What are the results of life searches of Grigory Melikhov. Grigory melekhov in search of the truth of life

The value of M. Sholokhov's novel "Quiet Don" can be determined, first of all, from the point of view of the recreation of a certain historical era that influenced the fate of the people and the country as a whole. The epic novel includes the creation of a wide epic canvas, where the focus is on events, as well as the study of the psychology of behavior, motivation of actions, the formation of the views and beliefs of an individual, reflecting the typical traits of many people. The time frame of the work is about nine years, full of many events that have changed the usual way of life of the Don Cossacks. The original idea of ​​the writer was to show the process of the formation of a new power, since interest in the fate of a person was due to a comparison of the past, which cannot be returned, and the present, in which there were preconditions for the future.

In Russian literature, one of the traditional issues is the spiritual quest of heroes who strive to realize their destiny, to determine their place and the range of issues that require resolution with his personal participation. This quest has never been easy. The heroes overcame both external trials and their own prejudices. Most often, the path of the search for truth began from the moment when a person wondered what his life's work would be.

In M. Sholokhov's novel, everything is somewhat different: most of the heroes did not think about what they were called to. The Cossacks led a traditional way of life: they were engaged in their own household, worked a lot 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, destroyed everything that was possible; circled the Cossacks and scattered them in different directions. Habitual life plans and dreams turned out to be unnecessary in a new life. Now the question arose; how to live on? What should be guided by when choosing a solution? How to understand and not be mistaken if there is no clear idea of ​​the essence of what is happening? A man “at the fracture of history” in search of the truth of life - this is what M. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” is devoted 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, throwing down a kind of challenge to tradition and custom. Such an act demanded decisiveness, but did not change Gregory, for him, as before, the main thing was 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 outbreak of the First World War coincided with the service of Gregory. He became an unwitting participant in dramatic events when people who were used by politicians in their interests died. The scene of the first murder in Melekhov's life was described by M. Sholokhov.

Sholokhov is unusually bright and original: through individual details, as if perceived by Grigory, and a description of himself after the battle, devastated and tired by his participation in this bloody massacre. After that battle, according to the author's remark, he was never the same, he became withdrawn, irritable, thinking about something. For the first time, Grigory faced 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, not remembering himself. It was the second murder that Grigory 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, closer look.

Thus, the events of the First World War, which he witnessed and took part in, 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 when a person who once did not believe his feelings subsequently suffers for many years, causing pain to other people. Gregory's indecision led to that vital interweaving of destinies, which is difficult to unravel at one moment. The personal drama exacerbated the tragic sense 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? Natalia is a home, children, Aksinya - passionate feelings, support and support in any troubles and trials. Gregory did not choose. Fate decided everything for him, and very cruelly: death took both of them, and in one of the most difficult moments of his life, at the crossroads, he was left completely alone.

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

The writer showed the spiritual world of his hero through peculiar inner monologues that emphasize the process of searching for truth and reflect the anxious state of a person who does not know how to live indifferently and thoughtlessly. “I myself am looking for an EXIT,” says Grigory about himself. Moreover, the decisions he made were most often dictated by the need for choice. So the entry of Gregory into the rebel detachment is to some extent a forced step. This was preceded by the atrocities of the Red Army men 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 threat of death to him and his family, he would not have taken part in the uprising.

Gregory managed, thanks to his strong will, firmness of spirit, resilience under the blows of fate, to make a difficult decision. He sought to understand what was happening and did it, having come 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 searches ends in the same place where it began - at the threshold of his home, from where the war took him away, 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 am blooming like a blizzard in the steppe." He calls his searches “wasted 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 the efforts of will, Grigory overcame the desire to go to foreign lands, realizing that this was not a way out of the situation. His life path is not completed, he will probably face moral choices in search of the right decision more than once, 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 search for truth, without which life is meaningless.

"The eternal laws of human existence" in the novel "Quiet Don"

The epic novel by M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" is undoubtedly his most significant and serious work. Here the author was surprisingly good at showing the life of the Don Cossacks, conveying its very spirit and connecting all this with specific historical events.

The epic covers a period of great upheavals in Russia. These upheavals strongly affected the fate of the Don Cossacks, described in the novel. Eternal values ​​define the life of the Cossacks as clearly as possible in that difficult historical period, which 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 determined by two concepts - they are warriors and grain growers at the same time. It must be said that historically the Cossacks formed on the borders of Russia, where enemy raids were frequent, so the Cossacks were forced to defend their land with arms in hand, which was distinguished by its special fertility and rewarded a hundredfold for the labor invested in it. Later, already under the rule of the Russian Tsar, the Cossacks existed as a privileged military estate, which in many respects determined the preservation of ancient customs and traditions among the Cossacks. Sholokhov's Cossacks are shown to be very traditional. For example, from an early age they get used to the horse, which is not just an instrument of production for them, but a faithful friend in battle and a comrade in labor (he takes the description of the crying hero Christoni by the funnel led by the red by the red). All Cossacks are brought up in respect for elders and unquestioning obedience to them (Panteley Prokofievich could punish Grigory even when hundreds and thousands of people were under the command of the latter). The Cossacks are ruled by an ataman elected by the military Cossack Circle, where Panteley Prokofievich is sent to Sholokhov.

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

Sholokhov's Cossacks are very freedom-loving. It was the love of freedom, of the ability to dispose of the products of their labor himself that pushed the Cossacks to an uprising, in addition to hostility to the peasants.

(in their understanding, lazy and foolish) and love for their own land, which the red 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 have longed for the Don in search of freedom. And they found her here, became Cossacks.

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

If we talk about the innate sense of freedom among the Cossacks, then we should recall the experiences of Gregory because of his responsibility to the Soviet government for his participation in the uprising. How worried Gregory is by the thought of prison! Why? After all, Gregory is not a coward. The fact is that Gregory is afraid of the very idea of ​​restricting his freedom. He failed to experience any kind of compulsion. Gregory can be compared to a wild goose, which was knocked out of the native flock by a bullet and thrown to the ground at the shooter's feet.

Despite the fact that the family has a tough power of the head, here too Sholokhov has to a certain extent the theme of freedom. The Cossack woman in the image of Sholokhov appears before us not as a faceless and unrequited slave, but as a person endowed with certain ideas about freedom. This is exactly what Daria and Dunyasha are in the novel. The first is always cheerful and carefree, even allowing herself to let go of jokes in the direction of 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 very broadly presented in the novel. In general, the theme of love in the novel occupies a special place; 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 Grigory and Aksinya runs through the entire novel, at times weakening, 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 various 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 land, freedom and love - the eternal laws of human existence. They live because they love, they fight, because they are freedom-loving and are tied to the earth with all their souls, but they are forced to perish or break down under the pressure of the Reds because of their disorganization and lack of conviction, the lack of an idea for which you can sacrifice all your property and life. ...

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

Ideological and artistic content of M. Sholokhov's story "The Fate of a 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. Insight is the definition of Sholokhov's talent, skills. During the Great Patriotic War, the writer was faced with the task of striking the enemy with his full of burning hatred, strengthening the love for the Motherland among the Soviet people. In the early spring of 1946, i.e. in the first post-war spring, accidentally met Sholokhov on the road of an unknown person and heard his confession story.

