Review: The main characters are Chelkash. Characteristics and image of Chelkash in the story of Gorky Chelkash essay

The blue southern sky, darkened with dust, is cloudy; the hot sun looks into the greenish sea, as if through a thin gray veil. It is almost not reflected in the water, cut by the blows of oars, steamship propellers, the sharp keels of Turkish feluccas and other ships plowing the cramped harbor in all directions. The waves of the sea, encased in granite, are suppressed by huge weights sliding along their ridges, hitting the sides of ships, the shores, beating and grumbling, foamed, polluted with various rubbish. The ringing of anchor chains, the roar of clutches of cars delivering cargo, the metallic scream of iron sheets falling from somewhere on the stone pavement, the dull knock of wood, the rattling of cab carts, the whistles of steamships, sometimes piercingly sharp, sometimes dully roaring, the cries of loaders, sailors and customs soldiers all these sounds merge into deafening music working day and, swaying rebelliously, they stand low in the sky above the harbor, more and more waves of sounds rise up to them from the ground - now dull, rumbling, they severely shake everything around, now sharp, thundering, tearing up the dusty, sultry air. Granite, iron, wood, harbor pavement, ships and people - everything breathes with the powerful sounds of a passionate hymn to Mercury. But the voices of people, barely audible in it, are weak and funny. And the people themselves, who originally gave birth to this noise, are funny and pitiful: their figures, dusty, ragged, nimble, bent under the weight of goods lying on their backs, fussily run here and there in clouds of dust, in a sea of heat and sounds, they insignificant compared to the iron colossuses around them, the piles of goods, the rattling carriages and everything that they created. What they created enslaved and depersonalized them. Standing under steam, the heavy giant steamships whistle, hiss, sigh deeply, and in every sound born of them, one can see a mocking note of contempt for the gray, dusty figures of people crawling along their decks, filling the deep holds with the products of their slave labor. The long lines of porters carrying thousands of pounds of bread on their shoulders into the iron bellies of ships in order to earn a few pounds of the same bread for their stomachs are funny to tears. Ragged, sweaty people, dull from fatigue, noise and heat, and powerful machines, shining in the sun with stature, created by these people, machines that, in the end, were not set in motion by steam, but by the muscles and blood of their creators, in This juxtaposition was a whole poem of cruel irony. The noise was overwhelming, the dust, irritating the nostrils, blinded the eyes, the heat baked the body and exhausted it, and everything around seemed tense, losing patience, ready to erupt into some kind of grandiose catastrophe, an explosion, after which the air refreshed by it would breathe freely and easily, silence will reign on the earth, and this dusty noise, deafening, irritating, leading to melancholy rage, will disappear, and then in the city, on the sea, in the sky it will become quiet, clear, glorious... Twelve measured and ringing strikes of the bell rang out. When the last brass sound died away, the wild music of labor already sounded quieter. A minute later it turned into a dull, dissatisfied murmur. Now the voices of people and the splash of the sea have become more audible. It's lunch time.

"Chelkash" is the first work of Gorky that was published in the magazine " Russian wealth"in 1895. The work itself was written in August 1894 in Nizhny Novgorod. The main characters are the complete opposite of each other.

The first is Grishka Chelkash - his author classifies him as a tramp, he is a drunkard and a thief, but at the same time there is something that sets this hero apart from the crowd like him, the author often compared him to a hawk, his thinness, special gait and predatory look distinguished him from the rest of the people. This hero lives by theft, his main prey are ships, which he cleans and then sells. Apparently, such a life does not bother Chelkash, he enjoys his power, freedom, he likes risk and the fact that he can do whatever he wants.

The second hero is Gavrila, at first glance it seemed that there would be something similar between them, because they are both from the village and both have the same status, but in fact the difference in these two heroes is present and not small. Gavrila is a young and strong guy who dreams of prosperity in life, but his spirit is weak and pitiful. Together with Gregory, they go to work, and then two different characters immediately appear before us, the weak-willed and cowardly Gavrila and the powerful Chelkash.

