The story “The Fate of a Man,” the analysis of which we present to you, was published in the newspaper “Pravda” in the issues of December 31, 1956 and January 1, 1957, and this strangely coincided with its milestone sign in post-war literature: Sholokhov seemed to open a new, “post-Stalin” era, when in the best literary works the focus was not on the “party” and “people” in the abstract, but on man as the focus of the people, their wisdom and vitality.
The life story of Andrei Sokolov is a tragic story, but the very image of the protagonist of the story “The Fate of a Man” cannot but arouse admiration and surprise. Sholokhov managed to create an image not of a “Soviet man,” but of a real Man, who combines the best features of the Russian people and universal human traits inherent in any person who defends his right to life in terrible conditions of tyranny, when it seems that life is worth little and the man himself little can. The image of Andrei Sokolov convinces the reader that this is not so, that a real person is always above those circumstances that are directed against him, that huge reserves of vitality are hidden in his soul, which help him maintain human dignity, humanity and moral height.
The life of Andrei Sokolov is a chain of terrible losses that make a person endlessly lonely. When he goes to the front, his wife and daughters die, because, as the hero says, “I was lined up awkwardly”: his house was next to an aircraft factory, and “one heavy bomb hit right into my little hut”... But probably the most , fate dealt him a terrible blow when, it would seem, everything was left behind and the war was almost over: “Exactly on the ninth of May, in the morning, on the day of victory, a German sniper killed my Anatoly...” This happened just when my father made plans “how the war would end, how I would marry my son and live with the young, work as a carpenter and nurse my grandchildren”... By this time the hero had already gone through captivity, where he endured inhuman suffering and where he showed himself to be an unusually courageous person, courage which earned respect even from his enemies; by this time he had escaped from captivity, experienced the loss of his wife and children and the joy of finding a son, and it turned out that there was no need and nothing to live on.
Sholokhov shows the spiritual strength and resilience of the hero of the story “The Fate of a Man” with the help of a detail: upon learning of the death of his son, Sokolov “swayed..., but stood on his feet.” But since then, his gaze has become a gaze about which the author says: “Have you ever seen eyes that seemed to be sprinkled with ashes, filled with such an inescapable mortal melancholy that it was difficult to look into them? These were the eyes of my casual interlocutor.” However, according to Sholokhov, a real person always has mental strength that allows him not to isolate himself in his grief, but to acutely perceive the grief of other people, and this sympathy helps him live even when he, in general, does not see meaning in his own life - he lives for the sake of others, for the sake of people who need him as a human being. This has always been the case in the life of Andrei Sokolov: thoughts about his family helped him survive in captivity, and left alone, he begins to live for the sake of the boy Vanyushka, who was left an orphan after the war. “Here a burning tear began to boil inside me, and I immediately decided: “We mustn’t disappear separately!” I’ll take him as my child.” And immediately my soul felt light and somehow light,” this is how the author describes the hero’s decision that changed his life and returned the little orphan’s family and parental warmth.
Despite the convincing image of the main character, Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of Man” itself is distinguished by a number of factual inaccuracies, some embellishment of reality, a touch of sentimentalism in the description of circumstances, and this significantly reduces its artistic significance and the reliability of the reality depicted in it. This can probably be explained by the peculiarities of the image of the author, who, being a person who has seen and experienced a lot in life (after all, not everyone such a person as Andrei Sokolov will open their soul!), retained the ability to sympathize with the grief of others, to empathize with them: “I have completely turned into rumor,” says the author at the very beginning of the story. The scene of the heroes’ farewell also speaks about the author’s sentimentality: “No, it’s not only in their sleep that elderly men, who have turned gray during the years of war, cry. They cry in reality." Is it possible to condemn the author for this? No, of course, because it is his copyright to see the world and heroes exactly as he sees them, and to describe them as he describes them. In the story “The Fate of a Man,” the analysis of which we carried out, despite certain artistic shortcomings, the author showed himself to be a humanist writer who created a complete, reliable and attractive image of a hero who carries a universal human principle and worthily resists the circumstances that intended to destroy him as an individual.
