The Tale of a Real Man (review). Author and hero

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

"The Tale of a Real Man" - a review of fiction on the victory of our country in the Great Patriotic War. The fate of fighter pilot Alexei Meresyev reflects the heroic traits of many people who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders.

The beginning of the story

This story was written down in 1943 by the war correspondent of the Pravda newspaper Boris Polevoy, who happened to learn firsthand about everything that the Soviet military pilot suffered, a very young guy.

A significant meeting between military commissar Polevoy and pilot Maresyev, a senior lieutenant of a fighter regiment, took place near Orel on the Bryansk front of the Kursk Bulge.

The pilots of this regiment shot down about fifty enemy planes in a few days. It was a major military success, and the military commander Polevoy was sent to the unit to make a report on the glorious Soviet soldiers.

Meeting

In the Polevoy unit, he met the best pilot of the regiment, Maresyev. The meeting shocked Polevoy - the pilot turned out to be legless!

SeeingConfusion and amazement of the military correspondent, Maresyev decided to tell Polevoy how he lost his legs and how he returned to the sky.

The strength of mind and the extraordinary character of this guy extremely impressed Boris Polevoy, he immediately wrote down the story of Maresyev. But he told it to the world only in 1946, writing the book "The Tale of a Real Man." The author slightly changed the name of the protagonist, calling him Meresyev, but on the whole, in his own words, he tried to tell this story truthfully.

After the release of the book, the writer became famous, and "The Tale of a Real Man" found such a warm response in the hearts of people that it gained worldwide fame. It was read on the radio, printed in newspapers, reprinted many times both in our country and abroad. Legless pilot Alexei Meresyev literally broke into people's minds and hearts.

The story was filmed. Later, Prokofiev's opera The Tale of a Real Man was staged.

Review of the real Alexei Maresyev was laconic. The guy said that he was a man, not a legend, and there was nothing unusual about him. Maresyev was distinguished by modesty, fame embarrassed him.

Wounded

To show people that it is possible to go through incredible difficulties and not break down, but to become an example to follow - that's what Polevoy wrote "The Tale of a Real Man" for. The summary of the book introduces the facts almost documentary.

In April 1942, Lieutenant Meresyev's fighter was shot down in action. The plane crashed into the Black Forest, in the rear of the German divisions. The pilot was thrown onto the wide paws of fir trees, along which he slid into a snowdrift. This saved his life. Alexey decided to make his way towards the front, from where the sounds of battle could be heard. He could hardly walk on his wounded legs, and when his legs gave out, he crawled. On the eighteenth day, Meresyev, completely weakened, was found by boys from the village of Plavni. There was no doctor in the village. Collective farmers nursed the pilot until the arrival of the squadron commander Degtyarenko. Meresyev was taken to the airfield of the flight unit, and then by an ambulance to a hospital in Moscow.

The wounded legs were struck by gangrene and had to be amputated. For a pilot to be legless means to forget about the sky. The meaning of life has been lost. But the meeting in the hospital with Commissar Vorobyov gave Alexei back his faith and hope to fly, to fight the Nazis until victory.

Return to duty

Walking on prostheses was painful, but he did not give up - he learned not only to walk, but also to run and dance.

Maresyev got a referral to a training regiment. During the first flight with an instructor, he could not hold back his tears. This legless cadet aroused admiration from the instructor, and he drew up a flight program especially for Alexei.

Alexey left the training school with excellent recommendations. His desire to return to combat formation has come true.

Knowing about the war firsthand, I could not forget about this story of Polevoy. "The Tale of a Real Man", a summary of which is in the article, reflects the revivalperson. She describes the Soviet pilot at the moment of the greatest despair, showing that the hope for a new life helped him cope with all the difficulties.

"The Tale of a Real Man", the main characters in which not only the pilot Alexei Meresyev, but also everyone who contributed to his rescue and return to the sky - collective farmers, commanders, doctors, commissar, instructor - has become a favorite book of many children and adults.

Epilogue

Overcoming all obstacles and your own weakness - that's what "The Tale of a Real Man" teaches. Meresyev's hero's review of his striving for heaven is expressed emotionally vividly: when, after the hospital, an entry was made in Alexei's card about his professional suitability, he was absolutely happy.

This story actually has a happy ending. Already in the summer of forty-third, fighter pilot Maresyev returned to service and fought heroically.

At the end of the war, he married his girlfriend. He had a son, who was helped to nurse by his mother. Maresyev always kept himself in great shape, worked as an instructor at the Air Force School in Moscow.

After the release of the book, the writer and the hero met and for many years, until Polevoy's death, communicated and served the cause of peace together.