The main idea of Gorky's story Chelkash

The main idea of the work is the struggle for freedom and equality; the author is trying to convey that tramps have their own values, thoughts and feelings, and to some extent they are even cleaner and more reasonable than people of higher status. Chelkash’s problem as a person is the uselessness of the ideas he strove for, and this is what he pays for his freedom.

The story begins in the morning at the port, a description of what is happening around, people are busy with their own business, there is noise, work is in full swing.

All this continues until lunch, as soon as the clock showed twelve everything calmed down. At this time, a main character-Chelkash, the author describes him as a drunkard, a thief, a thin old man, brave and battered by life, often comparing him to a hawk. He came with the goal of finding his friend and partner Misha, but as it turns out, he ended up in the hospital due to a broken leg. This upsets the hero, because a profitable business was planned for today, for which he needs a partner. Now Chelkash’s goal was to find a person who would help him, and he began to look for passers-by the right person. And then his attention was attracted by a guy who looked very naive and simple. Grigory meets the guys, introducing himself as a fisherman.

The guy's name is Gavrila, he returned from Kuban with very little income, and is now looking for a job. Gavrila himself dreams of free life, but believes that he will not have one, because he himself was left with only his mother, his father died, and a small piece of land remained. Of course, rich people wanted to take him in as a son-in-law, but then he would have to work all his life for his father-in-law. In general, Gavrila dreams of at least 150 rubles, believing that this will help him create successful life, build a house and get married.

Chelkash, in turn, listened to the guy’s story and offered to make money by fishing, but such an offer seemed suspicious to Gavrila, because the very appearance of Gregory did not give him a reason to trust him, and therefore Chelkash received a portion of mistrust and contempt from the guy. But the thief is outraged by what this young man thought about him, because what right does he have to judge other people? Ultimately, the love of money in Gavrila’s soul and the offer of easy money made him decide in favor of the thief.

Suspecting nothing and thinking that he is going fishing, the guy goes with Chelkash first to a tavern to “wash” the agreement, this tavern is very full strange people. The thief feels full power over the guy, realizing that life now depends on him, because it is he who will either help the guy or ruin everything, but still he is full of desire to help the young man.

After waiting until nightfall, they went to work. Chelkash appreciated and admired the sea, but Gavrila, on the contrary, was afraid of the dark; everything seemed very scary to him.

The guy asked where the gear was, because they came for fishing, but instead of an answer he received shouts in his direction. And then he realized that this would not be fishing at all, fear and uncertainty captured the guy, he tried to ask Chelkash to let him go, but he only threatened in response and ordered him to row further.

Soon they reached the goal, Chelkash took the oars and passport and went to get the goods. Gavrila tried to reassure himself that this would end soon, he needed to endure it and do what the thief said. Then they walked through the “cordons”, Gavrila tried to call for help, but got scared. Chelkash promised to pay him decently and this gave the guy a reason to think about a future luxurious life. Finally they reached the shore and went to bed. In the morning Chelkash was unrecognizable; he had new clothes and a wad of money, from which he allocated a couple of bills to the guy.

All this time, Gavrila was thinking about how to get all the money for himself, in the end he tried to knock down the thief and take all the money, but nothing worked out for him, and in the end he still asked for forgiveness for his behavior. After this incident, the heroes' paths diverged.

