A Hero Of Our Time Lermontov Quotes

Bryanna Stevens-Harwood

Ms. Swerdloff

English Per. 7

27 Jan 2017

A Hero of Our Time: No One is a Special Cookie

Lermontov develops Pechorin throughout the novel as a complex character who is strikingly self-aware of his role in the novel. Lermontov parallels this antihero character with Grushnitsky, a ridiculous impostor hero. In A Hero of Our Time, Lermontov exposes the roles of both Grushnitsky and Pechorin to illustrate that there is no such thing as uniqueness. All fate has already been written. Grushnitsky is a poser. He acts the part of a hero, showing off a “soldier’s thick coat” (84) and “[draping himself] in extraordinary emotions, exalted passions, and exceptional sufferings” (84). Though Grushnitsky has “the reputation of an exceptionally brave man” (85), he will never be able to be “the hero of the novel” (85) as he aims to be. He is far too ridiculous to be the Byronic hero. He is, rather, an imposter who imitates the qualities of a Byronic hero. Grushnitsky tries to “convince others

He then exclaims, “No, I would not have gotten used to such an existence!” (162). Pechorin believes that he has tested fate and he has won, choosing his own path down the road. Pechorin is deluded in that his fate has already been predetermined. Pechorin’s character has already been written as seen later in his story when he dies on the open roads. Pechorin is not an original character. Though Pechorin prides himself in being so self-aware and unique, he is actually no more aware than Grushnitsky. Both characters are deluded and do not harbor any agency in their lives. Both Pechorin and Grushnitsky’s lives are already predetermined because neither characters are immune to the fate that holds power over us all. Both Grushnitsky and Pechorin meet their eventual death, which is the prewritten fate of all people born into the