The image of Zakhar in the novel "Oblomov." Who is Zakhar in Goncharov's novel "Oblomov"

Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov created his work in 1859, just two years before the abolition of serfdom. One of the main is the image of Zakhar in the novel Oblomov. This type Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov devoted a separate essay entitled "Servants of the Old Age," in which the author recalls representatives of this class, whom he knew, people of old hardening who are hard at work in changing living conditions.

Zahar's literary pedigree

Zahar had his own literary ancestry. It comes from Pushkin's servant Savelich from the work "The Captain's Daughter". Despite the difference in the characters of these two persons (corrupted by St. Petersburg's life and the laziness of their master, Savelich and the eternal uncle, for whom Oblomov always remains an unreasonable little child, Zakhar), they are brought together by an affection-fidelity not only to their gentlemen, but also to the entire landlord clan .

Portrait of Zahar

The image of Zakhar in the novel "Oblomov" characterizes his portrait. Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov describes this servant in this way. This is an elderly man, wearing a gray frock coat and the same color with a vest of brass buttons, a bare skull, "like a log," and thick and wide brown sideburns with graying, each of which would be "three beards." The portrait of Zahar portraying the absurd and ridiculous appearance is supplemented by the author and a special voice: the hero or wheezes, or grumbles like a dog, but does not speak. The God-given voice, according to Zahar, he "lost on the hunt", when he went there with the old gentleman and when he felt as if a strong wind was blowing into his throat.

Servant of Zachar: Characteristic

Indifference to dirt, dust and rubbish distinguishes this person from other servant characters depicted in the domestic literature by various authors. Servant Zahar has on this account his philosophy, which does not allow him to fight with bugs and cockroaches, because they are invented by the Lord. When Ilya Ilyich cites as an example to him the family of a tuner who lives opposite, he answers with arguments in which his outstanding observation is felt. Zakhar says that the Germans do not have dirt because these "Oblomov" heroes are starving, and the coat passes from the father's shoulder to the son, so the family does not have a worn dress, a mountain lying in closets, as in the house of Ilya Ilyich.

This servant, for all its external looseness, is nevertheless quite assembled. So, the eternal habit of old-schooled servants does not allow him to squander the good old stuff - when the crook Tarantyev, fellow countryman Ilya Ilyich, asks that he lend a tailcoat for a while, Oblomov's servant Zakhar immediately refuses: he will receive nothing more until he returns the waistcoat and shirt. Ilya Ilyich is lost before his insistence.

Fidelity to Ilya Ilyich Oblomov

The image of Zakhar in the novel "Oblomov" can not be imagined without mentioning the most important trait of this hero - loyalty to Ilya Ilyich. Fidelity to his master's servant, following the long-forgotten foundations of his native Oblomovy are especially bright in the episode when Ilya Ilyich instructs Zakhar in the most effective and usual way - calling him "miserable words," in particular "a poisonous man." Servant in a moment of irritation allowed himself to compare Ilya Ilyich with others who move easily from one apartment to another and go abroad. This inspires Oblomov with a proud and formidable rebuke that it is impossible to compare him to someone else. Such an answer touches Zahar more than all the curses: he feels that he crossed some forbidden boundary when he compared his master to other people.

The seal of two epochs, reflected in the image of Zahar

It is not deprived of this servant and lacks, as well as other heroes of "Oblomov". Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov defines his hero with the term "knight with fear and reproach," which belonged simultaneously to two epochs, which imposed their character on this character. From one to him by inheritance passed beyond the bounds of devotion to Oblomovka, and from another, later - depravity of mores and refinement. Zahar likes to gossip with other servants in the yard, while often embellishing his master or exposing him as he never appeared, also refuses to drink with his friends. Do not mind this servant sometimes and pocket money - copper, medium-sized, but surely takes the change, left over from purchases. All the objects that Zakhar touches break, break, so to the beginning of the narrative there are very few whole things left in Oblomov's house, whether it's a cup or a chair. The servant serves this meal to the master, as a rule, while dropping that fork or loaf ...

Another trait, pointed out by Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov, is characteristic for the confusion of two different epochs: Zakhar was ready to die instead of his master, regarding it as his natural and inevitable duty, but when it was required to sit all night without closing the eyes of his bed, if from This depended on the health and even life of Ilya Ilyich, then this hero of the Oblomov's work would certainly fall asleep. The problems of the connection between the two eras, therefore, are also raised in this novel.

Unbreakable connection with Oblomovka

Over time, the indissoluble bond between Oblomov and his servant is manifested as the last two inhabitants and representatives of Oblomovka, which is just a beautiful dream, each of them in its own way stores in the soul the holy "old times" that shaped their relationships, characters, lives, conflicts . The problems raised in Oblomov's work are largely due to the fact that two worlds are opposed - the sleepy world of the native Oblomovka and prosaic objective reality. Even when Zakhar in the middle of the novel unexpectedly marries the cook Anissya, much more clean, skilful and dexterous than he, this servant tries as far as possible not to let her to Oblomov, himself performing the usual duties without which he can not imagine his life.

Connection with Oblomov

The existence of Zahar actually ends with the death of the master, after which his life turns into a bitter and unnecessary vegetation. Soon after the death of Ilya Ilyich, Zakhar's wife, Anisya, died, and Agafya Matveyevna Pshenitsyna, Oblomov's wife, failed to keep Zakhar in the house with a stern "brother." She only occasionally feeds him and gives a little warm clothes for the winter.

The image of Zakhar in the novel "Oblomov" is fully revealed in the final scene of the work. In the finals, Andrew Stolz, a friend of Ilya Ilyich, meets Zakhar, an almost blind, beggarly old man begging for alms near the church. But the offer of this hero to go to the village does not seduce him: he can not leave Ilya Ilyich's grave without supervision, because only beside her he finds peace.