utensils or furniture, they were married and given in marriage without asking their opinion. For the slightest offense, they could be whipped to death, their well-being completely depended on the disposition of the spirit of the landowner, and all this was perceived by both the slaves and their masters as a given.

This slave mentality has been cultivated for centuries and passed down from generation to generation. Serfs were born feeling like things, lived in eternal fear of the master and could not think of disobeying his order.

Gerasim, the good-natured deaf-mute hero of this tragic story, did not escape a similar fate. He unquestioningly obeyed when the landowner and mistress ordered him to leave his native village and arrive at her estate in her service. He resigned himself to the fact that the peasant woman Tatyana, dear to his heart, was married to a drunkard and rowdy, and then sent away from the estate. He found a kind of replacement for his failed love in Mumu, a found dog of an indefinite breed. It was she who became his family member, whom he loved and worried about more than anyone else.

But, despite his affection for the dog, he had no idea of disobeying the lady when she ordered to get rid of the little dog, which “offended” her dignity, first by growling at her, and then repeatedly disturbing her sleep and peace.

Such was the natural order of things in those days - when the owner orders, the serf obeys, despite his feelings, desires and in spite of heartache. But even a serf, no matter how suppressed by the will of the landowner, is first and foremost a living person. And fulfilling the next order of the mistress against his will, killing the only creature close to him, Gerasim, as if he had killed his humility and resignation in himself.

Unexpected denouement

He carried out the order, he did what was expected of him, but for the last time. The last time he was submissive, the last time he resigned himself to the way of life that he had absorbed from the cradle. Having drowned Mumu, he became free - even if not in body, because formally both his life and his well-being still belonged to the capricious lady, but his spirit became free.

And he left - went to his native village, to the place where he was once forcibly pulled out, but where was his house and where he, as a free spirit, wanted to be, live his life and die.

Thus, the death of his beloved Mumu became symbolic and changed both him and his future life - after all, thanks to a combination of circumstances, Gerasim was not punished for leaving without permission, but lived in the village all his life, as he wanted. But remembering that at any moment he could lose everything at the will of the landowner, he forever excluded attachment to anyone from his life and never again had pets.

Mumu is a story that requires thoughtful reading and subsequent analysis. In our opinion, the passage of this work in the middle classes of the school is a mistake - the children do not yet understand the essence of this work and cannot independently find the answer to the question “Why did Gerasim drown Mumu?” It is this fact that makes Turgenev's work so tragic and meaningless in the view of the majority.

Song on the topic of the day about Mumu from AlexeiKortneva:

Surely each of us read the amazing work of I.S. Turgenev "Mumu". This is one of the first stories that schoolchildren get acquainted with in literature lessons. This story describes a rather unhappy story of the deaf-mute village hero Gerasim, who ended up in the city of an old and mischievous lady, being in her service.

Essence of the story

Gerasim did not have a personal life, it simply did not work out for him. He loved Tatyana for a very long time, who, out of need, married another. After a while, Gerasim acquired a dog, which he named Mumu. He called her that because he was deaf and dumb and could only pronounce the sound "mumu".

Gerasim became very attached to the puppy, he:

Took care of him.
Feed him.
I went for walks with him.
He considered it the meaning of his life.

But after some time, Mumu began to annoy the mistress of Gerasim. The fact is that the dog from time to time could bark at night, preventing the lady from sleeping. And she could not stand it, she ordered Gerasim to urgently get rid of Mumu. Since Gerasim was in the service of the young lady, he simply could not refuse her order.

Not far from the house there was a pond in which Gerasim drowned his only friend, the meaning of his life. The day after Mumu's death, Gerasim simply left home, he abandoned everything, was left to live alone without family and friends, he did not even have Mumu with whom he could share his sadness.

Many adults, once again rereading Turgenev's story, ask themselves the question: "Why did Gerasim follow the order of the mistress, if then he left her house anyway?" Also, Gerasim could behave differently in such a situation, because he did not have an order to kill the animal, he was asked to simply get rid of it.

Gerasim could:

Sell Mumu.
Give it to good people.
Take it to the market, where he will always have something to eat.