For ten years the writer nurtured the idea of ​​the work, events receded into the past, and the need to speak out was increasing. And in 1956, within a few days, the epic story "The Fate of a Man" was completed. This is a story about the great suffering and great resilience of an ordinary Soviet man. The main character, Andrei Sokolov, lovingly embodies the features of the Russian character, enriched by the Soviet way of life: steadfastness, patience, modesty, a sense of human dignity, merged with a sense of Soviet patriotism, with great responsiveness to someone else's misfortune, with a sense of collective bond. 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 kind of prepares us for a meeting with the main character, Andrei Sokolov, whose eyes, "as if sprinkled with ashes, filled with inescapable mortal melancholy." He remembers the past with restraint, weary, before confession he "hunched over", put his big, dark hands on his knees. All this makes us feel that we are learning about a difficult, and perhaps even a tragic fate. Indeed, the fate of Sokolov 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 not by chance, therefore, that this person is taken and shown in the utmost tension of mental strength. The whole life of the hero passes before us. He is the same age as the century. From childhood I learned how much "a pound of dashing" was, in the civil war he fought against the enemies of Soviet power. Then he leaves his native Voronezh village for the Kuban. Returns home, works as a carpenter, locksmith, chauffeur, created a beloved family. The war broke all hopes and dreams. He goes to the front. From the beginning of the war, from its first months, he was twice wounded, shell-shocked, and, finally, the worst thing - he was taken prisoner. The hero had to experience inhuman physical and mental anguish, hardships, torments.

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

In a word, Sokolov now lives with the 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 a living soul in him. The post-war fate of Sokolov is not easy, but he steadfastly and courageously overcomes his grief, loneliness, despite the fact that his soul is full of a constant feeling of grief. This inner tragedy requires a lot of effort and willpower of the hero.

Sokolov wages a continuous struggle with himself and emerges from it as a winner, he gives joy to the little man, adopting the same as him, an orphan, Vanyusha, a boy with "eyes as bright as a sky." The meaning of life has been found, sorrow has been conquered, life is triumphant. "And I would like to think," writes Sholokhov, "that this Russian man, a man of unbending will, will withstand, and one who, having matured, will be able to withstand everything, overcome everything on his way, will grow up near his father's shoulder, if his Motherland calls for this." ...

Sholokhov's story is imbued with a deep, light faith in a person. At the same time, its title is symbolic, for it 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 obliged to tell the world the harsh truth about the enormous price the Soviet people paid for the right of mankind to the future. All this determines the outstanding role of this little story. "If you really want to understand why Soviet Russia won a great victory in World War II, watch this film," wrote an English newspaper about the film The Fate of a Man, and that says a lot about the story itself.

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

Andrei Sokolov - a modest worker, the father of a large family - lived, worked and was happy, but the 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 wounded and taken prisoner, wandered from one concentration camp to another, tried to escape, but was caught. More than once death looked into his eyes, but Russian pride and human dignity helped him to find courage and always remain human. When the camp commandant summoned Andrei to his place and threatened to personally shoot him, Sokolov did not lose his human face. Andrei did not drink to the victory of Germany, but said what he thought. And for this, even the sadist 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 an opportunity to escape, taking with him an engineer with the rank of major, whom he drove by car. But Sholokhov shows us the heroism of the Russian people 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 already in Berlin on the very Victory Day, May 9, 1945. It seemed that after all the trials that fell to the lot of one person, he could become embittered, break down, withdraw into himself. But this did not happen: realizing how hard the loss of relatives and joyless loneliness is, he adopts a 5-year-old boy Vanyusha, from whom the war took away his parents.

Andrey warmed him up, made the orphan's soul happy and, thanks to the child's warmth and gratitude, began to return to life himself. Sokolov says: "At night, you will stroke his sleepy one, sniff the hairs in the whirlwinds, and the heart leaves, it becomes easier, otherwise it has turned to stone with 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 responsibilities to relatives, comrades, Motherland, 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 rebuilt the destroyed country so that life could go on and be better and happier. Therefore, Andrei Sokolov is always close, understandable and dear to us.

The horrors of the Second World War were imposed on the Russian people, and at the cost of enormous sacrifices and personal losses, tragic upheavals and hardships, he defended his homeland. This is the meaning of the story "The Fate of a Man". The feat of a man appeared in Sholokhov's story, basically, not on the battlefield or on the labor front, but in the conditions of fascist captivity, behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp. Spiritual combat against fascism reveals the character of Andrei Sokolov, his courage. Far from his homeland, Andrei Sokolov survived all the hardships of the war, the inhuman abuse of fascist captivity. And more than once death looked into his eyes, but each time he found titanic courage in himself, remained a man to the end.

But Sholokhov sees not only a clash with the enemy as a manifestation of a heroic person in nature. An equally serious test for the hero is his loss, the terrible grief of a soldier, deprived of loved ones and shelter, his loneliness. After all, Andrei Sokolov emerged victorious from the war, restored peace to the world, and in the war he lost everything that he had in his life "for himself": family, love, happiness. Merciless and heartless fate did not leave the soldier even a refuge on earth. In the place where his house, which he himself had built, stood, a crater from a German aerial bomb darkened.

History cannot present bills to Andrey Sokolov. He fulfilled all human obligations to her. But here she is in front of him for his personal life - in debt, and Sokolov realizes this. He says to his casual interlocutor: “Sometimes you don't sleep at night, you look into the darkness with empty eyes and think:“ Why did you, life, cripple me so? ”I have no answer either in the dark or in the clear sun ... can't wait! "

Andrei Sokolov, after all that he experienced, it would seem, could call life a plague. But he does not murmur at 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.

By 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 own strength.

