Grigory Melekhov in search of life's truth. Grigory Melekhov in search of the truth Grigory Melekhov in search of the truth

“Quiet Don” reflects the era of great upheavals at the beginning of the 20th century, which had an impact on the fate of many people, and also influenced the fate of the Don Cossacks. Oppression by officials, landowners, and the more prosperous part of the population, as well as the inability of the authorities to resolve conflict situations and equitably organize the life of the people, led to popular indignation, riots, and a revolution, which developed into a civil war. In addition, the Don Cossacks also rebelled against the new government and fought with the Red Army. Bands of Cossacks dealt with the same poor, with men who, like the Cossacks, wanted to work on their land. It was a difficult, troubled time when brother went against brother, and the father could turn out to be the murderer of his son.

M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” reflects the turning point era of wars and revolutions, shows the events that influenced the course of history. The writer depicted the centuries-old traditions of the Don Cossacks and the peculiarities of their life, the system of their moral principles and work skills that formed the national character, which is most fully embodied by the author in the image of Grigory Melekhov.
The path of Grigory Melekhov is completely special, different from the quests of the heroes of previous eras, since Sholokhov showed, firstly, the story of a simple Cossack, a farm boy with little education, not wise in experience, not versed in political issues. Secondly, the author reflected the most difficult time of upheaval and storms for the entire European continent and for Russia in particular.

The character of Grigory Melekhov represents a deeply tragic personality, whose fate is entirely connected with the dramatic events taking place in the country. The character of a hero can only be understood by analyzing his life path, starting from the beginning. It must be remembered that the Cossack genes contained the hot blood of a Turkish grandmother. The Melekhov family, in this regard, was distinguished by its genetic qualities: along with hard work, perseverance, and love for the land, Grigory, for example, had a proud disposition, courage, and self-will. Already in his youth, he confidently and firmly objected to Aksinya, who was calling him to foreign lands: “I will not move anywhere from the earth. Here is the steppe, there is something to breathe, but what about there?” Grigory thought that his life was forever connected with the peaceful work of a farmer on his own farm. The main values ​​for him are land, steppe, Cossack service and family. But he could not even imagine how loyalty to the Cossack cause would turn out for him, when the best years would have to be given to war, killing people, ordeals on the fronts, and he would have to go through a lot, experiencing various shocks.

Grigory was raised in the spirit of devotion to Cossack traditions; he did not shy away from service, intending to honorably fulfill his military duty and return to the farm. He, as befits a Cossack, showed courage in battles during the First World War, “took risks, was extravagant,” but very soon realized that it was not easy to free himself from the pain for a person that he sometimes felt. Gregory suffered especially hard at the senseless murder of an Austrian who was running away from him. He even, “without knowing why, approached the Austrian soldier he had hacked to death.” And then, when he walked away from the corpse, “his step was confused and heavy, as if he was carrying an unbearable baggage on his shoulders; disgust and bewilderment crumpled the soul.”

After the first wound, while in the hospital, Gregory learned new truths, listening to how the wounded soldier of Garange “exposed the real reasons for the outbreak of the war, caustically ridiculed the autocratic government.” It was difficult for the Cossack to accept these new concepts about the king, the homeland, and military duty: “all those foundations on which consciousness rested began to smoke.” But after a stay in his native farm, he again went to the front, remaining a good Cossack: “Grigory tightly guarded the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage...”. This was the time when his heart became hardened and coarsened. However, while remaining courageous and even desperate in battle, Gregory changed internally: he could not laugh carefree and cheerfully, his eyes were sunken, his cheekbones became sharper, and it became difficult to look into the clear eyes of the child. “He played with his own and other people’s lives with cold contempt, ... he won four St. George’s crosses, four medals,” but he could not avoid the mercilessly devastating impact of the war. However, Gregory’s personality was still not destroyed by the war: his soul was not completely hardened, he could not completely come to terms with the need to kill people (even enemies).

In 1917, after being wounded and in the hospital, while at home on vacation, Grigory felt tired, “acquired by the war.” “I wanted to turn away from everything seething with hatred, hostile and incomprehensible world. There, behind, everything was confused and contradictory.” There was no solid ground underfoot, and there was no certainty about which path to follow: “I was drawn to the Bolsheviks - I walked, led others with me, and then I began to think, my heart grew cold.” At the farm, the Cossack wanted to return to household chores and stay with his family. But they won’t let him calm down, because there will be no peace in the country for a long time. And Melekhov rushes between the “reds” and the “whites”. It is difficult for him to find political truth when human values ​​are rapidly changing in the world, and the essence of events is difficult for an inexperienced person to understand: “Who should we lean on?” Gregory’s tossing was not connected with his political sentiments, but with a misunderstanding of the situation in the country, when power was alternately seized by numerous participants in the warring forces. Melekhov was ready to fight in the ranks of the Red Army, but war is war, it could not be done without cruelty, and the wealthy Cossacks did not want to voluntarily give “food” to the Red Army soldiers. Melekhov felt the distrust of the Bolsheviks, their hostility towards him as a former soldier of the tsarist army. And Grigory himself could not understand the uncompromising and ruthless activities of the food detachments taking the grain. The fanaticism and embitterment of Mikhail Koshevoy were especially repelled from the communist idea, and a desire appeared to get away from the unbearable confusion. I wanted to understand and comprehend everything, to find my own, “real truth,” but, apparently, there is not one truth for everyone: “People have always fought for a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life...”. And Gregory decided that “we must fight with those who want to take away life, the right to it...”.

Cruelty and violence were demonstrated by all warring parties: the White Guards, the rebel Cossacks, and various gangs. Melekhov did not want to join them, but Grigory had to fight against the Bolsheviks. Not out of conviction, but out of forced circumstances, when Cossacks from their farms were gathered into detachments by opponents of the new government. He had a hard time experiencing the atrocities of the Cossacks and their indomitable vindictiveness. While in Fomin's detachment, Grigory witnessed the execution of a young non-party Red Army soldier who loyally served the people's power. The guy refused to go over to the side of the bandits (that’s what he called the Cossack detachment), and they immediately decided to “put him to waste.” “Do we have a short trial?” - says Fomin, turning to Grigory, who avoided looking the leader in the eye, because he himself was against such “trials”.
And Gregory’s parents are in solidarity with their son in matters of rejection of cruelty and hostility between people. Panteley Prokofievich kicks out Mitka Korshunov because he does not want to see in his house the executioner who killed a woman and children in order to take revenge on the communist Koshevoy. Ilyinichna, Grigory’s mother, says to Natalya: “The Reds could have chopped up you and me and Mishatka and Polyushka for Grisha, but they didn’t chop them up, they had mercy.” The old farmer Chumakov also utters wise words when he asks Melekhov: “Are you going to make peace with Soviet power soon? We fought with the Circassians, we fought with the Turks, and then peace was achieved, but you are all your own people and can’t get along with each other.”

Gregory’s life was also complicated by his unstable position everywhere and in everything: he was constantly in a state of search, deciding the question of “where to lean.” Even before serving in the Cossack army, Melekhov was unable to choose a life partner for love, since Aksinya was married, and his father married him to Natalya. And all his short life he was in a position “in between,” when he was drawn to his family, to his wife and children, but his heart was also calling to his beloved. The desire to manage the land tore at my soul no less, although no one was exempted from military duty. The position of an honest, decent man between the new and the old, between peace and war, between Bolshevism and Izvarin’s populism and, finally, between Natalya and Aksinya only aggravated and increased the intensity of his tossing.

The need to choose was very exhausting, and perhaps the Cossack’s decisions were not always correct, but who could judge people then and make a fair verdict? G. Melekhov fought fervently in Budyonny’s cavalry and thought that through his faithful service he had earned forgiveness from the Bolsheviks for his previous deeds, however, during the civil war there were cases of quick reprisals against those who either did not show devotion to Soviet power or rushed from side to side. And in Fomin’s gang, already fighting against the Bolsheviks, Grigory did not see a way out of how to solve his problem, how to return to a peaceful life and not be an enemy to anyone. Grigory left Fomin’s Cossack detachment, and, fearing punishment from the Soviet authorities, or even lynching from any side, since he allegedly became everyone’s enemy, he tries to hide with Aksinya, to escape somewhere far from his native farm. However, this attempt did not bring him salvation: a chance meeting with Red Army soldiers from the food detachment, flight, pursuit, shots after him - and the tragic death of Aksinya stopped Gregory’s throwing forever. There was nowhere to rush, no one to rush to.

The author is far from indifferent to the fate of his main character. He writes bitterly that because of homesickness, Grigory can no longer wander around and, without waiting for an amnesty, he takes the risk again and returns to the Tatarsky farm: “He stood at the gates of his home, holding his son in his arms...”. Sholokhov does not end the novel with a message about the further fate of G. Melekhov, probably because he sympathizes with him and would like to finally give the battle-weary man some peace of mind so that he could live and work on his land, but it is difficult to say whether it is possible This.
The merit of the writer is also that the author’s attitude towards the characters, his ability to understand people, to appreciate the honesty and decency of those who sincerely sought to understand the confusion of rebellious events and find the truth - this is the author’s desire to convey the movement of the human soul against the backdrop of dramatic changes in the country. appreciated by both critics and readers. One of the former leaders of the rebellious Cossacks, emigrant P. Kudinov, wrote to Sholokhov scholar K. Priyma: “Quiet Don” shook our souls and made us change our minds all over again, and our longing for Russia became even sharper, and our heads brightened.” And those who, while in exile, read M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”, “who sobbed over its pages and tore out their gray hair - these people in 1941 could not and did not go to fight against Soviet Russia " It should be added: not all, of course, but many of them.

Sholokhov’s skill as an artist is also difficult to overestimate: we have a rare example, almost a historical document, depicting the culture of the Cossacks, life, traditions and peculiarities of speech. It would be impossible to create vivid images (and for the reader to imagine them) if Grigory, Aksinya and other characters spoke neutrally, in a stylized language close to literary. This would no longer be the Don Cossacks if we took away their centuries-old peculiarities of speech, their own dialect: “vilyuzhinki”, “skroz”, “you’re so good”. At the same time, representatives of the command staff of the Cossack troops, who have education and experience communicating with people from other territories of Russia, speak a language familiar to Russians. And Sholokhov objectively shows this difference, so the picture turns out to be reliable.