Why take such drastic measures? The order of the mistress simply deprived Gerasim of the last thing he had. He broke out of his usual village into a foreign area, worked for a lady who did not appreciate him and eventually forced him to get rid of his best friend. He did just that because he simply could not help but listen to his mistress. From childhood, he was raised by strict parents, he was always told that he must obey his masters always and everywhere, no matter how deplorable the situation was.

The story of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev "Mumu", written in 1852, tells about the life of the deaf-mute janitor Gerasim, who is in the service of an old lady and was obliged to obey her unquestioningly, to fulfill all orders. Serfdom humiliated the peasants, impunity reigned among the landlords. Why couldn't he disobey? Gerasim only at the very end realized how dependent his attachment makes him.

The mistress gradually took away everything that was dear to Gerasim. She took away his beloved village from him, and yet he is a peasant, a real peasant. She did not leave him the usual and beloved work. Gerasim's beloved woman, Tatyana, married the drunkard Kapiton. Tatyana always agreed with the mistress, a humble woman. And even his joy, the dog Mumu, whom Gerasim once saved, did not let her drown, she ordered to drown.

The lady was only important for her peace, she thought only of herself. All his life, Gerasim did not even imagine the possibility of arguing with the mistress, and this time he was not going to. However, the unexpected happened: having drowned the only native creature, Gerasim seemed to have lost all social ties, freed himself from the humility with which he had lived for so many years.

Mumu's death gave him the strength to leave the city, in which nothing else kept him, and return to the village. So, he drowned Mumu in order to free himself from psychological dependence and gain inner freedom.

There is a scientific point of view that Turgenev wrote the whole story for the sake of this one scene. The way a dumb hero with deep tenderness drowns in the river the only creature to which he is attached is such a powerful sight that, having depicted him, the writer no longer cared about either psychological or everyday details.

He achieved his goal: he struck the reader's imagination and forced him to come up with explanations for Gerasim's actions.

Not why he drowned, but why this terrible and obscure story for children in the fifth grade. Even before they knew about serfdom.

Why it has been firmly in the school curriculum since Soviet times is understandable, a denunciation of “life under the tsar” in full growth. Why so early - I think it's very simple, because it's about a dog. Children will feel sorry for the dog and they will dislike serfdom. And in general, about dogs - this is for children.

At one time I already stepped on this rake. My daughter in the second grade one morning suddenly remembered that she had not read the story given. Well, this is typical for her, it's okay, she was already reading quickly, I say: while I braid you, read it.

And the story turned out to be "The Lion and the Dog." Kind to the children of the non-violent Count Tolstoy. Well, you remember. There, the lion tore the wrong one, the wrong dog, because he loved the right one. Five minutes later I had a half-braided and inconsolably sobbing child, completely unfit for an education. With a kind, quiet word, she remembered the count, the program, the teacher, and herself for not looking at what she was reading right away.

And you say - the fifth grade. To him, in children, a protective lubricant is already formed, abundantly secreted in a collision with great Russian literature. In the form of jokes, jokes and other depreciation. Since the story about Mumu is actually very scary, there is especially a lot of defensive folklore about her.

Why are there children - a rare adult would want to re-read this at his leisure.

And he gets sick of this story not at all because it's about a dog. And not even because it's about serfdom.

Let me try to explain how I see it.

The fact that the lady was largely written off from Turgenev's mother is a well-known fact. And the story was similar, only there the poor fellow did not go anywhere. He endured everything and remained faithful to his mistress.
Children at school are told about this, but all the details of the writer's childhood are prudently not reported.

And there was a terrible horror, cruel treatment at the level of torture. Mommy was, it seems, an epileptoid psychopath, and herself, apparently, a post-traumatic, she beat her children for everything in a row, and for nothing too. Favorite fun was - to punish, and for what - not to say: "You know better." There was no avoidance strategy - they would beat you up anyway. All the servants denounced the children, and in the process of execution, mother still liked to portray that she was so upset that her heart hurts, she would die now, and then in a letter she described how touchingly frightened her son, whom she had just whipped with rods. There was no one to protect the children, the mother's power over them was complete, other attachments were not allowed.

That is, the most severe scenario of child abuse took place:

totality (there is no avoidance strategy, no matter how good you behave, you will still be beaten),
ambivalence (the only person you love tortures you)
blaming the victim (ungrateful, brought mommy)
there is no defender but the rapist himself.