Picture or drawing of Chelkash

Plot

The story begins with a description of the port in the morning working hours. Closer to lunch, Chelkash, an unemployed tramp smuggler, appears in search of Mishka’s partner, with whom he steals together, for a new “business”. Having learned from the watchman that Mishka is in the hospital, Chelkash sits down opposite the doors of the tavern, thinking how to do everything himself. Thinking, Chelkash notices a broad-shouldered man nearby young guy Gavrilo. The heroes meet. Gavrila says that he came to the port to earn money and not live with his “sons-in-law,” and it’s time to get married. Chelkash, introducing himself as a fisherman, offers the guy a job - rowing a boat and fishing. After agreement, the heroes go to the tavern. When night falls, they board the boat and quietly, without attracting attention, go “to work.” Having leaned against the wall, Chelkash disappears, taking Gavrila’s passport so that he does not escape, and returns with something “cubic and heavy.” The smugglers continue on their way. Swimming up to the barge on which their partners were already waiting for them, they climb onto the deck and soon fall asleep. The illegal work done was difficult for Gavrila, but the money earned during the night and the greed that awoke in him make him think about the next similar experience. Waking up first, Chelkash receives the money he earned, wakes up Gavrila, and the two of them get into the boat and go ashore. Having reached the shore, Gavrila throws himself at his boss’s feet and asks to give him all the proceeds, arguing that he needs the money more. Filled with “pity and hatred for his greedy slave,” Chelkash throws away the money. After this, Gavrila admits that while still in the boat he wanted to kill Chelkash and take all the money. The offended Chelkash takes the money and leaves, immediately Gavrila throws a stone at his head and runs away, but soon returns. Seeing Chelkash alive, he asks to forgive, to “remove sin from the soul.” Chelkash does not forgive, takes money out of his pocket, leaving himself one “rainbow piece of paper”, and gives the rest to Gavrila. Gavrila accepts the money. The heroes go their separate ways different sides forever.

History of creation

In 1891, Maxim Gorky was admitted to a hospital in the city of Nikolaev. His bedmate turned out to be a tramp, who told the writer his story, which later formed the basis of the work. The story was written in 2 days and immediately given to V. Korolenko.

Excerpt characterizing Chelkash

-What did you have there? – Nikolai asked.
- Of course, he will poison from under our hounds! And my mousey bitch caught it. Go and sue! Enough for the fox! I'll give him a ride as a fox. Here she is, in Toroki. Do you want this?...” said the hunter, pointing to the dagger and probably imagining that he was still talking to his enemy.
Nikolai, without talking to the hunter, asked his sister and Petya to wait for him and went to the place where this hostile Ilaginskaya hunt was.
The victorious hunter rode into the crowd of hunters and there, surrounded by sympathetic curious people, told his exploit.
The fact was that Ilagin, with whom the Rostovs were in a quarrel and trial, was hunting in places that, according to custom, belonged to the Rostovs, and now, as if on purpose, he ordered to drive up to the island where the Rostovs were hunting, and allowed him to poison his hunter from under other people’s hounds.
Nikolai never saw Ilagin, but as always in his judgments and feelings, not knowing the middle, according to rumors about the violence and willfulness of this landowner, he hated him with all his soul and considered him his worst enemy. He now rode towards him, embittered and agitated, tightly clutching the arapnik in his hand, in full readiness for the most decisive and dangerous actions against his enemy.
As soon as he left the ledge of the forest, he saw a fat gentleman in a beaver cap on a beautiful black horse, accompanied by two stirrups, moving towards him.
Instead of an enemy, Nikolai found in Ilagin a personable, courteous gentleman, who especially wanted to get to know the young count. Approaching Rostov, Ilagin lifted his beaver cap and said that he was very sorry for what happened; that he orders to punish the hunter who allowed himself to poison other people's dogs, asks the count to be acquainted and offers him his places for hunting.
Natasha, afraid that her brother would do something terrible, rode not far behind him in excitement. Seeing that the enemies were bowing in a friendly manner, she drove up to them. Ilagin raised his beaver cap even higher in front of Natasha and, smiling pleasantly, said that the Countess represented Diana both by her passion for hunting and by her beauty, about which he had heard a lot.
Ilagin, in order to make amends for the guilt of his hunter, urgently asked Rostov to go to his eel, which was a mile away, which he kept for himself and in which, according to him, there were hares. Nikolai agreed, and the hunt, having doubled in size, moved on.
It was necessary to walk through fields to reach the Ilaginsky eel. The hunters straightened out. The gentlemen rode together. Uncle, Rostov, Ilagin secretly glanced at other people's dogs, trying so that others would not notice, and anxiously looked for rivals for their dogs among these dogs.
Rostov was especially struck by her beauty by a small pure-dog, narrow, but with steel muscles, a thin muzzle and bulging black eyes, a red-spotted bitch in Ilagin’s pack. He had heard about the agility of the Ilagin dogs, and in this beautiful bitch he saw his Milka’s rival.
In the middle of a sedate conversation about the harvest this year, which Ilagin started, Nikolai pointed out to him his red-spotted bitch.
- This bitch is good! – he said in a casual tone. - Rezva?
- This? Yes, this is a good dog, it catches,” Ilagin said in an indifferent voice about his red-spotted Erza, for which a year ago he gave his neighbor three families of servants. “So you, Count, don’t boast about threshing?” – he continued the conversation he had started. And considering it polite to repay the young count in kind, Ilagin examined his dogs and chose Milka, who caught his eye with her width.

