Quoted description of the image of the bow in the play by Maxim Gorky at the bottom. Essay “Luka Luka about himself at the bottom”

Luka is one of the main characters in Maxim Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”, an ambiguous character, an elderly wanderer who unexpectedly appeared in a shelter. He has a wealth of life experience and is on a mission to console frustrated people. Almost all the people in the shelter are disappointed for various reasons and find themselves at the bottom of their lives. Some people's dreams have collapsed, some have become poor and impoverished, some are sad about the irrevocably past past. In order to somehow help these poor people, Luke resorts to “comforting lies.” So, for example, he tells the dying Anna that happiness awaits her in the next world. He tells the prostitute Nastya, who assures that there was sincere love in her life, that this was most likely the case. Pepel persuades the thief Vaska to go to Siberia, because there he can earn an honest living. And the drunken Actor convinces him that there is a free clinic in which he will be completely cured.

He explains his pity for people by the fact that he himself once felt sorry for the robbers, as a result of which he saved both them and himself. He also tells the guests a parable “about the righteous land,” in which one person believed in its existence, but there was no such land on the scientist’s map. The poor man took it out of grief and hanged himself. This parable will later be repeated with the Actor. Luka disappeared as suddenly as he appeared, right during the conflict between Kostylev and Vaska Ash.

A notable phenomenon of Russian literature at the beginning of the 20th century was Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths”. What explained its exceptional success? A strong impression on the viewer was made by the combination of an extremely realistic depiction of people who have reached the last degree of squalor, despair and lawlessness, with the glorification of Man and his truth. For the first time, an unprecedented world of thieves, tramps, cheaters, that is, people who had sunk to the “bottom” of life, appeared before the eyes of the public. And in it, as in an overturned mirror, was reflected the world from which these people were overthrown. M. Gorky's play was imbued with a protest against the social unrest of capitalist society and a passionate call for a just and peaceful life. “Freedom at any cost is its spiritual essence,” this is how K. S. Stanislavsky defined the idea of ​​the play, who staged it on the stage of the Moscow Art Theater.

The gloomy life of the Kostylevo doss house is depicted by Gorky as the embodiment of social evil. The fate of the inhabitants of the “bottom” is a formidable indictment against an unjust social system. The people living in this cave-like basement are victims of an ugly and cruel order, in which a person ceases to be a person, turning into a powerless creature, doomed to drag out a miserable existence. The inhabitants of the “bottom” are thrown out of normal life due to the wolf laws that reign in society. Man is left to his own devices. If he stumbles, gets out of line, then he faces inevitable moral, and often physical death. Lack of faith in justice forced Satin to take revenge on the scoundrel who killed his sister. This revenge brought him to prison, which determined his future fate. Bubnov is forced to leave home, leaving the workshop to his wife and her lover, since he did not hope for protection from representatives of the law. Of course, the people who find themselves in the Kostylevo shelter are not ideal at all. They make mistakes, do stupid things, but they do not deserve to be thrown to the bottom of life by society without providing any support. Vaska Pepel, the son of a thief, born in prison, is doomed to follow in the footsteps of his parent, because no other path has been ordered for him. The hard work and perseverance of Kleshch, who did not want to accept the fate of a homeless shelter, did not help him rise from the “bottom” of life.

Turning to depicting the life of the urban lower classes, the playwright touched upon a pressing problem of our time: what is the way out of this situation, what is the salvation of the people of the “bottom”? According to Gorky himself, the main question of the play

Which is better: truth or compassion? Will the passive-compassionate humanism of a comforting lie be healing for the inhabitants of the shelter? Its bearer, pitying and comforting people, is the wanderer Luke in the play. He sincerely sympathizes with the victims of life, humiliated and insulted people, selflessly strives to alleviate their suffering and help them. He promises the dying Anna life in paradise after death, where she will rest from earthly suffering. The old man advises Ash and Natasha to start a new life in the golden country of Siberia. He tells the actor about a free hospital for alcoholics, the address of which he has forgotten, but will definitely remember, giving this drunken person hope of returning to his former life.