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

• Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky was born on June 21 (8), 1910 in the village of Zagorye, Smolensk province (now it is the Pochinkovsky district of the Smolensk region).
• Tvardovsky's father, Timofey Gordeevich, was a blacksmith. Through many years of work, he earned a down payment to the Land Bank for a small plot, deciding to feed off the land. In the 1930s he was dispossessed and exiled.
• Alexander Tvardovsky is studying 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 the Smolensk newspapers, publishes articles, essays, and sometimes his own poems in them. The first publication of the “selkor” refers to February 15, when the newspaper “Smolenskaya Derevnya” published an article “How the re-elections of cooperatives are taking place”. On July 19 of the same year, Alexander Tvardovsky's poem "New hut" was published for the first time.
• 1926 - Tvardovsky begins to travel regularly to Smolensk, now collaborating in city newspapers.
• April 1927 - the newspaper "Young Comrade" (Smolensk) publishes a selection of poems by the seventeen-year-old poet and posts a note about him with it. All this comes out under the heading "The creative path of Alexander Tvardovsky."
• The same year - Tvardovsky finally moved to Smolensk. But he did not succeed in getting a position of a full-time correspondent, and he had to agree to a freelance position, which meant a fickle and small salary.
• 1929 - Alexander Tvardovsky sends his poems to Moscow, to the magazine "October". They are being printed. Inspired by success, the poet travels to Moscow, and everything starts anew - the work of all the staff, rare publications and a half-starved existence.
• Winter 1930 - return to Smolensk.
• 1931 - Tvardovsky's first poem "The Way to Socialism" is published.
• 1932 - the story "Diary of the Kolkhoz Chairman" was written.
• 1936 - the poem "The Country of Ant" was published, which brought fame to Tvardovsky.
• 1937 - 1939 - sequentially, one a year, the poet's collections of poems "Poems", "The Road", "Rural Chronicle" are published.
• 1938 - a cycle of poems "About grandfather Danila" was published.
• 1939 - receiving 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.
• The same years - work on the cycle of poems "In the snows of Finland".
• 1941 - receiving the state prize for the "Country of Ant". In the same year, a collection of poems by Alexander Tvardovsky "Zagorie" was published.
• 1941 - 1945 - military commander Tvardovsky works for several newspapers at once. At the same time, in no case does he stop writing poetry, which he combines in the cycle "Frontline Chronicle".
• The first year of the war - 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 Russian-Finnish, 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 is immediately published and enjoys 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 "Homeland 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 Distant Distance".
• 1950 - 1954 - 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 Novy Mir to the same position. Tvardovsky gathers a team of like-minded people. In 1961, they even managed to publish in the magazine Alexander Solzhenitsyn's story "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." After that, Tvardovsky becomes an "unofficial oppositionist".
• 1961 - receiving the Lenin Prize for the poem "For the Far Distance".
• 1963 - 1968 - Vice President of the European Writers' Community.
• 1967 - 1969 - work on the poem "By the Right of Memory", in which the poet describes the horrors of collectivization on the example of, among other things, his own father. During the life of the author, the work will not be published. Just like the poem "Terkin in the Next World" (written in 1963) - too much "the other world" in the image of Tvardovsky resembles Soviet reality.
• Tvardovsky also acts as a literary critic, in particular, writes articles about the work of A.A. Blok, I.A. Bunin, S. Ya. Marshak, article-speeches about A.S. Pushkin.
• 1970 - the government again deprives the poet of his post in Novy Mir.
• 1969 - essays written by Tvardovsky during the Soviet-Finnish campaign "From the Karelian Isthmus" were published.
• Alexander Trifonovich would be married, his wife's name was Maria Illarionovna. In the marriage, two children were born, daughters Valentina and Olga.
• December 18, 1971 - Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky dies in Krasnaya Pakhra (Moscow region). Buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
• 1987 - the first publication of the poem "By the Right of Memory".

Poem by A. Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin"

1. This poem was written by the author during the period from 1941 to 1945, it consists of separate chapters, each of which has its own plot, unites their image of V.T. This uniqueness 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. "The Book about the Soldier" - the second title of the poem is more generalized and allows us to say that it is dedicated to all the soldiers who defended their Fatherland.

2. Especially attractive to the reader was the fact that the author did not idealize the hero, did not embellish the military reality. For example, the author describes the soldiers' lodging for the night: the heaviness of wet overcoats, rain, cold, scratching of needles, hard roots of trees on which they had to settle down. A soldier in war needs not only courage, but also endurance. Terkin in the poem speaks of those who started 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 the enemy family for many places. The chapter "Crossing" is well known to all, in which Tvardovsky conveyed both the soldier's anxiety and the desire to withstand and win, and the bitterness of loss from how many people died. To relieve tension after such a description, the author deliberately switches his 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, the soldier would have had an even harder time. The common soldier's attitude to death is philosophical: no one seeks to bring it closer, but what to be cannot be avoided. The pages of the poem describe battles, battles. One of the chapters is called "The Duel", where Terkin entered into hand-to-hand combat with the German; the further the hostilities develop, the more Twardowski describes how the troops are advancing to the West.

5. The author is not only happy with the victories, but also sad, because he regrets that many will die at the end of the war. It is no coincidence that the chapter on the death "Warrior" is placed by the author in the concluding part of the poem. The final chapters, such as On the Road to Berlin, are increasingly narrated by the author rather than the protagonist. This is due to 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 man. Defending their homeland, people sacrificed themselves, not 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 tests. Few authors, like Tvardovsky, portray military events so realistically. He created the image of a soldier, not a war hero, which 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 in the character or behavior of a person. In this poem, the author does not act as the one who ridicules and condemns his hero. This is his hero - Terkin laughs lightly and without malice at himself and at others. And he does this with a specific purpose: to support his comrades in difficult times, to cheer them up, to defuse a difficult situation. There are elements of the comic in many chapters, for example, in the chapter "The Crossing", the story of the tragic events ends with the successful crossing of Terkin, who jokes, despite the fact that he was so cold that he could not speak. It is his joke and the words of the author that a mortal battle is fought for the sake of life that make it possible to believe in a future victory. The chapter "About the award" 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 it not because he boasted of himself, but precisely 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 has no time 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 was able to convey the atmosphere of a tense 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 work: he will adjust the saw, and cook porridge, and fix the clock, and shoot the plane with a rifle, and play the accordion like no other. He succeeds a lot 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 original comparisons with folk art, where Ivanushka, although a fool, can do everything, wins everyone. The comic in Terkin's character is manifested precisely because he is close to folk humor, where heroes have always tried to perceive life not tragically, but with irony and humor. Laughing at the enemy, sneering at his own expense, a person thereby retains the most important thing - confidence in his abilities. This is exactly what Tvardovsky writes about.

The hero and the people in the poem by A.T. Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin"

Tvardovsky's poem "Vasily Terkin" is a completely unusual work both in composition and stylistic features, and in fate. It was written during the war and during the war - from 1941 to 1945, and became a truly folk, or rather, a soldier's poem. According to Solzhenitsyn's recollections, the soldiers of his battery of many books preferred her and Tolstoy's "War and Peace" most of all. In my work, I would like to focus on what I like most in the poem "Vasily Terkin". Most of all I like the language in the work of Alexander Trifonovich - light, figurative, folk. His poems are remembered by themselves. I also like the uniqueness of the book, the fact that each chapter is a complete, separate work.

The author himself said about her this way: "This book is about a fighter, without beginning and end." And what the author suggests: "In a word, let's start the book from the middle. And then it will go ..." This, I think, makes the hero closer and more understandable. It is also very correct that the poet ascribed not so many heroic deeds to Terkin. However, the crossing, the downed plane and the taken tongue are quite enough.

If I was asked why Vasily Terkin became one of my favorite literary heroes, I would say: "I like his love of life." Look, he is at the front, where every day there is death, where no one is "bewitched by a fool's splinter, by any stupid bullet." Sometimes freezing or starving, has no news from relatives. And he is not discouraged. 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, drag his tongue, straining. But here is a forced stop, "and the frost - neither stand nor sit." And Terkin began to play the accordion:

And from that old accordion,

That was left an orphan

Somehow suddenly it became warmer

On the front road ".

Terkin is the soul of a soldier's company. It is not for nothing that comrades love to listen to his humorous or even serious stories. Here they lie in the swamps, where the drenched infantry even dreams of "at least death, but on dry land." Pours rain. And you can't even smoke: the matches are soaked. 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 the soldier feels the elbow of his comrade, he is strong. Behind him is a battalion, regiment, division. And even the front. What is there: all of Russia! Last year, when a German was striving for Moscow and sang "My Moscow", then it was necessary to twist. And now the German is not at all the same, "the German is not a singer with this song of last year."

