Among the secondary characters of the Golden Calf , one of the most colorful figures is the homegrown philosopher Vasisualiy Andreevich Lokhankin. This hero of the work is immediately remembered by the reader, not only due to the comic events that happen in his life, but also by his manner of speaking, as well as his penchant for useless discussions about the fate of the Russian intelligentsia, to which he included himself as representatives.
Character story
Vasisualiy Lokhankin as a character first appears in other works of Ilf and Petrov, namely in several novels from the cycle about the inhabitants of the city of Kolokolamsk , which were published in the magazine “Miracle”, published in Moscow in the late twenties and early thirties of the twentieth century. After the release of several stories, the publication was suspended, since the highly social content was not to the liking of officials from Soviet censorship.
In these works people were depicted, each of whom possessed a whole set of vices, such as laziness and envy. Nevertheless, they all unconditionally followed existing laws and always complied with government regulations. Such stories were often found in works that were published in print in the early years of Soviet power. However, censorship soon increased significantly.
Caricature of a Soviet intellectual
The chapters in which Vasisualiy Lokhankin appears in the novel “The Golden Calf ” by Ilf and Petrov tell of the inhabitants of a communal apartment, which is popularly called the “crow's crow”. Vasisualiy Andreevich rents a room in this apartment with his wife Varvara, who is the only money-maker in their family. He himself doesn’t work anywhere, but only deals with what he discusses about the fate of the Russian intelligentsia, the consequences of the October Revolution and other philosophical topics.
When Varvara is going to leave him and go to her lover, engineer Ptiburdukov, Vasisualy Andreevich goes on a hunger strike. He defiantly lies on the couch, sprinkles poems in the amount of a five-foot iamba and reproaches Varvara for ruthlessly leaving him to the mercy of fate. The poetic works of Vasisualiy Lokhankin gained immense popularity. Quotations from them are often found in modern literature. These lines became winged, along with the works of the poet Lyapis Trubetskoy from another novel by Ilf and Petrov (The Twelve Chairs). These two characters, two representatives, so to speak, of the creative intelligentsia differ from each other in that Lyapis writes his works in pursuit of selfish goals, he imagines himself a professional poet. While Vasisualiy Lokhankin expresses himself with a five-footed iamba, sometimes without even noticing it.
This feature of speech is part of his nature. The image of this hero of the novel by Ilf and Petrov is distinguished by its comic nature. Writers created a cartoon on a typical representative of the Russian intelligentsia of those years .
Of course, the features of some representatives of this stratum of society , such as the tendency to empty reasoning, as well as the inability to sometimes commit any decisive actions, are presented in the description of this character in an exaggerated form. Poems Vasisualia Lokhankina - another artistic tool for creating the image of aesthetic idler.
Family drama
The barbarian is demolished by the actions of Lokhankin . She relents and decides to wait at least two weeks with her move to engineer Ptiburdukov . During her subsequent stay with her husband, Varvara listens to long tirades every day about the fate of the Russian intelligentsia and how inhuman and cruel she herself is. Vasisualiy Lokhankin is already rubbing his hands happily in the hope that if things go on like this, then engineer Ptiburdukov will not see his dearest wife.
But one morning, Barbara wakes up from the sounds of champing. It was Vasisualiy Andreyevich in the kitchen, wielding his bare hands, took out a large piece of meat from the borsch she cooked and greedily devours it. She could not forgive such an act to her spouse even in the happiest and most cloudless days of their life together. And at the moment, this incident led to the immediate departure of Barbara.
The unfortunate Vasisualiy Andreevich, despite his deep feelings, still does not lose his sobriety of the mind and even with some enterprise, which, it would seem, is atypical for his creative nature, decides to improve his financial situation. After the departure of his wife, who was the only working person in their family, he gives an advertisement in one of the city newspapers about renting the room to a lonely intelligent bachelor.
Execution
The language of the text of this announcement was somewhat peculiar, since each word in it was reduced to reduce the number of printed characters. After Vasisualiy gave this note to the newspaper, he indulged in his grief. At this moment, one of the most comic episodes of the entire novel took place . Absorbed by grief, Lokhankin constantly forgot to put out the light after visiting the restroom. Thrifty residents repeatedly warned him.
Vasisualy Andreevich every time promised to change, but this did not happen. An insignificant light bulb was not part of his interests. He could not even imagine that the dim light in the restroom could greatly affect someone's interests. Finally, the inhabitants of Voronya Sloboda decided to take extreme measures. One fine day, the highland prince in his former, pre-revolutionary life, and at that time - an East working citizen Gigienishvili called Lokhankin to the so-called friendly court, where he was sentenced, and the homegrown philosopher was flogged with rods.
Bender's Appearance
At that very moment, Ostap Bender appeared in Voronoi Slobodka, who came to Vasisual Andreevich by announcement. He, as always, promised timely payment for services and the next day moved into the apartment.
After a fire broke out in Voronya Slobodka and the apartment was completely burned out, homeless Vasisualiy Andreevich Lokhankin turned for help to his former wife and her roommate, engineer Ptiburdukov , who were so compassionate that they immediately sheltered the poor sufferer.
Adaptations
The plot about this Golden Calf character and his relationship with his wife was not included in the final version of the film adaptation of the novel by director Mikhail Schweitzer . However, the cut-out passage has been preserved. These frames with Anatoly Papanov in the role of an abandoned spouse, if desired, can be viewed on the Internet . Georgy Danelia made the short film Vasisualiy Lokhankin ten years earlier, where Evgeny Evstigneev played the main role.