The best writers of all time have asked themselves and their readers about why people live in the world. To be or not to be is a philosophical question. The meaning of life for each person is different. One is enough prosperity and prosperity, another give peace and will, the third carefully monitors their own health, believing that it is most important.
Alexei Maksimovich Peshkov wondered about the purpose of existence in almost all of his works. His characters go their own way in different ways, among them there are egoists who think only of their own good, and those who are ready to devote themselves to serving bright ideals. Contrasting the philosophy of sacrifice with the way of thinking of an opportunist, the writer denotes his own position. Renunciation of one's own material interests in the name of a brighter future is the meaning of life according to Gorky.
The meaning of the life of the old woman Isergil
Three storylines are interwoven into the story “Old Woman Isergil”. The main character happened to live a difficult life, in which there was a place and happiness, and grief. The men who, by the will of fate, left a mark on her fate, are very different, but she also recklessly and generously gave what she owned - her love, not sparing her, to a young man like an oriental flower and an arrogant Polish duelist. Has she wondered what the meaning of life is? According to the bitter story of the old woman about the tragic fate of Danko, we can conclude that the thoughts about the purpose of human life were not alien to her. At the same time, talking about Larra, she without any conviction sets out the concept of a carefree and comfortable life. To each his own!
Petrel and already
A similar ideological confrontation is also manifested in the dialogue of the “wise” snake with the petrel. Freedom - that is the meaning of life according to Gorky. It can be defined as the will to do what one wants, the whole question is what the slave wants and what the true citizen wants. The layman, captive of his own small goals, is simply not able to understand the high heroic aspirations, he does not like the feeling of free flight, especially if he ends with an awkward fall from a height, albeit small. I like warm and raw comfort, familiar and comfortable. High emotional intensity elevates this fable to the rank of a true parable with an almost biblical plot.
Meaning of mother’s life
The idea of serving high ideals is also dominant in the novel Mother. In this work, the interpretation of human relations is not as schematic as in The Song of the Petrel. The narrative is complicated by the understanding of simple human feelings experienced by an ordinary woman who raised a son obsessed with class struggle. Like any mother, she wants her child to be happy, and she is very afraid for Paul, who is not afraid of anything. A revolutionary is ready to step over any obstacle without thinking about the consequences, seeing only an obscure and distant goal. And mother is always on the side of her son.
Was the petrel of the revolution happy?
So what is the meaning of life in Gorky? Is it only in the service of lofty ideals, or are more mundane, universal human issues important to him? By declaring Maxim Gorky the main proletarian writer, the Soviet leadership of the thirties hoped to tame the "petrel of revolution" and reduce his complex, ambiguous work to a simplified scheme, in which there is only room for heroes, enemies and philistines, the "wavering swamp" to be eradicated. But the world is much more complex and diverse than the formula “who is not with us is against us” ... But from school, the children were inspired with the idea that the meaning of life according to Gorky consists in a continuous struggle.
Happiness is the main goal of every person, and everyone has his own. Gorky's characters almost never experience him, they suffer. Did the great writer himself become a happy man , despite all the honors that showered him with power? Unlikely.