She completely broke her eldest son, judging by his life, he was a deeply victimized person. But Ivan resisted at least somehow, he wanted to run away, but they caught him and whipped him half to death. In addition to beatings, there was total control of all aspects of life, constant psychological violence.

And in the context of all this, the story about Gerasim is read as an attempt to comprehend one's experience, a narrative practice of self-psychotherapy. The story was written when Turgenev was under arrest, which in itself creates the conditions. On the one hand, there is a trigger: you are again in someone's power. On the other hand, there is time, peace and sufficient security. It's the most.

Gerasim is a deaf-mute hero who was forcibly brought to the lady's house.

This is a metaphor for a gifted child who could not choose where to be born, who has neither words nor rights, and most importantly, from the very beginning sincerely wants to be a “good boy”, to earn his mother’s love (by the way, Turgenev himself was also a heroic build).

It is very difficult for him, but he tries very hard, shows devotion and zeal, and for a long time hopes that he will be able to become so “worthy” (sew a caftan) that he will be allowed to simply live, have his own secret personal life of the soul, love someone. And it will not be up to him - he will always be a faithful servant.

Tatyana herself, quiet, meek, uncomplaining - this is the subpersonality that the child in such a situation hopes for as saving. If you are very, very, very sweet and obedient, then maybe they won’t destroy you, they won’t burn everything in you, they will spare you.

“No matter how! - the lady-mother answers this, - the secret life of the soul to him, love to him, bite it off! - and arranges a vile story with allegedly drunk Tatiana and forced marriage. That is, he gives this meekest subpersonality to be scolded, tramples on it, and even arranges everything in such a way that, they say, she herself is to blame, such rubbish.

And we have to say goodbye to this hope. This path is closed. In a situation of such violence, it is impossible to keep one's soul alive, loving, developing (it could have been children).

The child is still not broken, he is not ready to give up and turn into a zombie, an empty, helpful shell without a soul, become a complete slave.

A new attempt - to hide, to shrink all your living and vulnerable to a very small, negligible size - just think, dog, well, who will it interfere with. A small creature, a tiny piece of the living and warm, personally significant, and so - here I am, your entire obedient servant.

But no, you can't fool a rapist. He senses with his spinal cord where there is a zone free from his control.

As in Winston's conversation with O, Brian: "I did not betray Julia" - and a smirk in response, almost sympathetic: you will betray, dear, where will you go. Everything will be cleaned up, down to the back street. They both understand how important this is - even a tiny corner of love and affection in the heart stands between you and Big Brother, this is the last stronghold before the destruction of the soul. Special closeness and complete mutual understanding of the victim and the executioner.

The position of a child who is at the mercy of a rigid parent is always worse. Because for all that, he loves the rapist with all his heart and dreams of his love - to the last. And there is no such sacrifice that he would not make - not out of fear, but simply because, to the very depths of his soul, he is sure that this is the right thing to do. He is a child, he belongs to the parent by right, and his soul too.

Here is the last tiny piece of hope for maternal love, the dependent subpersonality of the child recklessly hoping for a miracle and the mercy of a child, Gerasim drowns, and first takes care of her, says goodbye and mourns. Just like in therapy.
Now he can go, he is no longer attached - in no sense. And no longer a child.

In life, of course, everything is more difficult.

Do you know what mother Turgenev ordered to write above the entrance to the house when her sons left her power? "They'll be back."
There is always such a risk, victimhood pulls. He even entrusted the little daughter to the old woman for a while, but then he came to his senses.

It's good when you manage to comprehend your experience in images, speak out, play roles in the inner drama of your soul. Then you can leave, albeit with losses and wounds, but still free yourself. And live your own, difficult, not very happy, but your own life, with your feelings and your choices.

Returning to children and reading - "1984" we gave the child to read at 14.

And “Mumu” is too early at 14, because family horrors are worse than the horrors of the regime.

This article is devoted to the work of I.S. Turgenev. It will carefully analyze the motives for the behavior of the protagonist of the story "Mumu" - the janitor Gerasim. Probably, those who read, but did not have sufficient psychological insight, were tormented from school by the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu. During the "investigation" the answer to it will be given.