Luke's position is the idea of ​​compassion for man, the idea of ​​a "sublime deception" that allows a person to bear the burden of "low truths" encountered on his thorny path. Luke himself formulates his position. Turning to Ash, he says: “...why do you really need it? Think about it, maybe it’s just for you.” Then he talks about the “righteous land.” Luke, without returning her, knows that she is gone. He is too short-sighted to see this land that Satine foresees. Luke is ready to welcome any idea if it can console a person, alleviate his suffering even for a minute. He does not think about the consequences of a lie that will sooner or later be revealed. Trying to protect a person, Luka at the same time does not believe in him, for him all people are insignificant, weak, pathetic, in need of consolation: “I don’t care! I respect swindlers too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: they’re all black, everyone is jumping."

Thus, the main feature of Luke's ideology is the feature of slavery. And here Luka echoes Kostylev, the philosophy of patience - with the philosophy of oppression, the point of view of a slave

From the owner's point of view. Gorky puts this thought into Satin’s mouth: “Whoever is weak at heart and who lives on other people’s juices needs a lie... Some people are supported by it, others hide behind it... But whoever is his own master, who is independent and does not take what belongs to others, why should he lie?" Luke's humanism is based on passive compassion, which, while bringing momentary relief, deepens the gap between a person's dream of happiness and his real hopeless situation. The Actor, who learned that the old man had lied and that there was no hospital, which means there was no hope for the future, could not bear this breakup. There is only one way out - suicide. Instead of the happy life in Siberia that Luke promised Ash, he ends up in hard labor for the murder of Kostylev. This means that Luke’s comforting lie only worsens the situation of the outcasts.

Luke’s lies lead the night shelters into a world of illusions, which deprives them of their last strength to fight social evil, social injustice, because of which Kostylev’s night shelters exist. Luke's antipode Satin verbally refutes the philosophy of comforting lies: “Lies are the religion of slaves and masters,” “Truth is the god of a free man.” He believes in a person, in his ability to withstand the truth, no matter how bitter it may be. “Man is the truth,” says the hero. Unlike Luke, Satin is demanding of people and believes that a person can do anything, since everything depends on his deeds and ideas. He does not need to be consoled by lies born of pity. To feel sorry for a person means to humiliate him by disbelief in his ability to achieve his happiness, it means to seek support in all types of deception and lies that will replace the missing will to live. Under the dark and gloomy arches of the shelter, among the pitiful, unfortunate, homeless tramps, words about Man, about his calling, strength and beauty sound like a solemn hymn. "Man - this is the truth! Everything is in man, everything is for man! Only man exists, everything else is the work of his hands and brain! Man! This is magnificent! It sounds... proud!"

Man himself is the creator of his own destiny, hidden within him are the forces with the help of which he is able to overcome the most severe hardships, the treachery of fate, the injustice of the world, his own mistakes and the social ills of society. Pity and compassion are wonderful qualities that are very necessary for all of us, but only a truthful, adequate understanding of one’s mistakes and capabilities can give a person a chance to overcome his evil lot and become truly free and happy.

Luke is perhaps the most complex character in the play. It is with this that the main philosophical question of the work is connected. Which is better: truth or compassion? Is it necessary to take compassion to the point of using lies, like Luke? This wanderer is the only bearer of the idea of ​​compassion in the play. He realizes: there are “people” and there are “humans”. The weak (“people”) need support: in hope, in faith, in the strength of another. For faith and hope are the most powerful incentive for all human actions. Anna Luka is trying to ease the pain of leaving this life; he instills hope in Actor and Ashes that they can change their lives for the better. But, on the other hand, after the disappearance of the old man, the hope people have found turns out to be not only an illusion, but also turns into its complete opposite, which leads the heroes to disaster. People with a strong spirit (“people”), those who find support in themselves, do not need either pity or soothing lies. They create their own destiny, their own happiness and their own misfortune. Thus, Luke's philosophy includes Christian long-suffering, sensitivity to the suffering of others, and sober realism. But the main thing is that it is addressed to the good in the soul of every person. This goodness awakens in him the desire to become better.

