(347 words) The main place in the work of Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is devoted to the theme of the people. During the author’s life, Russia was ruled by landowners and officials, who were like the heroes of Dead Souls. Therefore, the writer portrayed joyless scenes of the survival of serfs. Noble landowners mercilessly use their labor, sometimes treating them like slaves: they buy and sell like their property, sometimes separating them from their families.
Observing the scam of the main character of the poem, Chichikov, it immediately becomes clear in what sad state the Russian peasantry arrives. The estates of the landowners are replaced one after another, but the general picture of the sad state of the serf peasantry is the same: a low standard of living, a terrifying percentage of dying, neglected stages of illness, a constant lack of food and all-consuming poverty. Someone, like Manilov, simply does not care about the condition of people, letting their lives go by their own accord. Someone, like Sobakevich, keeps them in a tight brid, building up capital. Someone, like the Box, keeps everything in exemplary order, but does not understand the needs and aspirations of the peasant, using it only as a working cattle. Someone like Nozdrev recklessly rolls over and scatters all the results of peasant labor overnight. And someone like Plyushkin brings faithful servants to starvation with his greed.
However, in the soul of the serfs there is a thirst for freedom. When bondage becomes an overwhelming burden, they flee from their "slave owners." Only now, flight rarely ends in liberation. Nikolai Vasilievich reveals the typical life of a runaway person: without work, without a passport, in most cases - in prison. Although Popov, who worked as a yard man for Plyushkin, chose a prison instead of labor for his master, such a choice can be described as throwing between two evils, of which the lesser is chosen.
The country under the rule of rude and ruthless gentlemen gave birth to uneducated Uncle Miny and the yard Pelagia, who did not understand which side was on the right, on which - on the left. However, before us is revealed the power of the Russian man, infringed, but not torn to pieces by serfdom. It is all in such people as the brave Stepan Cork, gifted by Mikheev, and simply in the hard-working and energetic Russian people who do not lose heart in any, even the most difficult situations.
In the image of feudal serfdom, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol revealed Russia not only as a landowner-official, but also a people’s country, with its gifted and strong population. He showed his confidence in the bright future of the homeland if its support - the peasantry - rose from its knees.