M.A. Sholokhov's story “The Fate of a Man” is a story about irreparable losses, about human grief and about faith in life, in man.
The “ring” composition of the story (the meeting with Andrei Sokolov and his adopted son Vanyushka at the crossing of the spring flooded river at the beginning, farewell at the end to the boy and the “stranger”, but who has now become a close person) not only seems to close everything into a single circle of empathy told about his life by Sokolov, but also allows us to highlight with great force that unlost humanity that painted and elevated the hero Sholokhov.
In “The Fate of Man” there is no private story, no private incident. From the life story of Andrei Sokolov, the author selects only that which allows us to comprehend an individual human life in connection with the tragic essence of the era. This allows us to show the incompatibility of a kind, peaceful, piercingly humane - and a soullessly cruel, barbarically merciless attitude towards people.
There are two voices in the story: Andrei Sokolov is “leading”, he tells his life; the author is a listener, a casual interlocutor: he will either drop a question or say a word where it is impossible to remain silent, where it is necessary to cover up someone else’s unrestrained grief. Otherwise, his heart, disturbed by pain, will suddenly break through and speak in full force...
The author-narrator in Sholokhov's story becomes an actively acting and perceiving person. The author helps readers not only experience, but also comprehend one human life as a phenomenon of the era. To see in it great universal human content and meaning.
A muted reminder “of the eternal affirmation of the living in life” returns us to one of the most secret themes running through all of Sholokhov’s work. In “The Fate of a Man” she precedes Andrei Sokolov’s story about how in a foreign German land he “buried his last joy and hope” - his son Anatoly. How I was left completely alone... How I found Vanyusha in the Don village. “At night, you stroke him sleepy, then you smell the hair on his curls, and his heart moves away, becomes softer, otherwise it has turned to stone from grief...” The narrative seems to be transferred from tragically hopeless to a tone permeated with faith and hope.
But in Sholokhov’s story, another voice was heard - a clear, clear child’s voice, which seemed not to know the full extent of all the troubles and misfortunes that befall the human lot.
The theme of insulted childhood has long been one of the most troubled, tragically intense topics in Russian literature. The very concept of humanity, whether it was about society or an individual, was sharply and clearly revealed in relation to childhood. There was no more terrible and unforgivable crime than the crime against defenseless childhood.
In “The Fate of Man” there is a condemnation of war and fascism - not only in the story of Andrei Sokolov. It sounds with no less force of a curse in the story of Vanyusha. High humanism permeates the short story about a ruined childhood, about a childhood that knew grief and separation so early.
The power of good, the beauty of humanity is revealed in Sokolov, in the way he saw the baby, in his decision to adopt Vanyusha. He brought joy back to childhood, he shielded him from pain, suffering and sorrow. It seemed that the war had drained everything from this man, he had lost everything. But in terrible loneliness he remained human. It was here, in Andrei Sokolov’s attitude towards his childhood, Vanyusha, that victory was won over the inhumanity of fascism, over destruction and loss - the inevitable companions of war.
The end of the story is preceded by the author’s leisurely reflection - the reflection of a person who has seen and knows a lot in life: “And I would like to think that this Russian man, a man of unbending will, will endure and will grow up next to his father’s shoulder, who, having matured, will be able to endure everything, overcome everything. his path, if his homeland calls for it.”
In this reflection there is an affirmation of the greatness and beauty of what is truly human. Glorification of courage, perseverance, glorification of a man who withstood the blows of a military storm and endured the impossible.
These two themes - tragic and heroic, feat and suffering - are constantly intertwined in Sholokhov's story, forming a unity, defining much of his genre and style.
In the story, the division into parts within a single whole is quite noticeable. The beginning of the story - the introduction, the three parts of Andrei Sokolov's story and the final scene are easily distinguished both in their content and in their emotional and semantic tonality. The division into parts is supported by the alternation of the voice of the narrator and the author-narrator.