Gerasim's personality

The mighty mute Gerasim was uprooted from his native hut in the countryside and transplanted into the urban soil of Moscow, which was alien to him. He was under two meters tall. It had an abundance of natural power. A Moscow lady looked after him and ordered him to be transported from the village to her house. She identified him as a janitor, for he was a noble worker.

No matter how far this information may seem to the reader from answering the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu, it is very important and is directly related to him. This is the foundation for understanding the inner world of the hero.

Love triangle: Gerasim, Tatyana and Kapiton

The mistress had one simple girl - Tatyana (she worked as a laundress). Gerasim liked the young woman, although the other servants and the hostess herself understood that such a marriage was hardly possible for obvious reasons. Nevertheless, Gerasim tenderly cherished within himself a timid hope, firstly, of reciprocity, and secondly, that the lady would consent to the marriage.

But, unfortunately, the hopes of the protagonist were not destined to come true. The absurd and self-centered lady decided in her own way: the shoemaker-drunkard, who got out of hand, was appointed Tatyana's husband by the master's permission. He himself did not mind, but he was afraid of Gerasim's reaction to this news. Then the lord's servants resorted to a trick: knowing that the dumb janitor could not stand drunkards, the servants forced Tatiana to pass drunk before Gerasim. The trick was a success - the janitor himself pushed his sweetheart into the arms of Kapiton. True, the lady's experiment did not end in anything good. Her shoemaker drank himself even in the hands of an industrious and, one might say, meek to the point of slavery laundress. The days of the unhappy couple flowed bleakly in a remote village.

The love triangle is important in the context of answering the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu, as it reveals the "chemistry" of the janitor's future attachment to his dog.

Gerasim and Mumu

When Gerasim suffered from unspent love, he found a dog. She was only three weeks old. The janitor saved the dog from the water, brought him to his closet, organized a rookery for the dog (it turned out to be a girl), and gave her milk to drink.

In other words, now the love of a simple Russian dumb peasant, unclaimed by a woman, is completely invested in a creature that suddenly appeared in his life. He names the dog Mumu.

Story ending

The protagonist's problems arose when the lady, who had not seen the dog before, suddenly discovered it. Mumu has lived with Gerasim as in Christ's bosom for more than a year. The owner was delighted with the dog. She asked to be brought immediately to the master's chambers. When the dog was delivered, in an unfamiliar environment, she behaved wary and aggressive. She did not drink the master's milk, but began to bark at the mistress.

Of course, the mistress could not bear such an attitude and ordered the dog to be removed from her possessions. So they did. Gerasim searched and searched for her, but did not find her. But Mumu returned to the owner one fine day with a gnawed leash around her neck. Gerasim realized that the dog did not run away from him on its own, and began to hide it from prying eyes in his closet, and he took it out into the street only at night. But on one such promenade night, a drunk lay down at the fence of the master's estate. Mumu did not like drunkards, like her master, and began to bark hysterically and shrillly at the drunkard. She woke up the whole house, including the lady.

As a result, the dog was ordered to be disposed of. The servants took this too literally and decided to take Mumu's life. Gerasim volunteered to move his beloved pet to a better world with his own hands. Then, unable to bear the mental anguish, the janitor returned (actually fled) to his native land - to the village, again becoming an ordinary peasant. At first they searched for him, and when they found him, the lady said that "she does not need such an ungrateful worker for nothing."

Thus, if someone (most likely a schoolboy) decides to write an essay “Why did Gerasim drown Mumu”, he should answer this question in the context of the whole story so that the author’s narrative acquires depth and richness.

Moral of the story

Turgenev specifically draws Gerasim so powerful in order to show, in contrast, at the same time his spiritual indecision and timidity, one might say, slavery. The janitor drowned his dog not because he felt sorry for her: he imagined how she would wander around other people's yards in search of food without him. He killed her, because he could not resist the master's order and the pressure of other servants. And when the reader understands the whole essence of Gerasim's inner world, two things shock him: the skill of the writer and the deep tragedy of the story. After all, no one prevented Gerasim from escaping with the dog, in general, so to speak, from preparing an escape in advance, when he realized that things were bad. But he did not do this, and all because of the servile psychology.

Thus, to the question of why Gerasim drowned Mumu, the answers do not suggest diversity. The key to understanding the work of I.S. Turgenev - in the slavish psychology of a Russian person, which the classic masterfully embodied in the image of a dumb janitor.