It should be noted that the author is able to combine an epic depiction of historical events with the lyricism of the narrative, especially those moments in which the personal experiences of the characters are reported. The writer uses the technique of psychologism, revealing the internal state of a person, showing the mental movements of the individual. One of the features of this technique is the ability to give an individual description of the hero, combining with external data, with a portrait. For example, the changes that happened to Gregory as a result of his service and participation in battles look very memorable: “... he knew that he would no longer laugh as before; I knew that his eyes were sunken and his cheekbones were sticking out sharply...”
The author’s empathy for the heroes of the work is felt in everything, and the reader’s opinion coincides with the words of Y. Ivashkevich that M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” has “deep inner content - and its content is love for a person.”

Reviews

It’s surprising that this novel (certainly not socialist realism) was not banned in Soviet times. For Melekhov did not find the truth either among the Reds or the Whites.
There were a lot of pseudo-innovative fabrications about this, like the “Cossack Hamlet.” But Chekhov says it right: no one knows the real truth.
The best thing I read on the topic of the Civil War was “At a Dead End” by Veresaev. There, too, “not for the Reds and not for the Whites.” An honest and objective understanding of that time (the novel was written in 1923).

I do not accept extreme points of view in assessing such a global event as the Civil War. Dovlatov was right: after communists, I hate anti-communists most of all.

Thanks for posting, Zoya. Makes you think about real literature. Don’t forget to write about the work of worthy authors. And then many here on the site are all about themselves, and about themselves. Yes, about your imperishables.
My respect.

Sergey Solomonov 03/03/2018 11:35 .

The daily audience of the Proza.ru portal is about 100 thousand visitors, who in total view more than half a million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.

The purpose of the lesson: to show the inevitability of the tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, the connection of this tragedy with the fate of society.

Methodological techniques: checking homework - adjusting the plan drawn up by the students, conversation according to the plan.

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Methodological development of a lesson on the topic “The fate of Grigory Melekhov as a path to finding the truth.” Grade 11

The purpose of the lesson: to show the inevitability of the tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, the connection of this tragedy with the fate of society.

Methodological techniques: checking homework - adjusting the plan drawn up by the students, conversation according to the plan.

During the classes

Teacher's word.

Sholokhov’s heroes are simple, but extraordinary people, and Grigory is not only brave to the point of despair, honest and conscientious, but also truly talented, and not only the hero’s “career” proves this (a cornet from ordinary Cossacks at the head of a division is evidence of considerable abilities, although such cases were not uncommon among the Reds during the Civil War). This is confirmed by his collapse in life, since Gregory is too deep and complex for the unambiguous choice required by time!

This image attracts the attention of readers with its features of nationality, originality, and sensitivity to the new. But there is also something spontaneous in him, which is inherited from the environment.

Checking homework

Approximate plot plan for “The Fate of Grigory Melekhov”:

Book one

1. Predetermination of tragic fate (origin).

2. Life in my father's house. Dependence on him (“like dad”).

3. The beginning of love for Aksinya (thunderstorm on the river)

4. Skirmish with Stepan.

5 Matchmaking and marriage. ...

6. Leaving home with Aksinya to become farm laborers for the Listnitskys.

7. Conscription into the army.

8. Murder of an Austrian. Losing a foothold.

9. Wound. News of death received by relatives.

10. Hospital in Moscow. Conversations with Garanzha.

11. Break with Aksinya and return home.

Book two, parts 3-4

12. Etching the truth of Garanji. Going to the front as a “good Cossack.”

13.1915 Rescue of Stepan Astakhov.

14. Hardening of the heart. Chubaty's influence.

15. Premonition of trouble, injury.

16. Gregory and his children, desire for the end of the war.

17. On the side of the Bolsheviks. The influence of Izvarin and Podtelkov.

18. Reminder about Aksinya.

19. Wound. Massacre of prisoners.

20. Infirmary. “Who should I lean against?”

21. Family. "I am for Soviet power."

22. Unsuccessful elections to detachment atamans.

23. Last meeting with Podtelkov.

Book three, part 6

24. Conversation with Peter.

25. Anger towards the Bolsheviks.

26. Quarrel with father over stolen goods.

27. Unauthorized departure home.

28. The Melekhovs have Reds.

29. Dispute with Ivan Alekseevich about “male power.”

30. Drunkenness, thoughts of death.

31. Gregory kills the sailors

32. Conversation with grandfather Grishaka and Natalya.

33. Meeting with Aksinya.

Book four, Part 7:

34. Gregory in the family. Children, Natalya.

35. Gregory's dream.

36. Kudinov about Gregory’s ignorance.

37. Quarrel with Fitzkhalaurov.

38. Family breakdown.

39. The division is disbanded, Gregory is promoted to centurion.

40. Death of wife.

41. Typhoid and recovery.

42. Attempt to board a ship in Novorossiysk.

Part 8:

43. Grigory at Budyonny's.

44. Demobilization, conversation with. Mikhail.

45. Leaving the farm.

46. ​​In Owl's gang, on the island.

47. Leaving the gang.

48. Death of Aksinya.

49. In the forest.

50. Returning home.

Conversation.

The image of Grigory Melekhov is central in M. Sholokhov’s epic novel “Quiet Don”. It is impossible to immediately say about him whether he is a positive or negative hero. For too long he wandered in search of the truth, his path. Grigory Melekhov appears in the novel primarily as a truth-seeker.

At the beginning of the novel, Grigory Melekhov is an ordinary farm boy with the usual range of household chores, activities, and entertainment. He lives thoughtlessly, like grass in the steppe, following traditional principles. Even love for Aksinya, which has captured his passionate nature, cannot change anything. He allows his father to marry him, and, as usual, prepares for military service. Everything in his life happens involuntarily, as if without his participation, just as he involuntarily dissects a tiny defenseless duckling while mowing - and shudders at what he has done.

Grigory Melekhov did not come into this world for bloodshed. But harsh life placed a saber in his hardworking hands. Gregory experienced the first shed of human blood as a tragedy. The image of the Austrian he killed later appears to him in a dream, causing mental pain. The experience of war completely turns his life upside down, makes him think, look into himself, listen, and take a closer look at people. Conscious life begins.

The Bolshevik Garanzha, who met Gregory in the hospital, seemed to reveal to him the truth and the prospect of change for the better. “Autonomist” Efim Izvarin and Bolshevik Fyodor Podtelkov played a significant role in shaping the beliefs of Grigory Melekhov. The tragically deceased Fyodor Podtelkov pushed Melekhov away, shedding the blood of unarmed prisoners who believed the promises of the Bolshevik who captured them. The senselessness of this murder and the callousness of the “dictator” stunned the hero. He is also a warrior, he killed a lot, but here not only the laws of humanity are violated, but also the laws of war.

“Honest to the core,” Grigory Melekhov cannot help but see the deception. The Bolsheviks promised that there would be no rich and poor. However, a year has already passed since the “Reds” were in power, and the promised equality is not there: “the platoon leader is in chrome boots, and the Vanyok is in windings.” Grigory is very observant, he tends to think about his observations, and the conclusions from his thoughts are disappointing: “If the gentleman is bad, then the boorish gentleman is a hundred times worse.”

The civil war throws Grigory either into the Budennovsky detachment or into the white formations, but this is no longer thoughtless submission to the way of life or a coincidence of circumstances, but a conscious search for the truth, the path. He sees his home and peaceful work as the main values ​​of life. In war, shedding blood, he dreams of how he will prepare for sowing, and these thoughts make his soul warm.

The Soviet government does not allow the former ataman of the hundred to live peacefully and threatens him with prison or execution. The surplus appropriation system instills in the minds of many Cossacks the desire to “re-conquer the war”, to replace the workers’ government with their own, the Cossack’s. Gangs are forming on the Don. Grigory Melekhov, hiding from persecution by the Soviet regime, ends up in one of them, Fomin’s gang. But bandits have no future. For most Cossacks it is clear: they need to sow, not fight.

The main character of the novel is also drawn to peaceful labor. The last test, the last tragic loss for him is the death of his beloved woman - Aksinya, who received a bullet on the way, as it seems to them, to a free and happy life. Everything died. Gregory's soul is scorched. There remains only the last, but very important thread connecting the hero with life - this is his home. A house, a land waiting for its owner, and a little son - his future, his mark on the earth.

The depth of the contradictions through which the hero went through is revealed with amazing psychological authenticity and historical validity. The versatility and complexity of a person’s inner world is always the focus of M. Sholokhov’s attention. Individual destinies and a broad generalization of the paths and crossroads of the Don Cossacks allow us to see how complex and contradictory life is, how difficult it is to choose the true path.

What is the meaning of Sholokhov when he speaks of Gregory as a “good Cossack”? Why was Grigory Melekhov chosen as the main character?

(Grigory Melekhov is an extraordinary person, a bright individuality. He is sincere and honest in his thoughts and actions (especially in relation to Natalya and Aksinya (see episodes: last meeting with Natalya - part 7, chapter 7; Natalya’s death - part 7, chapter 16 -18;death of Aksinya). He has a responsive heart, a developed sense of pity and compassion (duckling in the hayfield, Franya, the execution of Ivan Alekseevich).

Grigory is a person capable of action (leaving Aksinya for Yagodnoye, breaking up with Podtelkov, clashing with Fitzkhalaurov - part 7, chapter 10; decision to return to the farm).

In which episodes is Gregory’s bright, extraordinary personality most fully revealed? The role of internal monologues. Does a person depend on circumstances or make his own destiny?

(He never lied to himself, despite doubts and tossing (see internal monologues - part 6, chapter 21). This is the only character whose thoughts are revealed by the author. War corrupts people and provokes them to commit acts that a person would never normally do did not commit. Gregory had a core that did not allow him to commit meanness even once. A deep attachment to home, to the land is the strongest spiritual movement: “My hands need to work, not fight.”

The hero is constantly in a situation of choice (“I’m looking for a way out myself”). Turning point: dispute and quarrel with Ivan Alekseevich Kotlyarov, Shtokman. The uncompromising nature of a man who never knew the middle. Tragedyas if transported into the depths of consciousness: “He painfully tried to understand the confusion of thoughts.” This is not political vacillation, but a search for truth. Gregory yearns for the truth, “under the wing of which everyone could warm themselves.” And from his point of view, neither the whites nor the reds have such truth: “There is no truth in life. It is clear that whoever defeats whom will devour him. And I was looking for the bad truth. I was sick at heart, I was swaying back and forth.” These searches turned out to be, as he believes, “in vain and empty.” And this is also his tragedy. A person is placed in inevitable, spontaneous circumstances and already in these circumstances he makes a choice, his destiny.) “What a writer needs most,” said Sholokhov, “he himself needs, is to convey the movement of a person’s soul. I wanted to talk about this charm of a person in Grigory Melekhov...”