Satin is an exponent of a different life position: “Everything is in a person, everything is for a person! Only man exists; everything else is the work of his hands and his brain.”

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Gorky's play “At the Lower Depths” made a huge impression on the public at the beginning of the 20th century. The world of people who had sunk to the last degree of squalor at the very “bottom” of life was exposed without embellishment, into a world of cheaters, prostitutes and killers of thieves of various stripes. Maxim Gorky imbued the play “At the Lower Depths” with a protest against the social foundations of capitalist society and a call for a calm, equal and fair life.

Getting to the topic “Luka: Characteristics” (“At the Bottom”), it should be noted that people living in the cheapest shelter, reminiscent of a dark and dirty basement, became ugly victims of the cruel and unfair orders of society, when a person, thrown out of normal life, begins to live in wolf laws and turns into a powerless and pitiful creature.

Luke: characteristics

“At the Bottom” is a play that brings together several different characters. One of the residents of the shelter is old man Luka, who became the most ambiguous and contradictory hero of the play. It is with him that the main philosophical question of this work is connected: “What is better - compassion and “sublime and comforting lies” or truth?” Is it necessary to be so imbued with compassion that you then use lies as a saving tool?

"People" and "people"

Delving deeper into the topic of “Luka: Characteristics” (“At the Bottom”), it can be noted that it is this hero who becomes the only person who truly sympathizes with the inhabitants of the shelter. He notes that there are “people” and there are “humans”. “People” are by nature very weak and weak-willed, they constantly need the support and strength of another, and for them faith and hope can serve as a powerful incentive. “People” are, on the contrary, strong-willed people. These are those who do not need pity, compassion, or soothing lies. This is exactly what Hero Satin is, who believes that a person, first of all, must be respected, and pity only humiliates him, although Satin himself is a big cheater who deliberately lives by lies and deception.

The play "At the Bottom". Luke

Luke tells Tick's dying wife Anna that she should not be afraid of death, and that she will soon be happy in Heaven with God. He gives the actor hope for a city where alcoholics are treated for free, although he forgot the name of the city, but promised to remember.

In the play “At the Bottom,” Luka is affectionate, kind and merciful to everyone. He doesn’t say much about himself, he only jokes that he “was crushed a lot, that’s why he’s soft.” He has no good or bad people, he finds something good and bright in everyone, and he consoles and instructs everyone. He tells the prostitute Nastya that if you believe that you had true love, then you had it.

In the play “At the Bottom,” Luka advises the thief Ash and Natasha to go to Siberia for a free life, where it will be much easier for them to start all over again.

The unfortunate residents of the shelter had no choice but to believe his words, which, although they sounded implausible, gave faith, like rays of sunshine in pitch darkness.

A white lie or a bitter one, but really?

Luke in the play “At the Bottom” with his philosophy in some way calls for Christian humility, patience and sensitivity to others. He says to one of the heroes: “What is the truth to you?” After all, it can become like a blow to your head.

The goodness that this hero carries within himself awakens in a sheltered person, even a doomed one, the desire to live and be better. But when the old man disappears, the whole life of many people in this damned place will collapse.

In conclusion to the topic “Luke: Characteristics” (“At the Bottom”), it should be noted that there is no definite answer to this eternal question, but Gorky himself believes that truth is better than compassion. The author himself expresses complete confidence that only truth and a correct understanding of the significance of human compassion will help save humanity.

Maxim Gorky's play "At the Depths", written in 1902 and then staged at the Moscow Art Theater, was a phenomenal success. For the first time, real tramps appeared on stage (one of them was, in the recent past, the famous author of the play), in contrast to the romanticized tramps of Gorky’s early romantic stories about “former people.” However, keen interest in the play was caused not only by the topicality of problems about society’s responsibility for the lives of the disadvantaged, but also by the relevance of the philosophical questions posed by Gorky, the main one of which is what is truth, does a person need it, what is a person and in the name of what he lives.

