“It’s not the master of the matter, but the fierce enemy” (based on the novel “Foma Gordeev”). Problem lesson based on M. Gorky’s story “Foma Gordeev” “You need to know why you live... Lesson from Foma Gordeev

Target audience: 11th grade.

Type of development: problem-based lesson in literature, group form of work (two groups).

Objective of the lesson:

The moral search for the meaning of life by the main character of Gorky’s story “Foma Gordeev”;

Reflection of the historical situation in Gorky's story; pictures of merchant life;

- “superfluous” people, their limitations and “stupidity”, “they pointed out what I should not be...”;

Develop interest in research work, be able to independently draw conclusions, generalizations, and compare.

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Problem lesson based on M. Gorky's story "Foma Gordeev"

“You need to know what you live for...”

Target Audience: 11th grade.

Development type: problem lesson in literature, group work (two groups).

Objective of the lesson:

The moral search for the meaning of life by the main character of Gorky's story

"Foma Gordeev";

Reflection of the historical situation in Gorky's story; paintings

Merchant life;

- “superfluous” people, their limitations and “stupidity”, “they pointed out what I

Shouldn't be...";

Develop an interest in research work and be able to do it yourself

Conclusions, generalizations, compare.

What have you done? No, you didn’t create life, but prison...

You did not create order - you forged chains for a person.

It’s stuffy, cramped, there’s nowhere for a living soul to turn.

A man is dying!

Gorky M. “Foma Gordeev”

No, I'll choose my own place.

Gorky M. “Foma Gordeev”

Revealing the topic of the lesson, proving the correctness of the chosen epigraphs,

determine the purpose of the lesson.

(Search for the meaning of life, your “I”, your place in it)

Gorky's story "Foma Gordeev" (1899) presents a broad picture of Russian life, a contemporary of which the author himself was. The writer is always

concerned with human needs. The most important thing is that the desire is close to him

to full-blooded happy life. Most heroes don't implement

this is an aspiration. This is perceived as a personality drama. A Hero's Striving

to a full-blooded life is embodied by Gorky in the story “Foma Gordeev”.

The hero protests against lies and hypocrisy, he is oppressed by a “crowded” life, he is looking for

he is capable of doing things, trying to find his way in life, his “I”. In the end

becomes an alcoholic and can very easily become an inhabitant of a flophouse similar to the one

which Gorky showed in the play “At the Lower Depths”

Each group conducted its own searches, drew conclusions on the story within the framework of the topic, and now you are given the right to defend your assignments.

Group 1 - Chapter 1 p.47-49(student of Kuznetsov)

Gorky begins his story with a story about Thomas’s father, Ignat Gordeev.

Why? What does this give us for understanding the image of the main character?

Tell us about him (about your father) (origin, social status, lifestyle,

Distinctive character traits) and about the mother.

What does Ignat Gordeev have in common with Dikiy and Kabanova from Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”? What difference did you see?

The rebellious spirit of parents in to a greater extent manifested itself in Thomas. The parents did not yet realize what was bothering them. What is happening around makes Thomas think about what place is destined for him in life, i.e. what his own “I” is like in life. The painful question about the meaning of life could have arisen before the father and mother if they had lived

They are at a different, later time.

Answer to question 2. Thomas’s father gave him his first life lessons. He often said to Foma: “We must teach you how to live.”

One day a dreamy boy got on a ship with his father, where in front of him

turned around new life. He looked at everything with wide eyes; it seemed to him that he was moving along a wide path into a wonderful land of fairy tales. About

He asked his father to everyone, and he explained it to him as best he could. One day a boy relayed a conversation between the pilot and the crew about his father. And Ignat then decided that it was time

teach my son life.

There was something clear and understandable in his father’s stories; Foma liked that his father

strong, dexterous. His heart beat strongly and hotly. Since then, he became more attentive to his surroundings, he felt everything keenly, everything that worried his soul aroused in him new vague sensations and desires. Co.

Foma treated everything seriously and thoughtfully. With his vague character, dreaminess, curiosity, and thoughtfulness, he resembled his mother. He felt something special in himself that distinguished him from his peers, but he also could not understand what it was? And he watched himself suspiciously. It influenced

on it, but did not determine life path clearly, definitely.

