I. S. Turgenev spent his childhood in the Oryol region. A nobleman by birth, who received an excellent secular upbringing and education, he early witnessed the unfair treatment of the common people. Throughout his life, the writer was distinguished by his interest in the Russian way of life and sympathy for the peasants.

In 1846, Turgenev spent several summer and autumn months in his native estate Spasskoye-Lutovinovo. He often went hunting, and on long hikes around the surrounding area, fate brought him together with people of different classes and wealth. The result of observations of the life of the local population were stories that appeared in 1847-1851 in the Sovremennik magazine. A year later, the author combined them into one book, called “Notes of a Hunter.” These included a story written in 1848 with the unusual title “Biryuk”.

The narration is told on behalf of Pyotr Petrovich, the hunter who unites all the stories in the cycle. At first glance, the plot is quite simple. The narrator, returning from a hunt one day, gets caught in the rain. He meets a forester who offers to wait out the bad weather in his hut. So Pyotr Petrovich becomes a witness to the difficult life of a new acquaintance and his children. Foma Kuzmich leads a secluded life. The peasants living in the area do not like and are even afraid of the formidable forester, and because of his unsociability they gave him the nickname Biryuk.

The summary of the story can be continued with an unexpected incident for the hunter. When the rain subsided a little, the sound of an ax was heard in the forest. Biryuk and the narrator go to the sound, where they find a peasant who has decided to steal, even in such bad weather, clearly not from a good life. He tries to pity the forester with persuasion, talks about hard life and hopelessness, but he remains adamant. Their conversation continues in the hut, where the desperate man suddenly raises his voice and begins to blame the owner for all the peasant’s troubles. In the end, the latter cannot stand it and releases the offender. Gradually, as the scene unfolds, Biryuk reveals himself to the narrator and the reader.

Appearance and behavior of a forester

Biryuk was well built, tall and broad-shouldered. His black-bearded face looked both stern and masculine; brown eyes looked boldly from under wide eyebrows.

All actions and behavior expressed determination and inaccessibility. His nickname was no coincidence. In the southern regions of Russia, this word is used to describe a lone wolf, which Turgenev knew well. Biryuk in the story is an unsociable, stern person. This is exactly how he was perceived by the peasants, whom he always inspired fear. Biryuk himself explained his steadfastness by a conscientious attitude to work: “you don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.” He was in the same difficult situation as most of the people, but he was not used to complaining and relying on anyone.

The hut and family of Foma Kuzmich

Getting to know his home makes a painful impression. It was one room, low, empty and smoky. There was no sense of a woman's hand in her: the mistress ran away with a tradesman, leaving her husband two children. A tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, and a pile of rags lay on the floor. The hut smelled of cooled smoke, making it difficult to breathe. Even the torch burned sadly and then went out, then flared up again. The only thing the owner could offer the guest was bread; he had nothing else. Biryuk, who brought fear to everyone, lived so sadly and in a beggarly manner.

The story continues with a description of his children, which completes the bleak picture. In the middle of the hut hung a cradle with a baby, rocked by a girl of about twelve with timid movements and a sad face - their mother had left them in the care of her father. The narrator’s “heart ached” from what he saw: it’s not easy to enter a peasant’s hut!

Heroes of the story “Biryuk” in the forest theft scene

Foma reveals himself in a new way during a conversation with a desperate man. The latter’s appearance speaks eloquently of the hopelessness and complete poverty in which he lived: dressed in rags, a disheveled beard, a worn-out face, incredible thinness throughout his body. The intruder cut down the tree carefully, apparently hoping that in bad weather the likelihood of being caught was not so great.

Having been caught stealing the master's forest, he first begs the forester to let him go and calls him Foma Kuzmich. However, the more the hope that he will be released fades, the angrier and harsher the words begin to sound. The peasant sees before him a murderer and a beast, deliberately humiliating a man.

