Police officer Ochumelov, wearing a new military coat and carrying a small bag, crossed the market square. He was followed by a policeman with reddish-brown hair and a thick Rory stuffed with confiscated gooseberries. The air was silent. ..... There is not even a figure in the square. Shops and hotels open their doors and listlessly face the world created by God, like hungry mouths. There is not even a beggar in front of the shop.
"How dare you bite, damn it!" Ochamelov suddenly heard a voice. "Guys, don't let go! Biting people can't be done now Grab it! Oh, ... Oh! " The dog screamed. Ochamelov looked over there and saw Peter Lurgi, a businessman, coming out of the firewood yard.
Come a dog, run on three legs, and keep looking back. Behind it, a man chased out, wearing a starched cotton shirt and an open vest. He chased the dog, leaned forward, threw himself on the ground and grabbed the dog's hind legs. Then came the barking of dogs and the shouts of people: "Don't let it get away!" " Sleepy faces poked their heads out of the shop, and soon a group of people gathered at the door of the firewood yard, as if they had come out of the ground.
"It seems that something had happened, Sir! "said the policeman.
Ochamelov turned his body slightly to the left and walked towards the crowd. At the gate of the firewood yard, he saw the man with a vest standing there, raising his right hand and showing a bloody finger to the group. His half-drunk face showed this expression: "I'll skin you, bad guy!" " "The finger itself is like a banner of victory. Ochumelov recognized the man as a jeweler khryukin. The culprit of this mess is a small white retriever with a pointed face and a yellow spot on his back. At this time, he sat on the ground in the middle of the crowd, his front legs split and he was shaking all over. Its tearful eyes reveal distress and fear.
"What happened here?" Ochamelov squeezed into the crowd and asked. "What are you doing here? Why are you sticking up your fingers? ..... Who is shouting? "
"I was just about to go my own way, Sir. I didn't recruit anyone or provoke anyone ... "Khryukin coughed with his empty fist. "I'm talking about firewood with Mitri Mitri. Suddenly, this bad thing bit my finger for no reason. ..... Please forgive me, I am a working person. ..... I am meticulous in my work. I have to pay for this, because I may not be able to move this finger for a week. ..... legally speaking, sir, there is no such thing, saying that people have to endure the harm of animals. ..... If everyone is bitten by a dog, it is better not to live in this world. ……"
"well! ..... Well, ... "Ochamelov said sternly, coughing and moving his eyebrows. "okay. ..... Whose dog is this? I can't let this happen. I will give some color to those who let the dogs out to make trouble! Now it's time to control those lords who don't want to obey the law! When he was fined, he knew what would happen if he let dogs and other animals out! I'll teach him a lesson ... Yeldilin, "the officer said to the police. "You go and see whose dog this is and write a report! This dog must be killed. No delay! This is mostly a mad dog. ..... I ask you: Whose dog is this? "
"This dog seems to belong to General Xi Gallov!" A man in the crowd said.
"General Gallov's house? Hmm! ..... You, Yelindi, take off my coat. ..... It's so hot! It may rain. ..... just one thing I don't understand: how did it bite you? " Ochamelov said to khryukin.
"It can reach your fingers? Short, but you, you know, so tall! Most of your fingers were punctured by small nails, and then you whimsically asked others to compensate you. People like you ... everyone knows what it is! I know you demons! "
"He, sir, poked his cigar in its face and made fun of it. He wouldn't be a fool, so he bit him. ..... He is a boring man, sir! "
"You talk nonsense, cyclops! You can't see with your eyes. Why are you talking nonsense? The officer is a wise man. He can see who is talking nonsense and who speaks according to his conscience as before God. ..... If I want to talk nonsense, let the mediation judge judge me. His laws are clear. ..... everyone is equal now. ..... To tell you the truth, ... my brother is a gendarme. ……"
"Cut the crap!"