Already the first lessons of life force Thomas to think about his own purpose and evoke a desire to live not according to orders.

Who gives Thomas the first serious lessons in life?

Father

What was the science of life taught to Thomas by his father? Was the young man able to accept

Her?

Life lessons?!

Father

“We need to teach you”...You are their master, they are yours

live" servants, so you know..."

Several rules are read out, Each member of the group reads out

given by the father. according to 1 teaching chapter (2,3 pp.26,27,

(Student response) 29,30,37).

Generalization. The main thing that Father Thomas taught was to be a master, to achieve one’s own, regardless of the means. Dreamy and thoughtful Thomas, rejecting the established life rules, begins to search for his place in life.

In what works have we encountered the lessons of our fathers? What did they teach?

Pushkin A.S. " Captain's daughter" - “Take care of your honor from a young age", Gogol N.V. " Dead souls- “save a penny...”

Is Ignat's morality close to Thomas?

He listened and became more attentive. He protests (although the protest is still spontaneous).

Task for group 2.

Life lessons continue.

Who else had a strong influence on Thomas? Who tried in their own way

Turn Thomas? (godfather, Yakov Mayakin).

What did Yakov Mayakin teach his godson?

Complementing the scheme

“I will teach you, Thomas”

Ch. Ш, 1У, У, Х., chapter 4 pp. 76,78,80,90,93, chapter 5 pp. 93-94,95

How does the relationship between Yakov Mayakin and Foma Gordeev and at the same time the merchant life and activity of Foma end? Growing hostility between them.

Does Thomas accept the lessons of Jacob's life?

Rejects

Foma, as he said, wanted to be like a person. He felt a deep hostility towards Mayakin, because... does not accept his life principles.

He did not feel any joy either from money or from his activities.

At first there is an internal break, and after the meeting on the ship - a final, open break. He feels strong, capable of something

big.

4. What is the meaning for understanding

The ideological content of the story is the scene of the merchant party on the ship

Merchant Kononov?

What is the merchant class like? What are they teaching Thomas?

Did this bring satisfaction to Thomas?

a) Gorky paints more and more vividly pictures of how he “beats furiously”, how he “searches for

A person can do things, but little things knock him down.” Foma Gordeev -

A person who has entered into a struggle with his environment. Like in Gogolevsky

"The Inspector General" on the boat - the stage passes through images of all the colors of the city.

Foma's speech, as if on a screen, mutilates the essence of everyone.

b) – Read out the speech of Mayakin and Thomas (dramatization) ch. 13 pp. 229-233

c) (students’ answer)

d) – Thomas’s speech is accusatory, he tells the truth to everyone. Is it always

Is it pleasant to hear the truth? (No)

Thomas is contrasted with other merchants, these ignoble money collectors. He is superior to his own kind because he “protests” and “convicts,” and

does not follow the laws, their truth.

What do they teach?

to question 4

We read the ending of the story - a gala dinner in honor of the launching of Kononov's steamship Ilya Muromets. Before us is a whole gallery of images of merchants. The power of the city’s owners is not limited, they speak openly about their position, striving to be the first everywhere - Mayakin, Kononov, Shchurov, Gushchin, Bobrov, etc., and some even without a name or surname. I feel some kind of anxiety. And in front of these people, Thomas makes his accusatory speech. He is filled with contradictory feelings (to say which ones) Chapter 13. But the spilled truth does not bring relief to Thomas; it “crushed” the accuser. And instead of a moral victory, he now seemed like a stranger to himself and did not understand what he had done to these people and why. Merchants cannot understand him, because... They are possessed only by the thirst for profit by any means, acquisitiveness, and inertia. This is how they teach Thomas to be. He found himself alone. The merchants do not understand Thomas because their morality is Thomas. He does not find a single living soul capable of understanding him, giving him even a drop of love.

5. In the story, in addition to Foma, Gorky draws images of several other young

people who came from the same merchant environment, the same age as Thomas. Why does the author talk about Lyuba M., Afrikan Smolin, Nikolai Yezhov?