I. Turgenev introduces a completely unpredictable ending to the story. Biryuk suddenly grabs the offender by the sash and pushes him out the door. One can guess what was going on in his soul during the entire scene: compassion and pity come into conflict with a sense of duty and responsibility for the assigned task. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Foma knew from his own experience how hard a peasant’s life was. To Pyotr Petrovich’s surprise, he just waves his hand.

Description of nature in the story

Turgenev has always been famous as a master of landscape sketches. They are also present in the work “Biryuk”.

The story begins with a description of an ever-increasing and growing thunderstorm. And then, completely unexpectedly for Pyotr Petrovich, Foma Kuzmich appears from the forest, dark and wet, and feels at home here. He easily pulls the frightened horse from its place and, remaining calm, leads it to the hut. Turgenev's landscape is a reflection of the essence of the main character: Biryuk leads a life as gloomy and gloomy as this forest in bad weather.

The summary of the work needs to be supplemented with one more point. When the sky begins to clear a little, there is hope that the rain will soon end. Like this scene, the reader suddenly discovers that the unapproachable Biryuk is capable of good deeds and simple human sympathy. However, this “just a little” remains - an unbearable life has made the hero the way the local peasants see him. And this cannot be changed overnight and at the request of a few people. Both the narrator and the readers come to such gloomy thoughts.

The meaning of the story

The series “Notes of a Hunter” includes works that reveal the image of ordinary peasants in different ways. In some stories, the author draws attention to their spiritual breadth and wealth, in others he shows how talented they can be, in others he describes their meager life... Thus, different sides of a man’s character are revealed.

The lack of rights and miserable existence of the Russian people in the era of serfdom is the main theme of the story “Biryuk”. And this is the main merit of Turgenev the writer - to attract public attention to the tragic situation of the main breadwinner of the entire Russian land.

The story “Biryuk” by I. S. Turgenev was written in 1847 and was included in the writer’s series of works about the life, traditions and way of life of the Russian people “Notes of a Hunter”. The story belongs to the literary movement of realism. In “Biryuk” the author described his memories of the life of peasants in the Oryol province.

Main characters

Biryuk (Foma Kuzmich)- a forester, a stern-looking man.

Narrator- master, the story is narrated on his behalf.

Other characters

Man- a poor man who was cutting down trees in the forest and was caught by Biryuk.

Julitta- Biryuk’s twelve-year-old daughter.

The narrator was driving alone from hunting in the evening, on treadmills. There were eight miles left to his house, but a strong thunderstorm unexpectedly caught him in the forest. The narrator decides to wait out the bad weather under a wide bush, and soon, with the flash of lightning, he sees a tall figure - as it turned out, it was the local forester. He took the narrator to his house - “a small hut in the middle of a vast yard, surrounded by fences.” The door was opened for them by “a girl of about twelve, in a shirt, belted with a hem” - the daughter of the forester, Ulita.

The forester’s hut “consisted of one room,” a tattered sheepskin coat hung on the wall, a torch was burning on the table, and “in the very middle” of the house there was a cradle hanging.

The forester himself “was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built,” with a black curly beard, wide fused eyebrows and brown eyes. His name was Thomas, nicknamed Biryuk. The narrator was surprised to meet the forester, as he had heard from friends that “all the surrounding men were afraid of him like fire.” He regularly guarded the forest goods, not allowing even a bundle of brushwood to be taken out of the forest. It was impossible to bribe Biryuk.

Foma said that his wife ran away with a passing tradesman, leaving the forester alone with two children. Biryuk had nothing to treat the guest with - there was only bread in the house.

When the rain stopped, Biryuk said that he would see the narrator out. Coming out of the house, Foma heard the distant sound of an ax. The forester was afraid that he would miss the thief, so the narrator agreed to walk to the place where the forest was being cut down, although he did not hear anything. At the end of the path, Biryuk asked to wait, and he went on. Through the noise of the wind, the narrator heard Thomas' cry and the sounds of a struggle. The narrator rushed there and saw Biryuk near a fallen tree, who was tying a man with a sash.