Do you think the author of “Quiet Flows the Flow” manages to “convey the movement of the human soul” using the example of the fate of Grigory Melekhov? If so, what do you think is the main direction of this movement? What is its general character? Does the novel's protagonist have what you might call charm? If so, what is its charm? The main problematic of "Quiet Don" is revealed not in the character of one, even the main character, which is Grigory Melekhov, but in the comparison and contrast of many, many characters, in the entire figurative system, in the style and language of the work. But the image of Grigory Melekhov as a typical personality, as it were, concentrates the main historical and ideological conflict of the work and thereby unites all the details of a huge picture of the complex and contradictory life of many characters who are bearers of a certain attitude towards the revolution and the people in a given historical era.

How would you define the main issues of “Quiet Don”? What, in your opinion, allows us to characterize Grigory Melekhov as a typical personality? Can you agree that it is in it that “the main historical and ideological conflict of the work” is concentrated? Literary critic A.I. Khvatov states: “Grigory contained a huge reserve of moral forces necessary for the creative achievements of the emerging new life. No matter what complications and troubles befell him and no matter how painfully what he did under the influence of a wrong decision fell on his soul, Gregory never looked for motives that weakened his personal guilt and responsibility to life and people.”

What do you think gives a scientist the right to claim that “a huge reserve of moral forces was hidden in Gregory”? What actions do you think support this statement? What about against him? What “wrong decisions” does Sholokhov’s hero make? In your opinion, is it generally acceptable to talk about the “wrong decisions” of a literary hero? Think about this topic. Do you agree that “Gregory never looked for motives that weakened his personal guilt and responsibility to life and people”? Give examples from the text. “In the plot of the combination of motives, the inescapability of love that Aksinya and Natalya give him, the immensity of Ilyinichna’s maternal suffering, the devoted comradely loyalty of fellow soldiers and peers are artistically effective in revealing the image of Gregory,” especially Prokhor Zykov. Even those with whom his interests intersected dramatically, but to whom his soul was revealed... could not help but feel the power of his charm and generosity.”(A.I. Khvatov).

Do you agree that a special role in revealing the image of Grigory Melekhov is played by the love of Aksinya and Natalya, the suffering of his mother, as well as the comradely loyalty of fellow soldiers and peers? If so, how does this manifest itself in each of these cases?

With which of the heroes did Grigory Melekhov’s interests “dramatically intersect”? Can you agree that even these heroes reveal the soul of Grigory Melekhov, and they, in turn, were able to “feel the power of his charm and generosity”? Give examples from the text.

The critic V. Kirpotin (1941) reproached Sholokhov's heroes for primitivism, rudeness, and “mental underdevelopment”: “Even the best of them, Grigory, is slow-witted. A thought is an unbearable burden for him.”

Are there any among the heroes of “Quiet Don” who seemed to you rude and primitive, “mentally undeveloped” people? If so, what role do they serve in the novel?Do you agree that Sholokhov’s Grigory Melekhov is a “slow-witted” person, for whom thought is an “unbearable burden”? If yes, give specific examples of the hero’s “slow-mindedness,” his inability, and unwillingness to think. The critic N. Zhdanov noted (1940): “Gregory could have been with the people in their struggle... but he did not stand with the people. And this is his tragedy.”

In your opinion, is it fair to say that Gregory “did not stand with the people”? Are the people only those who are for the Reds?What do you think is the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov? (This question can be left as homework for a detailed written answer.)

Homework.

How do the events that gripped the country compare with the events in Grigory Melekhov’s personal life?

Grigory Melekhov is one of the central characters in M. Sholokhov’s epic work “Quiet Don”. The epic novel is a real encyclopedia of people's life during a turning point in Russian history. Gregory is a collective image of a person who faced a difficult choice between mutually exclusive views.

Melekhov is a typical representative of the Cossacks, associated with them by centuries-old traditions and customs. He cannot imagine life apart from his national roots. Gregory is endowed with all the qualities of a real Cossack. He is a courageous and courageous person, ready to support his comrade in any situation.

At the same time, Melekhov is characterized by an unconscious desire for truth and justice. If the overwhelming number of Cossacks without hesitation take the side of the white movement simply because of unshakable traditions, then Grigory wants to figure it out on his own.

The First World War became a turning point in Melekhov’s soul. When participating in hostilities, he immediately attracts attention with his fearlessness. At the same time, doubt arises in his soul about the justice of the war in general. Melekhov understands that the generals do not care at all about the suffering of ordinary soldiers.

Since that time, Melekhov no longer feels calm. He admits to himself and those around him that he has lost a stable footing in life. The traditions of the Cossacks turned out to be an illusion that did not give a true sense of truth. Gregory's soul is rushing about in search of a way out. His spiritual emptiness is gradually filled with the slogans of the red movement. It seems to Melekhov that he has found what he was striving for.

In the ranks of the Bolsheviks, Grigory continued to perform exploits. But the struggle for the next truth turns into the blood of innocent people. Melekhov understands that in addition to the Reds and Whites, who equally commit cruelty and lawlessness, there must be some kind of “real” truth. It is higher than political convictions and comes from the human soul.

The author does not put an end to Melekhov’s fate, giving the reader the opportunity to figure out the problem of finding the truth for himself. Gregory's internal struggle is an important philosophical theme. The problem of difficult choices can affect any person.

Option 2

What is truth? What is she like? Each of us will probably answer this question in our own way and will be right, because this concept is contradictory and ambiguous. How to distinguish truth from lies? What choice should I make? Some immediately decide on a choice, while others rush around, doubting the correctness of the choice they have made. Their souls are tormented by doubts, and they begin a painful search for the truth. Sometimes it takes a lifetime.

One of these truth-seekers is Grigory Melekhov, the main character of Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. Having become acquainted with the work, we learn the following about him: he was born into a hereditary family of Don Cossacks who had a strong economy and material wealth. From his ancestors he inherited such character qualities as honesty, love of peasant labor, compassion, pride and independence. He differed from other Cossacks in his courage, depth of feelings, and kindness. The main feature of his character was that he was constantly trying to find his truth, for which it was worth serving and for which it was worth living. Does not accept lies.

The First World War was the beginning of the hero's life trials. She divided the Cossacks into red and white, giving each one a choice. Our hero could not figure out everything that was happening on his own; he did not meet a person who could explain everything to him in a simple and understandable language. It happened that he vaguely sensed the truth, but did not know how to prove it, so he was forced to submit, with which he internally disagreed. Finding himself at war, Gregory proves himself to be a brave and decisive person, never hides behind the backs of others, but quickly becomes disillusioned. He feels that he is doing everything wrong. For him, a warrior and humanist, massacres of the unarmed are disgusting. He wants to find a truth that will be acceptable to everyone and everyone will feel good.

Having been wounded, Melekhov ends up in a hospital, where he meets the Bolshevik Garanzha. Under his influence, the hero has an epiphany, who is increasingly convinced that he lived in illusions far from reality. He understood the meaning of the imperialist war and hated it.

The search for truth becomes more acute during the Civil War. The meeting with Efim Izvarin sowed doubts in Gregory’s soul; he tries to argue with him, but is semi-literate, fails in verbal battles with his opponent, and does not have enough knowledge to prove his truth.

Thus, the path to the truth was long, painful, and difficult for Gregory, but along this path he remained human.

Melekhov is looking for the truth

Roman M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" is an excellent example of a work that touches on almost all the problems of humanity. When reading this novel, it is sometimes difficult to understand what is the main theme of this work, however, through a careful analysis of the work, one can single out the main character’s search for his place in the world as the most mentioned in the text.

The main character of the novel was Grigory Malekhov. On his difficult life path he encountered a large number of trials associated with life at the beginning of the twentieth century - in a bloody time of war and great changes. As a participant in hostilities, Gregory achieved great success: he received the rank of officer, was awarded many awards, but at the same time did not achieve the main goal of his life. He was constantly tormented by the question: “What is the meaning of life?” He could not understand why people need war, why they need victory and power. Gregory participates in the civil war in 1918 in a detachment of whites under the command of his older brother. Over time, in an attempt to understand who is right in this fratricidal war and who is wrong, he becomes a bandit, but even in such an environment he does not feel calm. Restless thoughts come to Gregory. He still can't find an answer to his questions. In the end, risking his life, he returns to his homeland to his native village. Meeting his family: his wife, son and sister gives him strength and desire to live. However, later a great tragedy awaits the hero: his wife is killed with a bullet that was intended for him. He is left alone with his child, sister and her husband, who at that time is his main enemy.

In my opinion, M.A. Sholokhov in the image of Gregory contained all the features of a typical village man of those times. Few of the ordinary peasants understood the meaning of the war, the seizure of power and the possible consequences of one or another outcome of the war. Malekhov is a person with a sufficient level of intelligence because he can talk about very complex topics, but due to lack of education and lack of life experience, he cannot find himself in this life. The main obstacle is war. In those days, armed conflicts not only led to the death of a large number of people, but also to sad consequences among the survivors.

Grigory Malekhov is a good example of how much war can ruin a person’s destiny. Because of conflicts, he loses a lot of time, his wife, and faith in himself. In addition, he often had to kill in order to survive, which he clearly did not want to do, which robbed him of perhaps his greatest wealth - a clear conscience. The war turned the simple worker Gregory into a tragic hero, an unfortunate bandit who is looking for the truth of life and still cannot find it, dooming himself to eternal unsuccessful attempts.

Summer is the most beautiful time on the planet. The earth is warmed by the sun. Gardens and flowers bloom

“Quiet Don” is a work that shows the life of the Don Cossacks in one of the most difficult historical periods in Russia. The realities of the first third of the twentieth century, which upended the entire habitual way of life, seemed to travel like caterpillars through the destinies of the common people. Through the life path of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Flows the Don”, Sholokhov reveals the main idea of ​​the work, which is to depict the clash of personality and historical events beyond his control, his wounded fate.