Are they trying to teach Thomas something?

How does Thomas’ character manifest itself in his interactions with different people?

(answer) Thomas strives to get as close as possible to people who cause him

he has a keen interest.

Stories about Thomas's peers.

They are all different, he is disappointed in all of them, feels their emptiness, but wants to see the truth in them. He is afraid that there is this truth, that there is something so unknown. Foma tries to understand why he lives, but does not find an answer. Gorky knew that there are values ​​in a person, the loss of which is the moral death of a person.

In communicating with different people. Thomas's character manifests itself in different ways. He

Disdainful of the poor, while stealing an apple, he first felt the power over people and the power of money. Oddities of character manifest themselves in many ways; he is dreamy and loves to engage in soul-searching. He is interested and curious in comparing the people he meets with himself. They are all trying to teach Thomas something, but he strives to live not according to orders, but is looking for “himself,” his place in life (remember the episode with himself).

Generalization. All these images are given to compare with the main character. Some of them have come to terms with the surrounding reality. Dissatisfaction with their life is a temporary phenomenon. They are more educated, but their predatory nature is covered up by expensive clothes and good external manners. But life principles, their philosophy remained the same.

Foma quickly realized the empty ringer and Emelya Yezhov that he was too far from the people about whom he constantly talks.

Only Thomas went completely against the wolf laws of his environment. Romantic ideas about life came across real life, the laws of which he cannot understand and explain, but does not want to live by them.

Angrily, as best he can, he protests against lies and hypocrisy, tries to find his place in life, his “I”, in order to feel like a man. He's trying

find people who live and think differently.

Unable to find such people, he pours wine on his suffering soul, sees no way out of the dead end of life, and has lost faith in everyone and everything.

Thus, Thomas replenishes the gallery of extra people.

Name them. Who are they?

(Mtsyri, Evgeny Onegin, Pechorin, Bazarov, etc.)

Suggest a possible future for Thomas, taking into account the historical process

This time.

When was the story written? What time is this?

1899

Conclusion: At the turn of the century, a hero like Thomas is not typical either as a merchant or as a representative of his class, he is only healthy person who wants free life, which is cramped within the framework of modernity. He never found his path, his “I”. At the turn of the century, there was no person who could help Thomas find his “I”; he was a like-minded person. Challenging his class, accusing it of the fact that there is no life for a living soul, choosing his own path, Thomas never found it (the path).

Did Gorky manage to show such a person?

Why?

(didn’t study, didn’t read, he didn’t do anything)

Did Thomas know what he lived for? What is it created for?

Here Yezhov and Smolin found their “I”; they did not have the same perception of life as Foma.

You, too, are now standing on the threshold of life, you must choose your path, your

The road of life. We shouldn't be like Thomas, we need to immediately put

A big, bright goal in life.

Homework:

1. Create a table diagram “ Image system heroes of the story in relation to

To the main character.

Appendix 1.

Life lessons?!

Father

“We need to teach you how to live...”

Mayakin

“I will teach you, Thomas.”

Merchants “...only we love

order and life..."

Medynskaya

"We are our lives

To your block

Must do..."

Classmates

You need to study..."

Yezhov

"You need to live

Always in love

Into anything

available to you."

Smolin

"You're a bad student."

“Stop it, darling! What

Are you crazy?

Development type: problem lesson in literature, group work (two groups).

Objective of the lesson:

The moral search for the meaning of life by the main character of Gorky's story

"Foma Gordeev";

Reflection of the historical situation in Gorky's story; paintings

Merchant life;

- “superfluous” people, their limitations and “stupidity”, “they pointed out what I

Shouldn't be...";

Develop an interest in research work and be able to do it yourself

Conclusions, generalizations, compare.

What have you done? No, you didn’t create life, but prison...

You did not create order - you forged chains for a person.

It’s stuffy, cramped, there’s nowhere for a living soul to turn.

A man is dying!

"Foma Gordeev"

No, I'll choose my own place.

"Foma Gordeev"

Revealing the topic of the lesson, proving the correctness of the chosen epigraphs,

determine the purpose of the lesson.