And we think to ourselves that last year, when it was absolutely nauseous, Vasily found words that helped his comrades. Such is his talent. Such a talent that, lying in a wet swamp, the comrades laughed: it became easier on the soul. But most of all I like the chapter "Death and the Warrior", in which the wounded hero freezes and fancies 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, to hold on to this life, where all the joy lies in the fact that either to freeze, or to dig trenches, or to be afraid that they will kill you ... But Vasily is not like that to easily surrender with the Scythe.

I will peep, 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 the Soldier" was very necessary at the front, it raised the spirit of the soldiers, encouraged them to fight for the Motherland to the last drop of blood.

“No, guys, I'm not proud, I agree to a medal,” laughs the hero of Tvardovsky. They say that they were going to erect or even have 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 deserves this honor by right. Indeed, together with him, 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 difficulties with a joke, who loved to play the accordion and listen to music on halt. Many of them have not even found their own graves. Let the monument to Vasily Terkin be a monument to them. A monument to the Russian Soldier, whose patient and cheerful soul was embodied in the hero of Tvardovsky.

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

Fiction during the Great Patriotic War has a number of characteristic, peculiar features. In my opinion, one of its most important features is the patriotic heroism of people who really love their homeland. And the most successful example of such heroism in a work of fiction 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 press in 1942. The author successfully called his work "a book about a fighter, without beginning, without end." Each next chapter of the poem was a description of one front-line episode. The artistic task that Tvardovsky set 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. No wonder his surname is consonant with the word "rub": Terkin is an experienced soldier, a participant in the war with Finland. He has been participating in the Great Patriotic War from the first days: "in operation since June, in battle since 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 by himself

He is ordinary:

The fighters consider Terkin to be their boyfriend and are glad that he got into their company. Terkin has no doubts about the final victory. In the chapter "Two Soldiers", to the old man's question whether it will be possible to beat the enemy, Terkin replies: "We will beat you, 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 do the same. It is necessary to pay attention to the attitude of Terkin to death, which is not indifferent in combat conditions.

Many years have passed since the cannons went silent and its final stanzas, full of wisdom and light sorrow, were inscribed in the "Book of the Soldier". A different reader, a different life around, a different time ... In what relation does Vasily Terkin stand to this new time? "The book about the soldier" and the image of Terkin could only have been born during the war. The point is not only in the theme and not only in the completeness and accuracy with which the circumstances of the soldier's life, the experiences of the front-line soldier are captured here - from love for his native land to the habit of sleeping in a hat. The book of his own, wartime, the poem of Alexander Tvardovsky makes, first of all, the organic and multilateral connection of its content and artistic form with that unique state of people's life and social consciousness, which 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 calamity that befell the country, all the worries of peacetime receded into the background. And the most characteristic feature of this period was unity. The unity of all strata 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 sense 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 then dominated everyone. And although this, so to speak, "commonness" of feelings by no means excluded in people the motives and feelings of purely individual ones, in the foreground everyone had what the author of "Terkin" said such simple and such unique words that everyone remembered:

The fight is holy and right,

Mortal combat is not for glory-

For life on earth.

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

When the frozen Terkin is given medical attention, he jokes:

Rubbed, rubbed ...

Suddenly he says, as in a dream:

Doctor, doctor, is it possible

From the inside, warm me up?

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

The poem "Vasily Terkin" can be considered one of the truly popular 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 cited: "Mortal combat 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 does not stop working for the good of his comrades: he knows how to both repair a watch and sharpen an old saw. In addition, Terkin is a master of playing the harmonica, he entertains his comrades in arms, disinterestedly gives them moments of joy. Who is he - Vasily Terkin?

In a word, Terkin, the one who

A dashing soldier in war

At the party, the 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 of the Second World War.

In its entirety, "The Book of the Fighter" 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 in himself all the features of the Russian, deep, incomprehensible soul, which to this day is difficult to understand for other peoples.

Poem by A. T. Tvardovsky "Vasily Terkin"

Alexander Trifonovich Tvardovsky was born in 1910 on 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, love for the book, which he brought up in his children, was also important. “Whole winter evenings,” writes Tvardovsky in his autobiography, “we often devoted ourselves to reading a book aloud. My first acquaintance with “Poltava” and “Dubrovsky” by Pushkin, “Taras Bulba” by Gogol, the most popular poems by Lermontov, Nekrasov, AK Tolstoy, Nikitin happened in this way ”.

In 1938, an important event took place 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 took part 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 received then preceded those deeper and stronger that flooded him during the Second World War. Artists drew amusing pictures depicting the unusual front-line adventures of the veteran soldier Vasya Terkin, and the poets composed text for these pictures. Vasya Terkin is a popular character who performed supernatural, dizzying feats: he extracted a tongue, pretending to be a snowball, covered 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, which has gained national fame - are incomparable.

For some stupid readers, Tvardovsky will later specifically hint at the deep difference that exists between the real hero and his namesake: "Now it is impossible to conclude, // What, they say, grief does not matter, // That the guys got up and took // The village without difficulty? / / What's with constant luck // Terkin accomplished the feat: // With a Russian wooden spoon // Eight Fritzes laid down! "

However, the captions to the drawings helped Tvardovsky to achieve ease of colloquial speech. These forms will remain in the "real" "Vasily Terkin", having significantly improved, expressing a deep vital 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 subsequently changed significantly under the influence of new, formidable and great events.

Tvardovsky has always been interested in the fate of his country at critical moments 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 Land of Ant". During the Great Patriotic War (1941 - 1945) AT Tvardovsky wrote 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 in the war.

Tvardovsky is a poet who deeply understood and appreciated the beauty of the folk character. In "Land of Ant", "Vasily Terkin" large-scale, capacious, collective images are created: events are enclosed in a very wide plot frame, the poet turns to hyperbole and other means of fabulous convention. In the center of the poem is the image of Terkin, uniting the composition of the work into a single whole. Terkin Vasily Ivanovich - the main character of the poem, an ordinary infantryman from the Smolensk peasants.

"Just a guy by himself // He's ordinary." Terkin embodies the best features of the Russian soldier and the people in general. A hero named Vasily Terkin first appears in the poetic feuilletons of the Tvardovsky period of the Soviet-Finnish war (1939 - 1940). The words of the hero of the poem: "I am the second, brother, the war // I am at war forever."

The poem is constructed as a chain of episodes from the military life of the protagonist, which do not always have a direct eventual connection with each other. Terkin humorously tells young soldiers about the everyday life of the war; says that he has been fighting since the beginning of the war, was surrounded three times, 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, the will to live. Terkin swims across the icy river twice to reestablish 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 steps into hand-to-hand combat with the German and, with difficulty overcoming, takes him prisoner. Unexpectedly for himself, Terkin knocks down a German attack aircraft from a rifle; Sergeant Terkin, who envies him, reassures him: "Do not grieve, the German has this // Not the last plane"

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

The character traits of the hero are also interpreted by the poet as traits of the collective image: Terkin is inseparable and inseparable 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 about it. The fighters listen to the playful arguments between Terkin and the cook at the first appearance of the hero: "And sitting under a pine tree, // Kashu eats, hunched over. //" Your own? " - fighters among themselves, // "Own!" - exchanged glances. "

Terkin is characterized by respect and careful attitude of the master to the thing as to the fruit of labor. No wonder he takes the saw from his grandfather, which he manages, not knowing how to sharpen it. Returning the owner's ready-made saw, Vasily says: "Now, grandfather, take it, look. // It will cut better than a new one, // In vain do not the tool measly."