"No, this dog doesn't belong to the general's family ..." The policeman said thoughtfully. "The general home without such a dog. Most of his dogs are big hounds. ……"
"Are you sure?"
"Certainly, Sir. ……"
"I know it myself. The general's dogs are very rare and excellent. What about this dog? God knows what it is! Bad coat color, bad appearance ... totally a bitch. ..... His old man will keep such a dog? ! What about your brain? Do you know what would happen if you met such a dog in Petersburg or Moscow? There don't care what laws are illegal, they died in the blink of an eye! You, khryukin, have suffered a lot, and you can't let it go. ..... We must teach them a lesson! It is time. ……"
"But it may be the general's dog ..." The policeman spoke his mind. "It's not written on his face. ..... I saw such a dog in his yard the other day. "
"Yes, it belongs to the general's family!" Someone in the crowd said.
"well! ..... You, Ye Dilin brothers, put on your coat for me. ..... It seems to be windy. ..... the weather is very cold. ..... You take this dog to the general's house to ask. ..... You can say that I found this dog and gave it to you. ..... you said not to put it on the street in the future. Maybe it is a rare dog. If every pig sticks a cigar in his face, it won't take long to humiliate him to death. Dogs are fragile animals. ..... You idiot, put your hand down! There's no need to show your stupid fingers! It's your own fault! ……"
"The general's chef is here. Let's ask him. ... Hey, Prohor! Come here, dear! Look at this dog. ..... is it your home? "
"A shot in the dark! We have never had such a dog there! "
"Then you don't need to ask many questions," Ochumelov said. "This is a wild dog! Needless to say. ..... Since he said it was a wild dog, it was a wild dog. ..... kill it. "
"This dog doesn't belong to our family," Projo continued. "But this is the dog of the general's brother. He came to see us a few days ago. Our general does not like this kind of dog. His brother likes it. ……"
"His old man's brother is here? Is Vladimir Ivanic here? " Ochumelov asked, his whole face full of excited smiles. "Too good, Lord! I don't know yet! Is he coming to stay for a while? "
"Stay for a while. ……"
"Too good, Lord! ..... he's thinking about his brother. ..... but I don't know yet! This is him.
Old man's dog? I am very happy. ..... you take it. ..... this puppy is very good. ..... very clever.
..... It bit this guy's finger! Ha ha ha ha! ..... Hey, why are you shaking? Ouch, ... ouch.
Oh. ..... It's angry, little villain, ... What a lovely puppy ... "
Prohor called the dog and left the forest with it. ..... those people are facing khryukin, haha.
Laugh.
"I will punish you sooner or later!" Ochumelov threatened him, then wrapped his coat tightly and continued to patrol the market square.
The chameleon was written in 1884. Before the publication of the work, Alexander III came to power only after Alexander II (188 1) was assassinated by Russian voters. While he tried his best to strengthen police rule, he also made some laws to hide people's eyes and ears, which cast a veil over brutal absolutism. 1880 The leaders of the Supreme Council for Public Security, Lorez and Mirikov, later became the interior ministers. This is a typical two-faced, common people call him "the wolf's mouth and the fox's tail". At this time, the police are no longer beating people with batons at will in the era of Nicolas Nikolai Gogol, but doing things of flattering and taking credit in a law-abiding bureaucratic way. Chekhov's depiction of police officer Ralph is the embodiment of czar's autocratic police rule. Therefore, this work satirizes and exposes not only an ordinary isolated policeman, but also a Russian society that worships official positions and vicious czar absolutism.
Author Anton? Pavlovic? Chekhov (1860- 1904) is a famous Russian writer of critical realism in the late 19th century and a world-famous master of short stories.
Chekhov wrote hundreds of short stories and many plays in his life. He often describes the selfishness, hypocrisy and vulgar ugliness of ordinary citizens and small officials through some ordinary things, exposes the evils of decadent and reactionary czar rule, and reflects the miserable life of working people.