(Search for the meaning of life, your “I”, your place in it)

Gorky's story "Foma Gordeev" (1899) presents a broad picture of Russian life, a contemporary of which the author himself was. The writer is always

concerned with human needs. The most important thing is that the desire is close to him

to a full-blooded, happy life. Most heroes don't implement

this is an aspiration. This is perceived as a personality drama. A Hero's Striving

to a full-blooded life is embodied by Gorky in the story “Foma Gordeev”.

The hero protests against lies and hypocrisy, he is oppressed by a “crowded” life, he is looking for

he is capable of doing things, trying to find his way in life, his “I”. In the end

becomes an alcoholic and can very easily become an inhabitant of a flophouse similar to the one

which Gorky showed in the play “At the Lower Depths”

Each group conducted its own searches, drew conclusions on the story within the framework of the topic, and now you are given the right to defend your assignments.

Group 1 - Chapter 1 p.47-49(student of Kuznetsov)

Gorky begins his story with a story about Thomas’s father, Ignat Gordeev.

Why? What does this give us for understanding the image of the main character?

Tell us about him (about your father) (origin, social status, lifestyle,

Distinctive character traits) and about the mother.

What does Ignat Gordeev have in common with Dikiy and Kabanova from Ostrovsky’s play “The Thunderstorm”? What difference did you see?

The rebellious spirit of his parents was most evident in Thomas. The parents did not yet realize what was bothering them. What is happening around makes Thomas think about what place is destined for him in life, that is, what is his own “I” in life. The painful question about the meaning of life could have arisen before the father and mother if they had lived

They are at a different, later time.

Answer to question 2. Thomas’s father gave him his first life lessons. He often said to Foma: “We must teach you how to live.”

One day a dreamy boy got on a ship with his father, where in front of him

a new life unfolded. He looked at everything with wide eyes; it seemed to him that he was moving along a wide path into a wonderful land of fairy tales. About

He asked his father to everyone, and he explained it to him as best he could. One day a boy relayed a conversation between the pilot and the crew about his father. And Ignat then decided that it was time

teach my son life.

There was something clear and understandable in his father’s stories; Foma liked that his father

strong, dexterous. His heart beat strongly and hotly. Since then, he became more attentive to his surroundings, he felt everything keenly, everything that worried his soul aroused in him new vague sensations and desires. Co.

Foma treated everything seriously and thoughtfully. With his vague character, dreaminess, curiosity, and thoughtfulness, he resembled his mother. He felt something special in himself that distinguished him from his peers, but he also could not understand what it was? And he watched himself suspiciously. It influenced

on him, but did not clearly and definitely define his life path.

Already the first lessons of life force Thomas to think about his own purpose and evoke a desire to live not according to orders.

Who gives Thomas the first serious lessons in life?

Father

What was the science of life taught to Thomas by his father? Was the young man able to accept

Her?

Life lessons?!

Father

“We need to teach you”...You are their master, they are yours

live" servants, so you know..."

Several rules are read out, Each member of the group reads out

given by the father. according to 1 teaching chapter (2,3 pp.26,27,

(Student response) 29,30,37).

Generalization. The main thing that Father Thomas taught was to be a master, to achieve one’s own, regardless of the means. Dreamy and thoughtful Thomas, rejecting the established rules of life, begins to search for his place in life.

In what works have we encountered the lessons of our fathers? What did they teach?

“The Captain's Daughter” - “Take care of your honor from a young age”, “Dead Souls” - “save a penny...”.

Is Ignat's morality close to Thomas?

He listened and became more attentive. He protests (although the protest is still spontaneous).

Task for group 2.

Life lessons continue.

Who else had a strong influence on Thomas? Who tried in their own way

Turn Thomas? (godfather, Yakov Mayakin).

What did Yakov Mayakin teach his godson?

Complementing the scheme

“I will teach you, Thomas”

Ch. Ш, 1У, У, Х., chapter 4 pp. 76,78,80,90,93, chapter 5 pp. 93-94,95

How does the relationship between Yakov Mayakin and Foma Gordeev and at the same time the merchant life and activity of Foma end? Growing hostility between them.