The dramaturgical plot of the play rests on a dispute about the truth, and not on a traditional love affair. All elements of the play's cross-cutting action are connected with the image of Luke, with his philosophy and behavior in life, reflecting his views: the plot of the action is the appearance of Luke in the rooming house, who immediately becomes the center of attention of the rooming houses; The development of the action is determined by the influence that Luke’s personality, behavior and statements have on the lives of the inhabitants of the shelter. Luke awakens the feelings and consciousness of tramps, revealing their true essence. The climax is the attempt of the heroes of the play to change their lives, to fulfill the dream awakened by Luka, who made him believe in the possibility of its fulfillment (“You believe,” he inspires). The denouement - the collapse of all illusions - is connected with the disappearance of Luka and the ongoing dispute about his personality and the role he played in the lives of the inhabitants of the shelter and, more broadly, about the truth that people need.

Luka is an old wanderer, the only one of the inhabitants of the shelter about whose past we know almost nothing. Where he leaves the shelter in the fourth act is also unknown. But his stay in the shelter left a deep mark on the souls of the tramps.

Together with Luka, kindness and affection enter the shelter. He resembles Tolstoy’s Platon Karataev, as “something kind, Russian, round”: the same melodious speech, gentle words of greeting (“Good health, honest people”), from which the inhabitants of the “cave-like basement” have long been unaccustomed where from morning to night you can hear screams, curses, fights and even murders (“One day they will kill you,” says the Actor to Satin. “You fool, you can’t kill twice,” exclaims Satin calmly, that is, habitually); proverbs and sayings that abound in Luke’s speech are organically woven into the speech of the wise old man and reflect the people’s view of life (“For an old man, where it’s warm, there’s a homeland,” “not a single flea is bad: they’re all black, they all jump”). It exudes coziness and homeliness, something homeless people have long lost the habit of. No wonder Natasha immediately responds to his affection and lovingly calls him grandfather (“Go there, grandfather.”) Luka immediately wins people over because his words are wise and his sympathy is not offensive: “Ehe-he! I’ll look at you, brothers, - your life - oh!”

Compassionate for others, he never seeks to arouse sympathy for himself; Having experienced a lot in his long-suffering life (“They suffered a lot, that’s why he is soft,” he will say only once), he did not harden, did not become angry, but became softer, kinder, more humane, and this is a sign of a great soul and nobility.

Luka knows how to maintain dignity and stand up for himself (which is very much valued by people humiliated by life) not with shouting and abuse, but with the calm wisdom of a person who has lived and experienced a lot. When the Baron, out of preserved lordly habit, begins to interrogate him (“You have a passport!”), Luka immediately puts him in his place:

The confused Baron replies:

Well, what's there? I'm... kidding, old man! Brother, I don’t have any papers myself... That is, I have papers... but they are no good.

And Luke tactfully helps him get out of an awkward situation:

They, the pieces of paper, are all like that... they are all no good.

Luka knows how to understand every person at first sight, react kindly to a conflict situation, settle a quarrel, and prevent a fight. So, all morning the night shelters were quarreling because no one wanted to sweep the floor: the Baron forces the Actor, the Actor forces Nastya, Kvashnya forces the Actor again, and the Actor’s “body is poisoned with alcohol”, it is harmful for him to “breathe dust”; as a result, the owner Vasilisa threatens to “kick everyone out of the shelter.”

Luka (“Well, at least I’ll sweep the broom here. Where’s your broom?”) swept the floor, brought the sick Anna into the room, helped her get to the bed (“... is it really possible to abandon a person like that? He, whatever he is, is always worth the price." Luka caressed the terminally ill Anna - and her soul felt lighter: “I look at you... you look like my father... like my father... just as affectionate... soft.” Deprived of love and compassion, both Anna and Natasha recognized Luke as a loved one - “grandfather”, “father”.