The main character of the work is Grishka Chelkash, presented in the image of an experienced, dexterous and brave thief.

The writer describes the hero of the story as a middle-aged middle-aged man with a bony figure, disheveled black and gray hair, hungry gray eyes and a hooked predatory nose, dressed in old shabby clothes. Chelkash's appearance is somewhat reminiscent of a predatory hawk, distinguished by its aiming, vigilant gait. The man’s long, thin hands have crooked, tenacious fingers that form a sinewy but hard fist.

Being at a respectable age, Chelkash carries out his thieving business very successfully and profitably.

Chelkash is characterized as a tramp, a swindler and a ragamuffin, earning huge amounts of money by stealing, which immediately disappears from him. Due to his cheerful and reckless disposition, Chelkash is quite famous in certain circles, where he is respected and trusted, and may be allowed to dine on credit.

The hero is characterized by the ability to see natural beauty and understand the mesmerizing power water element, the sea, which he loves very much.

Grishka is the son of a wealthy peasant, in his youth he was in the guards service and had a wife Anfisa, overweight woman with a long braid. Now Chelkash understands that a return to old life he will never have it, since he has long been disappointed in her.

Despite his thievish craft and passion for drinking, Chelkash is not devoid of human qualities, such as pity, sympathy for others, and also ardently condemns people who are capable of going to humiliation and meanness for the sake of money.

Having his own ideas about moral principles and leading an immoral life, Grishka Chelkash in his soul is a noble person, ready for generous deeds, capable of giving his night earnings young Gavril, who needed money to organize his future village life.

From Gavrila’s point of view, Grishka seems to be a cunning and incomprehensible person, with whom you can get a lot of trouble, who does not have a happy future ahead, since as a person Chelkash has long disappeared.

Talking about the fate of Grishka Chelkash, the writer reveals in his image the positive human qualities consisting of humanity, compassion, sincerity, generosity, which, despite the severity of the life situation, are manifested in the Russian person, who is an extraordinary person with unique character and an unusual fate.

Option 2

Chelkash is the main character of this work. He is depicted as a cunning, resourceful and experienced thief.

Describing his appearance, the author highlights his age as a man of about forty. Approximately the average human age. His physique is quite thin, and his head has tousled jet-black hair streaked with gray. His gray eyes look like a hungry wolf. Nose like bird of prey, pointed and hunchbacked. His clothes had long since become frayed from constant wear. Overall, his figure resembles that of a hungry hawk, watching carefully and prowling cautiously. His hands go down almost to his knees, at the end of which strong fists are clenched.

Despite his advanced years, Chelkash copes well with his thieving activities. The character looks like a charlatan and a ragamuffin, who, however, can become incredibly rich in one theft. However, his problem is that he almost immediately spends his cash. Considering his perky and cocky character, he is well known in some gangs and circles of thieves. There they may allow him to borrow lunch, because they know that he will pay for everything in full.

