Mikhail Sholokhov's story “The Fate of a Man” is dedicated to the theme of the Patriotic War, in particular the fate of a person who survived this difficult time. The composition of the work fulfills a certain setting: the author makes a short introduction, talking about how he met his hero, how they got into conversation, and ends with a description of his impressions of what he heard. Thus, each reader seems to personally listen to the narrator - Andrei Sokolov. Already from the first lines it becomes clear what a difficult fate this man has, since the writer makes the remark: “Have you ever seen eyes that seemed sprinkled with ashes, filled with such inexpressible melancholy that it’s hard to look into them?”
Main character, at first glance, an ordinary person with a simple fate, which millions of people had, fought in the ranks of the Red Army during the Civil War, worked for the rich to help his family not die of hunger, but death still took all his relatives. Then he worked in an artel, at a factory, trained as a mechanic, over time came to admire cars, and became a driver. AND family life, like many others, he married beautiful girl Irina (orphan), children were born. Andrei had three children: Nastunya, Olechka and son Anatoly. He was especially proud of his son, as he was persistent in learning and capable of mathematics. And it’s not without reason that they say that happy people are all the same, but everyone has their own grief. It came to Andrei's house with a declaration of war.
During the war, Sokolov had to experience grief “up to the nostrils and above,” and endure incredible trials on the verge of life and death. During the battle he was seriously wounded, he was captured, he tried to escape several times, worked hard in a quarry, and escaped, taking a German engineer with him. Hope for something better flashed, and just as suddenly faded away, as two terrible news arrived: a wife and girls died from a bomb explosion, and on the last day of the war, their son died. Sokolov survived these terrible trials that fate sent him. He had wisdom and courage in life, which were based on human dignity, which can neither be destroyed nor tamed. Even when he was a moment away from death, he still remained worthy of the high title of a man, and did not yield to his conscience. Even the German officer Muller recognized this: “That’s it, Sokolov, you are a real Russian soldier. You are a brave soldier. I am also a soldier and I respect worthy enemies. I won’t shoot at you.” This was a victory for the principles of life, since the war burned his fate and could not burn his soul.
For his enemies, Andrei was terrible and indestructible, and he appears completely different next to the little orphan Vanya, whom he met after the war. Sokolov was struck by the boy’s fate, since he himself had so much pain in his heart. Andrey decided to shelter this child, who even own father I didn’t remember, except for his leather coat. He becomes a natural father for Vanya - a caring, loving one, which he could no longer be for his children.
A common person- this is probably said too simplistically about the hero of the work; it would be more accurate to indicate - a full-fledged person, for whom life is internal harmony, which is based on truthful, pure and bright life principles. Sokolov never stooped to opportunism, this was contrary to his nature, however, as a self-sufficient person, he had a sensitive and kind heart, and this did not add to the leniency, since he went through all the horrors of the war. But even after what he experienced, you won’t hear any complaints from him, only “...the heart is no longer in the chest, but in a gourd, and it becomes difficult to breathe.”
Mikhail Sholokhov solved the problem of thousands of people - young and old - who became orphans after the war, having lost their loved ones. the main idea the work is formed during the acquaintance with the main character - people should help each other in any trouble that happens on the path of life, this is precisely the real meaning of life.
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Every noble person is deeply aware of his blood ties with his fatherland.
V. G. Belinsky
The name of M. A. Sholokhov is known all over the world. He wrote about the tragic destinies of people caught in the whirlpool of the 20th century, fraught with tragedies: the writer’s focus is on depicting the difficult and terrible events of the revolution, civil war, and collectivization. Sholokhov did not ignore the period of the Great Patriotic War, when humanity was placed in Once again in the face of a gigantic catastrophe.
The writer is again interested in the fate of a person deprived of terrible historical cataclysms.