The struggle between duty and feelings

At the beginning of the work, the main character is shown as a hardworking guy, distinguished by his ardent disposition, which he inherited from his ancestors. Cossack and even Turkish blood flowed in him. Grishka's eastern roots endowed him with a striking appearance that could turn the heads of more than one Don beauty, and his Cossack tenacity, sometimes bordering on stubbornness, ensured the stamina and steadfastness of his character.

On the one hand, he shows respect and love for his parents, on the other hand, he does not listen to their opinion. The first conflict between Grigory and his parents occurs because of his love affair with his married neighbor Aksinya. To end the sinful relationship between Aksinya and Gregory, his parents decide to marry him. But their choice in the role of the sweet and meek Natalya Korshunova did not solve the problem, but only aggravated it. Despite the official marriage, love for his wife did not appear, but for Aksinya, who, tormented by jealousy, increasingly sought meetings with him, only flared up.

Blackmail from his father with his house and property forced the hot-tempered and impulsive Grigory to leave the farm, his wife, and relatives in his heart and leave with Aksinya. Because of his action, the proud and unyielding Cossack, whose family had cultivated its own land and grown its own grain from time immemorial, had to become a mercenary, which made Gregory feel ashamed and disgusted. But now he had to answer both for Aksinya, who left her husband because of him, and for the child she was carrying.

War and Aksinya's betrayal

A new misfortune was not long in coming: the war began, and Gregory, who swore allegiance to the sovereign, was forced to leave both his old and new family and go to the front. In his absence, Aksinya remained in the manor's house. The death of her daughter and news from the front about the death of Gregory weakened the woman’s strength, and she was forced to succumb to the pressure of the centurion Listnitsky.

Having returned from the front and learning about Aksinya’s betrayal, Grigory returns to his family again. For some time, his wife, relatives and soon-to-be twins make him happy. But the troubled times on the Don associated with the Revolution did not allow them to enjoy family happiness.

Ideological and personal doubts

In the novel “Quiet Don”, Grigory Melekhov’s path is full of quests, doubts and contradictions, both politically and in love. He constantly rushed about, not knowing where the truth was: “Everyone has their own truth, their own furrow. People have always fought for a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life. We must fight those who want to take away life and the right to it...” He decided to lead the Cossack division and repair the supports of the advancing Reds. However, the further the Civil War continued, the more Gregory doubted the correctness of his choice, the more clearly he understood that the Cossacks were waging war at windmills. The interests of the Cossacks and their native land were of no interest to anyone.

The same pattern of behavior is typical in the personal life of the protagonist of the work. Over time, he forgives Aksinya, realizing that he cannot live without her love and takes her with him to the front. Afterwards he sends her home, where she is forced to once again return to her husband. Arriving on leave, he looks at Natalya with different eyes, appreciating her devotion and fidelity. He was drawn to his wife, and this intimacy culminated in the conception of his third child.

But again his passion for Aksinya got the better of him. His last betrayal led to the death of his wife. Grigory drowns his remorse and the impossibility of resisting his feelings in the war, becoming cruel and merciless: “I was so smeared with other people’s blood that I no longer had any regrets left for anyone. I almost don’t regret my childhood, but I don’t even think about myself. The war took everything out of me. I myself became scary. Look into my soul, and there’s blackness there, like in an empty well...”

A stranger among his own

The loss of loved ones and the retreat sobered Gregory, he understands: he must be able to preserve what he has left. He takes Aksinya with him on retreat, but because of typhus he is forced to leave her.

He again begins to search for the truth and finds himself in the Red Army, taking command of a cavalry squadron. However, even participation in hostilities on the side of the Soviets will not wash away Grigory’s past, tainted by the white movement. He faces execution, which his sister Dunya warned him about. Taking Aksinya, he attempts to escape, during which the woman he loves is killed. Having fought for his land both on the side of the Cossacks and the Reds, he remained a stranger among his own.

The path of quest of Grigory Melekhov in the novel is the fate of a simple man who loved his land, but lost everything he had and valued, defending it for the life of the next generation, which in the finale is personified by his son Mishatka.

Work test

The significance of M. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” can be determined, first of all, from the point of view of recreating a certain historical era that influenced the fate of the people and the country as a whole. An epic novel includes the creation of a broad epic canvas, where the focus is on events, as well as the study of the psychology of behavior, the motivation of actions, the formation of views and beliefs of an individual, reflecting the typical traits of many people. The time frame of the work is approximately nine years, filled with many events that changed the usual way of life of the Don Cossacks. The writer’s original intention was to show the process of formation of a new government, since interest in the fate of a person was due to the comparison of the past, which could not be returned, and the present, which contained the prerequisites for the future.

In Russian literature, one of the traditional issues is the spiritual quest of heroes seeking to understand their purpose, determine their place and the range of issues that require resolution with their personal participation. The path of such searches has never been easy. The heroes overcame both external trials and their own prejudices. Most often, the path of searching for truth began from the moment when a person thought about what his life’s work would be.

In the novel by M. Sholokhov, everything is somewhat different: most of the heroes did not think about what they were called to do. The Cossacks led a traditional way of life: they took care of their own household, worked hard and together to achieve prosperity; when the time for service came, they took the oath and considered it a matter of honor to serve the Fatherland. But a whirlwind of change burst into this habitual, measured life, destroying everything that was possible; circled the Cossacks and scattered them in different directions. The usual life plans and dreams turned out to be unnecessary in the new life. Now the question arises; how to live further? What should you consider when choosing a solution? How to figure it out and not make mistakes if there is no clear idea of ​​the essence of what is happening? A man “at the cleft of history” in search of the truth of life - this is what M. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” is dedicated to.

Grigory Melekhov was not chosen by M. Sholokhov as the main character by chance. He is one of hundreds of thousands of people who find themselves in an unusually difficult situation. His path to change begins when he leaves home with Aksinya, challenging traditions and customs in a way. Such an act required determination, but did not change Gregory; for him, the main thing was still home, family, and household. He perceived his service on the estate as a temporary phenomenon and hoped that in the future he would be able to arrange his life. The beginning of the First World War coincided with Gregory's service. He became an unwitting participant in dramatic events when people, used by politicians for their own interests, died. The scene of the first murder in Melekhov’s life is described by M. Sholokhov.

Sholokhov is unusually bright and original: through individual details, as if perceived by Gregory, and a description of himself after the battle, devastated and tired of his participation in this bloody massacre. After that battle, as the author notes, he was never the same again, he became withdrawn, irritable, and thought about something. For the first time, Gregory was faced with a choice when he had to decide not his own, but someone else’s fate. He commits murder first to protect himself, and then in a fit of rage and anger, without remembering himself. It was the second murder that Gregory could not forget for a long time. He thought about himself, about what he was capable of. This made him look at the world around him with a different, more careful look.

Thus, the events of the First World War, of which he was a witness and participant, became the first stage of the hero’s spiritual quest, when he had to make decisions on which the future depended.

In the dramatic love story of Gregory, the author managed to recreate a situation where one day a person who did not believe his feelings subsequently suffers for many years, causing pain to other people. Gregory's indecisiveness led to that vital tangle of destinies that is difficult to unravel in one moment. The personal drama aggravated the tragic feeling of confusion in which Melekhov was at a turning point. The question: how to live further was certainly intertwined with another: with whom to live? Natalya is home, children, Aksinya is passionate feelings, support and support in any troubles and trials. Gregory never chose. Fate decided everything for him, and very cruelly: death took both of them, and at one of the most difficult moments of his life, at a crossroads, he was left completely alone.

Civil war at any time, in any country is destructive and has enormous destructive power. Grigory, like any sane person, cannot understand for a long time: how did it happen that former relatives, friends, neighbors, and fellow villagers became irreconcilable enemies, sorting things out with the help of weapons? He resists the anger and aggressiveness that has replaced peace with people, he is not calm, his thoughts disturb him, but it’s not easy to figure everything out.

The writer showed the spiritual world of his hero through peculiar internal monologues, emphasizing the process of searching for truth and reflecting the anxious state of a person who does not know how to live indifferently and thoughtlessly. “I’m looking for a WAY OUT,” Gregory says about himself. Moreover, the decisions he made were most often dictated by the need for choice. So, Gregory’s entry into the rebel detachment is to some extent a forced step. This was preceded by the atrocities of the Red Army soldiers who came to the farm, their intentions to deal with the Cossacks, including Gregory. Later, he himself admits that if it were not for the death threat to him and his loved ones, he would not have taken part in the uprising.

Gregory managed, thanks to his strong will, fortitude, and resilience under the blows of fate, to make a difficult decision. He sought to understand what was happening and did this, coming to the realization that selfish views will not lead to the truth. Therefore, the concept of human truth that was inherent in the Cossacks from the beginning takes over.

In the finale, the circle of his search ends in the same place where it began - at the threshold of his native home, from where the war took him, now he said goodbye to it, throwing weapons and awards into the waters of the Don. This is one of his main decisions: he will no longer fight. The main choice would have been made by Gregory long ago. Reflecting on his fate, Gregory is self-critical and sincere with himself: “I blow like a blizzard in the steppe.” He calls his searches “in vain and empty,” because no matter how much a person searches, the most important thing for him will remain what is commonly called universal human values: native land, home, close and dear people, family, children, favorite business. Through an effort of will, Grigory overcame the desire to go to foreign lands, realizing that this was not a way out of the current situation. His life's journey is not completed, he will probably face a moral choice more than once in search of the right decision, his fate will never be easy.

The long and difficult path of knowledge cannot be called complete, since as long as a person lives, he will always strive to find the truth, without which life is meaningless.

“Eternal laws of human existence” in the novel “Quiet Don”

Epic novel by M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" is undoubtedly his most significant and serious work. Here the author surprisingly well managed to show the life of the Don Cossacks, convey their very spirit and connect all this with specific historical events.

The epic covers a period of great upheaval in Russia. These upheavals greatly affected the fate of the Don Cossacks described in the novel. Eternal values ​​determine the life of the Cossacks as clearly as possible in that difficult historical period that Sholokhov reflected in the novel. Love for the native land, respect for the older generation, love for a woman, the need for freedom - these are the basic values ​​without which a free Cossack cannot imagine himself.