In the initial description, the motif of a difficult road appears. First, this is the road of the author, who had to go on some urgent business. The author's description of the road prepares the appearance of Andrei Sokolov and Vanyusha. After all, they walked along the same road, and on foot all the time. Gradually, the motif of a difficult road develops into a tense story about the difficult path of life, about the fate of a person on the roads of war. More than once in the story about this road the definition of “hard” will be heard: “It’s hard for me, brother, to remember, and even harder to talk about what I experienced...”
Each part of Andrei’s story has its own internal completeness of content, at the same time, common motifs sound in each of them; repeating themselves, they give everything a tragic intensity of experience. The author shows readers more and more new sides of Andrei Sokolov’s character in various spheres of life: family, soldier, front-line, in relations with comrades, in captivity, etc.
The hero of the story seemed to have never accomplished any feats. While at the front, “he was wounded twice..., but both lightly.” But the chain of episodes created by the writer fully demonstrate that unostentatious courage, human pride and dignity that were so consistent with the entire appearance of this simple, ordinary person.
The ideology of fascism and war are linked in Sholokhov’s story as the real embodiment of a specific evil. An evil that can and must be overcome.
In the fate of Andrei Sokolov, everything good, peaceful, human came into battle with this terrible evil. A peaceful man turned out to be stronger than war. He withstood the crushing blows of the most terrible storm and emerged victorious.
The Great Patriotic War became a serious test for the entire Russian people. Of course, the consequences of that time can be seen years later. For every individual and family, the war of 1941-1945 brought many troubles, fears, sorrows, illnesses and deaths. The events of that time are often covered to this day. Many books have been written in which the main theme is the Great Patriotic War. One of these books is the story by M. A. Sholokhov “The Fate of a Man.”
The plot of this work is based on real events. One day the author met a man who told him his sad life story, which later turned into a literary masterpiece of the 20th century.
The main theme of the work is the theme of man in war. Any tragic event, especially on the scale of an entire country, significantly affects the quality of life of each person, changing or completely revealing his personal qualities. The main character of the story, Andrei Sokolov, in peaceful life was no different from any other person. But during military operations, having survived fears and dangers to life, having been in captivity, he revealed his best qualities as a person: perseverance, courage, strength, will, courage and a deep sense of love and devotion to the homeland.
In addition, M. A. Sholokhov raises the topic of human willpower. After all, Andrei Sokolov was not only able to bravely overcome the hardships of the war, but also managed to withstand the pain of losing his family. After the war, he, like many other people, was faced with the question: “How to live further and where to get strength for the next life?” Sokolov was able to show perseverance and not break, but find the meaning of life in caring for a boy, an orphan, who also lost everything because of the war.
Many issues are covered in this short story. The problem of choice can be traced constantly. So, for example, Andrei Sokolov had to choose loyalty to the Motherland or betrayal, weakness or spiritual strength from time to time. The problem of human defenselessness in the face of the horrors of military operations can be traced throughout Sokolov’s difficult journey. Sometimes nothing depends on the hero; circumstances fall on his head, trying to break him. Sokolov loses his family and home, but this is far from his fault.
“The Fate of Man” is a kind of message to the reader. A story that brings us the idea that we need to remember the pain that war brings. Everyone should see a peaceful sky above them and try, at all costs, not to repeat the mistakes of the past.
In terms of genre, the work belongs to the writer’s realistic short stories, based on real events, the key theme of which is the depiction of the manifestation of human willpower in wartime conditions.
The compositional structure of the story is conventionally divided into two parts, in the first of which the narration is carried out on behalf of the author, and the second part is a life story told by a random person. In this case, the finale of the work ends with the author's conclusion. Thus, the writer uses an artistic device in the work called a story within a story.
The main character of the story is Andrei Sokolov, presented by the writer in the image of an ordinary person, a simple worker, not distinguished by high literacy, forced to go to the front to defend his homeland, where he shows his spiritual nobility, courage and fortitude. The second main character is a boy named Vanyushka, who was left an orphan as a result of the onset of the war.