Chelkash loves the beauty of nature very much, especially sea element, which has attracted him since childhood.

The hero had a father, a wealthy peasant. When he was young, he served in the army as a guardsman. He also had a wife named Anfisa, whose figure stood out for her plumpness and large braid. However, in at the moment Grishka knows very well that he will never return to his old life. She completely disappointed him in every way.

Even though Grisha is a thief and often drinks, he has human feelings. He is capable of compassion for other people. He also condemns thieves like him. He has his own moral principles by which he lives. He is ready to do a noble and magnanimous act. For example, he can give all the money for a night theft to young Gavrila, so that he distributes the money in his village life.

Gavrila thinks of Grishka as a cunning man from whom you can expect anything.

Essay 3

The image of Chelkash appears almost at the very beginning of the story, immediately after the description of the harbor, where the main character should soon appear. Among local residents, Chelkash is known as an uncontrollable drunkard, a brave thief and a clever sly. Despite his far from young age, he gets things done often and always successfully.

As in other works of Gorky, in this story the hero has an extraordinary personality with unusual character and a unique destiny. The character is always captivated by the unknown, majestic beauty, and this unaccountable inexplicable love in this work is expressed through the protagonist’s craving for the mesmerizing power of the water element, the sea.

In the story we're talking about about the fate of a former military officer, whose life turned into a miserable existence at the very bottom of social space. The author clearly and clearly presents psychological portrait Chelkasha.

The main feature of the character is the presence of polar, opposing character traits and the basic principles of human essence. The author’s task at this stage is to demonstrate the innate qualities of people who find themselves in a difficult life situation. After all, it is in stressful circumstances that the whole essence is revealed human soul, all its facets are revealed, vices and virtues, true goals and beliefs come to light.

In the story “Chelkash” the aspirations of the main characters boil down to constantly stealing and using the funds received to buy booze, and so on in a circle. Gavrila, Chelkash’s assistant, has a different goal - he dreams of his own farm, his own home, marriage, and, stepping over his pride and pride, he commits a crime.

And here the question arises about that very opposition, as well as about the division of people into “good” and bad,” which are so characteristic of Gorky’s stories. Here the reader is faced with a choice of which of the characters is considered a “midge with guts”, and which should be elevated to the rank of “the best, complex, interesting” in this work. However, it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to this question, because in each of us there are both bright and dark sides. In the same way, the main characters of the stories are presented as complex and contradictory personalities, who are characterized by both good aspirations and, conversely, negative actions and deeds.

Chelkash was a beggar, walked barefoot in shabby old pants and a dirty, torn shirt. He was lonely and no one needed him, he was not interested in his own future, and therefore Chelkash lived for today. He did not have a job because no one wanted to hire such an unreliable person. At the same time, the hero himself did not want to admit his own terrible situation and did not agree with the fact that he was, in fact, the scum of society. And so that, God forbid, he would not think of such a thing, Chelkash clouded his own mind with heavy drinking. Also, the sea saved him from bad thoughts, looking at it, he felt a pleasant warm feeling inside himself, which freed him from the daily bad routine. Here he felt like the ruler of the world, forgetting about his miserable life on land.

Despite difficult circumstances, Chelkash does not lose those positive qualities that is and has always been in it. Yes, he is a criminal, he is a thief, but truly humane human values are not at all alien to him.

Essay Characteristics of Chelkash

In all the works and stories of Maxim Gorky, his heroes are very colorful and extraordinary personalities. Chelkash's story is no exception. In the story, Gorky describes the characters with their life needs and human qualities.

Gorky no longer describes this young man like a tramp. He looks unkempt and tattered. He is wearing some old torn pants and the same dirty torn shirt. Chelkash steals and does it easily; he spends all his profits on booze. Chelkash is an alcoholic, a lost person. In the past he was an officer, but life sent him to the very bottom of the social ladder.

