Character sketch of skvortsov, the lawyer from the beggar
Answers
Answer:
I HOPE THIS HELPS
Explanation:
A ragged panhandler with red cheeks and the look of liquor in his eyes appears at the door of Skvortsov, a Saint Petersburg lawyer, and tells a hard-luck story. He had been a schoolmaster, he says, but lost his job when officials on the Zemstvo, a local governing body, told lies about him. Now he has a job offer in Kaluga province but has no money to travel there.
......“Graciously help me!" he says.
......Skvortsov recognizes the fellow as the same man who approached him in Sadovoy Street two days before. At that time, Skvortsov says, “you told me . . . you were a student who had been expelled."
......The lawyer, threatening to turn the man over to the police, says being poor and hungry does not entitle him to lie. The beggar denies lying and says, “I can show documents."
......Skvortsov browbeats him further, telling him his lying is an insult to the compassion that the lawyer ordinarily shows to the downtrodden. The beggar remonstrates for a moment, then gives up, hangs in head in shame, and admits lying, saying he had been a member of the Russian choir but was fired for drunkenness. The lawyer tells him to get work, but the beggar says he can’t find a job.
......“Nonsense," the lawyer says.
......He tells the beggar he is just lazy, drinks too much vodka, and has become “false and corrupt." The beggar says he lacks the training to become a shopman, the class background to become a house porter, and the skills to work in a trade. He would chop wood, he says, but nobody’s hiring.
......The lawyer then directs his cook, Olga, to take the man to a shed to chop wood. After the beggar follows her, the lawyer stands at a window to watch as Olga and the beggar cross the yard, through dirty snow, to the woodshed. The beggar promptly sits on a block of wood and leans his jowls on his hands, but the cook throws an axe in front of him and begins barking orders. After the beggar pulls a log toward him, the lawyer goes to his study, satisfied that the work would be done. After an hour, the cook comes in and announces that the wood has been chopped. The lawyer produces half a ruble to give to the man, telling Olga that he may come to chop would on the first of every month.
......On the first day of the next month, the beggar earns his half-ruble although finds it difficult to stand up. In the ensuing months, the beggar again appears, earning more money (and once a pair of pants) for doing various odd jobs–sweeping snow, cleaning the shed, and so on.
......It so happens that Skvortsov is moving, and the beggar is supposed to load furniture and other items. However, he spends most of his time hanging his head and standing around while trying to keep warm. Luckily for him, Skvortsov is not watching, but van drivers laugh at the beggar for his ragged appearance and apparent laziness.
......After sending for the beggar, Skvortsov gives him a ruble, saying, “I see that you are sober and not disinclined to work." He then offers the man–Lushkov is his name–less strenuous work copying documents. He is to take a note to the lawyer’s colleague, who will assign him the writing. Happy that he has put a man on the right path, Skvortsov shakes Lushkov’s hand before the beggar leaves.
......Two years later, Skvortsov runs into Lushkov at the ticket booth of a theater. Lushkov tells him that he is doing well, earning 35 rubles working for a notary. Skvortsov is happy for him.
......“You know, in a way, you are my godson," he says. It was I who shoved you into the right way. Do you remember what a scolding I gave you, eh?"
......Lushkov thanks him, saying if Skvortsov had not set him straight he would still be as he was when he met the lawyer. He is especially indebted to the cook, Olga, whom he calls “a noble-hearted woman . . . who really saved me."
......When Skvortsov asks what she did to earn such high praise, Lushkov says she would scold him for drinking and call him a pitiable creature who has no gladness in the world and would probably end up burning in hell. She would cry for him and his lamentable lot in life.
......"But," says Lushkov, "what affected me most–she chopped the wood for me! Do you know, sir, I never chopped a single log for you–she did it all! How it was she saved me, how it was I changed, looking at her, and gave up drinking, I can't explain. I only know that what she said and the noble way she behaved brought about a change in my soul, and I shall never forget it. It's time to go up, though, they are just going to ring the bell."
......Lushkov then goes inside for the performance.