The storyline of the story unites the two heroes of the work, who suffered during a fierce war, and gives them hope for a further peaceful and calm future. At the end of the war, Andrei Sokolov, having gone through the most difficult trials, German captivity, wounds, betrayal and cowardice of his comrades, remains completely alone, since his family is killed during bomb attacks, and his eldest son is killed at the front. Having accidentally met Vanyushka, who is a homeless child in the area of the station, Sokolov calls the boy his father and decides to shelter the child.
The semantic load of the story lies in the depiction of two people, left alone, restless and unnecessary in this world, who, upon meeting, acquire true life meaning, reviving faith in happiness in their own souls.
A distinctive feature of the work is the linguistic device used by the writer in the narrative content, expressing the polyphony and leitmotifs of Russian characters in the form of folk sayings, proverbs and expressions.
The writer deliberately does not use the surname of his hero in the title of the story, since he demonstrates the consonance of Sokolov’s fate with a huge number of other Russian people who experienced wartime, who, despite this, managed to preserve humanity and love.
One of the most significant and famous works in the literary work of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov is the story “The Fate of a Man.” It is based on real events. Having met a man and a child at the crossing, Mikhail Alexandrovich learned their fate, and 10 years later the work “The Fate of a Man” appeared in print, telling the reader about the horrors of war and difficult human destinies.
On the first page of the story, Mikhail Andreevich left a dedication: “Evgenia Grigorievna Levitskaya, member of the CPSU since 1903.” This woman, a publishing and library worker, a member of the All-Union Communist Party, played a big role in the life of the writer. It was she who was the first reader of many of his works.
The work tells the reader about the state of Russia in the first post-war year. The action takes place in the spring, this is a symbol of the prosperity and revival of the country after a long war. The location of the events is the Upper Don, the writer’s homeland. All geographical names are not fictitious: if you wish, you can visit the Bukanovskaya Stanitsa - the meeting place of the narrator and the main character.
The war left its mark on people's lives. This is especially noticeable in rural life: during the journey, the main character and his comrade have to cross a river in a well-worn jeep. During the war, people could not take care of the household, so most of these things became old and deteriorated, like a boat.
The further narration is devoted to the story of the life and fate of the main character - Andrei Sokolov, who represents the general image of all the soldiers beaten by the war. For the first time he appears in the story together with the boy Vanyusha. Their images are connected by an unobtrusive contrast both in clothing and in the general images of the characters.
Andrei appears to be a very good-natured person, but when he remembers the war, his face changes sharply: “he put his big dark hands on his knees, hunched over.”
Talking about his life, Andrey mentions its most significant facts. From this monologue, the reader understands that life’s difficulties overtook the hero even before the start of the war. Andrey is a very hardworking and sensitive person. Remembering his wife, Andrei did not name a single one of her shortcomings; he sincerely appreciated and loved her, his “Irinka”. He also refers to children, calling them “Nastenka and Olyushka.” During the hero's narration, the author compares the past with the steppe, covered in a light haze.
In the hero’s story, the scene of farewell to his wife and children and Andrei’s departure to war especially stands out. His wife, Irina, felt that she was seeing her husband for the last time, and therefore took the parting with such bitterness. Remembering this many years later, Andrei reproaches himself for pushing her away at that moment, thereby not recognizing her premonitions, hoping for a speedy return.
The scene in the church plays a special role. It shows what piety and high morality Russian soldiers have. Many of them could not go to the toilet in church - they were ashamed, their moral education did not allow such things. The Germans behaved inhumanely - in response to the soldiers’ requests to let them out for a few minutes, they opened the door and shot many of them. By this they showed their disregard for the values of other people, their desire to destroy the Russian people.
While in captivity, Andrei behaved courageously and boldly. Coming to the German general, Andrei refused to drink to the success of his enemies. This shows that the hero is ready to defend and defend the rights of his homeland at the cost of his life.
