“Taras Bulba” is a small work by Gogol, certainly one of the most vivid impressions of the school curriculum in literature. What is it about and why was it included in the program?
On the one hand, this is surprising, because it seems that this is not a children's work at all. Indeed, what is it about? It is about how two sons came to one of the Cossacks of the Don Cossacks. He collects them and is lucky to introduce his comrades to the camp.
“Under the army” the young have fun in a very reprehensible way by today's standards, and then the Cossacks start a military campaign just to “stretch themselves out”. They besiege the city for no apparent reason, and senseless bloodshed is committed.
Here is the outline of a work that is recommended for reading to all students. The question is what is there to read. What is the characteristic of Taras Bulba? Is it positive or negative? None of those who thoughtfully read this work will turn their tongue to say that this is a negative hero. But then what attracts him? After all, he is very eccentric, rude, and also killed his own son! How true and complete is this brief description of Taras Bulba ?
There are probably in it some very attractive character traits that outweigh all of the above and even make me call it all the influence of the era. Of course, Taras Bulba is a hero. The characterization of Taras Bulba is impossible without mention of his love for the Motherland and for God. This love is expressed very specifically, but it is a whole, sincere feeling. It is devoid of any accounts and thoughts about the benefits of its or its sons.
Speaking of sons. If you can still talk about Taras Bulba with warmth, admire the integrity of his nature, similar in some way to the first Christian martyrs, then the attitude towards Andrei, it seems, has fundamentally changed in recent years. Here we have the two sons of Taras: the rude elder - Ostap and the more sophisticated younger - Andrei. From the very beginning, the heart of the modern reader lies more with the younger son. Ostap’s characterization in the Taras Bulba novel is not very attractive. And Andrei is smarter, trickier, mentally thinner and, moreover, in love.
But during the campaign, it was Andrei who committed the betrayal. Is it excusable? I think that, unfortunately, opinions will be divided. The concept of betrayal has somehow leveled out recently. It is understandable and even understandable, but not excusable.
What has changed in the minds of our contemporaries, that the characterization of Taras Bulba is ready to become negative for us, and the traitor Andrei is almost a hero? Where the concepts of honor, dignity, decency have gone from our consciousness. Why did the value of human life come first? And how correct is this?
I foresee the surprise of readers. “Of course, human life is the most important and most valuable,” they will say. But then why is there something worth giving it away for?
While “Taras Bulba” is in school curricula, while the characterization of Taras Bulba is being discussed, while children are still talking about it, not everything is lost for Russian morality.