In 1835, N.V. Gogol wrote the first story from the Mirgorod series entitled Old World Landowners. Its main characters were two spouses who owned a large farm and lived in perfect harmony for many years. This work tells about the touching mutual concern of the characters, while ironizing over their limitations. We give here a brief summary. “Old-world landowners” is a story that still causes mixed emotions of readers.
Meet the protagonists
In one of the remote villages in Little Russia live the old people of Tovstoguby: Pulkheria Ivanovna, a serious-looking troublemaker, and Afanasy Ivanovich, a lover of joking about his mistress. They own a rather large farm. Their life is quiet and calm. Everyone who visits this blessed corner is amazed at how all the unrest of the raging world ceases to dominate the minds and souls of people here. It seems that this short lordly house, drowning in greenery, lives some kind of its own special life. For days, supplies are prepared in it, jam and liquors, jelly and pastille are boiled, mushrooms are dried.
The household of the old people was mercilessly robbed of the clerk and lackeys. Yard girls regularly climbed into the closet and ate all kinds of dishes there. But the local fertile land produced everything in such quantities that the owners did not notice theft at all. Kind and simple-minded portrayed the main characters Gogol. The "Old World Landowners", a brief summary of which is given here, is an ironic tale of old people whose whole purpose of life was eating fungi and dried fish and constant care for each other.
Mutual affection of the elderly
Afanasy Petrovich and Pulkheria Ivanovna do not have children. They turned all their unspent tenderness and warmth on each other.
Once upon a time, our hero served as a companion, then became a second major. He married Pulcheria Ivanovna when he was thirty years old. Rumor had it that he had very cleverly taken her away from disgruntled relatives in order to get married. All my life these lovely people have lived soul to soul. From the side it was very interesting to watch how they touchingly addressed each other to “you”. Feel the charm of a serene and calm life of the main characters of the story will help you its brief content. “Old World Landowners” is a story of deep cordial affection and concern for loved ones.
The hospitality of the old world rulers
These old men loved to eat. As soon as morning came, creaking doors sang in every way in the house. Girls in striped underwear ran around the kitchen and cooked all kinds of dishes. Pulcheria Ivanovna walked everywhere, controlling and disposing, ringing her keys, constantly opening and closing the numerous locks of barns and closets. The hosts breakfast always started with coffee, followed by shortcakes with lard, pies with poppy seeds, salted mushrooms, a glass of vodka with dried fish and mushrooms for Afanasy Ivanovich and so on. And how hospitable these lovely and kind old people were! If a person had to stay with them, he was treated hourly with the best dishes of home cooking. The hosts listened with attention and pleasure to the stories of wanderers. They seemed to live for guests.
If suddenly a man passing by and visiting the old people in the late evening suddenly was going on the road, then they with all the fervor began to persuade him to stay and spend the night with them. And the guest always stayed. The reward was a rich, aromatic dinner, warm, warming and at the same time lulling the story of the owners of the house, a warm soft bed. Such were these old-world landowners. A very brief content of this story will allow you to understand the author’s intention and make an idea of the lifestyle of these quiet, kind inhabitants of the house.
The death of Pulcheria Ivanovna
The life of lovely old people was serene. It seemed that it would always be so. However, soon one incident happened with the mistress of the house, which had tragic consequences for the spouses. Pulcheria Ivanovna had a little white cat, about whom the kind old woman took great care. Once she disappeared: local cats lured. Three days later, the runaway showed up. The hostess immediately ordered to give her milk and tried to caress the animal. But the kitty was wild, and when Pulcheria Ivanovna extended her hand to her, the ungrateful creature rushed out the window and ran away. No one else saw the cat. From that day on, the dear old woman became bored and thoughtful. To her husband's questions about her well-being, she replied that she foresaw an imminent death. All attempts by Afanasy Ivanovich to cheer up his wife ended in failure. Pulcheria Ivanovna kept asserting that it was apparently her death that came in the form of her cat. She convinced herself of this so much that she soon fell down and after some time really died.
But this does not end his story Gogol. "Old World Landowners" (a brief summary is given here) is a work with a tragic ending. Let's see what further awaits the orphaned landlord?
Solitude Afanasy Ivanovich
The deceased was washed, ritualized in the dress she had prepared herself and laid in a coffin. Afanasy Ivanovich looked at all this blankly, as if it had not happened to him. The poor fellow could not recover from such a blow and believe that his dear beloved little wife was no more. Only when the grave was razed to the ground, he burst forward and said: “So they buried? Why?" After that, loneliness and longing with his head covered a once merry old man. Coming from the cemetery, he sobbed loudly in the room of Pulcheria Ivanovna. Yards began to worry about how he would not do something with himself. At first they hid knives and all sharp objects from him, with which he could injure himself. But soon they calmed down and stopped following the owner of the house on the heels. And he immediately took out a gun and shot himself in the head. He was found with a crushed skull. The wound was not fatal. They called the doctor, who put the old man on his feet. But as soon as the domestic people calmed down and again ceased to follow Athanasius Ivanovich, he threw himself under the wheels of the crew. His arm and leg were injured, but he again survived. Soon he was already seen in the crowded hall of the entertainment institution playing cards. Behind the back of his chair stood smiling his young wife. All these were attempts to drown the tormenting anguish and sorrow. You can feel all the hopelessness that has mastered the main character of the story, even after reading its brief content. "Old World Landowners" is a work of unlimited tenderness and affection of people who have lived together all their lives.
Sad ending
Five years after the events described, the author returned to this farm to visit the owner of the house. What did he see here? In a once rich household, desolation reigns. The huts of the peasants almost fell apart, while they themselves drank themselves and were mostly on the run. The fence near the manor house almost fell. Everywhere there was a lack of a master's hand. And now the owner of the house was almost unrecognizable: he was stooped and walked, barely moving his legs.
Everything in the house reminded him of the caring hostess who had left him. Often he sat lost in thought. And at such moments hot tears flowed down his cheeks. Soon, Athanasius Ivanovich was gone. Moreover, his death has something in common with the death of Pulcheria Ivanovna herself. Once, on a summer sunny day, he walked through the garden. Suddenly he thought that someone called him by name. Having convinced himself that he was the deceased wife adored by him, Afanasy Ivanovich began to dry, grow weak and soon died. He was buried next to his wife. After that, a distant relative of the elderly arrived at the estate and began to "raise" the fallen economy. For several months it was launched in the wind. Such is the summary of the story "Old World Landowners." The finale of the work is sad. The era of serenity is irrevocably a thing of the past.
We met one of the stories of V. N. Gogol. Here is a summary of it. "Old-world landowners" - one of the beloved by the public works of the great classic for many decades.