Luka has the talent to listen to every person with sympathy and understanding, to feel sorry for and console: “Oh, you girl! Tired? Nothing! Be patient a little longer,” he addresses the terminally ill Anna.

His kindness is active, active: he prevents the owner of the shelter Kostylev from fighting with Ash, although he does this not without slyness (Luka - slyness): he slowly climbs onto the stove and at the right moment reveals himself.

The inhabitants of the shelter open their souls to the kind old man: Satin, Baron, Nastya - they all confess to him - their need for sympathy and compassion is so great, because they have lost faith in themselves, in the ability to change their lives for the better. (“Actor: no talent,... no self-confidence...).

Throughout the entire play, Luke repeats that only love or pity can save people (in the popular understanding, “to love” and “to pity” are synonyms): “To love - you must love the living ... the living”; “We don’t feel sorry for the living... we can’t feel sorry for ourselves... where is this” “Girl, someone needs to be kind... we need to feel sorry for people! Christ had compassion on everyone and commanded us to do so.” Only love and kindness can save people from anger and violence. To prove that he is right, Luke cites an incident from his life.

At night, thieves broke into the dacha he was guarding. Instead of fighting and murder (thieves with an ax, a watchman with a gun), Luke punished them in a fatherly way, forcing each other to flog each other, and then fed the escaped convicts and left them until spring. “Good men! If I didn’t feel sorry for them, they might have killed me... or something else...” “And then - a trial, and a prison, and Siberia... what’s the point? Prison will not teach you goodness, but a person will teach you... yes, a person can teach you goodness... very simply!” Luke convinces us that man is good by nature (the exception is people like the Kostylevs, whom Luke compares to “disadvantage,” that is, to the soil on which nothing will be born), but the circumstances of life make people evil. Luke’s rightness is also confirmed by the fact that, having got to the bottom of the matter, he revealed the bright core of every person. It turns out that Nastya dreams of pure, selfless love, and life forces her to sell her body; Ash would like to work honestly, but it is written in his blood to be a thief (“Vaska is a thief, a thief’s son”). The actor would like to return to the stage - but there are no hospitals for alcoholics. However, life, unfortunately, makes one doubt Luka’s unconditional rightness , which claims that love and mercy will eradicate evil.

Having learned everyone's deepest desires, Luka tries to convince his interlocutors of the possibility of making their dreams come true. He inspired Ash and Natasha with the idea of ​​​​the possibility of starting a new, working, honest life in Siberia; supported Nastya’s faith in her “fatal love”; comforting the Actor, he makes him believe in the existence of a hospital for alcoholics. Luke resorts to deception to instill in people hope that their lives will change for the better, offering everyone an option that is possible for them. And even to the dying Anna he promises a heavenly life in the afterlife: “You die with joy, without anxiety...”

People believed Luke, believed in themselves, perked up - and they began to have faith and hope. The actor stopped drinking, started working and collecting money for the trip to the hospital with “marble stairs”; dreams of becoming an actor again, remembers his sonorous surname - Sverchkov-Zavolzhsky, long-forgotten lines from plays and poems come to mind. Ash begins to gather for Siberia, persistently persuades Natasha to run away with him, convincing her of his love. Nastya lives with the joyful faith that, although in the past, she had love. However, the fate of the people who believed Luka turned out to be tragic: Nastya was about to leave the shelter (“Oh, everything disgusted me…”); Ashes ended up in prison, Natasha was crippled by Vasilisa. And the Actor puts the final point in the drama of people who have lost faith: “In a vacant lot... there... The Actor... hanged himself!”