The narrator asked to let the thief go, promising to pay for the tree, but Biryuk, without answering anything, took the man to his hut. It started to rain again, and they had to wait out the bad weather. The narrator decided “to free the poor man at all costs” - by the light of the lantern he could see “his wasted, wrinkled face, drooping yellow eyebrows, restless eyes, thin limbs.”

The man began to ask Biryuk to free him. The forester gloomily objected that in their settlement everything was “a thief upon a thief” and, not paying attention to the thief’s plaintive requests, ordered him to sit quietly. Suddenly the man straightened up, blushed and began to scold Thomas, calling him “an Asian, a bloodsucker, a beast, a murderer.” Biryuk grabbed the man by the shoulder. The narrator already wanted to protect the poor man, but Foma, to his amazement, “with one turn he tore the sash from the man’s elbows, grabbed him by the collar, pulled his hat over his eyes, opened the door and pushed him out,” shouting after him to get the hell out .

The narrator understands that Biryuk is actually a “nice fellow.” Half an hour later they said goodbye at the edge of the forest.

Conclusion

In the story “Biryuk” Turgenev portrayed an ambiguous character - forester Foma Kuzmich, whose personality is fully revealed only towards the end of the work. It is with this hero that the main conflict of the story is connected - the conflict between public duty and humanity, which occurs within Biryuk himself. Despite the outward severity and integrity of Foma Kuzmich, who closely protects the forest entrusted to him, in his soul he is a kind, sympathetic person - a “nice fellow.”

A brief retelling of “Biryuk” will be useful to familiarize yourself with the plot of the story; for a better understanding of the work, we recommend reading it in its entirety.

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One of the types of “good” men is depicted in the story “Biryuk”. He lives in a poor hut with two children - his wife ran away with some tradesman. He serves as a forester and they say about him that he “will not let bundles of firewood be dragged away... and nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money - he does not take any bait.” He is gloomy and silent; to the author’s questions, he sternly replies: “I’m doing my job—I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing.” Despite this outward severity, he is a very compassionate and kind person at heart. Usually, having caught a man in the forest, he only abuses him, and then, taking pity, he lets him go in peace. The author of the story witnesses the following scene: Biryuk releases the man he caught in the forest, realizing that only extreme need forced this poor man to decide to steal. At the same time, he does not show off at all with his noble deeds - he is rather embarrassed that a stranger witnessed this scene. He is one of those people who at first glance do not stand out, but are suddenly capable of doing something out of the ordinary, after which they again become the same ordinary people.

His majestic posture - tall stature, powerful shoulders, stern and courageous face, wide eyebrows and boldly looking small brown eyes - everything about him revealed an extraordinary person. Biryuk performed his duties as a forester so conscientiously that everyone said about him: “he won’t let a bundle of brushwood be dragged away... And nothing can take it: neither wine, nor money; there’s no bait.” Stern in appearance, Biryuk had a gentle, kind heart. If he catches a man in the forest who has cut down a tree, he will punish him so much that he will threaten not to give up his horse, and the matter will usually end with him taking pity on the thief and letting him go. Biryuk loves to do a good deed, he also loves to fulfill his duties conscientiously, but he will not shout about it at all crossroads, and will not show off about it.

Biryuk’s stern honesty does not stem from any speculative principles: he is a simple man. But his deeply direct nature made him understand how to fulfill the responsibility he had taken upon himself. “I’m fulfilling my duty,” he says gloomily, “I don’t have to eat the master’s bread for nothing...” Biryuk is a good person, although rude in appearance. He lives alone in the forest, in a hut “smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions,” with two children, abandoned by his wife, who ran away with a passing tradesman; It must have been family grief that made him gloomy. He is a forester, and they say about him that “he won’t let a bundle of brushwood be dragged away... and nothing can take him: neither wine, nor money, nor any kind of bait.” The author had the opportunity to witness how this incorruptibly honest man released a thief he had caught in the forest, a man who had cut down a tree - he let him go because he felt with his honest and generous heart the hopeless grief of a poor man who, out of despair, decided on a dangerous task. The author perfectly depicts in this scene all the horror of poverty to which the peasant sometimes reaches.

