Arguments from literature for essay 15.3 “What is egoism” (OGE in Russian)
Essay 15. 3. OGE in the Russian language suggests not only thinking about many moral questions, one of which is “What is selfishness?”, but also giving arguments from literature, from the life experience of students, from folk wisdom. The literary scholar formulated a definition of the concept of “egoism” and collected some examples for argumentation in an essay-reasoning.
What kind of egoists are they?
Selfishness is a character trait through which a person achieves his goals, but at the same time he puts his own interests above all else, without thinking about how much it will cost others. An egoist will never engage in a business from which he will not benefit. The morality of serving one's neighbor is alien to him. Self-love comes first. Egoists are incapable of empathy, do not have empathy and diplomacy.
As a rule, such people are too confident in themselves. When they set a task, they achieve it at any cost, using all means, and at the same time they want everything at once. Therefore, if a child has this character trait, the main thing is to channel this powerful energy in the right direction. Train him with the help of which he will achieve his goals without causing harm to other people. In this way, you can develop a strong, purposeful personality. This is about egocentrism. Let's talk about healthy egoism.
Arguments
- Selfishness is the desire for personal benefit and gain.
- Nobody likes selfish people; they are condemned by everyone.
- Strong forms of selfishness, such as persecution, are dangerous for other people.
- An egoist can help another person if his help brings personal benefit.
- Selfishness has a destructive effect on a person.
- Inability to listen to your interlocutor, boasting, searching for those “to blame” for failures, a sense of one’s own superiority are the first signs of selfishness.
The theory of “reasonable egoism” in the novel by G. N. Chernyshevsky “What to do?”
According to the classic, an individual is not able to become successful and lucky alone. The grace of both will be conditional on the happiness of other people. Thus, it was to exist for the sake of others. The heroes of his work (healthy egoism is their main feature) were united by a common great cause, and therefore their source of happiness will be his common success. The moral principles of the heroes are determined in a common struggle, the desire to satisfy universal interests, which are based on attention and care, the thought of another person.
Chernyshevsky was against egoism. He believed that an egoist was a freak and his life was unenviable. His “reasonable egoists” do not separate their benefit and interests from the happiness of others. Lopukhov, who freed Verochka from himself after learning about her feelings for Kirsanov, will subsequently be proud that he made such a noble gesture.
The heroes go against selfishness, individualism, and self-interest. The author proposes a new doctrine in philosophy - materialism. The focus is on the individual who is guided by calculation to give up a lesser benefit in order to obtain a larger one. Only then will he benefit.
Epithets for the word egoism
Greedy, boundless, thoughtless, soulless, measureless, boundless, limitless, merciless, heartless, senseless, unconscious, shameless, painful, big, great, outrageous, nasty, deep, stupid, rough, wild, pathetic, cruel, creepy, disguised, true, extreme, petty, petty
arrogant, naive, incredible, lifeless, indestructible, dumb, insatiable, unbridled, exorbitant, naked, unforgivable, impenetrable, inexorable, base, insignificant, ordinary, huge, offensive, disgusting, frank, primeval, amazing, indifferent, calculating, ferocious, peculiar, strong, blind, dry, dark, stupid, vain, terrible, cold
cynical, cynical, callous, pure, monstrous, poisonous.
Arguments from fiction
Among literary heroes there are many who can be called callous and selfish people. Here are some examples.
- M. Gorky “Old Woman Izergil”.
M. Gorky’s romantic work “Old Woman Izergil” compositionally consists of three parts. The first part of the work is “The Legend of Larra,” which tells the story of how one day an eagle stole a young and beautiful girl and took her to the mountains. There she became his wife and gave birth to a son. Then the eagle grew old and died, and the girl returned to her native tribe, but not alone, but with her son, whose name was Larra. He is young, handsome and full of strength, dexterous, but overly proud, cruel and predatory. He does not respect the laws of the tribe and refuses to live by them, does not respect the elders of the tribe, could not answer them if he did not want to, treated them as his equals, behaved rudely and defiantly. Larra did not take anyone into account, deciding that he was the first on earth and the best; he did not see or hear anyone except himself. The son of an eagle, he is not capable of experiencing warm feelings. Once he killed a girl just because she found the strength to push him away, to reject him. Such heroes, soulless, callous egoists, are not loved in society, they are condemned. Therefore, Larra, for his pride and unforgivable egoism, was condemned by the tribe to eternal loneliness.
2. M.Yu. Lermontov “Hero of Our Time”.
Grigory Aleksandrovich Pechorin is the name of the main character of M.Yu. Lermontov’s novel “A Hero of Our Time.” Without a doubt, he can be called an egoist. Indeed, all his actions speak of pride and selfishness. He is not used to taking into account the thoughts, feelings, and desires of other people. First of all, he takes care of himself. He liked Bela - he stole her from her father, without thinking that he was making both father and daughter unhappy. He also acts selfishly and disrespectfully towards Maxim Maksimych. The kind old man waited in vain for his former acquaintance, hoping that Pechorin would definitely want to see him as an old good friend, but Pechorin not only did not come to meet the old man, but also did not want to talk for a long time with Maxim Maksimych before leaving the city, which really offended him. The hero's diary entries again convince us of Pechorin's selfishness. He treated Princess Mary very cruelly. The girl sincerely, with all her soul, fell in love with him, but he admits to her that he sought her out of spite for Grushnitsky, as a bet. He doesn’t care at all about the girl’s condition or her feelings. The author emphasizes that Pechorin is a hero of the 30s of the 19th century. For such smart, well-educated, active people, full of strength and energy, at that time there was no real, worthy cause into which they could invest all their strength, all the heat of their hearts. For this reason, they commit selfish acts out of boredom, as if they are playing with other people's destinies and feelings, making everyone who happens to be near them unhappy. But, in my opinion, the lack of work does not in any way justify their selfishness, selfishness, and pride.