Does Thomas accept the lessons of Jacob's life?

Rejects

Foma, as he said, wanted to be like a person. He felt a deep hostility towards Mayakin, because... does not accept his life principles.

He did not feel any joy either from money or from his activities.

At first there is an internal break, and after the meeting on the ship - a final, open break. He feels strong, capable of something

big.

4. What is the meaning for understanding

The ideological content of the story is the scene of the merchant party on the ship

Merchant Kononov?

What is the merchant class like? What are they teaching Thomas?

Did this bring satisfaction to Thomas?

a) Gorky paints more and more vividly pictures of how he “beats furiously”, how he “searches for

A person can do things, but little things knock him down.” Foma Gordeev -

A person who has entered into a struggle with his environment. Like in Gogolevsky

"The Inspector General" on the boat - the stage passes through images of all the colors of the city.

Foma's speech, as if on a screen, mutilates the essence of everyone.

b) – Read out the speech of Mayakin and Thomas (dramatization) ch. 13 pp. 229-233

c) (students’ answer)

d) – Thomas’s speech is accusatory, he tells the truth to everyone. Is it always

Is it pleasant to hear the truth? (No)

Thomas is contrasted with other merchants, these ignoble money collectors. He is superior to his own kind because he “protests” and “convicts,” and

does not follow the laws, their truth.

What do they teach?

to question 4

We read the ending of the story - a gala dinner in honor of the launching of Kononov's steamship Ilya Muromets. Before us is a whole gallery of images of merchants. The power of the city’s owners is not limited, they speak openly about their position, striving to be the first everywhere - Mayakin, Kononov, Shchurov, Gushchin, Bobrov, etc., and some even without a name or surname. I feel some kind of anxiety. And in front of these people, Thomas makes his accusatory speech. He is filled with contradictory feelings (to say which ones) Chapter 13. But the spilled truth does not bring relief to Thomas; it “crushed” the accuser. And instead of a moral victory, he now seemed like a stranger to himself and did not understand what he had done to these people and why. Merchants cannot understand him, because they are controlled only by the thirst for profit by any means, acquisitiveness, and inertia. This is how they teach Thomas to be. He found himself alone. The merchants do not understand Thomas because their morality is Thomas. He does not find a single living soul capable of understanding him, giving him even a drop of love.

5. In the story, in addition to Foma, Gorky draws images of several other young

people who came from the same merchant environment, the same age as Thomas. Why does the author talk about Afrikan Smolin and Nikolai Yezhov?

Are they trying to teach Thomas something?

How does Thomas' character manifest itself in his interactions with different people?

(answer) Thomas strives to get as close as possible to people who cause him

he has a keen interest.

Stories about Thomas's peers.

They are all different, he is disappointed in all of them, feels their emptiness, but wants to see the truth in them. He is afraid that there is this truth, that there is something so unknown. Foma tries to understand why he lives, but does not find an answer. Gorky knew that there are values ​​in a person, the loss of which is the moral death of a person.

In communicating with different people. Thomas's character manifests itself in different ways. He

Disdainful of the poor, while stealing an apple, he first felt the power over people and the power of money. Oddities of character manifest themselves in many ways; he is dreamy and loves to engage in soul-searching. He is interested and curious in comparing the people he meets with himself. They are all trying to teach Thomas something, but he strives to live not according to orders, but is looking for “himself,” his place in life (remember the episode with himself).

Generalization. All these images are given to compare with the main character. Some of them have come to terms with the surrounding reality. Dissatisfaction with their life is a temporary phenomenon. They are more educated, but their predatory nature is covered up by expensive clothes and good external manners. But the principles of life, their philosophy remained the same.

Foma quickly realized the empty ringer and Emelya Yezhov that he was too far from the people about whom he constantly talks.

Only Thomas went completely against the wolf laws of his environment. Romantic ideas about life collided with real life, the laws of which he cannot understand and explain, but he does not want to live by them.

Angrily, as best he can, he protests against lies and hypocrisy, tries to find his place in life, his “I”, in order to feel like a man. He's trying

find people who live and think differently.