The action in Sholokhov's story “The Fate of a Man” (1956) begins in March 1946, in the first post-war spring. The main character of the story, Andrei Sokolov, is no different from the generation of people who won the war and went through all the trials. He has big ones dark hands hard worker He is poorly dressed and has a skinny duffel bag. However, behind the external inconspicuousness lies a great tragedy: “Have you ever seen eyes, as if sprinkled with ashes, filled with such an inescapable mortal melancholy that it is difficult to look into them?”
The fate of Andrei Sokolov is the glorious and heroic fate of a generation of Soviet people who went through the torment and horrors of war and preserved their humanity and nobility.
The pre-war life of Andrei Sokolov was happy: he loved his wife and children, and this love awakened the best feelings in him.
But the war came and took away this happiness. Andrei Sokolov went to the front. Injuries, captivity, the murder of a traitor, an unsuccessful escape from captivity, bullying by the Nazis - these are the main milestones in the front-line biography of a person in war. Each time, going through the trials of fate, Andrei Sokolov remained a real person, a man with a capital letter.
The scene of the confrontation with Muller is the climax of this story. This is a duel between enemies, a kind of psychological duel that requires incredible willpower and all physical and mental strength from the hero. On the one hand - an armed, well-fed, smug and powerful fascist, on the other - an unarmed, powerless, barely standing, deprived of even his name, prisoner of war No. 331. Hungry and exhausted, he refuses to drink German weapons for the victory, and when he does agree drink “for my death and deliverance from torment,” then he does not touch the bread: “I wanted to show them, damned, that although I am perishing from hunger, I am not going to choke on their handout, that I have my own, Russian dignity and pride and that they did not turn me into a beast, no matter how hard they tried.” Even Müller could not help but admire the courage and stamina of the Russian soldier. The lines about how the prisoners dying of hunger shared the bread and lard brought by Andrei touch to the depths of the soul.
The news of the death of a family, complete loneliness- the last, most terrible tests of Andrei Sokolov. This was supposed to break a person, deprive him of the meaning of life. After all, his heart was petrified with grief.
Why did Andrei adopt Vanyushka? He was deeply hurt tragic fate child. His heart has not stopped loving, and his soul continues to feel human suffering and pain. Having adopted an orphan, Andrei Sokolov once again accomplishes a feat. He consciously takes responsibility for raising a child, even without a permanent home.
This is the unnoticed heroism that Andrei Sokolov demonstrates daily, hourly, overcoming his tragedy and the tragedy of the boy.
“Two orphaned people, two grains of sand, thrown into foreign lands by a military hurricane of unprecedented force... does something await them ahead?” - the author asks this question. And he himself answers it: “I would like to think that this Russian man, a man of unbending will, will endure and grow up next to his father’s shoulder, who, having matured, will be able to endure everything, overcome everything on his way, if his Motherland calls him to this.” .
The immortal work of M. A. Sholokhov “The Fate of Man” is a real ode to the common people, whose life was completely broken by the war.
Features of the story composition
The main character here is represented not by a legendary heroic figure, but a simple person, one of the millions of people touched by the tragedy of war.
The fate of man in wartime
Andrei Sokolov was a simple rural worker who, like everyone else, worked on a collective farm, had a family and lived an ordinary measured life. He boldly goes to defend his fatherland from the fascist invaders, thus leaving his children and wife to the mercy of fate.
At the front, the main character begins those terrible trials that turned his life upside down. Andrei finds out that his wife, daughter and younger son died as a result of an air attack. He takes this loss very hard, as he feels his own guilt for what happened to his family.
However, Andrei Sokolov has something to live for; he still has his eldest son, who during the war was able to achieve significant success in military affairs, and was his father’s only support. IN last days During the war, fate prepared the last crushing blow for Sokolov; his son is killed by his opponents.
At the end of the war, the main character is morally broken and does not know how to live further: he has lost his loved ones, native home was destroyed. Andrey gets a job as a driver in a neighboring village and gradually begins to drink.
As you know, fate, which pushes a person into the abyss, always leaves him with a small straw through which he can get out of it, if desired. Andrei's salvation was a meeting with a little orphan boy whose parents died at the front.
