Epochs change, making their own adjustments to philosophical and economic concepts. Classic literature has its own peculiarity - it is always relevant. Is Chichikov an acquirer or an entrepreneur? The character, who came from the pen of N.V. Gogol, has been going through more than one century: he changes his appearance, becomes more cunning, but even among his contemporaries of the 21st century it is easy to meet him.

Acquirer or entrepreneur

One sentence from the hero of the novel caused controversy among many generations: who he is - an acquirer or an entrepreneur. Chichikov says: “...they buy everything.” The character himself admits: he is an acquirer. Some readers try to find the traits of an entrepreneur in him. It is important here to understand the relationship to two economic concepts. The purchaser is any person. The meaning of life is to acquire something, to increase your wealth. There are many positives in acquisitions. The main thing is to keep the line between acquisition and greed, honest work and immorality. A new item that has appeared for personal use is encouraging. The entrepreneur tries to resell it, find a profit, makes the purchased product work and generate income.

Chichikov buys dead souls. He bought them, but has no plans to sell them. The benefit of the acquisition is an increase in social status. He wants to stand on the same level as rich landowners. His desire is to create around himself the image of a successful, strong official. It is difficult to even imagine how “dead souls” can be further used other than the goal that Pavel Ivanovich set for himself. This will be a paper register of the peasants belonging to him. The landowner will be able to feel equal to others.

Entrepreneur Traits

Therefore, there is no need to argue with the author. Chichikov is an acquirer, but still there is something in him of enterprising businessmen, swindlers and deceivers. With this reasoning, the concept of entrepreneur is viewed from a negative perspective. In reality this is true. Entrepreneurs are different in their activities. Some make profits for the benefit of an entire group of the population, others are based on deception and work only for personal enrichment. What traits are inherent in Chichikov?

• Resourcefulness: from the secretary’s phrase: “... one died, another is born, but everything is good for business”, he managed to create a whole system for improving his social position.
• Determination: Pavel Ivanovich strives to solve the assigned problem. He moves from one landowner to another without giving up his idea.
• The ability to find the right line of behavior. Chichikov talks to each landowner in his own way. He finds the manner of trading that results in a purchase.
• Efficiency. Chichikov does not resort to arguments or emotional pressure. A man, observing business ethics, moves towards his goal.

It’s interesting how base desires and interests emerge from a positive trait.

The businessman is a chameleon

Human activities must be consistent with moral standards and rights. By pleasing people, Pavel Ivanovich truly reveals himself as a skilled entrepreneur. He easily gets out of sticky situations. He disappears from the city in time, having completed his work. Chichikov becomes the personification of enterprising businessmen who hide under the guise of piety. They look for “dead souls”, find an opportunity to deceive, profit, sometimes without understanding the results of their work: grief, ruin, poverty. Chichikov has a whole complex of negative traits. He's a cheat. Only a cunning person can come up with adventures unimaginable for a normal person, one of which is the purchase of “dead souls.” He's a scoundrel. There are so many dark thoughts in the soul and in deeds that they can be kept by a fraudster for whom human life has no value.

Everyone has their own attitude towards entrepreneurs. Many images of swindlers have been created in classical literature, but Gogol’s Chichikov remains in a special place. One cannot deny his entrepreneurial spirit, but one must recognize the correctness of the author’s position. The information will help you write an essay “Chichikov – entrepreneur or acquirer” and justify your opinion.

Work test

Almost everyone at school read Gogol's work, in which a cunning retired official buys up the souls of long-dead peasants. But not everyone can answer with confidence why Chichikov bought dead souls. Some people simply don’t remember anymore, others didn’t really understand it even then.

A certain official comes to a small town. The purpose of his arrival is to buy up souls who have died, but according to the census results are still alive. Gradually he manages to acquire just over 400 souls. Some of the owners sold them for pennies to avoid unnecessary expenses, while others even gave them away for nothing. Due to the fact that the official stayed in the town longer than expected, local residents begin to understand why Chichikov was buying up dead souls. For this reason, he has to leave hastily, taking with him the necessary documents.

Concept

What's the point? Why did Chichikov buy dead souls? Of course, the point of the scam is money. At that time, it was possible to obtain a sum of money from a bank secured by any property, including movable property - that is, serfs. The population census was carried out very rarely, once every twenty years. Thus, if, for example, at the time of the census the landowner had one thousand peasants, then in 20 years about half of this number could die. And these peasants, officially alive but dead in practice, were bought by a former official.

After the purchase, he planned to go to the Board of Trustees, pawn these souls and get a loan. If the loan is not returned to them (which was planned), the property will become the property of the Orphanage. But property is just a fiction, so Chichikov lost absolutely nothing.

Failure

Actually, the end of the poem cannot be confidently called a failure of the main character, because, despite the fact that everyone in the city found out why Chichikov was buying up dead souls, he was not punished. Moreover, he left the city with all the deeds of sale for the peasants that he needed so much. And given that the town was expecting a new governor-general, no one would remember his machinations in the general bustle.

The finale of the work is a troika rushing across the plain. A man goes to get a loan of 80 thousand rubles for 24 years - that’s why Chichikov bought dead souls.

A lesson can be learned from this story today: entrepreneurs must not only choose contractors more carefully, but also carefully monitor time, staying within the predetermined framework. Banks should study borrowers' documents in more depth, adequately assessing the collateral - the last crisis made it clear that too large a percentage of the assets pledged turned out to be close relatives of Gogol's dead souls.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol is one of the most brilliant authors of our vast Motherland. In his works, he always spoke about painful issues, about how His Rus' lived in His time. And he does it so well! This man really loved Russia, seeing what our country really is - unhappy, deceptive, lost, but at the same time - dear. Nikolai Vasilyevich in the poem “Dead Souls” gives a social profile of the Rus' of that time. Describes landownership in all colors, reveals all the nuances and characters. Among them, one of the most important, the main character of this poem, is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov.