The work was completed by a student of class 7 “B” Balashov Alexander

The main character of the story is I.S. Turgenev's "Biryuk" is the forester Foma. Foma is a very interesting and unusual person. With what admiration and pride the author describes his hero: “He was tall, broad-shouldered and beautifully built. His powerful muscles bulged out from under the wet manner of his shirt.” Biryuk had a “manly face” and “small brown eyes” that “looked boldly from under fused wide eyebrows.”

The author is struck by the wretchedness of the forester’s hut, which consisted of “one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors ...”, everything here speaks of a miserable existence - both “a tattered sheepskin coat on the wall” and “a pile of rags in the corner; two large pots that stood near the stove...” Turgenev himself sums up the description: “I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter a peasant’s hut at night.”

The forester's wife ran away with a passing tradesman and abandoned two children; maybe that’s why the forester was so stern and silent. Foma was nicknamed Biryuk, that is, a gloomy and lonely man, by the surrounding men, who feared him like fire. They said that he was “strong and dexterous like a devil…”, “he won’t let you drag fagots of brushwood” out of the forest, “no matter what time it is... he’ll come out of the blue” and don’t expect mercy. Biryuk is a “master of his craft” who cannot be conquered by anything, “neither wine nor money.” However, despite all his sorrows and troubles, Biryuk retained kindness and mercy in his heart. He secretly sympathized with his “wards”, but work is work, and the demand for the stolen goods will first of all be from himself. But this does not prevent him from doing good deeds, releasing the most desperate ones without punishment, but only with a fair amount of intimidation.

Biryuk’s tragedy stemmed from the understanding that it was not the good life that drove peasants to steal forests. Often feelings of pity and compassion prevail over his integrity. So, in the story, Biryuk caught a man chopping down a forest. He was dressed in tattered rags, all wet, with a disheveled beard. The man asked to let him go or at least give him the horse, because there were children at home and there was nothing to feed them. In response to all the persuasion, the forester kept repeating one thing: “Don’t go stealing.” In the end, Foma Kuzmich grabbed the thief by the collar and pushed him out the door, saying: “Get to hell with your horse.” With these rude words, he seems to cover up his generous act. So the forester constantly oscillates between principles and a sense of compassion. The author wants to show that this gloomy, unsociable person actually has a kind, generous heart.

Describing a forced people, destitute and oppressed, Turgenev especially emphasizes that even in such conditions he was able to preserve his living soul, the ability to empathize and respond with his whole being to kindness and kindness. Even this life does not kill humanity in people - that is what is most important.

Characteristics of the hero

Biryuk is a solid, but tragic personality. His tragedy is that he has his own views on life, but sometimes he has to sacrifice them. The work shows that most peasants of the mid-19th century treated theft as something ordinary: “You won’t let a bundle of brushwood be stolen from the forest,” the man said, as if he had every right to steal brushwood from the forest. Of course, some social problems played a major role in the development of such a worldview: the insecurity of the peasants, lack of education and immorality. Biryuk is not like them. He himself lives in deep poverty: “Biryuk’s hut consisted of one room, smoky, low and empty, without floors or partitions,” but he does not steal (if he had stolen timber, he could have afforded a white hut) and is trying to wean him from this from others: “But don’t go stealing anyway.” He clearly understands that if everyone steals, it will only get worse. Confident that he is right, he firmly steps towards his own goal.

However, his confidence is sometimes undermined. For example, in the case described in the essay, when human feelings of pity and compassion compete with life principles. After all, if a person is truly in need and has no other way, he often resorts to stealing out of hopelessness. Foma Kuzmich (the forester) had the hardest fate of vacillating between feelings and principles all his life.

The essay “Biryuk” has many artistic merits. These include picturesque pictures of nature, an inimitable narration style, the originality of the characters and much, much more. Ivan Sergeevich's contribution to Russian literature is priceless. His collection “Notes of a Hunter” ranks among the masterpieces of Russian literature. And the problems raised in the work are relevant to this day.