M. Sholokhov, "The Fate of Man": review. "The fate of man": main characters, theme, summary

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

In December 1956 and January 1957, the Pravda newspaper published the work of the Soviet writer Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov "The Fate of a Man" about the great trials and the great inflexibility of Soviet people in the difficult years of the war.

Backstory

The basis of the story is the fate of the country, the fate of a person, the theme of the Great Patriotic War and the character of a simple Russian soldier.

Immediately after the publication, Sholokhov received an endless stream of letters from Soviet readers. From those who survived the Nazi captivity, from the relatives of the dead soldiers. Everyone wrote: workers, collective farmers, doctors, teachers, scientists. Not only ordinary people wrote, but also eminent writers, both domestic and foreign, among whom were Boris Polevoy, Nikolai Zadornov, Hemingway, Remarque and others.

Screening of the book

The story gained worldwide fame, and in 1959 it was filmed by director Sergei Bondarchuk. He also played a major role in the film.

Bondarchuk believed that everything should be shown on the screen as simply and severely as life itself, throughunderstanding of the hero, because the most important thing in this story is the character of a Russian person, his big heart, not hardened after the trials that fell on him.

The book "The Fate of Man" was reprinted many times. Both in our country and abroad. This dramatic story found a warm response in all human hearts. "The Fate of a Man", according to foreign readers, is a magnificent, tragic, sad story. Very kind and bright, heartbreaking, causing tears and giving joy from the fact that two orphaned people found happiness, found each other.

Italian director Rossellini gave this review of the film: "The Destiny of Man is the most powerful, the greatest that has been filmed about the war."

How it all started

The plot is based on real events.

Once, in the spring of 1946, two people met on the road, at the crossing. And as happens when meeting strangers, we started talking.

The casual listener, Sholokhov, listened to the bitter confession of a passerby. The fate of a man who survived the terrible blows of the war, but did not become hardened, touched the writer very much. He was amazed.

Sholokhov carried this story in himself for a long time. The fate of a man who lost everything during the war years and regained a little happiness, did not go out of his head.

It's been 10 years since we met. In just seven days, Sholokhov wrote the story "The Fate of a Man", the heroes of which are a simple Soviet soldier and an orphan boy Vanya.

The passer-by, who told the writer his story, became the prototype of the maincharacter of the story - Andrey Sokolov. In it, Mikhail Sholokhov brought out the main properties of a real Russian character: steadfastness, patience, modesty, a sense of human dignity, love for the Motherland.

The author shows the character of a person in all manifestations of life - as a family man, as an employee, as a warrior and winner.

Summary

The difficult history of the country found its response in the life of the protagonist. The fate of a man, Andrei Sokolov, a simple worker, repeats the main milestones of the events of those years - the civil war, the hungry twenties, the work of a farm laborer in the Kuban. So he returned to his native Voronezh, received the profession of a locksmith and went to the factory. He married a wonderful girl, had children. He has a simple life and simple happiness: home, family, work.

But the Great Patriotic War broke out, and Andrei Sokolov went to the front, to fight for his Motherland, like many millions of Soviet men. In the first months of the war he was taken prisoner by the Nazis. In captivity, his courage struck a German officer, the camp commandant, and Andrei avoids execution. And soon makes an escape.

Returning to his own, he goes to the front again.

But his heroism isn't just about facing the enemy. No less serious test for Andrey is the loss of loved ones and home, his loneliness.

On a short front-line vacation to his hometown, he learns that his beloved family: his wife Irina and both daughters - died during the bombing.

A crater from a German air bomb gapes on the site of a lovingly built house. Shocked, devastated, Andrei returns to the front. Only one joy remained - the son Anatoly, a young officer, he is alive and fighting against the Nazis. But the joyful Victory Day over Nazi Germany is overshadowed by the news of the death of his son.

After demobilization, Andrei Sokolov could not return to his city, where everything reminded him of his dead family. He worked as a driver and one day in Uryupinsk, near a tea house, he met a homeless child - a little orphan boy Vanya. Vanya's mother died, her father went missing.

One fate - many fates

The cruel war could not take away from the hero of the story his main qualities - kindness, trust towards people, caring, responsiveness, justice.

The restlessness of a grubby boy found a piercing response in the heart of Andrei Sokolov. The fate of a man, the fate of a child who lost his childhood, made him decide to deceive and tell the boy that he is his father. Vanya's desperate joy that finally "darling folder" found him gave Sokolov a new meaning of life, joy and love.

To live without caring about anyone was meaningless for Andrei, and his whole life now focused on the child. No more troubles could darken his soul, because he had someone to live for.

Typical traits of a hero

Despite the fact that Andrei Sokolov's life is full of terrible upheavals, he says that it was ordinary and he got no more than others.

In the story of Sholokhov, the life of Andrei Sokolov is a typical fate of a person for the country in those years. war heroesreturned home from the front and found terrible devastation in their beloved, native places. But it was necessary to continue to live, build, strengthen the Victory won with such difficulty.

The strong character of Andrei Sokolov is accurately reflected in his reasoning about himself: “That’s why you are a man, that’s why you are a soldier, to endure everything, to demolish everything, if the need calls for it.” His heroism is natural, and modesty, courage and unselfishness did not disappear after suffering, but only strengthened in character.

The red thread in the work is the idea of the unusually huge price that went to the Victory, incredible sacrifices and personal losses, tragic upheavals and hardships.

A small but amazingly capacious work concentrated in itself the tragedy of the entire Soviet people, who drank the war sorrows to the brim, but retained their highest spiritual qualities and defended the freedom of their Motherland in an overwhelming duel with the enemy.

Every review of "The Fate of Man" says that Sholokhov is a great creator. The book cannot be read without tears. This is a work about life that has a deep meaning, readers say.