All the heroes agree that Luke is to blame for the death of the Actor, who gave people false hope. Luke, on the other hand, considers his position to be the only correct one, and in support of this he tells a parable about the righteous land, with which he tries to convince the night shelters of the need for “white lies,” contrasting his point of view with the wingless truth of Bubnov and Baron, “which falls like a stone on the wings.” Luke talks about an old man who lived with faith in the existence of a “righteous land” - and was happy. When the scientist proved to him that the “righteous land” does not exist, he hanged himself. According to Luke, the scientist is to blame for destroying the old man’s faith. But another interpretation of this parable is also possible. After all, living in a world of illusions, a person sooner or later discovers self-deception, which often leads to tragic consequences.

Satin’s last remark in the play to the Actor who committed suicide suggests the same thoughts:

Eh... ruined the song... fool

Was he a “fool” because he believed Luke, or because he turned out to be weak after learning the truth? Or maybe Satin is also to blame, convincing him that Luka is deceiving him, seducing him into drinking, undermining his weak strength?

Is it possible to lie out of love for people, why do people so easily succumb to self-deception, and what tragic consequences does this belief in the non-existent lead to - a question that humanity has been trying to resolve for thousands of years. The actor recites Bérenger’s poems about “madmen”, who armed humanity with the radiant dream of socialism, which was called utopian, i.e. unrealistic:

Gentlemen, if the holy world cannot find the way to truth,
Honor to the madman who will bring a golden dream to Humanity.

The fourth act of the play is an ongoing dispute about the truth after the disappearance of the undocumented tramp Luka from the flophouse. (“Disappeared from the police”). Luke's position is justified by some, condemned by others. Kleshch says: “He didn’t like the truth, old man... that’s how it should be!” And without her we can’t breathe.”

Satin, while defending the old man (“he lied... but it was out of pity for you”), at the same time condemns lies out of compassion, out of pity for people: “Pity humiliates a person.” What did Satin really want to say? What humiliates a person - pity or lies? Maybe it's a lie after all? Lies are needed by hopelessly ill people, and therefore by very weak people who do not find the strength to overcome life’s circumstances. And about whether it is necessary to feel sorry for a person, to love him, to be merciful to him, the night shelters themselves said best of all, remembering Luka with a kind word:

“He was a good old man!” (Nastya);
“He was compassionate...” (Mite);
“The old man was good... he had law in his soul!..”;
“Do not offend a person - that is the law” (Tatar).

Satin noticed Luke’s words about the need for self-respect and respect for people, consonant with his thoughts about a proud man: “The old man lives from himself... He looks at everything with his own eyes. One day I asked him: “Grandfather, why do people live!” - And - people live for the best, dear! Because every person must be respected... Especially children must be respected... children!

Gorky himself had an ambivalent attitude towards the image of Luka he created, since he endowed him with his own traits that were characteristic of him both as a person and as a writer. He put his thoughts on the problem of what is better - the ruthless truth of a fact or a “white lie” in the fairy tale-parable “About the Siskin Who Lied, and About the Woodpecker, a Lover of Truth.” He was tormented by the question whether his call in romantic works to heroism in the name of freedom and happiness was not a deception.

The artists who embodied the image of Luke on stage most often emphasized the best human traits of Luke, his kindness, mercy, and desire to actively help people believe in themselves. And if kindness and mercy do not triumph in life, then aren’t the people themselves to blame for this because they have not found the strength to resist life’s circumstances? But if even such a strong person as Satin has lost hope of getting out of the “bottom,” then, obviously, the main culprit remains the state, the inhumane social system.

During their school years, many probably had the opportunity to become acquainted with the work of the respected Russian writer Maxim Gorky - the play “At the Lower Depths,” which without embellishment describes to all of us the familiar archetypes of people living in Russian realities.

Despite the fact that more than a century has passed since the publication of the drama, the situations that it touches on remain relevant today.

In this article we will analyze in detail the image of the character Luke from this play, get acquainted with his statements and talk about the attitude of other heroes of the work towards him.

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Where did the wanderer come from?

doesn't reveal the secret Luke's origins, only fleetingly speaks of his wandering life. The wanderer has neither a homeland nor any specific place of residence. He himself talks about it this way: "To the old man – Where it’s warm, there’s homeland.”