Unable to find such people, he pours wine on his suffering soul, sees no way out of the dead end of life, and has lost faith in everyone and everything.

Thus, Thomas replenishes the gallery of extra people.

Name them. Who are they?

(Mtsyri, Evgeny Onegin, Pechorin, Bazarov, etc.)

Suggest a possible future for Thomas, taking into account the historical process

This time.

When was the story written? What time is this?

1899

Conclusion: At the turn of the century, a hero like Thomas is not typical either as a merchant or as a representative of his class, he is only a healthy person who wants a free life, who is cramped within the framework of modernity. He never found his path, his “I”. At the turn of the century, there was no person who could help Thomas find his “I”; he was a like-minded person. Challenging his class, accusing it of the fact that there is no life for a living soul, choosing his own path, Thomas never found it (the path).

Did Gorky manage to show such a person?

Why?

(didn’t study, didn’t read, he didn’t do anything)

Did Thomas know what he lived for? What is it created for?

Here Yezhov and Smolin found their “I”; they did not have the same perception of life as Foma.

You, too, are now standing on the threshold of life, you must choose your path, your

The road of life. We shouldn't be like Thomas, we need to immediately put

A big, bright goal in life.

Homework:

1. Make a table diagram “Image system of the heroes of the story in relation to

To the main character.

Appendix 1.

Life lessons?!

Collection of essays: “It is not the master of the matter, but the fierce enemy” (based on the novel “Foma Gordeev”)

Against everyone, against falsehood.

M. Gorky

Vividly, with irreconcilable hatred, he depicts the world of the “masters of life,” profit, dooming millions of people to poverty, hunger and lawlessness. But this world is already splitting from the inside, it is not monolithic, as its inhabitants would like.

In the novel "Foma Gordeev" Gorky shows the vices of society that are destroying the class of "masters" from the inside. This system is doomed, but it is still trying to maintain its former power and authority, clinging to every opportunity, neglecting all human principles. What is the reason for the degeneration of the “master” class? Gorky examines this problem in detail and shows it using the example of the Gordeev family.

Ignat Gordeev is the founder of the business. He started as a water-handler at the stock exchange of the rich man Zaev, and at the age of forty became the owner of three steamships. This is a powerful and controversial personality.

It was as if three people coexisted in him at once: frantic. and a worker greedy for any task; a “naughty” reveler and sinner, begging for God’s forgiveness. Ignat is able to calmly look at the destruction of his barges during an ice drift, throw a huge sum at the construction of a lodging house, go on a spree and drink away a huge amount of money. He is not greedy for it, reasoning philosophically: “Volga She gave and she also took away.” He understands that “a business is a living and strong beast, it must be managed skillfully.” Ignat is the owner who builds the business.

The long-awaited heir, Thomas, grows withdrawn and taciturn. Ignat sees in him a lot of strange things, unnecessary and superfluous for the “master of life.” Foma does not understand the benefits of teaching, does not want to read books, grows up as Ignat’s favorite and Uvalny. The premature death of his father stunned Foma, completely confused him and led him astray.

Godfather Mayakin’s speeches about the value of money do not inspire confidence in him. To a young man life is scary and hard. He sees no reliable support. Money is like a burden for him. He is ready to spend them aimlessly and meaninglessly. Mayakin says about him: “The man crashed.” There is no “core” or support in him.

Thomas stands “against everyone... against falsehood.” His protest is spontaneous, destructive, first of all for Thomas himself. He fights and brawls, breaks his own and other people’s barges; through his fault, innocent people working for him are killed and maimed.

Gorky shows that this protest does not carry any positive result, since behind the rough and dark force Thomas has no visible goal. He doesn't know what he wants, and that's the worst thing. Captain Efim says about him: “And it’s not the master of the matter, but a fierce enemy.”

The “master class” is surprisingly unanimous when it is threatened by trouble from outside. Defending the capital of Ignat Gordeev, the life’s work of a friend, Mayakin drives his son to “madness.” No one in this world is given the right to live independently. Money rules here. They are the God of this society. For their sake, these people - “pillars of society” - will commit any crime.

