Redrick Shewhart: the hero of the novel "Roadside Picnic"

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

Redrick Shewhart is a character in the Strugatskys' philosophical and fantastic work. The topic of the article is the characteristics of the protagonist of the novel Roadside Picnic.

Visit Area

The novel takes place in Harmont. Not far from the city is the so-called Visitation Zone. Were there aliens here? How long did they stay? Where did you go after visiting Earth? For the employees of the Institute of Extraterrestrial Cultures, the answers to these questions are not as important as the realization that humanity is not alone in the Universe. New discoveries will be made soon. The staff of the institute is convinced of this. One of them is Redrick Shewhart. He is also a former stalker.

The Visitation Zone is constantly being explored. There are not only scientists here, but also stalkers - desperate guys who, risking everything, penetrate into a dangerous area in order to pull out everything they can from there. In 1997, based on the work of the Strugatsky brothers, the film "Stalker" was shot. This word should be understood as a representative of a new profession, which is Redrick Shewhart. A photo of the actor as the main character of the Strugatsky book is presented below.

Kirill Panov

Redrick Schuhart – laboratory assistant at the branch of the Instituteextraterrestrial cultures. He is twenty three years old and single. At least that's his age and marital status at the beginning of the novel.

Redrick's boss is a young Russian scientist Kirill Panov, who studies pacifiers. Researchers find similar details near the Visitation Zone. Redrick in the past, being a stalker, has seen such objects more than once. However, they were not empty, but filled with a blue liquid. The laboratory assistant tells the scientist about this.

Together they go to the Visitation Zone to search for "dummies". But after a dangerous journey, Kirill dies of a heart attack, which becomes a consequence of touching a strange silvery web. Redrick blames himself for the scientist's death.

Five years later

In the third chapter, the hero of the novel is married and has a daughter. Redrick no longer works at the institute. He became a stalker again. A new character appears in the novel - Burbridge the Vulture. In the circle of stalkers, he has his nickname Redrick Shewhart. Red - that's what these strange people call him, ready to risk not only their lives for the sake of money, but also the lives of people close to them.

With Burbridge, Redrick sets off on a new expedition. However, along the way, Vulture injures his legs. Red Shewhart saves him. But not because he promises to reveal to him where the Golden Sphere, which fulfills wishes, is located. But because, despite his unseemly activities, Redrick is not so bad. Greed, greed are not characteristic features of this hero.

Shewhart heads back to the Visitation Zone. But this time he is arrested and sentenced to severalyears of imprisonment.

On the Loose

During the years that Redrick spent in prison, his daughter has changed a lot. The girl will die soon. The goal of Shewhart's next stalker's outing is to save his daughter. Somewhere in the Visitation Zone there is a Golden Orb that will help the hero return it. On the last journey, the stalker risks the life of the son of his former partner. But this risk is not justified. Looking at the Golden Orb, Red realizes with horror that he has no more words or thoughts.

Redrick Shewhart is smart, brave and kind. He has a sense of justice. But what is the reason for the crime that he commits at the end of his journey? It's not a matter of innate depravity. And in the shortcomings of a society in which there are too many individuals who do not want to live and work honestly. The only person who could have influenced Shewhart's fate was Kirill Panov. But the Russian physicist died. After that, Red became even more angry with himself. Another death (the one in which Shewhart was already really guilty) led to the fact that the hero renounced himself, from everything vile that had accumulated in his soul for many years.