So who is he? The writer does not allow us to immediately and clearly understand what his hero looks like, whether he is fat or thin, not handsome, but not ugly either. We cannot understand a single human quality of his. This is one of the most mysterious characters in Russian literature. Only in the eleventh chapter will we see and understand what Chichikov really is like and what kind of upbringing he received.

How to understand whether he is an entrepreneur or an acquirer? In order to understand this, you need to understand how these concepts differ? The acquirer is busy with what he acquires, that is, he receives something for personal use and rejoices. And an entrepreneur also acquires, but also does something with it... He either resells or tries to increase the previously purchased item. That is, he makes things work for himself. So who is our Chichikov?

What is the essence of buying dead souls? The fact is that they cost mere pennies, if they have any value at all. But according to the documents, they are exactly the same people as the living ones. That is, when buying up the dead, our Pavel Ivanovich gave an insignificant amount of money for them, but received full-fledged peasants, on paper. But he didn’t need real ones. He had nowhere to place them, and he also did not have an estate for work.

So it turns out that Chichikov is the acquirer. Perhaps we agree with Nikolai Vasilyevich, he already knew what he was talking about. Pavel Ivanovich stopped at the same thing - he bought a hundred or two dead souls and calmed down. And what else could be done with them. But doesn't our hero have entrepreneurial traits? Try to persuade sleepy and greedy landowners to sell you dead souls. The only thing is that Chichikov manages to get out of all these sticky situations, and even conclude a deal with a benefit for himself. He was able to find an approach to each of the landowners. Those, in turn, are also cunning to the point of disgrace. Deep down, understanding the illegality of the purchase and sale transactions they are making, they still do not report where they should, but meet the fraudster halfway and become his accomplices.

Thus, Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol makes us understand that Russia will follow the Chichikovs. There will never be a shortage of swindlers in our country, and there will always be someone who supports the fraud and enters into a criminal relationship.

How do we, residents of the twenty-first century, perceive Pavel Ivanovich? Most consider him a safe rogue. What's so special about deceiving the state? Nowadays, many, many people are doing worse things. But in Gogol’s time, the main character of his poem was a most disgusting character, whom nothing could justify.

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Is Chichikov a scoundrel or an entrepreneur? and got the best answer

Answer from Natalya[guru]
Chichikov is a character whose life story is given in every detail. From the eleventh chapter we learn that Pavlusha belonged to a poor noble family. The protagonist's father left him an inheritance of half a copper and a covenant to study diligently, please teachers and bosses and, most importantly, save and save a penny. all lofty concepts only hinder the achievement of the cherished goal. That is why Pavlusha makes her way in life through her own efforts, without relying on anyone’s patronage. He builds his well-being at the expense of other people: deception, bribery, embezzlement, fraud at customs - the main character’s tools. No setbacks can break his thirst for profit. And every time he commits unseemly acts, he easily finds an excuse for himself. Each chapter expands our understanding of Chichikov’s capabilities and leads us to think about his amazing variability: with Manilov he is cloyingly amiable, with Korobochka he is petty-insistent and rude, with Nozdryov he is assertive and cowardly, with Sobakevich he bargains insidiously and relentlessly, Plyushkina conquers with his "magnanimity".
In Chichikov’s character there is Manilov’s love for a phrase, for a “noble” gesture, and Korobochka’s petty stinginess, and Nozdryov’s narcissism, and the rough tight-fistedness, cold cynicism of Sobakevich, and Plyushkin’s hoarding. Chichikov is a kind of mirror of each of the landowners listed above, because he has all the qualities that form the basis of their characters. But at the same time, Chichikov differs from his counterparts on the estates; he is a man of new times, a businessman and acquirer, he has all the qualities necessary for this. However, he is also a “dead soul,” because the “brilliant joy” of life is inaccessible to him. Our hero pacifies his blood, which “played strongly,” and gets rid of human feelings almost completely. The idea of ​​success, enterprise, and practicality overshadow all emotional impulses in him. True, Gogol notes that in Chichikov there is no dull automatism of Plyushkin: “He had no attachment to money for the sake of money, he was not possessed by miserliness and stinginess. No, it was not they who moved him - he imagined a life ahead of him with all the pleasures, so that finally later, over time, he would definitely taste all this, that’s why the penny was saved.”
The “selflessness”, patience and strength of character of the protagonist allow him to constantly be reborn and show enormous energy to achieve his goal. Chichikov knows how to adapt to any microcosm, even the appearance of the hero is such that he will suit any situation: “not handsome, but not bad-looking either,” “not too fat, not too thin,” “middle-aged man” - everything about him is uncertain , nothing stands out.
However, oddly enough, our hero is the only character capable of manifesting the movements of the soul. At the end of the poem, the author outlines some prospects for the spiritual rebirth of the protagonist. Overcoming evil lies, according to the writer, not in social reconstruction, but in the inexhaustible potential of the Russian people. Unfortunately, the second volume of “Dead Souls” was burned, and the third was not written, so the reader was not able to find out how Gogol leads Chichikov to a moral revival.

Reply from Maria Pisarenko[guru]
scoundrel entrepreneur

Reply from Diamond Di[active]
both

Reply from T@ni@Ya@[guru]
Merzlikin ON

Reply from Masha Romanchuk[newbie]
entrepreneur with vile intentions))

Reply from Zay[expert]
both a scoundrel and an entrepreneur

Reply from Zanna Varkki[guru]
Now he seems to be an entrepreneur.

Reply from Karlygash[guru]
enterprising swindler