The life of the Cossacks is defined by two concepts - they are warriors and grain growers at the same time. It must be said that historically the Cossacks developed on the borders of Russia, where enemy raids were frequent, so the Cossacks were forced to take up arms in defense of their land, which was particularly fertile and rewarded the labor invested in it a hundredfold. Later, already under the rule of the Russian Tsar, the Cossacks existed as a privileged military class, which largely determined the preservation of ancient customs and traditions among the Cossacks. Sholokhov shows the Cossacks as very traditional. For example, from an early age they get used to a horse, which for them is not just a tool of production, but a faithful friend in battle and a comrade in work (the description of the crying hero Christoni after Voronok, taken away by the Reds, touches the heart). All Cossacks are brought up with respect for their elders and unquestioning submission to them (Panteley Prokofievich could punish Grigory even when the latter had hundreds and thousands of people under his command). The Cossacks are governed by an ataman, elected by the military Cossack Circle, where Sholokhov’s Panteley Prokofievich is heading.

But it should be noted that among the Cossacks traditions of a different kind are strong. Historically, the bulk of the Cossacks were peasants who fled from the landowners in Russia in search of free land. Therefore, the Cossacks are primarily farmers. The vast expanses of the steppes on the Don made it possible, with a certain amount of hard work, to obtain good harvests. Sholokhov shows them as good and strong owners. Cossacks treat land not just as a means of production. She is something more to them. Being in a foreign land, the Cossack’s heart reaches out to his native kuren, to the land, to work on the farm. Grigory, already a commander, more than once leaves home from the front to see loved ones and walk along the furrow, holding the plow. It is the love of the land and the craving for home that forces the Cossacks to abandon the front and not conduct an offensive beyond the borders of the district.

Sholokhov's Cossacks are very freedom-loving. It was the love of freedom, of the opportunity to dispose of the products of their labor themselves that pushed the Cossacks to revolt, in addition to hostility towards the peasants

(in their understanding, lazy people and klutzes) and love for their own land, which the Reds had to convey in an arbitrary way. The love of freedom of the Cossacks is to some extent explained by their traditional autonomy within Russia. Historically, people flocked to the Don in search of freedom. And they found it here and became Cossacks.

In general, freedom for the Cossacks is not an empty phrase. Brought up in complete freedom, the Cossacks negatively perceived attempts to encroach on their freedom by the Bolsheviks. While fighting against the Bolsheviks, the Cossacks do not seek to completely destroy their power. The Cossacks only want to liberate their land.

If we talk about the innate sense of freedom among the Cossacks, then we should remember Gregory’s experiences due to responsibility before the Soviet authorities for his participation in the uprising. How worried Gregory is about thoughts of prison! Why? After all, Gregory is not a coward. The fact is that Gregory is afraid of the very thought of limiting his freedom. He failed to experience any coercion. Gregory can be compared to a wild goose, which was knocked out of its native flock by a bullet and thrown to the ground at the feet of the shooter.

Despite the fact that in the family there is a strict power of the head, here too in Sholokhov, to a certain extent, there is a theme of freedom. The Cossack woman in Sholokhov’s portrayal appears to us not as a faceless and unresponsive slave, but as a person endowed with certain ideas about freedom. This is exactly what Daria and Dunyasha are like in the novel. The first is always cheerful and carefree, even allowing herself to make jokes towards the head of the family, talking to him as an equal. Dunyasha behaves more respectfully towards her parents. Her desire for freedom spills out after the death of her father in a conversation with her mother about marriage.

The motive of love is presented very widely in the novel. In general, the theme of love occupies a special place in the novel; the author pays a lot of attention to it here. In addition to Dunyasha and Koshevoy, the novel shows the love story of the protagonist Grigory Melekhov for Aksinya, who is undoubtedly one of Sholokhov’s most beloved heroines. The love of Gregory and Aksinya runs through the entire novel, weakening at times, but flaring up again with renewed vigor. The influence of this love on the events in the novel is very great and manifests itself at a variety of levels “from family and everyday life to the fate of the entire region.” Because of love, Aksinya leaves her husband.

The very essence of the Cossacks and all their actions is entirely dedicated to the earth, freedom and love - the eternal laws of human existence. They live because they love, they fight because they are freedom-loving and are attached to the earth with all their souls, but they are forced to die or break under the pressure of the Reds because of their disorganization and lack of conviction, the lack of an idea for which they can sacrifice all their property and life .

Thus, in the novel M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" widely presents the eternal laws of human existence, according to which the free Cossacks live. Moreover, the plot of the epic novel is based on them.

Ideological and artistic content of M. Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of Man”

The name of Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov is known to all mankind. Even opponents of socialism cannot deny his outstanding role in world literature of the 20th century. Sholokhov's works are likened to epochal frescoes. Penetration is the definition of Sholokhov’s talent and skills. During the Great Patriotic War, the writer was faced with the task of striking the enemy with his word, full of burning hatred, and strengthening the love of the Motherland among the Soviet people. In the early spring of 1946, i.e. In the first post-war spring, Sholokhov accidentally met an unknown man on the road and heard his confession story.

For ten years the writer nurtured the idea of ​​the work, events became a thing of the past, and the need to speak out increased. And so in 1956, the epic story “The Fate of Man” was completed in a few days. This is a story about the great suffering and great resilience of an ordinary Soviet person. The main character Andrei Sokolov lovingly embodies the traits of the Russian character, enriched by the Soviet way of life: perseverance, patience, modesty, a sense of human dignity, merged with a feeling of Soviet patriotism, with great responsiveness to the misfortune of others, with a sense of collective cohesion. The story consists of three parts: the author's exposition, the hero's narration and the author's ending.

In the exposition, the author calmly talks about the signs of the first post-war spring; he seems to be preparing us for a meeting with the main character, Andrei Sokolov, whose eyes, “as if sprinkled with ashes, filled with inescapable mortal melancholy.” He recalls the past with restraint, wearily, before confession he “hunched over” and placed his large, dark hands on his knees. All this makes us feel that we are learning about a difficult, and perhaps tragic, fate. And indeed, Sokolov’s fate is full of such difficult trials, such terrible losses that it seems impossible for a person to endure all this and not break down, not lose heart.

It is no coincidence that this man is taken and shown in extreme tension of mental strength. The hero's whole life passes before us. He is the same age as the century. From childhood I learned how much a pound is worth, and during the civil war he fought against the enemies of Soviet power. Then he leaves his native Voronezh village for Kuban. Returns home, works as a carpenter, mechanic, driver, and creates a beloved family. The war destroyed all hopes and dreams. He goes to the front. From the beginning of the war, from its first months, he was wounded twice, shell-shocked, and, finally, the worst thing, he was captured. The hero had to experience inhuman physical and mental torment, hardship, and torment.

For two years Sokolov experienced the horrors of fascist captivity. At the same time, he managed to maintain the activity of the position. He tries to escape, but is unsuccessful, he deals with a coward, a traitor who is ready, to save his own skin, to betray the commander. Self-esteem, enormous fortitude and self-control were revealed with great clarity in the moral duel between Sokolov and Muller. An exhausted, exhausted, exhausted prisoner is ready to face death with such courage and endurance that it amazes even the concentration camp commandant who has lost his human appearance. Andrei still manages to escape and becomes a soldier again. But troubles do not leave him: his home was destroyed, his wife and daughter were killed by a fascist bomb.

In a word, Sokolov now lives in hope of meeting his son. And this meeting took place. For the last time, the hero stands at the grave of his son, who died in the last days of the war. It would seem that everything is over, but life “distorted” a person, but could not break and kill the living soul in him. Sokolov's post-war fate is not easy, but he steadfastly and courageously overcomes his grief and loneliness, despite the fact that his soul is filled with a constant feeling of grief. This internal tragedy requires great effort and will of the hero.

Sokolov wages a continuous struggle with himself and emerges victorious; he gives joy to a little man by adopting an orphan like him, Vanyusha, a boy with “eyes as bright as the sky.” The meaning of life is found, grief is overcome, life triumphs. “And I would like to think,” writes Sholokhov, “that this Russian man, a man of unbending will, will endure, and near his father’s shoulder will grow one who, having matured, will be able to withstand everything, overcome everything on his way, if his Motherland calls him to this.” .

Sholokhov's story is imbued with a deep, bright faith in man. At the same time, its title is symbolic, because this is not just the fate of the soldier Andrei Sokolov, but it is a story about the fate of a person, about the fate of the people. The writer recognizes himself as obligated to tell the world the harsh truth about the enormous price the Soviet people paid for humanity’s right to the future. All this determines the outstanding role of this short story. “If you really want to understand why Soviet Russia won a great victory in the Second World War, watch this film,” one English newspaper wrote about the film “The Fate of Man,” and this says a lot about the story itself.

The image of a warrior in the story "The Fate of Man"

Andrei Sokolov - a modest worker, the father of a large family - lived, worked and was happy, but war broke out.

Sokolov, like thousands of others, went to the front. And then all the troubles of the war washed over him: he was shell-shocked and captured, wandered from one concentration camp to another, tried to escape, but was caught. Death looked him in the eye more than once, but Russian pride and human dignity helped him find courage and always remain human. When the camp commandant called Andrei to his place and threatened to personally shoot him, Sokolov did not lose his human face. Andrey did not drink to Germany’s victory, but said what he thought. And for this, even the sadistic commandant, who personally beat the prisoners every morning, respected him and released him, rewarding him with bread and lard. This gift was divided equally among all the prisoners.

Later, Andrei still finds the opportunity to escape, taking with him an engineer with the rank of major, whom he drove in a car. But Sholokhov shows us the heroism of the Russian man not only in the fight against the enemy. A terrible grief befell Andrei Sokolov even before the end of the war: a bomb that hit the house killed his wife and two daughters, and his son was shot by a sniper in Berlin on the very day of Victory, May 9, 1945. It seemed that after all the trials that befell one person, he could become embittered, break down, and withdraw into himself. But this did not happen: realizing how difficult the loss of relatives is and the joylessness of loneliness, he adopts a 5-year-old boy, Vanyusha, whose parents were taken away by the war.

Andrei warmed and made the orphan's soul happy and, thanks to the warmth and gratitude of the child, he himself began to return to life. Sokolov says: “At night, you stroke his sleepy one, smell the hair in his curls, and his heart goes away, it becomes lighter, otherwise it has turned to stone from grief.” With all the logic of his story, Sholokhov proved that his hero cannot be broken by life, because he has something that cannot be broken: human dignity, love for life, the Motherland, for people, kindness that helps to live, fight, work.