Vanechka had never seen his father and reached out to Andrei, because he longed for the love and attention that the main character showed to him. The dramatic peak in the story is Andrei’s decision to lie to Vanechka that he is his own father.
An unfortunate child, who has never known love, affection or kindness towards himself in his life, throws himself in tears on Andrei Sokolov’s neck and begins to say that he remembered him. So, in essence, two destitute orphans begin a joint life path. They found salvation in each other. Each of them gained a meaning in life.
The moral “core” of Andrei Sokolov’s character
Andrei Sokolov had a real inner core, high ideals of spirituality, steadfastness and patriotism. In one of the episodes of the story, the author tells us how exhausted by hunger and labor work in the concentration camp, Andrei was still able to maintain his human dignity: for a long time he refused the food that the Nazis offered him before they threatened to kill him.
The strength of his character aroused respect even among the German murderers, who ultimately had mercy on him. The bread and lard that they gave to the main character as a reward for his pride, Andrei Sokolov divided among all his starving cellmates.
March 02 2011
Writers have always thought about humanism. In the 20th century, the humanistic theme was also heard in works dedicated to events Great Patriotic War.
War is. It brings destruction and sacrifice, separation and death. Millions of people were orphaned at that time. War is inhumane: it kills people. He is required to be cruel and evil, to forget about moral laws and God's commandments.
The answer to this question can be found in M. Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man.” The main character of the work is the driver Andrei Sokolov. It is in his actions that the humanistic theme is reflected.
The ordinary soldier had to endure a lot. He was wounded three times, captured (“whoever hasn’t experienced this on his own skin will not immediately get into his soul for him to understand in a human way what this thing means”), all the horrors of the concentration camps (“They beat him easily for the purpose of so that one day he might kill him to death, so that he would choke on his last blood and die from beatings.”). Andrei’s family died: “A heavy bomb hit my little house. Irina and her daughters were just at home... no trace of them was found.” The son, “the last joy and the last hope,” is killed by a German sniper “exactly on the ninth of May, on Victory Day. “From such a blow, Andrei’s vision darkened, his heart clenched into a ball and would not unclench.”
These severe troubles and hardships became a real test for Sholokhov’s hero - a test of humanity. His eyes, which, as we know, are the mirror of the soul, although “as if they were sprinkled with ashes,” still there is no vindictive misanthropy, no poisonous skepticism towards life, no cynical indifference in them. Fate “distorted” Andrei, but could not break him, kill him living soul.
With his story, Sholokhov refutes the opinion of those who believe that perseverance and courage do not get along with tenderness, responsiveness, affection, and kindness. On the contrary, he believes that only strong and unyielding people are capable of showing humanity, as if this is a “sign” of such a character.
Sholokhov deliberately does not show details of front-line life and camp ordeals, wanting to concentrate on depicting the “culmination” moments, when the character of the hero and his humanity are manifested most strongly and vividly.
Thus, Andrei Sokolov withstands the “duel” with the Lagerfuhrer with honor. The hero manages, even if for a moment, to awaken something human in the Nazis: Müller, in recognition of his soldier’s valor (“So that I, a Russian soldier, would drink German weapons for the victory?!”) saves Andrei and even presents “a small loaf bread and a piece of bacon." But the hero understood: the enemy is capable of any treachery and cruelty, and at that moment, when a shot in the back was about to thunder, it flashed in his head: “He’ll shine between my shoulder blades now and I won’t bring this grub to the guys.” In a minute mortal danger the hero thinks not about his life, but about the fate of his comrades. Müller’s gift was “divided without offense” (“everyone equally”), although “everyone got a piece of bread the size of a matchbox... well, lard... - just to anoint your lips.” And Sholokhov’s hero commits such a generous act without hesitation. For him, this is not even the only correct, but the only possible solution.