The Chameleon is a satirical novel written by Chekhov in his early days. In this famous novel, he created a typical image of a running dog of the czar's autocratic system with superb artistic techniques, which has extensive artistic generalization. The title of this novel is ingenious. The chameleon is a four-legged reptile of lizards. It can change its skin color according to the color of the surrounding objects to prevent other animals from invading it. Here, the author only takes its "color change" characteristics to summarize a class of people in society.
The content of this novel is very funny. A dog bit the goldsmith's finger, and the inspector came to solve the case. In the process of solving the case, he constantly changed his face according to whether the dog belonged to the general's family. Through such a cunning story, the author pointed the satirical sword at the czar's autocratic system and effectively exposed the shameless and ugly minions of the reactionary regime.
The most prominent figure is Ralph, who shows his arbitrariness and hegemony to subordinates and people from his language. Expose his flattery and meanness from the language of people related to dignitaries and even dogs; Spit out from his filthy abuse and uncover the vulgarity and boredom under his dignified and just appearance. At the same time, the author deliberately seldom writes about his appearance, which makes people think: when this person speaks this series of unspeakable languages, it is actually the normal state of not changing his face and not jumping, which further highlights the ugly face and despicable soul of this character.
Ralph has undergone five changes in just a few minutes. Ralph's character is fickle. The work takes the "chameleon" who is good at adapting to the color of surrounding objects and changing skin color quickly as a metaphor, which plays the role of finishing touch. If the dog owner is an ordinary person, then he will severely punish the puppy, implicate the dog owner and enrich himself; If the dog owner is a general or the general's brother, then he is flattering, asking for rewards, and likes to intimidate people. His reactionary nature of flattering the powerful and oppressing the people will never change. Therefore, when he constantly denies himself, he is so natural and quick, and he doesn't know what else is shameful in the world! "Chameleon"-Ralph became synonymous. People often use the pronoun "chameleon" to satirize the representatives of the reactionary class, who often switch between opposing views. For them, there is no principle of faith. Everything is prepared for me, and everything is used for me. Aren't they Ralph, the chameleon in real life?
The Chameleon is one of Chekhov's many short stories. It has no romantic scenery description or bizarre story arrangement. When describing a case in which a police officer accidentally tried a man bitten by a dog, the author only used a few strokes to outline the image of an ugly czar slave, police officer Ralph, with a thought-provoking theme.
The chameleon made me understand1the darkness of Russian czar's feudal autocracy in the 1980s. Knowing the chameleon-like government officials represented by Ralph is the product of this dark rule.
Character image analysis
1) Ralph:
1' s bossy and manipulative running dog image.
The Chameleon is a satirical novel written by Chekhov in his early days. In this famous novel, he created a typical image of a running dog of the czar's autocratic system with superb artistic techniques, which has extensive artistic generalization. The title of this novel is ingenious. The chameleon is a four-legged reptile of lizards. It can change its skin color according to the color of the surrounding objects to prevent other animals from invading it. Here, the author only takes its "color change" characteristics to summarize a class of people in society.
The content of this novel is very funny. A dog bit the goldsmith's finger, and the inspector came to solve the case. In the process of solving the case, he constantly changed his face according to whether the dog belonged to the general's family. Through such a cunning story, the author pointed the satirical sword at the czar's autocratic system and effectively exposed the shameless and ugly minions of the reactionary regime.
2 shameless typical image
In the short story "The Chameleon", Chekhov successfully created a typical image of the "Chameleon" who is shameless, deceives his subordinates and flatters his superiors through dramatic street scenes. He satirized and exposed the ugly behavior of the slaves of the czar regime, such as bossiness, bullying the people, flattering the powerful and riding the rudder. At the same time, he also resigned and accepted ordinary citizens.