Andrei Sokolov first of all thinks about his responsibilities to loved ones, comrades, the Motherland, and humanity. This is not a feat for him, but a natural need. And there are many such simple wonderful people. It was they who won the war and restored the destroyed country so that life could continue and be better and happier. Therefore, Andrei Sokolov is close, understandable and dear to us always.

The horrors of the Second World War were imposed on the Russian people, and at the cost of enormous sacrifices and personal losses, tragic shocks and hardships, he defended his Motherland. This is the meaning of the story "The Fate of Man." The feat of man appeared in Sholokhov’s story, mainly, not on the battlefield or on the labor front, but in conditions of fascist captivity, behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp. In the spiritual combat with fascism, the character of Andrei Sokolov and his courage are revealed. Far from his homeland, Andrei Sokolov survived all the hardships of the war, the inhumane bullying of fascist captivity. And more than once death looked him in the eye, but each time he found titanic courage in himself and remained human to the end.

But not only in a clash with the enemy does Sholokhov see a manifestation of the heroic nature of a person. No less serious tests for the hero are his loss, the terrible grief of a soldier deprived of loved ones and shelter, and his loneliness. After all, Andrei Sokolov emerged victorious from the war, returned peace to the world, and in the war he himself lost everything he had in life “for himself”: family, love, happiness. A merciless and heartless fate did not even leave the soldier a shelter on earth. In the place where his house stood, which he himself had built, there was a dark crater left by a German air bomb.

History cannot hold Andrei Sokolov accountable. He fulfilled all human obligations to her. But here she is in debt to him for his personal life, and Sokolov realizes this. He says to his random interlocutor: “Sometimes you don’t sleep at night, you look into the darkness with empty eyes and think: “Why did you, life, cripple me like that?” I don’t have an answer either in the dark or in the clear sun... I can’t wait!”

Andrei Sokolov, after everything that he experienced, it would seem that he could call life a plague. But he does not complain about the world, does not withdraw into his grief, but goes to people. Left alone in this world, this man gave all the warmth that remained in his heart to the orphan Vanyusha, replacing his father. He adopted an orphan soul and that is why he himself began to gradually return to life.

With all the logic of his story, M. A. Sholokhov proved that his hero is in no way broken by his difficult life, he believes in his strength.

The meaning of the title of the story is that a person, despite all the hardships and adversities, still managed to find the strength to continue living and enjoy his life!

• Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky was born on June 21 (8), 1910 in the village of Zagorye, Smolensk province (now Pochinkovsky district, Smolensk region).
• Tvardovsky's father, Timofey Gordeevich, was a blacksmith. Through many years of labor, he earned the down payment to the Land Bank for a small plot, deciding to feed himself from the land. In the 1930s he was dispossessed and exiled.
• Alexander Tvardovsky studies at a rural school. He has been writing poetry since childhood.
• After school, Tvardovsky entered the Smolensk Pedagogical Institute and graduated from it.
• 1925 - the future poet begins to work in Smolensk newspapers, publishing articles, essays, and sometimes his own poems. The first publication of the “village correspondent” dates back to February 15, when the newspaper “Smolenskaya Derevnya” published an article “How re-elections of cooperatives take place.” On July 19 of the same year, Alexander Tvardovsky’s poem “New Hut” was published for the first time.
• 1926 - Tvardovsky begins to regularly travel to Smolensk, now collaborating in city newspapers.
• April 1927 - the newspaper “Young Comrade” (Smolensk) publishes a selection of poems by a seventeen-year-old poet and places a note about him along with it. All this comes out under the title “The Creative Path of Alexander Tvardovsky.”
• The same year - Tvardovsky finally moved to Smolensk. But he was unable to get a position as a full-time correspondent, and had to agree to a freelance position, which meant inconsistent and low earnings.
• 1929 - Alexander Tvardovsky sends his poems to Moscow, to the magazine “October”. They are printed. Inspired by success, the poet goes to Moscow, and everything begins anew - full-time work, rare publications and a half-starved existence.
• Winter 1930 - return to Smolensk.
• 1931 - Tvardovsky’s first poem, “The Path to Socialism,” was published.
• 1932 - the story “The Diary of a Collective Farm Chairman” was written.
• 1936 - the poem “The Country of Ant” was published, which brought Tvardovsky fame.
• 1937 - 1939 - successively, one per year, collections of the poet’s poems “Poems”, “Road”, “Rural Chronicle” were published.
• 1938 – a cycle of poems “About Grandfather Danila” was published.
• 1939 – received a diploma from the Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature and History.
• 1939 – 1940 – military service. Tvardovsky is a war correspondent. In this capacity he participates in the Polish campaign and the Russian-Finnish war.
• These same years included work on the cycle of poems “In the Snows of Finland.”
• 1941 – receiving a state prize for “The Country of Ant”. In the same year, a collection of poems by Alexander Tvardovsky “Zagorie” was published.
• 1941 - 1945 - military correspondent Tvardovsky works for several newspapers at once. At the same time, he never stops writing poetry, which he combines into the “Front-line Chronicle” cycle.
• The first year of the war saw the beginning of work on the poem “Vasily Terkin,” which was given the subtitle “A Book about a Soldier.” The image of Terkin was invented by the author back in the Russian-Finnish era, when he needed a character for a humorous column.
• September 1942 - “Terkin” first appears on the pages of the newspaper “Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda”. In the same year, the first version of the poem was published as a book.
• 1945 – completion of work on “Terkin”. The book was published immediately and enjoyed unprecedented popularity.
• 1946 – receiving the State Prize for “Vasily Terkin”. In the same year, the poem “House by the Road” was written - also about the war, but from a tragic point of view.
• 1947 – State Prize for “House by the Road”.
• The same year, Tvardovsky’s prose work “Motherland and Foreign Land” was published.
• 1950 - Alexander Tvardovsky was appointed editor-in-chief of the New World magazine.
• 1950 – 1960 – work on the poem “Beyond the Distance.”
• 1950 – 1954 – post of secretary of the board of the Union of Writers of the USSR.
• 1954 – dismissal from the post of editor-in-chief of Novy Mir for “democratic tendencies” that appeared in the magazine immediately after Stalin’s death.
• 1958 – return to the “New World” to the same position. Tvardovsky gathers a team of like-minded people. In 1961, they even managed to publish Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s story “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” in the magazine. After this, Tvardovsky becomes an “unofficial oppositionist.”
• 1961 - receiving the Lenin Prize for the poem “Beyond the Distance.”
• 1963 – 1968 – post of vice-president of the European Writers' Society.
• 1967 - 1969 - work on the poem “By the Right of Memory,” in which the poet describes the horrors of collectivization using the example of, among other things, his own father. The work will not be published during the author's lifetime. Just like the poem “Terkin in the Other World” (written in 1963) - the “other world” in Tvardovsky’s depiction is too reminiscent of Soviet reality.
• Tvardovsky also acts as a literary critic, in particular, writes articles about the work of A.A. Bloka, I.A. Bunina, S.Ya. Marshak, articles and speeches about A.S. Pushkin.
• 1970 - the government again deprives the poet of his position in the New World.
• 1969 - essays written by Tvardovsky during the Soviet-Finnish campaign “From the Karelian Isthmus” were published.
• Alexander Trifonovich would have been married, his wife’s name was Maria Illarionovna. The marriage produced two children, daughters Valentina and Olga.
• December 18, 1971 - Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky dies in Krasnaya Pakhra (Moscow region). He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
• 1987 – the first publication of the poem “By Right of Memory”.

Poem by A. Tvardovsky “Vasily Terkin”

1. This poem was written by the author from 1941 to 1945; it consists of separate chapters, each of which has its own plot, united by the image of V.T. This originality of the plot is explained by the fact that Tvardovsky printed chapters as they were created, and not the entire text at once. This principle of construction allowed the author to create a broad canvas of military reality. “A Book about a Soldier” - the second title of the poem is more general in nature and allows us to say that it is dedicated to all the soldiers who defended their Fatherland.

2. What was especially attractive for the reader was that the author did not idealize the hero or embellish military reality. For example, the author describes the soldiers’ lodging for the night: the weight of wet overcoats, rain, cold, scratching of pine needles, hard roots of trees on which they had to settle. A soldier in war needs not only courage, but also endurance. Terkin in the poem speaks about those who began the war with the most difficult test - defeat in battle and retreat, which was accompanied by reproaches from the people who remained in the occupation. Terkin does not lose his presence of mind even when he leaves the encirclement with other fighters.

3. The author describes in several chapters how difficult it was to leave native places for many to the enemy. The chapter “Crossing” is well known to everyone, in which Tvardovsky conveyed the soldier’s anxiety and desire to survive and win, and the bitterness of loss from how many people died. To relieve tension after such a description, the author deliberately switches attention to the description of the rescued Terkin.

4. The theme of friendship and love is reflected in the poem, because... the poet was convinced that without the support of friends and memories of loved ones and his home, the soldier would have had an even harder time. The common soldier’s attitude towards death is philosophical: no one seeks to bring it closer, but what happens cannot be avoided. The pages of the poem describe battles and fights. One of the chapters is called “Duel,” where Terkin entered into hand-to-hand combat with a German; the further military operations develop, the more Tvardovsky describes how troops are advancing to the West.

5. The author not only rejoices at the victories, but is also sad because he regrets that many will die at the end of the war. It is no coincidence that the chapter on death “Warrior” is placed by the author in the final part of the poem. The final chapters, for example, “On the Road to Berlin,” are increasingly narrated by the author rather than the protagonist. This is explained by the fact that a broad picture of events outside the borders of the Motherland is created, and an ordinary fighter could hardly see so much. The entire poetic chronicle is permeated with the theme of cruelty towards humans. Defending their fatherland, people sacrificed themselves without expecting any benefits or gratitude.

6. The ability to enjoy life and appreciate it is one of the qualities of Terkin’s character, thanks to which he withstood so many trials. Not many authors, like Tvardovsky, depicted military events so realistically. He created the image of a soldier, not a war hero, who would look like some kind of monument. Tvardovsky is so real that many were convinced of his real existence.