Foma turned out to be “superfluous” and was thrown out of the “society of businessmen” without any regret.

Gorky showed in the novel that protest, even the most sincere and ardent, becomes meaningless if there is no knowledge, real goals and a clear idea of ​​what you want to achieve behind it.

Reading the work leaves a bitter feeling of a young life wasted in vain, although you latently understand that thanks to such “madmen” this seemingly unshakable system was shaken and fell.

“Foma Gordeev” is a story about the growing bourgeoisie and how it gained strength. No wonder its ideologist Mayakin believes that life is becoming more interesting. Gorky's story, however, not only shows the rise of the Russian bourgeoisie. The main idea of ​​the story is how in this reality “an energetic, healthy person, looking for a job within his strength, looking for space for his energy, should struggle.”

The story creates a whole gallery of images of the “masters of life.”

Here is Anatoly Savvich Shchurov, a major timber merchant, one of the tycoons of the merchant world, about whom Mayakin says: “The cunning old devil... The reverend fox... will raise his eyes to the heavens, and put his paw in your bosom and pull out your wallet... Be careful!.. ”

But Yakov Mayakin himself is not inferior to anyone in cunning. This is a kind of ideologist of the merchants, a “brain man,” as the merchants called him. He teaches his godson Thomas his “philosophy”: “The merchant in the state is the first power, because with him are millions!” Therefore, he says, nobles and officials should step aside and give merchants room to use their strength and invest capital. Anatoly Shchurov is a representative of the old, wild, patriarchal merchant class. He is against innovation, against machines that make life easier, against freedom. “Freedom perishes a man!” - he prophesies angrily. Yakov Mayakin is also a representative of the old merchant class, but he knows how to adapt to any conditions. His son Taras and son-in-law Afrikan Smolin continue the work of their fathers, giving it a European gloss, acting more prudently, more soberly. They are eager for power and seek to transform industry in a European manner.

But already in the older generation, among those who founded the fortune, there were people who internally protested against the order of this world, although they could not resist the emerging economic relations. This is Ignat Gordeev - gifted and smart person from the people, greedy for life, “seized with an indomitable passion for work,” a former waterman, and now a rich man - the owner of three steamships and a dozen barges. “His life did not flow smoothly, along a straight channel, like other people like him, but every now and then, rebelliously boiling, rushed out of the rut, away from profit, the main goal of existence.”

His son Thomas cannot follow the path of hoarding and money-grubbing, he is instinctively drawn to beauty, does not want and does not know how to fake.

The world of possessive relationships is a “prison” for him: “... It’s stuffy for me... After all, is this really life? Is this how they live? My soul hurts! And that’s why it hurts because it’s not reconciled!” “You didn’t create life - a prison... You didn’t create order - you forged chains for a person... - Thomas says to the merchants. - It’s stuffy, cramped, there’s nowhere for a living soul to turn... A person is dying!.. You’re not building life - you’ve made a cesspool! You have created dirt and stuffiness with your deeds... You have ruined life! You’ve made everything difficult... you’re suffocating... you’re making me feel suffocated!”

Thomas is “a healthy person who wants freedom of life, who is cramped within the framework of modernity.” He stubbornly “breaks out” from the world of his masters, and in this Gorky sees an indicator of instability modern life, an indicator that the time will come to change it. Foma does not fully understand the structure of life, does not know the ways and methods of changing it, is far from the advanced intelligentsia and people, does not find common ground with them common language, although in my soul I am drawn to them. He thinks a lot about life, but he has no desire for knowledge and books (“... let the hungry study, I don’t need...”), a society of smart and educated people scares Foma away. He does not feel the desire to have friends. The world of property, which Thomas rejects, the merchant's way of life left their mark on him; he early learned “the condescending pity of the well-fed for the hungry.” At the end of the story, Thomas is defeated and humiliated; The Mayakin world triumphs over the rebel. Victory over a weak and confused person, but not over the reader, to whom Alexey Maksimovich Gorky revealed all the ugliness of the kingdom of the Shchurovs and Mayakins.