In this story, the writer exposes all sides of people in stressful situations. Chelkash steals not because he wants to improve his social and financial situation, and in order to once again get drunk He uses people for his own purposes; the story even describes the moment when he feels like a master.

Having met a stranger, Chelkash nevertheless persuades him to go with him on business. He lures the guy by deception, and when he guesses, Chelkash takes away his passport. Still, Chelkash found something to play on so that they would go “fishing” with him. Even though he is a man and lost, he still put pressure on main problem guy, I was able to get him to talk.

Next to an insecure guy, Chelkash behaves confidently and biasedly. Money is not important to him; most likely, he likes the taste of freedom, which, in his opinion, he does not need. He understands perfectly well that he will not change anything in his life. No one will hire a lost person, because he is unreliable and irresponsible. His family is lost forever and they will never return to him. When he was a military officer with a wife and child, he did not appreciate this and became what he is now - an ordinary alcoholic and a tramp.

And Chelkash drinks not because he likes it, but to drown out heartache and not admit to himself that he is the scum of society. The only thing that calms him down is the sea, which he loves so much. Chelkash doesn’t want anyone to live like him, because he himself doesn’t want to live out his life like that.

At the end of the story, when his accomplice wanted to take money from Chelkash, he voluntarily gave it away. Chelkash turned out to be not a greedy person, for whom money comes first. The mind of his assistant was eclipsed by the thirst for money, but Chelkash turned out to be above this. For him, these are ordinary pieces of paper that will never make anyone happy. Nevertheless, it turned out that Chelkash is not completely lost, there is still hope, but he does nothing for it. Chelkash is not a self-interested person, but simply an alcoholic man confused in this life.

Sample 5

Gorky's works have always been filled with that liveliness, that unprecedented human simple life, and at the same time with all its complexity and originality. By right, Gorky can be called one of the most outstanding domestic writers realists who ever lived. He wrote like no one else wrote. Describing ordinary everyday situations, ordinary, seemingly ordinary stories, he, with the help literary devices achieved such successes that no one else could have achieved. An example is the work “Chelkash”.

In the work, the author introduces us to tragic story the fall of human personality and virtue into an abyss, into an abyss from which there is no way out - self-destruction. Throughout the entire work, the main character is looking for an increasingly sophisticated way to approach the complete decomposition of the personality, but often in the work it becomes alcohol. The main character of the work is a man named Chelkash.

Chelkash is an elderly man, unkemptly dressed, dirty, with his eyes cast to the floor, walking barefoot on the ground. His main activities, as it was not difficult to guess, are drunkenness and theft, and one cannot do without the other, and that is why many people avoid him, so as not to get into the troubles that haunt this character.

The history of the formation of Chelkash as he appears in the work began a long time ago, even during Chelkash’s dismissal from the fleet. After his dismissal, Chelkash begins to miss the sea very much, as he really loved serving in the navy. Therefore, after his dismissal, Chelkash sets out on the difficult path of independent survival in a world in which he does not like to live. He would like to return to the sea again, but he cannot do this, which is why he takes up alcohol and begins to lead such a lifestyle.

Chelkash is quite pleased with his character unpleasant person. If, while serving in the navy, he was a rather rude, uncouth lout, then after his dismissal and subsequent incessant drunkenness, he became simply unbearable for any person, be it just a passer-by or his long-time friend. Nothing else matters in his life, except for the drink he loves so much. None moral principles or he has no foundations, which is why he does whatever he wants. This is how the image of Chelkash appears before the reader in Gorky’s work of the same name.

The portrait is one of the stories by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, part of the “Petersburg Tales” cycle. In my opinion, “Portrait” stands out from other stories not only because of its original plot, but also because of its unusual characters.

The hot season of vacations and sea adventures is over. The sky is increasingly overcast with leaden clouds, the evenings have become cold and long, but during the day you can still bask in the rays of the warm sun.