7. The concept of humor in literature is defined as follows: it is condemnation and ridicule of a person’s character or behavior. In this poem, the author does not act as one who ridicules and condemns his hero. This is his hero - Terkin laughs easily and good-naturedly at himself and at others. Moreover, he does this for a specific purpose: to support his comrades in difficult times, to lift their spirits, to defuse a difficult situation. There are elements of the comic in many chapters, for example in the chapter “Crossing”, the story of the tragic events ends with the successful crossing of Terkin, who jokes, despite the fact that he was so frozen that he could not speak. It is his joke and the author’s words that mortal combat is fought for the sake of life that allow us to believe in future victory. The chapter “About the Reward” creates the image of a cheerful, talkative guy who communicates easily and dreams of the future. His words:

Why do I need an order?

I agree to a medal, -

you remember not because he boasted about himself, but precisely because of the dream that everything would end well and they would return home.

Chapter "Duel" about heavy hand-to-hand combat is interrupted by the author's commentary, in which it is easy to guess the voice of Terkin himself, although he is not in the mood for jokes. The author's irony about the German is, as it were, a reflection of the thoughts of Terkin, who is fighting an unequal battle. In this chapter, Tvardovsky managed to convey the atmosphere of an intense battle and an assessment of what was happening through the consciousness of the hero. Terkin is not only a joker and a merry fellow, he is a jack of all trades, and he does everything easily, regardless of the job: he will set up a saw, and cook porridge, and fix a watch, and shoot down an airplane with a rifle, and play the accordion like no one else. He succeeds in many things because he takes on everything with a joke and a joke, rejoicing at the opportunity, even in war, to do something necessary, and not kill enemies. Even with death, he found a common language and managed to convince her, and only thanks to the fact that he was able to joke, death laughs at him and retreats.

Throughout the poem, the author uses various comic techniques, including peculiar comparisons with folk art, where Ivanushka, although a fool, can do everything and defeats everyone. The comic in Terkin’s character manifests itself precisely because he is close to folk humor, where the heroes always sought to perceive life not tragically, but with irony and humor. Laughing at the enemy, ironizing at his own expense, a person thereby maintains the most important thing - confidence in his abilities. This is exactly what Tvardovsky writes about.

Hero and people in A.T. Tvardovsky’s poem “Vasily Terkin”

Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin" is a completely unusual work both in compositional and stylistic features, and in fate. It was written during the war and in the war - from 1941 to 1945, and became a truly folk, or rather, a soldier's poem. According to Solzhenitsyn’s memoirs, the soldiers of his battery, of many books, preferred it and Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” most of all. In my essay I would like to dwell on what I like most about the poem “Vasily Terkin”. What I like most about Alexander Trifonovich’s work is the language – easy, figurative, folk. His poems are memorable on their own. I also like the unusual nature of the book, the fact that each chapter is a complete, separate work.

The author himself said about it this way: “This book is about a fighter, without beginning or end.” And what the author offers: “In a word, let’s start the book from the middle. And from there it will go...” This, I think, makes the hero closer and more understandable. It is also very correct that the poet did not attribute so many heroic deeds to Terkin. However, a crossing, a downed plane and a captured tongue are quite enough.

If you asked me why Vasily Terkin became one of my favorite literary heroes, I would say: “I like his love of life.” Look, he’s at the front, where there’s death every day, where no one is “bewitched from a stupid fragment, from any stupid bullet.” Sometimes he is cold or hungry, and has no news from his relatives. But he does not lose heart. Lives and enjoys life:

After all, he is in the kitchen - from his place,

From place to battle,

Smokes, eats and drinks with gusto

Any position.

He can swim across an icy river, dragging, straining, his tongue. But here is a forced stop, “and it’s frosty - you can’t stand or sit down.” And Terkin played the accordion:

And from that old accordion,

That I was left an orphan

Somehow it suddenly became warmer

On the front road."

Terkin is the soul of the soldier's company. No wonder his comrades love to listen to his sometimes humorous and sometimes serious stories. Here they lie in the swamps, where the wet infantry even dreams of “at least death, but on dry land.” It's raining. And you can’t even smoke: the matches are wet. The soldiers curse everything, and it seems to them that “there is no worse trouble.” And Terkin grins and begins a long argument. He says that as long as a soldier feels the elbow of a comrade, he is strong. Behind him is a battalion, a regiment, a division. Or even the front. What is it: all of Russia! Last year, when the German was rushing to Moscow and sang “Moscow is mine,” then it was necessary to freak out. But today the German is not at all the same, “the German is not a singer of this song from last year.”

And we think to ourselves that even last year, when I was completely sick, Vasily found words that helped his comrades. He has such talent. Such a talent that, lying in a wet swamp, my comrades laughed: my soul felt lighter. But most of all I like the chapter “Death and the Warrior,” in which the wounded hero freezes and imagines that death has come to him. And it became difficult for him to argue with her, because he was bleeding and wanted peace. And why, it seemed, was there any need to hold on to this life, where all the joy is in either freezing, or digging trenches, or being afraid that they will kill you... But Vasily is not the type to easily surrender to Kosoy.

I will beep, howl in pain,

Die in the field without a trace,

But of your own free will

I will never give up

He whispers. And the warrior conquers death. “The Book about a Soldier” was very necessary at the front; it raised the spirit of soldiers and encouraged them to fight for their homeland until the last drop of blood.

“No, guys, I’m not proud, I agree to a medal,” Tvardovsky’s hero laughs. They say that they were going to erect or even already erected a monument to the fighter Vasily Terkin. A monument to a literary hero is a rare thing in general, and especially in our country. But it seems to me that Tvardovsky’s hero rightfully deserved this honor. After all, along with him, the monument will also be received by millions of those who in one way or another resembled Vasily, who loved their country and did not spare their blood, who found a way out of a difficult situation and knew how to brighten up front-line difficulties with a joke, who loved to play the accordion and listen to music on the halt. Many of them did not even find their grave. Let the monument to Vasily Terkin be a monument to them too. A monument to the Russian Soldier, whose patient and resilient soul was embodied in the hero of Tvardovsky.

"Terkin - who is he?" (Based on the poem "Vasily Terkin" by A. T. Tvardovsky)

Fiction during the Great Patriotic War has a number of characteristic, unique features. In my opinion, one of its most important features is the patriotic heroism of people who truly love their Motherland. And the most successful example of such heroism in a work of art can rightfully be considered the poem by Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky - “Vasily Terkin”.

The very first chapters of the poem "Vasily Terkin" were published in the front-line press in 1942. The author successfully called his work “a book about a fighter, without beginning, without end.” Each subsequent chapter of the poem was a description of one front-line episode. The artistic task that Tvardovsky set for himself was very difficult, because the outcome of the war in 1942 was far from obvious.

The main character of the poem, of course, is a soldier - Vasily Terkin. It is not for nothing that his last name is consonant with the word “rub”: Terkin is an experienced soldier, a participant in the war with Finland. He participated in the Great Patriotic War from the first days: “in service from June, into battle from July.” Terkin is the embodiment of the Russian character. He is not distinguished by either significant mental abilities or external perfection:

Let's be honest:

Just a guy himself

He is ordinary:

The soldiers consider Terkin their boyfriend and are glad that he ended up in their company. Terkin has no doubt about the final victory. In the chapter “Two Soldiers”, when asked by the old man whether he will be able to beat the enemy, Terkin replies: “We will, father.” The main character traits of Vasily Terkin can be considered modesty and simplicity. He is convinced that true heroism does not lie in the beauty of the pose. Terkin thinks that in his place every Russian soldier would have done the same thing. It is also necessary to pay attention to Terkin’s attitude towards death, which is not indifferent in combat conditions.

Many years have passed since the guns fell silent and its final stanzas, filled with wisdom and bright sadness, were written into the “Book about a Fighter.” A different reader, a different life around, a different time... What is the relationship of “Vasily Terkin” to this new time? “The Book about a Fighter” and the image of Terkin could only have been born during the war. It's not just about the theme and not just about the completeness and accuracy with which the circumstances of a soldier's life and the experiences of a front-line soldier are captured here - from love for his native land to the habit of sleeping in a hat. What makes Alexander Tvardovsky’s poem a book of its own, wartime, is, first of all, the organic and multifaceted connection of its content and artistic form with that unique state of people’s life and social consciousness that was characteristic of the period of the Great Patriotic War.

Hitler's invasion meant a mortal threat to the very existence of our society, the very existence of the Russian, Ukrainian and other nations. In the face of this threat, under the terrible weight of the great disaster that befell the country, all peacetime concerns receded into the background. And the most characteristic feature of this period was unity. The unity of all layers of society, the unity of the people and the state, the unity of all nations and nationalities inhabiting our country. Love for the Motherland, anxiety and responsibility for it; a feeling of kinship with the entire Soviet people; hatred of the enemy; longing for family and friends, grief for the dead; memories and dreams of the world; the bitterness of defeat in the first months of the war; pride in the growing strength and success of the advancing troops; finally, the happiness of a great victory - these feelings controlled everyone then. And although this, so to speak, “nationwide” feeling did not at all exclude purely individual motives and experiences in people, in the foreground for everyone was what the author of “Terkin” said in such simple and so unique words, remembered by everyone:

The battle is holy and right,

Mortal combat is not for glory -

For the sake of life on earth.

Often the hero of the poem has to face death. However, cheerfulness and natural humor help him cope with fear, thus defeating death itself. Terkin habitually risks his own life. For example, he crosses a river in icy water and establishes communications, ensuring a favorable outcome of the battle.

When the frozen Terkin receives medical assistance, he jokes:

They rubbed and rubbed...

Suddenly he says, as if in a dream:

Doctor, doctor, is it possible?

Should I warm myself from the inside?

Terkin is ready to swim back, thereby showing remarkable will and courage.

The poem "Vasily Terkin" can be considered one of the truly folk works. It is interesting that many lines from this work migrated into oral folk speech or became popular poetic aphorisms. A number of examples can be given: “Combat to the death is not for the sake of glory - for the sake of life on earth”, “forty souls - one soul”, “crossing, crossing - left bank, right bank” and many others.

Vasily Terkin, as they say, is a jack of all trades. In harsh military conditions, he never stops working for the benefit of his comrades: he knows how to repair a watch and sharpen an old saw. In addition, Terkin is a master of playing the harmonica; he entertains his comrades in arms and selflessly gives them moments of joy. Who is he - Vasily Terkin?

In a word, Terkin, the one who

A dashing soldier in war,

At a party, a guest is not superfluous,

At work - anywhere.

The prototype of Vasily Terkin is the entire fighting, fighting people. Today we can say with confidence that the poem “Vasily Terkin” remains one of the most beloved works about the Second World War.