The residents of the shelter are also not interested in the old man’s past; they are preoccupied with their problems and attempts "go out into the public", and not drag out an existence “at the bottom” for the rest of your life.

Character Characteristics Analysis

Luke appears before us in the form a kind-hearted old man, preaching goodness, love, pity and the will of man to create his life as his heart dictates.

The hero really emanates an aura of peacefulness and understanding, which, of course, endears him to the characters in the play, making them believe that the future is not hopeless and there is a chance to improve their social situation, fulfill their dreams and desires.

To everyone who, willy-nilly, ended up in a shelter, Luka selects the right words, gives everyone hope and encourages them to believe in their dreams, no matter how funny they may seem to themselves and others.

But no matter how sweet and comforting the stranger’s words sounded, they were only empty sounds, distracting homeless people from everyday troubles, and not real support that gives strength to get out of poverty and ignominy.

Nevertheless, Luka is not a liar, he just sincerely feels sorry for those around him and encourages them, even if it is absolutely meaningless and useless.

Luke's relationship with other characters in the play "At the Lower Depths"

The characters relate to the old man in two ways:

• alone ( thief Vaska Ash, Actor, Anna, Nastya, Natasha) with relief they tell him about their life, confess and receive in response the necessary pity, sympathy and soothing statements;
• other ( card cap Bubnov, Satin, Baron, Klesch) do not trust a stranger too much and talk to him briefly and skeptically.

One thing is certain - no one remained indifferent to the appearance of such an extraordinary personality in such a dirty and doomed place.

After the sudden disappearance of the wanderer, the fate of some characters changed dramatically. The locksmith Kleshch's wife, Anna, died of tuberculosis, the Actor could not come to terms with the hopelessness of his life and hanged himself, Vaska Ash went to hard labor in Siberia because of an accidental murder, his dreams of an honest life with Natasha came to an end. The remaining heroes continued to while away their time in the shelter, but at the same time started to think about the meaning of one’s existence, one’s actions and the problems of others.

Parable of the Righteous Land

Luke's parable tells us about a man who endured all the hardships and suffering of earthly life, believing that there is a righteous land, where people live in excellent relationships, help each other and never lie. One day he went to a local scientist he knew and asked him to show the righteous land on a geographical map. He tried to find what he was looking for, but could not. Then the man got angry, hit the scientist, and then went home and hanged himself.

This parable seems to have predetermined the fatal fate of several characters - the death of Anna and the Actor, the imprisonment of the thief Vaska. They believed that their own righteous land would be found for them, that it was possible to get out of the bottom, poverty, but this did not happen. Luke soon left, and with him the hope that warmed the characters in the play went away.

Quotes

The play "At the Bottom" is rich thoughtful phrases and the statements of the characters, but, perhaps, the most significant of them are the words of Elder Luke.

Here are a few of his quotes that everyone who has read Gorky’s play “At the Lower Depths” should analyze and reflect on:

“And everyone is people! No matter how you pretend, no matter how you wobble, if you were born a man, you will die a man...”

"I don't care! I respect swindlers too, in my opinion, not a single flea is bad: all are black, all jump..."

“You, girl, don’t be offended... nothing! Where is it, where are we supposed to feel sorry for the dead? Eh, honey! We don’t feel sorry for the living... we can’t feel sorry for ourselves... where is it!”

“So, you’ll die, and you’ll be at peace... you won’t need anything else, and there’s nothing to be afraid of!”

“...it’s not the word that matters, but why the word is said? - that's the problem!"

Bottom line

Maxim Gorky's image of the wanderer Luke turned out to be very multifaceted and reflective main philosophical questions about life, love, principles and priorities of a person.

And not only Luke - all the characters in one way or another reflect those who we meet in real life.

The writer managed to reflect in his work entertaining philosophical and psychological ideas:

All of the above is important for a correct understanding of the work and simply situations happening to people around us, it teaches us to sympathize and correctly set life priorities.