War is inhumane, so situations arise that require solutions on the verge of cruelty and humanism, on the verge of what is permitted and what is not permitted... under normal conditions. Such a test moral principles Andrei Sokolov suffered, finding himself forced to deal with Kryzhnev in order to save the platoon commander - “a snub-nosed boy.” Is killing a person humane? For Sholokhov, in the current circumstances, the strangulation of Kryzhnev, a traitor guided by the principle “your shirt is closer to your body,” has “humanistic legitimacy.” The writer is convinced that spiritual responsiveness and tenderness, the ability for active (namely active) love, shown by Andrei Sokolov when he encounters kind, fair people who need his protection, is the moral basis of intransigence, contempt, courageous firmness (ability to step over the moral law - to kill) in relation to cruelty and betrayal, lies and hypocrisy, and apathy and cowardice.
That is why, trying to convince the reader of the humanity of Andrei’s act, Sholokhov creates “Comrade Kryzhnev” as exclusively negative, trying to arouse contempt and hatred for the “big-faced”, “fat gelding” traitor. And after the murder, Andrei “felt unwell”, “terribly wanted to wash his hands,” but only because it seemed to him as if “he was strangling some kind of creeping thing,” and not a person.
But the hero also accomplishes a truly humanistic and civic feat. He adopts a “little ragamuffin,” an orphan baby: “It’s impossible for us to disappear apart.” “Twisted”, “crippled by life” Andrei Sokolov does not try to motivate his decision to adopt Vanyushka philosophically; for him this step is not connected with a problem moral duty. For the hero of the story, “protecting the child” is a natural manifestation of the soul, the desire for the boy’s eyes to remain clear, “like the sky,” and for his fragile soul to remain undisturbed.
Andrey gives all his unspent love and care to his little son: “Go, dear, play near the water... Just make sure you don’t get your feet wet!” With what tenderness he looks at his blue “little eyes.” And “the heart goes away,” and “the soul becomes joyful, which cannot be said in words!”
Having adopted a boy who no one needs, but in whose soul there was still hope for a “good share,” Sokolov himself becomes the personification of the indestructible humanity of the world. Thus, in the story “The Fate of Man” he showed that despite all the hardships of war and personal losses, people have not become hardened in heart, they are capable of doing good, they strive for happiness and love.
At the beginning of the story, the author calmly talks about the signs of the first post-war spring; he seems to be preparing us for a meeting with the main character, Andrei Sokolov, whose eyes “as if sprinkled with ashes, filled with inescapable mortal melancholy.” Sholokhov’s hero recalls the past with restraint, wearily; before confession, he “hunched over” and placed his large, dark hands on his knees. All this makes us feel how tragic the fate of this man is.
The life of an ordinary person, the Russian soldier Andrei Sokolov, passes before us. Since childhood, he learned how much a pound is worth and fought in civilian life. A modest worker, the father of a family, he was happy in his own way. The war ruined this man’s life, tore him away from home, from his family. Andrei Sokolov goes to the front. From the beginning of the war, in its very first months, he was wounded twice and shell-shocked. But the worst thing awaited the hero ahead - he falls into fascist captivity.
The hero had to experience inhuman torment, hardship, and torment. For two years, Andrei Sokolov steadfastly endured the horrors of fascist captivity. He tries to escape, but is unsuccessful; he deals with a coward, a traitor who is ready to hand over the commander to save his own skin. With great clarity, self-esteem, enormous strength spirit and endurance were revealed in the moral duel between Sokolov and the commandant of the concentration camp. An exhausted, exhausted, exhausted prisoner is ready to face death with such courage and endurance that it amazes even a fascist who has lost his human appearance.
Andrei still manages to escape and becomes a soldier again. Death looked him in the eye more than once, but he remained human to the end. And yet the most serious trials befell the hero when he returned home. Having emerged from the war as a winner, Andrei Sokolov lost everything he had in life. In the place where the house built by his hands stood, there was a dark crater left by a German air bomb... All members of his family were killed. He says to his random interlocutor: “Sometimes you don’t sleep at night, you look into the darkness with empty eyes and think: “Why have you, life, crippled me like that?” I have no answer either in the dark or in the clear sun..."
