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Abstract: Today, writers and readers are musing on the personal responsibility of humans for what is happening in the world. In this article, we offer the analysis of «The tales of Belkin» which is different from the one traditionally accepted in schools. We consider the moral appeal of the work in terms of individual responsibility of every person for their life and the fate of their loved ones. From the methodological point of view, this approach is more relevant to the modern student than the one based on the insights into the oppression of the lower class. It is also justified from a scientific point of view as even Pushkin's contemporaries, such as Ap. Grigoriev, interpreted the text as an expression of «a critical part of our soul, awakening from sleep». Pushkin's contemporaries considered «Belkin» to be a burlesque, farce. Analyzing ironic, reminiscent poetics of «Tales of Belkin», we come to the cradle of the «little man», whose distinguishing features are the poverty of ideas and a humdrum life, i.e. a small mind, whose peace is disturbed by neither remorse nor responsibility for their actions. We believe that the «little people» described in «The tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin» and the image of the «late» narrator itself represent the collective portrait of the first «little man» in Russian literature.