Terkin loves work and is not afraid of it (from the hero's conversation with death): "- I am a worker, // I would go into business at home. // - The house is destroyed. // - I and the carpenter. // - There is no stove. // - And the stove-maker ... "The simplicity of the hero is usually a synonym for his mass character, the absence in him of features of exclusivity. But this simplicity has another meaning in the poem: the transparent symbolism of the hero's surname, Terkin's "endure, overwhelm" sets off his ability to overcome difficulties simply, easily. Such 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, sobriety of outlook on life, important features of the national character are expressed.

AT Tvardovsky's field of vision in the poem "Vasily Terkin" is not only the front, but also those who work in the rear for the sake of victory: women and old people. The characters of 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 brings together what is usually incompatible: tragedy and humor, courage and fear, life and death.

The poem "Vasily Terkin" is distinguished by a kind of historicism. It can be conditionally divided into three parts, coinciding with the beginning, middle and end of the war. Poetic comprehension of the stages of the war creates a lyrical chronicle of events from the chronicle. The feeling of bitterness and grief fills the first part, faith in victory - the second, the joy of the liberation of the Fatherland becomes the leitmotif of the third part of the poem. This is due to 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, 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 “anywhere”.

The poem has 30 chapters. In twenty-five of them, the hero is fully, comprehensively revealed, 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 way to Berlin"). The poet said everything about the hero and does not want to repeat himself, to 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 you closer to the inner world of the work, creates an atmosphere of general involvement in events. The poem ends with a dedication to the fallen.

Tvardovsky talks about the reasons that pushed him to such a construction of the poem: “I did not languish for a long time with doubts and fears about the uncertainty of the genre, the absence of an initial plan that embraces the entire work in advance, the weak plot coherence of chapters with each other. Not a poem - well, let it not be a poem, - I decided; there is no single plot - let it not be, don’t; there is no very beginning of a thing - there is no time to invent it; the culmination and completion of the whole story is not planned - even if it is necessary to write about what is burning, not waiting ”.

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

"There is no plot in the war ... However, the truth is not to the detriment." The poet emphasized the veracity and reliability of the broad pictures of life by calling “Vasily Terkin” not a poem, but “a book about a soldier”. The word “book” in this popular sense sounds somehow in a special way, as a subject “serious, reliable, unconditional,” says Tvardovsky.

The poem "Vasily Terkin" is an epic canvas. But lyrical motives sound powerful in it. Tvardovsky could call (and called) the poem "Vasily Terkin" his lyrics, for in this work for the first time the appearance of the poet himself, his personality traits, was expressed so vividly, diversely and strongly.

Lyrics of 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 those changes in the life of the Russian countryside that took place in the 20s - 30s. He shares his impressions of what he saw, talks about his numerous meetings, tk. was a journalist and traveled a lot around the country. He was interested in a lot: from collectivization to relationships between people.

2. military lyrics. A large number of poems are devoted to the description of military events and meetings with war heroes. Many poems are written based on real stories ("The Tale of a Tankman"). These lyrics include poems written by Tvardovsky after the war, but about her ( "I was killed near Rzhev", “On the day the war ended”, “I don’t know any of my guilt”).

3. post-war lyrics - philosophical ("Brothers in the pen", "The whole point is in one - the only testament ...", "Thank you, my native land"). In these verses, 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 devotes to his mother the cycle "Mother's Memory", "Your beauty does not grow old."

Similar information.

> Compositions based on The Quiet Don

Grigory Melekhov in search of the truth

Grigory Melekhov is the central character of the novel "Quiet Don", a true Don Cossack, a hardworking and economic man. Before the outbreak of the war, he was a cheerful, carefree and inexperienced young man. Being restless and obstinate by nature, he often committed rash acts. So, for example, he met with the wife of a neighbor Aksinya, with whom he was madly in love. Despite this, he easily agreed to marry another girl - a young beauty, the daughter of wealthy parents, Natalya Korshunova. Thus, he made two women unhappy at once. Gregory appears so careless at the beginning of the novel.

With age, he begins to think about his actions more often. He himself suffers no less than Natalya and Aksinya because of such a twofold situation. He also faces the problem of a difficult choice at the front, not knowing whom to join: the “red” or “white”. He does not like the whole idea of ​​war and senseless bloodshed, but the current situation in the country puts everyone in a dilemma. Gregory is not as confident in his choice as his brother or friends. He ponders for a long time in search of truth and justice, but he never finds it. Against the background of this war, the personality of the protagonist is revealed in all colors.

So, from the very first days of the service, it becomes clear that Gregory is not inclined to cruelty and even humane. He desperately stands up for the young maid Franya, cannot sleep at night after the murder of the Austrian, and denounces Chubaty's brutal manners. However, over time, his character also hardens, and the boundaries between good and evil are gradually blurring. Despite this, Gregory remains an honest, decent and loving person until the end of the novel. His ideas about what is happening are formed from observing life and the people around him, but those very "blurred boundaries" do not allow him to come closer to the truth that he is looking for. The hero takes the side of the "red", then the "white", but nowhere does he find what he needs.

The ambiguous position at the front and in his personal life began to gradually oppress Gregory. He even involuntarily envies those who blindly believe in only one "truth" and confidently fight for their views. Realizing the senselessness of war, he runs into the arms of his love, but even here a tragic fate awaits him. Aksinya dies right in his arms, wounded by a stray Red Guard bullet. In despair, he decides to return home, to his "native" place, where he has only one son - the only person who makes him related to the vast world. Having begun his romance with the ancestors of Gregory and, ending it with his son,

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

MASholokhov's novel "Quiet Flows the Don" reflects the turning point of wars and revolutions, shows the events that influenced the course of history. The writer reflected the age-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 quite special, different from the searches of the heroes of previous eras, since Sholokhov showed, firstly, the history of a simple Cossack, a farm boy with a small education, not wise with experience, not versed in politics. Secondly, the author reflected the hardest time of shocks and storms for the entire European continent and for Russia in particular.

In the image of Grigory Melekhov, a deeply tragic personality is presented, whose fate is entirely connected with the dramatic events taking place in the country. The character of the hero can only be understood by analyzing his life path, starting from the beginning. It must be remembered that the hot blood of a Turkish grandmother was mixed in the genes of the Cossack. The Melekhov family, in this regard, was distinguished by its genetic qualities: along with hard work, perseverance, love for the land, for example, Gregory's proud disposition, courage, and self-will were noticeable. Already in his youth, he convincingly and firmly objected to Aksinya, who called him to foreign lands: “I will not move anywhere from the earth. There is a steppe, there is something to breathe, but there? " Gregory thought that his life was forever connected with the peaceful labor 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 the war, killing people, ordeals on the fronts, and a lot would have to go through, having experienced various shocks.