After everything that this man had experienced, it would seem that he should have become embittered and bitter. However, life could not break Andrei Sokolov; it wounded, but did not kill the living soul in him. The hero gives all the warmth of his soul to his adopted orphan Vanyusha, a boy with “eyes as bright as the sky.” And the fact that he adopts Vanya confirms the moral strength of Andrei Sokolov, who managed to start life over again after so many losses. This person overcomes grief and continues to live. “And I would like to think,” writes Sholokhov, “that this Russian man, a man of unbending will, will endure, and near his father’s shoulder will grow one who, having matured, will be able to withstand everything, overcome everything on his way, if his Motherland calls him to this.” .
Mikhail Sholokhov's story “The Fate of Man” is imbued with a deep, bright faith in man. Its title is symbolic: it is not just the fate of soldier Andrei Sokolov, but about the fate of a Russian man, a simple soldier who bore all the hardships of the war. The writer shows at what enormous cost the victory in the Great Patriotic War was won. Patriotic War and who was the real hero of this war. The image of Andrei Sokolov instills in us deep faith in the moral strength of the Russian person.
Need a cheat sheet? Then save - "The theme of war and humanism in Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of Man.” Literary essays!Mikhail Sholokhov in his works reveals the fate of the Russian people. The story “The Fate of Man” is one of the masterpieces of his work. Sholokhov himself assessed “The Fate of Man” as a step towards creating a book about the war.
This book is the first to tell about a man who went through a concentration camp. During the war, everyone who ended up in the camps was considered traitors. Using the example of Andrei Sokolov, we see that life circumstances are stronger than us and different people could fall into the hands of the Nazis.
The main character of the book, Andrei Sokolov, is a typical representative of the people in life behavior and character. He goes along with his country civil war, devastation, industrialization and a new war.
Andrey Sokolov was born in one thousand nine hundred. In his story, Sholokhov focuses on the roots of mass heroism, which go back to national traditions. Sokolov has “his own, Russian dignity”: “So that I, a Russian soldier, would drink German weapons for the victory?!”
Andrei Sokolov's life demanded from him volitional efforts. He fought and really wanted to survive, not for himself, but for the sake of his family. This is how the camp episode is described: “I said goodbye to my comrades, they all knew that I was going to death, I sighed and went. I walk through the camp yard, look at the stars, say goodbye to them, and think: “So you have suffered, Andrei Sokolov, and in the camp, number three hundred and thirty-one.” I somehow felt sorry for Irinka and the kids, and then this sadness subsided, and I began to gather my courage to look into the hole of the pistol fearlessly, as befits a soldier, so that the enemies would not see at my last minute that I had to give up my life after all. it’s difficult...” He didn’t know at that moment that his family was no longer there, and instead of a house there was a crater from an exploding bomb. He was left alone when the whole family died of hunger.
Against the background of describing the fate of one person, Sholokhov shows other people. He draws attention to solidarity when the Germans took away “people harmful to them” from the church. Out of two hundred superfluous person no one betrayed the commanders and communists. When Sokolov brings the lard that the Germans gave him to the barracks, no one attacked him greedily, they divided it equally.
The main character is captured not of his own free will, he was shell-shocked. When meeting the Germans, he does not lose his composure. Morally he is stronger than the enemy: with mockery he hands the marauder his boots and footcloth. Sholokhov portrays Sokolov as an extraordinary person, noble and humane. Sokolov’s humanity was also evident in the adoption of the orphan Vanyusha.
M. Sholokhov's story highlights two aspects of the war: the grief of a soldier who lost his home and family, and the courage of a soldier in German captivity. The trials did not break Sokolov. The optimism of the hero of the work leaves a deep imprint on the reader’s soul for life and serves as a moral example.