From Andrei's monologue, the reader understands that he experienced a lot - he was captured, lost his wife and children, was wounded and, when he returned, did not find anything preserved. However, the hero did not give up, but continued to live. Andrey adopted the boy Vanyusha and took responsibility for him, because... I saw a kindred spirit in him.
Teenagers tend to get involved in some kind of activity that may have social benefits. It is not surprising that a group of young people, on their own initiative, decided to provide all possible assistance to the families of the fallen defenders of the Motherland
The work is the final short story, included in the writer’s collection entitled “Tales of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin,” consisting of five stories.
Vera Rozalskaya. A young lady, the main character of “What is to be done?”, with the help of whose dreams the writer interprets his own reasoning and ideological thoughts
Humanity is mired in the era of consumption. Yes, it’s exactly like being mired in a swamp. Every day new products are produced and different services are offered. Production is impossible without demand, and we create it.
The Great Patriotic War, even after many decades, remains the greatest blow for the whole world. What a tragedy this is for the fighting Soviet people, who lost the most people in this bloody battle! The lives of many (both military and civilian) were ruined. Sholokhov's story “The Fate of Man” truthfully depicts these sufferings, not of an individual person, but of the entire people who stood up to defend their Motherland.
The story “The Fate of a Man” is based on real events: M.A. Sholokhov met a man who told him his tragic biography. This story was almost a ready-made plot, but did not immediately turn into a literary work. The writer nurtured his idea for 10 years, but put it on paper in just a few days. And he dedicated it to E. Levitskaya, who helped him publish the main novel of his life, “Quiet Don.”
The story was published in the Pravda newspaper on the eve of the new year, 1957. And soon it was read on All-Union Radio and heard throughout the country. Listeners and readers were shocked by the power and truthfulness of this work, and it gained well-deserved popularity. In literary terms, this book opened up a new way for writers to explore the theme of war - through the fate of a little man.
The author accidentally meets the main character Andrei Sokolov and his son Vanyushka. During the forced delay at the crossing, the men started talking, and a casual acquaintance told the writer his story. This is what he told him.
Before the war, Andrei lived like everyone else: wife, children, household, work. But then thunder struck, and the hero went to the front, where he served as a driver. One fateful day, Sokolov’s car came under fire and he was shell-shocked. So he was captured.
A group of prisoners was brought to the church for the night, many incidents happened that night: the shooting of a believer who could not desecrate the church (they didn’t even let him out “until the wind”), and with him several people who accidentally fell under machine gun fire, help from a doctor to Sokolov and others wounded. Also, the main character had to strangle another prisoner, since he turned out to be a traitor and was going to hand over the commissioner. Even during the next transfer to the concentration camp, Andrei tried to escape, but was caught by dogs, who stripped him of his last clothes and bit him so much that “the skin and meat flew into shreds.”
Then the concentration camp: inhuman work, almost starvation, beatings, humiliation - that’s what Sokolov had to endure. “They need four cubic meters of production, but for the grave of each of us, one cubic meter through the eyes is enough!” - Andrei said imprudently. And for this he appeared before Lagerführer Müller. They wanted to shoot the main character, but he overcame his fear, bravely drank three glasses of schnapps to his death, for which he earned respect, a loaf of bread and a piece of lard.
Towards the end of hostilities, Sokolov was appointed driver. And finally, an opportunity arose to escape, and even together with the engineer whom the hero was driving. Before the joy of salvation had time to subside, grief arrived: he learned about the death of his family (a shell hit the house), and all this time he lived only in the hope of a meeting. One son survived. Anatoly also defended his homeland, and Sokolov and he simultaneously approached Berlin from different directions. But right on the day of victory, the last hope was killed. Andrey was left all alone.
The main theme of the story is a man at war. These tragic events are an indicator of personal qualities: in extreme situations, those character traits that are usually hidden are revealed, it is clear who is who in reality. Before the war, Andrei Sokolov was not particularly different; he was like everyone else. But in battle, having survived captivity and constant danger to life, he proved himself. His truly heroic qualities were revealed: patriotism, courage, perseverance, will. On the other hand, a prisoner like Sokolov, probably also no different in ordinary peaceful life, was going to betray his commissar in order to curry favor with the enemy. Thus, the theme of moral choice is also reflected in the work.