Gregory was brought up in a spirit of devotion to Cossack traditions, he did not shy away from service, intending to honor 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 get rid of the pain over a person that he sometimes felt. The senseless murder of an Austrian fleeing from him was especially hard for Grigory. He even, "not knowing why, went up to 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 carrying an overwhelming load over his shoulders; I bend and bewilderment crumpled my soul. "

After the first wound, while in the hospital, Grigory learned new truths, listening to how the wounded soldier of Garanzh "exposed the real reasons for the outbreak of war, caustically ridiculed the autocratic power." It was difficult for the Cossack to accept these new concepts about the tsar, the homeland, about the military duty: "all those foundations on which the consciousness rested were smoked with ashes." But after a visit to his native farm, he again went to the front, remaining a kind Cossack: “Gregory took the Cossack honor tightly, caught the opportunity to show selfless courage ...”. This was the time when his heart hardened and hardened. However, remaining courageous and even desperate in battle, Gregory changed inwardly: he could not laugh carelessly and cheerfully, his eyes sagged, his cheekbones sharpened, and it became difficult to look into the clear eyes of the child. “With cold contempt he played with his own life and that of others, ... four St. George's crosses, four medals,” but he could not avoid the mercilessly devastating impact of the war. However, the personality of Gregory was still not destroyed by the war: his soul did not harden to the end, he could not completely reconcile himself to the need to kill people (even if enemies).

In 1917, after being wounded and in the hospital, while at home on vacation, Gregory felt tired, "acquired by the war." “I wanted to turn my back on the entire seething with hatred, hostile and incomprehensible world. There, behind, everything was confused, contradictory. " There was no solid ground underfoot, and there was no certainty which path to take: "I was drawn to the Bolsheviks - I walked, led others, and then I took thought, my heart grew cold." On the farm, the Cossack wanted to return to household chores and stay with his family. But he will not be allowed to calm down, because for a long time there will be no peace in the country. And Melekhov rushes between "red" and "white". It is difficult for him to find political truth when human values ​​are rapidly changing in the world, and it is difficult for an inexperienced person to understand the essence of events: "Who can I lean against?" Gregory's throwings were not connected with his political moods, but with a lack of understanding of the situation in the country, when power was seized by numerous participants of the warring forces in turn. Melekhov was ready to fight in the ranks of the Red Army, but war is war, it could not do without cruelty, and wealthy Cossacks did not want to voluntarily give the "food" to the Red Army. Melekhov felt the distrust of the Bolsheviks, their dislike for him as a former soldier of the tsarist army. And Grigory himself could not understand the uncompromising and ruthless activity of the food detachments taking away the grain. Especially the fanaticism and anger of Mikhail Koshevoy were repelled from the communist idea, and there was a desire to get away from the unbearable confusion. I wanted to understand and comprehend everything, to find my own, "real truth", but apparently there is no one truth for everyone: "For a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life - people have always fought ...". And Gregory decided that "we must fight with those who want to take away life, the right to it ...".

Cruelty and violence were manifested by all the warring parties: White Guards, insurgent Cossacks, various gangs. Melekhov did not want to join them, but Grigory had to fight against the Bolsheviks. Not out of conviction, but due to forced circumstances, when the Cossacks were gathered in detachments from the farms by the opponents of the new government. He grieved at the atrocities of the Cossacks, their indomitable vindictiveness. While in Fomin's detachment, Grigory witnessed the execution of a young non-partisan Red Army man who faithfully served the people's power. The guy refused to go over to the side of the bandits (as he called the Cossack detachment), and they immediately decided to "use it up". "Is our trial short?" - says Fomin, referring to Grigory, who avoided looking the leader in the eye, because he himself was against such "courts".
And Gregory's parents are in solidarity with their son in matters of rejection of cruelty, enmity between people. Panteley Prokofievich kicks out Mitka Korshunov, because he does not want to see the executioner in his house, who killed a woman with children in order to take revenge on the communist Koshev. Ilyinichna, the mother of Grigory, says to Natalya: "That way, you and me, and Mishatka and Polyushka for Grisha, the Reds could have chopped up, but they didn’t chop it, they had mercy." Wise words are also uttered by the old farmer Chumakov when he asks Melekhov: “Will you soon make peace with Soviet power? We fought with the Circassians, we fought with the Turk, and that reconciliation happened, but all of you are your people, and you 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 "where to lean against." Even before serving in the Cossack army, Melekhov did not manage to choose a life companion 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 the family, to his wife and children, but his heart was also calling for his beloved. The desire to manage the land was no less tore my soul, although no one exempted me from military duty. The position of an honest, decent person between the new and the old, between peace and war, between Bolshevism and Izvarin's populism and, finally, between Natalya and Aksinya only aggravated, increased the intensity of his tossing.

The need to make a choice was very exhausting, and, perhaps, the Cossack's decisions were not always correct, but who could then judge the people, make a fair verdict? G. Melekhov passionately fought in Budyonny's cavalry and thought that with his faithful service he had earned forgiveness from the Bolsheviks for previous deeds, but during the years of 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 the Bolsheviks, Grigory did not see a way out, how to solve his problem, how to return to a peaceful life and not be an enemy to anyone. Grigory left the Cossack detachment of Fomin, and, fearing punishment from the Soviet authorities, or even lynching from any side, since he seemed to be everyone's enemy, he is trying to hide with Aksinya, to escape somewhere far away from his native farm. However, this attempt did not bring him salvation: an accidental meeting with the Red Army men from the food detachment, flight, pursuit, shots after - and the tragic death of Aksinya stopped Grigory's throwing forever. There was nowhere to rush, no one to rush to.

The author is far from indifferent to the fate of his protagonist. He writes with bitterness that because of homesickness Grigory can no longer wander and, without waiting for the amnesty, risks again, returns to the Tatarsky farm: "He stood at the gate of his home, holding his son in his arms ...". Sholokhov does not end the novel with a message about the future fate of G. Melekhov, probably because he sympathizes with him and would like to finally give a person tired of battles a little peace of mind so that he could live and work on his land, but it is difficult to say whether it is possible this is.
The merit of the writer is that the author's attitude towards heroes, his ability to understand people, 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 background of dramatic changes in the country. appreciated by both critics and readers. One of the former leaders of the rebellious Cossacks, the emigrant P. Kudinov wrote to Sholokhovednik K. Prime: "Quiet Don" shook our souls and made everything change our minds, and our longing for Russia became even sharper, and brightened in my head. " And those who, while in exile, read the novel by M. A. Sholokhov "Quiet Don", "who sobbed over its pages and tore their gray hair, these people in 1941 could not fight against Soviet Russia and did not go ". 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 specimen, almost a historical document, depicting the culture of the Cossacks, everyday life, traditions and peculiarities of speech. It would be impossible to create vivid images (and to the reader - to present them) if Grigory, Aksinya and other heroes spoke neutrally, in a stylized language close to literary. It would no longer be the Don Cossacks, if we remove their centuries-old peculiarities of speech, their own dialect: "vilyuzhinki", "hide", "you are my good-looking." At the same time, representatives of the command staff of the Cossack troops, who have education and experience in communicating with people from other territories of Russia, speak the language familiar to Russians. And Sholokhov objectively shows this difference, so the picture turns out to be reliable.