Ralph, the chameleon, is a highly generalized typical image with profound social significance. In czarist Russia in the 1980s, under the terror of rampant reactionary forces and gloomy society, bourgeois liberals who claimed to be progressive in the past were eager to "adapt" to the reality and tried their best to preach a "disciplined" philosophy of life, while populists abandoned the revolutionary tradition in the past and actually compromised. As for the ordinary citizens, they are weak, passive, wretched and despicable, content with the vulgar life of "peace and tranquility" and "obeying the law". At that time, have it both ways, pandering to reality, betrayed and defected in society, which was the product of reactionary social and political conditions. In his short story The Chameleon, Chekhov strongly criticized this ugly behavior through the typical character Otchulov.
Ralph's image is widely universal. He is an overbearing czar police dog, but he is also a chameleon in have it both ways. As a running dog of the czar regime, he has the characteristics of autocracy, insolence and oppression of the people. But this is only one aspect of his character. At the same time, he also has the characteristics of following the wind, showing off to the weak, bullying and taking pictures, and turning with the wind. Therefore, he is also a shameless two-faced. These two characteristics constitute his complete personality-"chameleon". However, the significance of this image goes far beyond the specific scope of czar police dogs like Ralph. At that time, this image-building was undoubtedly the exposure and criticism of the compromise and capitulationists who catered to reality and turned to rebellion under reactionary political conditions.
(2) khryukin: In this novel, the author's irony and exposure are mainly aimed at Ralph, but he also points out many weaknesses of khryukin, an ordinary citizen. He is vulgar and wants to take advantage of the puppy biting his finger. For this despicable purpose, but also because of the weak nature of ordinary citizens, he was respectful to the czar's police, even flattering them ("His old man's house is a wise man, I can see who is talking nonsense ..."), and he also played the card "Brothers as gendarmes". But with the development of the "situation", he found that the power was not on his side and retreated. Even when Ralph called him a "pig" and an "asshole", he kept silent. The servility in him is obvious.
(3) Audience: The writer also implicitly pointed out the limitations of "audience" in the novel. They are also vulgar ordinary citizens, with the characteristics of ignorance, weakness, catering to the strong and falling with the wind.
Seven. Language features:
1 satirize yourself with the characters' own words.
The novel Chameleon satirizes Ralph himself with Ralph's words. When I didn't know whose dog it was, Ralph said, "It's probably a mad dog"; When someone said it was a general's dog, Ralph said, "Maybe it is a rare dog." . When the chef said that this was not the general's dog, Ralph said, "This is a wild dog"; When the chef confirmed that it was the brother's dog, he added: "Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo-woo When the cook said it wasn't the general's dog, Ralph said, "Kill it"; When the patrolman said it might be the general's dog, he said, "I'm glad ... to take it away." This puppy is not bad. "When the patrolman said it wasn't the general's dog, Ralph said," The general's family is a rare purebred dog; What about this dog? God knows what it is! The coat color is not good, the appearance is not good, and it is completely a cheap embryo "; The patrolman said it might be the general's dog, so he said, "Take this dog to the general's house and ask him clearly. Just say that I found this dog and sent it ... The dog is a fragile animal. "
Not only that, the author also designed a language for Ralph to beautify himself and show off himself to ridicule and ridicule Ralph himself.
At the beginning of the story, Ralph squeezed into the crowd and shouted, "What the hell happened here?" "What are you doing here? Why on earth are you holding that finger? ..... Who is shouting? " A little policeman, pretending to be a big official, is very funny!
"His brother is here? Is it Ulargui Mir Ivanich? " "Oh, dear! I don't know yet! Did he stay here for a while and then leave? " Drooling, trying to raise his status, as if he and the general were close friends, otherwise how could he know so much about the general and his brother? In fact, the general knows who Ralph is. In the eyes of the general, I'm afraid he's not even as good as that beagle! Listen to Ralph's shameless words, we will laugh out of our nostrils.