The theme of fate in Pushkin’s works (in his works, in his lyrics)

Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin wrote many works that are known to different generations of people, from children to old people. Many in childhood read his beautiful fairy tales about the golden cockerel, about Tsar Saltan, about the fisherman and the goldfish.

“We learn about a little drama that played out between two people” from M. Gorky’s story “Chelkash.” This is one of best works writer and a shining example of late Russian romanticism. The story amazes with psychological collisions and extraordinary images. They study it in 8th grade. An analysis of the work, created according to a generally accepted plan, will help to facilitate preparation for a lesson dedicated to the story.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing- 1894

History of creation- The work is based on history real person. In 1891, M. Gorky was in the hospital, his roommate told him about his fate, and three years later “Chelkash” appeared.

Theme - A broad theme can be identified in the work– the fate of a person and narrow - crime, relationships between people with different views on life.

Composition- Formally, the story consists of three chapters. Plot elements are placed in a logical sequence. The peculiarity of the composition is the framing: the story begins and ends with a picture of the sea.

Genre- Story.

Direction- Realism.

History of creation

The history of the creation of the work “Chelkash” dates back to 1891. Then M. Gorky ended up in the hospital. His roommate turned out to be a tramp. He told the writer about his life. This story formed the basis of a story created in 1894. M. Gorky handed over the finished work to V. G. Korolenko. A fellow writer approved the story and helped publish it in the Russian Wealth magazine.

Critics reacted positively to the work of the young writer, and M. Gorky began to be taken seriously in literary circles.

Subject

The analyzed work displays motifs that are quite common in literature. However, the author managed to interpret traditional images in an original way, delving into psychology.

At the center of the work - theme of human destiny, in the context of which they develop problems relationships between people, true and false values, freedom, choice, etc. Basis of the problem- moral values. The system of images is unbranched, so the reader’s attention is constantly focused on two heroes - Chelkash and Gavril.

The story begins with a description of the morning in the southern port. The author describes people, focusing on their insignificance in comparison with the “iron colossi”. The man in this episode appears as a miserable slave who works hard in terrible conditions. The beginning plays an important role in conveying the idea.

In such an environment we meet Chelkash, a drunkard and thief. The meaning of the title of the story is connected with his surname. The author immediately tells the reader who to pay attention to. Chelkash is planning a business and is looking for an assistant. The man notices the peasant and decides to persuade him. Chelkash learns that Gavrilo - that’s the peasant’s name - wants to earn money to buy his own house, farm, and start a family. By deception, Chelkash gets the guy involved in theft.

Gavrilo resists at first, but, having felt the taste of easy money, he is drawn in. Chelkash is proud that he made the guy his slave. But in the end it turns out that Gavrilo is a slave not to the thief, but to his own desires. He is ready to kill for money. Chelkash turns out to be a more worthy person than Gavrilo. This conclusion suggests itself after observing the guy’s pathetic act.

It is interesting that Chelkash also comes from a peasant background; he once had a family and was a guardsman. Memories of the past make him sad, but he does not want to return to a slave life. A man really loves freedom.

Having observed the characters, it is easy to notice that the work presents internal and external conflicts. Internal - the doubts of the thief and the peasant, external - the drama between men.

Idea of the work- show how important it is to be free from circumstances and money, to be able to get out of any circumstances with dignity.

Main idea: we make ourselves slaves.

Composition

Formally, the story consists of three chapters. Plot elements are placed in a logical sequence. Exposition - morning landscape and acquaintance with Chelkash, beginning - Chelkash's search for an assistant, the thief's meeting with Gavrila, development of events - attempts to agree on a "fishing trip", theft, climax - a quarrel between thieves; denouement - Chelkash throws money to Gavrila and leaves. What the author teaches is most clearly revealed in the denouement.

A special feature of the composition of M. Gorky’s work “Chelkash” is its framing: the story begins and ends with a picture of the sea.

Genre

The genre of the work is a story, as evidenced by the following signs: small volume, main role plays storyline Chelkash, there are only two main characters. The direction of "Chelkash" is realism.