Writers often pay attention to detail when revealing the image of a hero in a work of fiction. A. I. Goncharov did the same when he introduced Ilya Ilyich Oblomov to the reader. The novel "Oblomov" is permeated with images-symbols, the main of which is the dressing gown.
Who is Oblomov
Oblomov is the protagonist of Goncharov's novel of the same name. The reader observes his life from childhood to adulthood, almost forty years. His image is rooted in the characters of such literary heroes as Gogol's Podkolesin, old-time landowners, Manilov and Tentetnikov. However, Oblomov took his main features from Goncharov. Only the author, unlike his character, was distinguished by talent and hard work.
The hero's surname is speaking. Oblomov - from "break off", "break". Ilya Ilyich is crushed by life, crushed by it, retreated in the face of problems and troubles. It is easier for him to hide in the corner of the sofa in his house and lie ad infinitum.
In this regard, in the novel, the main attributes of this hero's laziness arise: a sofa, a dressing gown and slippers. The image-symbol of the robe is of particular importance. Its roots go back to Yazykov's poem "To the dressing gown".
The robe is the favorite and main attire of the protagonist of Goncharov's novel. In it the reader just sees Ilya Ilyich in the middle of his office. The dressing gown is "oriental, … very roomy, so that our hero could wrap himself in it twice," - this is the characteristic of the main detail, which becomes a sign of Oblomov's laziness. Goncharov focuses the readers' attention on details with the aim of a deeper disclosure of the hero's image. For Oblomov, his robe is a symbol of protection from the outside world with its endless problems.
Oblomovshchina
Andrei Shtolts and Olga Ilyinskaya, the people closest to Oblomov, make repeated attempts to pull him out of his robe throughout the work. And for a moment it succeeds. The reader remembers how Oblomov is transformed under the influence of a living feeling - a kind of love for Olga. However, even here laziness still takes its toll, and Oblomov again clothe his obese body in an eternal oriental robe.
Together with the owner, the dressing gown gradually grew old, frayed, dilapidated. But Oblomov was never able to part with the signs of a comfortable, quiet life: slippers, a dressing gown, an oilcloth sofa. At the end of the novel, the reader again sees Oblomov in his favorite dressing gown, albeit in a different setting - with the widow Pshenitsyna.
A similar social phenomenon was later defined by literary critics as "Oblomovism". The name of the main character is now a household name. And Oblomov's robe has become an image-symbol of Oblomovism. He genetically fused with his master, is inseparable from him. There is a moment in the novel when Oblomov could still part with his robe - when he fell in love with Ilyinskaya. However, the test of love requires a lot of stress, for Oblomov it turned out to be unbearable.