3. A.S. Pushkin “Eugene Onegin”.
Introducing readers to the main character of the novel in verse, A.S. Pushkin calls him his good friend, born on the banks of the Neva. Onegin is a young rake, a metropolitan aristocrat, “heir to all his relatives.” He led a carefree, pleasure-filled life of “golden youth”, not burdening himself with either a decent education or service. The main character is not used to caring about anyone, he is a typical egoist. His selfishness and egoism manifest themselves in all their brilliance in the village, where he comes to visit his sick uncle. Feeling his superiority, exalting himself above the rural simpletons, he does not want to get acquainted and communicate with his neighboring landowners, he runs away from them as soon as he sees an approaching carriage or britzka. Onegin becomes close only with Vladimir Lensky, a young poet who introduces the hero to the Larin family. The poet is in love with Olga Larina, the youngest daughter of the family. The eldest daughter, Tatyana, falls in love with Onegin, but he rejects her love. His sermon to Tatyana in the garden is similar to narcissism, characteristic of all narcissists. The hero also acts selfishly towards Lensky, who persuaded him to come to Tatyana’s name day. Onegin begins to court his bride, without thinking about the fact that he is causing suffering not only to Lensky, but also to Tatyana. He is indifferent to everything except his peace of mind. It seems to me that such people are not able to change, they remain true only to themselves.
4. N.V. Gogol “Dead Souls”.
Another hero who joins the gallery of egoists is Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov. It is familiar to the reader from N.V. Gogol’s poem “Dead Souls”. Chichikov appears to us as a pleasant-looking, neat man. He takes care of his appearance, knows how to present himself in society, is smart, observant, courteous, and courteous. It seems, why not a positive hero? But he repels with his spiritual callousness and selfishness. He is interested only in his own benefit, he is used to achieving his goal by any means and means. To get a good certificate, he gains confidence in the teacher, who values obedience most of all. In order to get a higher position, he behaves politely and courteously with the boss, on whom the receipt of a new position depended, and even promises to marry his daughter. But as soon as Chichikov climbed the career ladder, he immediately broke off relations with his boss, not caring that he had deceived him and disgraced his daughter, whom everyone was already calling his bride. The main goal of his life is to accumulate money. He is persistently and persistently moving towards this goal. For personal enrichment, he came up with a scam with dead souls. Driving around the province in order to buy dead peasants, he meets the landowners and comes to visit them. And again, the reader involuntarily emphasizes Chichikov’s calculating egoism. He is first interested in dead souls, then in the affairs of the estate, and only after that asks the name of the owner of the estate. Chichikov is the acquirer, and the author page after page reveals the predatory egoism of the hero, his deceitful, vile essence of the “acquirer,” a person devoid of decency, conscience and honor.
Source
Let's give more examples
A friend asked to borrow a certain amount for two days. But you know very well that he will not return them soon. How to refuse? You need to do this with reason: they say, save up for a vacation trip for your child.
Or the boss asked you to stay after work to help make a report, but they won’t pay you extra for it. Here it is also worth refusing competently, explaining that you have other plans with your family that cannot be canceled or rescheduled.
The topic of egoism is also touched upon in literature. True, little attention is paid to healthy egoists; writers more condemn callousness towards others in general, and talk about conscience. But Chernyshevsky put forward the theory of “reasonable egoism.” What is it about?
Examples of egoism from literature for essays
Selfishness consists of very strong self-love. A person puts himself on a pedestal, elevates himself above others. An egoist longs for everything in life to turn out the way he wants it. Everyone is infected with this disease, however, not everyone strives to cure it.
The story by Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin raises the problem of the selfishness of a young man who: firstly, seduced a girl; secondly, he made a promise to marry; thirdly, he brazenly and treacherously betrayed the girl who was waiting for him. Erast served in the army, where he lost a large sum. The young man was accustomed to wealth and luxury. For this reason, he preferred luxury to a girl. He married a rich widow and justified his action by saying that he could not live without wealth. For the sake of his own well-being, Erast betrayed the girl who loved him and broke his promise. Real men don't do that. As a result, the girl could not stand what happened and committed suicide. In return, the guy received pangs of conscience that lasted his whole life.
Gogol’s work entitled “Dead Souls” introduces the reader to such a hero as Chichikov. This is a real egoist who, for his own good, will go over his head, do any meanness, can deceive, steal, lie. Betrayal is not a problem for him if it improves his situation. The character can only think about his own comfort. He is able to sacrifice for him what does not belong to him. For him, the norm is to live at the expense of society. Subsequently, the hero was severely punished by the society in which he lived.
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov's novel entitled “Hero of Our Time” introduces us to an ideal example of selfishness, which is Pechorin himself. He easily plays with other people's feelings and manipulates them. This is all done purely for fun. The hero does not want to feel bored. It all started with the kidnapping of Bel, who later died because of him. He quickly lost interest in her, the girl ended up in captivity with Pechorin. She did not see the love and affection that she so needed. This story taught the hero nothing, then he plays with the feelings of Princess Mary. With his behavior, the hero caused many wounds and pain to the people around him. For which he was punished by his own loneliness, everyone turned away from him.
Alexander Sergeevich’s novel entitled “Eugene Onegin” tells the story of the egoist Eugene. The hero thinks only about how to get better in this life. He can expose another person to attack, as long as his reputation does not suffer. Evgeny killed Lensky with his own hands, knowing that he did wrong. However, the fear of being considered a coward took its toll. Now Evgeniy’s hands are covered in blood. Only a shock that will affect him personally can deprive him of his balance. Tatiana's refusal stunned the hero. Although at one time Onegin easily rejected the girl.