It should be noted the author's ability to combine the epic depiction of historical events with the lyricism of the narrative, especially those moments in which the personal experiences of the heroes are reported. The writer uses the technique of psychologism, revealing the inner state of a person, showing the spiritual movements of the personality. One of the features of this technique is the ability to give an individual characterization of the hero, combining with external data, with a portrait. So, for example, the changes that happened to Gregory as a result of his service, participation in battles look very memorable: “... he knew that he would no longer laugh at him as before; I knew that his eyes had sunk in and his cheekbones protruded 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 MASholokhov's novel "Quiet Don" has "a deep inner content - and its content is love for a person."

Reviews

It's amazing how this novel (certainly not socialist realism) was not banned in Soviet times. For the Melekhs did not find the truth either among the Reds or the Whites.
There were many pseudo-innovative fabrications about this, like "Cossack Hamlet". But Chekhov says it right: no one knows the real truth.
The best that I have read on the Civil War is Veresaev's "At a Dead End". 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 the communists, I hate anti-communists most of all.

Thanks for posting, Zoya. Make you think about real literature. Do not forget to write about the work of worthy authors. And then many on the site are all about themselves, but about themselves. Yes about their imperishable.
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 tragedy of the fate of Grigory Melekhov, the connection of this tragedy with the fate of society.

Methodological techniques: checking homework, correcting the plan drawn up by the students, talking according to the plan.

Download:

Preview:

Methodical 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 tragedy of the fate of Grigory Melekhov, the connection of this tragedy with the fate of society.

Methodological techniques: checking homework, correcting the plan drawn up by the students, talking according to the plan.

During the classes

Teacher's word.

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

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

Homework check

An approximate plot plan "The Fate of Grigory Melekhov":

Book one

1. The predetermination of a tragic fate (origin).

2. Living in the 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 as farm laborers for the Listnitskys.

7. Drafting into the army.

8. Murder of an Austrian. Loss of a fulcrum.

9. Injury. The news of the death received by the family.

10. Hospital in Moscow. Conversations with Garanzha.

11. Break with Aksinya and return home.

Book two, hours 3-4

12. Etching the truth of Garanji. Going to the front as a "kind Cossack".

13.1915 The rescue of Stepan Astakhov.

14. Coarsening of the heart. The influence of Chubaty.

15. Premonition of trouble, injury.

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

17. On the side of the Bolsheviks. Influence of Izvarin and Podtelkov.

18. Reminder of Aksinya.

19. Wounded. Massacre of prisoners.

20. Infirmary. "Who can I lean against?"

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

22. Unsuccessful elections to the detachment chieftains.

23. Last meeting with Podtyolkov.

Book three, part 6

24. Conversation with Peter.

25. Malice towards the Bolsheviks.

26. Quarrel with the father because of the loot.

27. Unauthorized departure home.

28. Reds at the Melekhovs.

29. Dispute with Ivan Alekseevich about "man's power".

30. Drunkenness, thoughts of death.

31. Gregory kills the sailors

32. Conversation with grandfather Grishaka and with Natalia.

33. Meeting with Aksinya.

Book four, Part 7:

34. Gregory in the family. Children, Natalia.

35. Dream of Gregory.

36. Kudinov about Grigory's ignorance.

37. Quarrel with Fitzkhalaur.

38. Family breakdown.

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

40. Death of his wife.

41. Typhus and convalescence.

42. An attempt to board a steamer in Novorossiysk.

Part 8:

43. Gregory at Budyonny's.

44. Demobilization, conversation with. Michael.

45. Leaving the farm.

46. ​​In the 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 immediately impossible to say about him whether this is a positive or negative hero. For too long he has 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 foundations. Even love for Aksinya, capturing his passionate nature, can change nothing. He allows his father to marry him, as usual, prepares for military service. Everything in his life happens involuntarily, as if without his participation, as he involuntarily dissects a tiny defenseless duckling while mowing - and shuddered at what he had done.

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

The Bolshevik Garanzha, who met Grigory in the hospital, seems to reveal to him the truth and the prospect of changes for the better. "Autonomist" Efim Izvarin, Bolshevik Fyodor Podtyolkov played a significant role in shaping the convictions of Grigory Melekhov. The tragically dead Fedor Podtyolkov pushed Melekhov away, shedding the blood of unarmed prisoners who believed the promises of the Bolshevik who had 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 bottom,” Grigory Melekhov cannot but see the deception. The Bolsheviks promised that there would be no rich and poor. However, a year has passed since the "Reds" are in power, and the promised equality is not there: "the platoonman in chrome boots, and" Vanyok "in the windings." Gregory is very observant, he tends to think over his observations, and the conclusions from his reflections are disappointing: "If the pan is bad, then from the ham, the pan is a hundred times worse."

The civil war throws Grigory first into the Budennovsky detachment, then into the white units, but this is no longer a thoughtless submission to a way of life or a coincidence of circumstances, but a conscious search for truth, a path. His home and peaceful work are seen by him as the main values ​​of life. In the 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 centennial chieftain to live peacefully, threatens with prison or execution. The food requisitioning instills in the minds of many Cossacks the desire to "re-conquer", instead of the workers' power to put their own, the Cossack. Gangs are formed on the Don. Grigory Melekhov, who is hiding from the persecution of the Soviet regime, falls into one of them, the Fomin's gang. But the bandits have no future. For most of the Cossacks it is clear: it is necessary to sow, not fight.

The protagonist 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 was lost. Gregory's soul is burned out. There remains only the last, but very important thread connecting the hero with life - this is his home. The house, the land waiting for the owner, and the little son - his future, his trace on the earth.

The depth of the contradictions through which the hero passed is revealed with amazing psychological reliability and historical validity. The versatility and complexity of a person's inner world are always in the focus of M. Sholokhov's attention. Individual destinies and a broad generalization of the ways and crossroads of the Don Cossacks make it possible 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 Grigory as a "good Cossack"? Why is Grigory Melekhov chosen as the main character?

(Grigory Melekhov is an extraordinary nature, a bright individuality. He is sincere and honest in thoughts and actions (especially in relation to Natalia and Aksinya (see episodes: the last meeting with Natalia - part 7, chapter 7; Natalia's death - part 7, chapter 16 -eighteen;death of Aksinya). He has a responsive heart, a developed sense of pity, compassion (a duck in the haymaking, Franya, the execution of Ivan Alekseevich).

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

In what episodes is Gregory's bright, outstanding personality most fully revealed? The role of internal monologues. Does a person depend on circumstances or makes his own destiny?

(He never lied to himself, despite doubts and throwing (see internal monologues - part 6, chapter 21). This is the only character whose thoughts the author reveals. War corrupts people provoking them to do things that a person would never normally do. Gregory had a core that didn’t allow him once to do meanness. Deep attachment to home, to the earth - the strongest emotional movement: "My hands need to work, not fight."

