The
novel "Mother" - a work created at the turn of the century, in a
difficult and turbulent times, rapidly carrying away all the old and
giving birth to new ideas, new social trends, which took possession of
the minds and hearts. The
process of radical change in social outlook that took place in Russian
society during this period, the struggle between the new notorious
materialist and the idealist philosophical currents that emerged at the
turn of the XIX-XX centuries - all this could not be reflected in
literary works of the era.
Creativity Gorky is no exception. It
was a response to the event time has changed the very notion of the
heroic, when a protest against the existing system in a matter of every
sensible person. It is another question - in what forms this protest was expressed. Do
not forget that raznochinsky during the liberation movement in Russia
has changed in that time, the proletarian, developed primarily under the
influence of Marxist theory.
The
novel "Mother" reveals quite clearly the author's position in relation
to social transformation, a product infused with the pathos of the
struggle for the reconstruction of life, which for a long time gave rise
to a very one-sided assessment of his in the Soviet ideology. During
the "heroic struggle of a new generation of revolutionaries" did not
notice (or do not want to notice) of living people with their internal
contradictions, suffering, moral quest. And
it is the inner spiritual world interested in the great Russian
writers, whose works have become classics of world literature. A
unilateral approach to the product of the imposed communist ideology,
of course, can not meet the man who considers himself a true connoisseur
of literature.
Probably would be more appropriate to consider this work, exploring the inner world of characters. Thus, the best feelings that arise in your hearts, called people in the service of a high and bright idea. But
when the idea overshadows everything else, enslaving people, it
suppresses in his soul the very same feelings that led him to serve her.
This paradox is tragic. And
it manifests itself most clearly in the image of Pavel Vlasov, who was
regarded until recently as an unequivocally positive. But that it appears most of all "obsession", it is this phenomenon has become the most destructive form. The
quest for high-end, developed into fanaticism suppresses the soul of
the hero are eternal human feeling as filial love, the love of home, a
woman.
Cruel, un-filial, he says his mother, he was doomed to die for an idea, does not want to listen to it before the demonstration. The image of Paul - is the image of the person making, though not with malicious intent, all the unhappy, whom he roads. This is particularly evident from the history of his love. In a life before it ever becomes necessary to choose between an idea and a living soul. And he chooses an idea ... why the image of Pavel Vlasov tragic. In his mind there was a discrepancy between the deepest, root, and the lifeblood of an idea, goal, set by himself.
The emergence of the novel Gorky's "Mother" has caused considerable controversy in the criticism. In the journal "Russian Thought" published an article by D. Filosofov "Bitter End". Critics have noted weakness of the artistic image of the protagonist - Pelagia Nilovna. The
writer said - and not from the author's self-esteem, as he wrote
himself, but referring to the actual prototypes of the story - Peter
Zalomova, convicted in 1902 for the May Day demonstration in Sormovo,
and his mother Anna Kirillovna Zalomova, who joined the revolutionary
struggle with his son.
Gorky's novel is constructed in such a way that Nilovna a party or a witness of the events described. If
the novel "Mother" - is the product of a painful process of clearing
people in slave-like obedience and feelings of fear, the complex
transformation of the human sacrifices in a fighter, then Nilovna in
this regard - the most vivid and convincing example.
Way Nilovna complex and contradictory. A woman who has lived most of his life in humility and fear, was not so easy to begin to live differently. She suffered a lot and got used to much. Poverty, a drunken and brutal husband, but "all the way live." At the beginning of the novel we see a timid, submissive, downtrodden woman. She taught her son to shun people because they "hate each other." This Nilovna deeply convinced. Upon
learning that his son is reading forbidden books, she first felt the
heart and mind and then realized his son was right and his comrades.
.
Gradually the dark, downtrodden, silent creatures, it became a person who knows the truth and self-righteousness. Her love for the only son grew into a great maternal instinct of all the fighters for the liberation of the people.
Thus, the meaning of the title "Mother" has expanded by acquiring the value of the symbol. The process of enrichment was complex and difficult, but she overcame the difficulties. In
the first campaign speeches Nilovna on May Day demonstration of its
understanding of the social struggle even side by side with religious. In the village of St. Nicholas Nilovna skillfully leads advocacy work with the peasants. After the trial of Paul's mother did not succumb to grief, she continued to work his son.