In its entirety, “The Book about a Soldier” is a child of wartime, an era independent in its development, separated from us not only by time, but also by sharp turns of history. However, like many years ago, the poem “Vasily Terkin” remains today one of the most beloved and well-known books among the Russian people. Vasily Terkin combines all the features of the Russian, deep, incomprehensible soul, which even to this day is difficult for other peoples to understand.

Poem by A. T. Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin"

Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky was born in 1910 in one of the farms in the Smolensk region, into a peasant family. For the formation of the personality of the future poet, the relative erudition of his father and the love of books that he brought up in his children were also important. “Whole winter evenings,” writes Tvardovsky in his autobiography, “we often devoted ourselves to reading a book out loud. My first acquaintance with “Poltava” and “Dubrovsky” by Pushkin, “Taras Bulba” by Gogol, the most popular poems of Lermontov, Nekrasov, A.K. Tolstoy, Nikitin happened in exactly this way.”

In 1938, an important event occurred in Tvardovsky’s life - he joined the ranks of the Communist Party. In the fall of 1939, immediately after graduating from the Moscow Institute of History, Philosophy and Literature (IFLI), the poet participated in the liberation campaign of the Soviet Army in Western Belarus (as a special correspondent for a military newspaper).

The first meeting with the heroic people in a military situation was of great importance for the poet. According to Tvardovsky, the impressions he received then preceded those deeper and stronger ones that washed over him during the Second World War. Artists drew interesting pictures depicting the unusual front-line adventures of the experienced soldier Vasya Terkin, and poets composed text for these pictures. Vasya Terkin is a popular character who performed supernatural, dizzying feats: he mined a tongue, pretending to be a snowball, covered his enemies with empty barrels and lit a cigarette while sitting on one of them, “he takes the enemy with a bayonet, like sheaves with a pitchfork.” This Terkin and his namesake - the hero of Tvardovsky's poem of the same name, who gained nationwide fame - are incomparable.

For some slow-witted readers, Tvardovsky will subsequently specifically hint at the deep difference that exists between the true hero and his namesake: “Is it now possible to conclude // That, they say, grief is not a problem, // That the guys got up and took // The village without difficulty? / / What about constant luck // Terkin accomplished a feat: // With a Russian wooden spoon // Killed eight Krauts!”

However, captions to the drawings helped Tvardovsky achieve ease of conversational speech. These forms will be preserved in the “real” “Vasily Terkin”, having been significantly improved, expressing deep life content.

The first plans to create a serious poem about the hero of the people's war date back to the period 1939–1940. But these plans changed significantly later under the influence of new, formidable and great events.

Tvardovsky was always interested in the fate of his country at turning points in history. History and people are his main theme. Back in the early 30s, he created a poetic picture of the difficult era of collectivization in the poem “The Country of Ant”. During the Great Patriotic War (1941 - 1945), A. T. Tvardovsky writes the poem “Vasily Terkin” about the Great Patriotic War. The fate of the people was being decided. The poem is dedicated to the life of the people during the war.

Tvardovsky is a poet who deeply understood and appreciated the beauty of the people's character. In “The Country of Ant”, “Vasily Terkin”, large-scale, capacious, collective images are created: the events are enclosed in a very broad plot frame, the poet turns to hyperbole and other means of fairy-tale conventions. In the center of the poem is the image of Terkin, uniting the composition of the work into a single whole. Vasily Ivanovich Terkin is the main character of the poem, an ordinary infantryman from the Smolensk peasants.

“Just a guy himself // He’s ordinary.” Terkin embodies the best features of the Russian soldier and the people as a whole. A hero named Vasily Terkin first appears in the poetic feuilletons of the Tvardov period of the Soviet-Finnish war (1939 - 1940). The words of the hero of the poem: “I am fighting the second war, brother, // Forever and ever.”

The poem is structured as a chain of episodes from the military life of the main character, which do not always have a direct event connection with each other. Terkin humorously tells young soldiers about the everyday life of war; He says that he has been fighting since the very beginning of the war, he was surrounded three times, and was wounded. The fate of an ordinary soldier, one of those who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders, becomes the personification of national fortitude and the will to live. Terkin swims across the icy river twice to restore contact with the advancing units. Terkin alone occupies a German dugout, but comes under fire from his own artillery; on the way to the front, Terkin finds himself in the house of old peasants, helping them with the housework; Terkin enters hand-to-hand combat with the German and, with difficulty defeating him, takes him prisoner. Unexpectedly, Terkin shoots down a German attack aircraft with a rifle; Terkin reassures the envious sergeant: “Don’t worry, the German has this // Not his last plane.”

Terkin takes command of the platoon when the commander is killed, and is the first to break into the village; however, the hero is again seriously wounded. Lying wounded in a field, Terkin talks with Death, who persuades him not to cling to life; in the end, the soldiers discover him, and he tells them: “Take away this woman, // I am a soldier still alive.” The image of Vasily Terkin combines the best moral qualities of the Russian people: patriotism, readiness for heroism, love of work.

The character traits of the hero are interpreted by the poet as traits of a collective image: Terkin is inseparable and integral from the militant people. It is interesting that all fighters - regardless of their age, tastes, military experience - feel good with Vasily. Wherever he appears - in battle, on vacation, on the road - contact, friendliness, and mutual disposition are instantly established between him and the fighters. Literally every scene speaks to this. The soldiers listen to Terkin’s playful bickering with the cook at the first appearance of the hero: “And sitting down under a pine tree, // He eats porridge, slouching. // “Your own?” - fighters among themselves, // “Ours!” - looked at each other."

Terkin is characterized by the master’s respect and caring attitude towards things as the fruit of labor. It’s not for nothing that he takes away his grandfather’s saw, which he warps, not knowing how to sharpen it. Returning the finished saw to the owner, Vasily says: “Here, grandfather, take it and look. // It will cut better than a new one, // Don’t waste the tool.”

Terkin loves work and is not afraid of it (from the hero’s conversation with death): “- I am a worker, // I would get into the business at home. // - The house is destroyed. // - Me and the carpenter. // - There is no stove. // “And the stove maker...” The simplicity of the hero is usually synonymous with his popularity, the absence of exclusivity in him. But this simplicity also has another meaning in the poem: the transparent symbolism of the hero’s surname, the Terkino “we’ll endure it, we’ll endure it” emphasizes his ability to overcome difficulties simply and easily. This is his behavior even when he swims across an icy river or sleeps under a pine tree, completely content with an uncomfortable bed, etc. In this simplicity of the hero, his calmness, and sober outlook on life, important features of the national character are expressed.

In the poem “Vasily Terkin”, A. T. Tvardovsky’s field of vision includes not only the front, but also those who work in the rear for the sake of victory: women and old people. The characters in the poem not only fight - they laugh, love, talk with each other, and most importantly, they dream of a peaceful life. The reality of war unites what is usually incompatible: tragedy and humor, courage and fear, life and death.

The poem “Vasily Terkin” is distinguished by its peculiar historicism. Conventionally, it can be divided into three parts, coinciding with the beginning, middle and end of the war. Poetic understanding of the stages of the war creates a lyrical chronicle of events from the chronicle. A feeling of bitterness and sorrow fills the first part, faith in victory fills the second, the joy of the liberation of the Fatherland becomes the leitmotif of the third part of the poem. This is explained by the fact that A. T. Tvardovsky created the poem gradually, throughout the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945.

The composition of the poem is also original. Not only individual chapters, but also periods and stanzas within chapters are distinguished by their completeness. This is due to the fact that the poem was printed in parts. And it should be accessible to the reader from “any place.”

The poem has 30 chapters. Twenty-five of them fully and comprehensively reveal the hero, who finds himself in a wide variety of military situations. In the last chapters, Terkin does not appear at all (“About an Orphan Soldier,” “On the Road to Berlin”). The poet has said everything about the hero and does not want to repeat himself or make the image illustrative.

It is no coincidence that Tvardovsky’s work begins and ends with lyrical digressions. An open conversation with the reader brings him closer to the inner world of the work and creates an atmosphere of shared involvement in events. The poem ends with a dedication to the fallen.

Tvardovsky talks about the reasons that prompted him to construct the poem in such a way: “I did not long languish with doubts and fears regarding the uncertainty of the genre, the lack of an initial plan that would embrace the entire work in advance, and the weak plot connection of the chapters with each other. Not a poem - well, let it not be a poem, I decided; there is no single plot - let it be, don’t; there is no very beginning of a thing - there is no time to invent it; the climax and completion of the entire narrative is not planned - let us write about what is burning and not waiting.”

Of course, a plot is necessary in a work. Tvardovsky knew and knows this very well, but, trying to convey to the reader the “real truth” of the war, he polemically declared his rejection of plot in the usual sense of the word.

“There is no plot in war... However, it does not harm the truth.” The poet emphasized the truthfulness and reliability of broad pictures of life by calling “Vasily Terkin” not a poem, but “a book about a fighter.” The word “book” in this popular sense sounds somehow specially significant, as an object “serious, reliable, unconditional,” says Tvardovsky.

The poem “Vasily Terkin” is an epic canvas. But the lyrical motifs also sound powerful in it. Tvardovsky could (and did) call the poem “Vasily Terkin” his lyrics, because in this work for the first time the appearance of the poet himself, his personality traits, were so vividly, diversely and strongly expressed.

Lyrics by Tvardovsky.

Conventionally, Tvardovsky’s poems are divided into 3 periods:

1. pre-war lyrics, in which Tvardovsky mainly writes about his native Smolensk places, about the changes in the life of the Russian village that occurred in the 20s - 30s. He shares his impressions of what he saw, talks about numerous meetings, because... was a journalist and traveled a lot around the country. He was interested in many things: from collectivization to relationships between people.

2. military lyrics. A large number of poems are devoted to descriptions of military events and meetings with war heroes. Many poems are written on real subjects (“The Tankman’s Tale”). This lyricism includes poems written by Tvardovsky after the war, but about it ( “I was killed near Rzhev”, “On the day the war ended”, “I don’t know any of my guilt”).

3. post-war lyrics - philosophical (“To fellow writers”, “The whole essence is in one - the only testament ...”, “Thank you, my native land”). In these poems, he reflects on eternal questions: about the meaning of life, about his close connection with his native land. He devotes many poems to the memories of his family and friends. He dedicates the cycle “In Memory of the Mother,” “Your Beauty Does Not Age” to his mother.

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