The hero is constantly in a situation of choice ("I myself am looking for a way out"). Turning point: dispute and quarrel with Ivan Alekseevich Kotlyarov, Shtokman. The uncompromising attitude 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 the truth. Gregory yearns for the truth, "under whose wing everyone could warm up." And this truth, from his point of view, is not among the Whites, nor among the Reds: “There is no truth in life. It is evident that whoever overcomes whom will devour that. And I was looking for the bad truth. He was sick with his soul, he swayed back and forth. " These searches were, as he believes, "wasted and empty." And this is also his tragedy. A person is placed in inevitable, spontaneous circumstances and already in these circumstances makes a choice, his fate.) “Most of all, for a writer, - said Sholokhov, - he himself needs to - to convey the movement of a person's soul. I wanted to tell about this charm of a man in Grigory Melekhov ... "

Do you think the author of The Quiet Don is able to “convey the movement of the human soul” by 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 problematics of "Quiet Don" is revealed not in the character of one, even the main character, which is Grigory Melekhov, but in the juxtaposition and opposition 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 in itself the main historical and ideological conflict of the work and thereby unites all the details of the huge picture of the complex and contradictory life of many characters who are carriers of a certain attitude towards the revolution and the people in this historical era.

How would you define the main problems of The Quiet Don? What, in your opinion, allows you to characterize Grigory Melekhov as a typical person? 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 asserts: “There was a huge reserve of moral forces in Gregory, which were necessary in the creative deeds of the new life that was becoming. Whatever complications and troubles fell on him and no matter how painful the deed 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 assert that “there was a huge reserve of moral forces in Gregory”? What actions do you think are in favor of such a statement? And against him? What “wrong decisions does Sholokhov's hero make? Is it permissible, in your opinion, to speak at all about the "wrong decisions" of a literary hero? Reflect on 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, the conjugations of motives are artistically effective in revealing the image of Gregory, the inescapable love that Aksinya and Natalya give him, the immensity of Ilyinichna's maternal suffering, the devoted comradely loyalty of fellow soldiers and peers,” especially Prokhor Zykov. Even those with whom his interests intersected dramatically, but to whom his soul opened up ... could not help but feel the power of his charm and generosity "(A.I. Khvatov).

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

With whom of the heroes did the interests of Grigory Melekhov "overlap dramatically"? Can you agree that even these heroes open up 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 with primitivism, rudeness, “mental underdevelopment”: “Even the best of them, Grigory, is a slow-witted. Thought is an unbearable burden for him. "

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

Is it true, in your opinion, that Gregory "did not become with the people", is it the people - these are 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 captured the country relate to the events of Grigory Melekhov's personal life?

In his work Quiet Don, a novel about the Cossacks, Sholokhov showed a reliable picture of his contemporary era. Therefore, this work is interesting not only from the point of view of artistic heritage, but also as evidence of time, history. Sholokhov showed the tragedy of the beginning of the century, when being for the Reds meant fully supporting their policy, and not supporting at least one initiative meant being against, being white. Time required radical opinions and "sharp turns". No semitones or half-truths ... But a noble person cannot come to terms with this, because he understands that this inevitably leads to a crime. In The Quiet Don, the fate of the hero is shown, who until the end was unable to dwell on either the white or the red truth. He searched and searched ...

Grigory Melekhov is an ordinary Cossack guy. True, maybe too hot. In the family of Gregory, large and friendly, they sacredly honor the Cossack centuries-old traditions, work hard, and have fun. But already on the first pages of the novel, the character is singled out from the bright Cossack environment. So Aksinya Astakhova immediately noticed the "black affectionate guy".

Or, it would seem, an everyday episode: during mowing, Melekhov accidentally slaughtered a duck with a scythe. “Grigory put the slaughtered duckling in the palm of his hand. Yellow-brown, just hatched from an egg the other day. He concealed living warmth in the cannon. On the flat, open beak there is a rosy vial of blood, the beads of the eyes are slyly screwed up, a small tremor of still hot legs. Grigory, with a sudden feeling of acute pity, looked at the dead lump lying in his palm. "

None of the many characters in the novel is capable of such acute pity, responsiveness to the beauty of nature.

Nice, hard-working, cheerful Grigory immediately wins the hearts of readers: he is not afraid of human talk, almost openly, without hiding, he loves the beautiful Aksinya, the wife of the Cossack Stepan. He does not consider it shameful to go to farm laborers in order to preserve his love for Aksinya.

He is especially favorably distinguished from many other Cossacks by his noble, pure attitude towards women. When the Cossacks committed a heinous act in the war - they raped a woman, Gregory alone is enraged by this act. They even tied him up so that he would not prevent the Cossacks from committing a crime.

And at the same time, Gregory is a man who tends to hesitate. So, despite his great love for Aksinya, Grigory does not oppose his parents, marries Natalya at their will.

Gregory will also experience hesitation in the war. He was both an unfinished "Bolshevik" and an unreal White Guard, rushing in search of the truth between the Whites and the Reds.

Service in the army and the war that began soon tore Gregory away from his native kuren and threw him hundreds of kilometers from his home. And although he firmly protects the Cossack honor, deserves an award, Gregory was not created for war. Longing for his native farm dried up Gregory's heart. He feels a longing desire to leave this hated world of violence and rush to his native kuren.

He painfully wants to know the truth, to find out on whose side it is: white or red? Having fallen under the influence of the Bolshevik Garanj, Grigory, like a sponge, absorbs new thoughts, new ideas. But few people know about his emotional fluctuations, Gregory does not speak about them aloud. Only from the inner monologues does the reader understand how the hero suffers. He begins to fight for the Reds, trying to sincerely believe in the truth of this struggle.

But the killing of unarmed prisoners by the Reds pushes him away from them. And then this is what happens: Gregory's kind, childishly pure soul repels him both from the reds and from the whites. He says: “They are all the same! They are all yoked around the neck of the Cossacks! "

Grigory Melekhov cannot calmly hear how the reds, who have stopped in his kuren, say vile, cynical things about his wife Natalya.

After long wars, vain deeds, blood, this person realizes that only old love remains his support. “The only thing that remained in his life was a passion for Aksinya that flared up with new and irrepressible force. She alone beckoned him to her, as beckons a traveler into the chilling black night, the distant quivering flame of a fire. "

The last attempt to the happiness of Aksinya and Grigory (escape to the Kuban) ends with the death of the heroine: “Like the steppe burnt out by the popes, Grigory's life became black. He lost everything that was dear to his heart. Only the children remained. But he himself was still convulsively clinging to the ground, as if in fact his broken life was of some value to him and others. "

Gregory becomes wiser and begins to understand that the truth can neither be on the side of the Reds, nor on the side of the Whites. Why? Because the reds and whites are all politics. And where there is a class struggle, blood is shed, people die, children are left orphans. Truth is peaceful labor for the joy of a person, family, children, native kuren, love.

The little that Grigory dreamed of during sleepless nights came true. He stood at the gates of his home, holding his son in his arms. This was all that remained in his life. "The author leaves the hero on the verge, the line between light and darkness, the black sun of the dead and the cold sun of a huge shining world."