2. Vivid dialogue
The inner voice of the speaker. According to the logic of life, writing dialogues that conform to the class status and personality characteristics of various characters is an important means to portray the characters and show their inner world. Chekhov is a famous master of literary language at home and abroad. His "Chameleon" is not good at describing the appearance of characters and arranging scenery, and wins mainly by vivid dialogue between characters. The writer is unique in that he can go deep into the hearts of characters; The display of inner world never depends on the writer's statement, but uses the dialogue between characters to let him show himself. Let's try these words: "Take this dog to the general's house and ask him clearly." Just say I found this dog and sent it ... "Officer, the implication here is that you don't have to invent more, can't you guess?" ! Chekhov's image of a dirty and servile slave in his inner world suddenly appeared before our eyes in a few words. Please have a look again. When the chef confirmed that the puppy was the general's brother, the police officer said again, "God … he misses his brother … but I don't know yet!"! Is this his father's dog? I am very happy ... "The dialogue is so ordinary, but it is so vivid and sharp. Didn't it vividly show an image of a flatterer who is good at self-mockery, sweet talk and flattery? !
3. Use language to express the character's personality
It is a remarkable feature of this paper to express the personality of the characters through language description. The most prominent figure is Ralph, who shows his arbitrariness and hegemony to subordinates and people from his language. Expose his flattery and meanness from the language of people related to dignitaries and even dogs; Spit out from his filthy abuse and uncover the vulgarity and boredom under his dignified and just appearance. At the same time, the author deliberately seldom writes about his appearance, which makes people think: when this person speaks this series of unspeakable languages, it is actually the normal state of not changing his face and not jumping, which further highlights the ugly face and despicable soul of this character.
4. Personalized language
Personalized language is an important means to express individuality. The language of the characters in The Chameleon is very personalized. Ralph, the chameleon, is a czar's police dog, so his language is arrogant and flattering. He is arrogant and overbearing to the common people and servile to the big bureaucrats. In the unity of these two characteristics, he showed his impudence. Khryukin's language is also personalized. He is not only a vulgar ordinary citizen, but also a "nobody" who wants something. His language is completely in line with his character. The famous saying that he complained to the inspector is quite wonderful, which vividly embodies his characteristics of vulgarity, vanity, exaggeration, catering to officials and seeking profits. This accusation and the following defense (one-eyed ghost) vividly show the character of this ordinary citizen.
The role of detail description in portraying characters
Ralph's military coat has been written four times in the novel. These details profoundly reveal the personality characteristics of the characters and vividly show the theme.
At the beginning of the novel, the author pushed this symbolic prop and its owner to the readers at once. The new military coat is a special symbol of the czar's police dog, and it is also a tool for him to put on airs and scare people. The author explained Ralph's identity with the clothing of "military coat".
The second time I wrote a military coat, I heard someone say in Ralph, "This seems to be General Xi Gallov's dog", and then I "took off my coat". He took off his coat not because of the hot weather, but because he was "judged" by the wrong dog, which made him sweat. The action of taking off his coat not only exposed his timid psychology of being scared and burning all over, but also showed his cunning in trying to buy time to change his color to turn the situation around. This "detachment" vividly outlines the ugly soul of the tsar's minions who bully the weak and fear the hard and flatter them.
When he lectured He Liujin, he suddenly heard the police say that he was not the general's dog, and he immediately shook his dignity again. But someone said, "Yes, the general's!" At this time, he was shocked ... put on my coat, ... it was cold ... "This is the third time to write his military coat. Wearing a coat here is a sign of coldness, to cover up his deeper timidity when he just insulted the general, and then he is ready to change his color again. The "take off" and "wear" here are hot and cold, exposing Ralph's ugly hegemony.
Finally, after giving khryukin a lesson, he "wrapped his coat" ... and left. "This is the fourth time to write a military coat. After portraying this chameleon vividly, he returned to the normal state of being a slave and a running dog, and continued to bully and bully.
In a word, the four details of Ralph's military coat, namely, putting on and taking off, vividly depict the ugliness and despicable psychological activities in the process of color change.
Jia Yucun in A Dream of Red Mansions