Also M.A. Sholokhov touches on the topic of willpower. The war took away from the main character not only his health and strength, but also his entire family. He has no home, how can he continue to live, what to do next, how to find meaning? This question has interested hundreds of thousands of people who have experienced similar losses. And for Sokolov, caring for the boy Vanyushka, who was also left without a home and family, became a new meaning. And for his sake, for the sake of the future of his country, you need to live on. Here is the disclosure of the theme of the search for the meaning of life - a real person finds it in love and hope for the future.
One of the main ideas of the story is the need to take into account the lessons of the war. The example of Andrei Sokolov shows not what war can do to a person, but what it can do to all of humanity. Prisoners tortured in concentration camps, orphaned children, destroyed families, scorched fields - this should never be repeated, and therefore should not be forgotten.
No less important is the idea that in any, even the most terrible situation, one must remain human and not become like an animal that, out of fear, acts only on the basis of instincts. Survival is the main thing for anyone, but if this comes at the cost of betraying oneself, one’s comrades, one’s Motherland, then the surviving soldier is no longer a person, he is not worthy of this title. Sokolov did not betray his ideals, did not break, although he went through something that is difficult for a modern reader to even imagine.
A short story is a short literary genre that reveals one storyline and several characters. “The Fate of Man” refers specifically to him.
However, if you take a closer look at the composition of the work, you can clarify the general definition, because this is a story within a story. First, the story is narrated by the author, who, by the will of fate, met and talked with his character. Andrei Sokolov himself describes his difficult life; the first-person narration allows readers to better understand the hero’s feelings and understand him. The author's remarks are introduced to characterize the hero from the outside (“eyes, as if sprinkled with ashes,” “I didn’t see a single tear in his seemingly dead, extinct eyes... only his large, limply lowered hands trembled slightly, his chin trembled, his hard lips trembled”) and show how deeply this strong man suffers.
The main value for the author (and for readers) is peace. Peace between states, peace in society, peace in the human soul. The war destroyed the happy life of Andrei Sokolov, as well as many people. The echo of the war still does not subside, so its lessons should not be forgotten (although this event has often recently been overestimated for political purposes that are far from the ideals of humanism).
Also, the writer does not forget about the eternal values of the individual: nobility, courage, will, desire to help. The time of knights and noble dignity has long passed, but true nobility does not depend on origin, it is in the soul, expressed in its ability to show mercy and empathy, even if the world around it is collapsing. This story is a great lesson in courage and morality for modern readers.
Interesting? Save it on your wall!The story was written in 1956 during Khrushchev’s “thaw”. Sholokhov was a participant in the Great Patriotic War. There he heard the life story of one soldier. She really touched him. Sholokhov harbored the idea of writing this story for a long time. And so, in 1956, he ventured into a topic that was forbidden after the war. The topic - man at war - is widely covered in literature, but the author found his own approach to solving this issue, found a new, original artistic solution to the problem. The genre of the work is a story, where an epic narration is told about several episodes from the life of the hero. The writer placed a lot of material about this life - from birth to adulthood, which would be enough for a novel, within the framework of a story. How did he achieve this? This is the skill of Sholokhov, the writer. The composition of the work is interesting. At the beginning of it, a description of the first post-war spring is given: “The first post-war spring on the Upper Don was extremely friendly and assertive.” Then the author talks about meeting with an unknown person who talks about his fate. The main part of this work is a story within a story. The narration is in the first person.
Andrei Sokolov chooses the most important episodes of his life. He often interrupts his story because he worries about everything he has lived through. This creates emotionality, persuasiveness and authenticity of the narrative. At the end, the parting with his new acquaintance, who was “a stranger, but became a close person,” is described, and the author thinks about the future fate of the heroes. Here the feelings and emotions of the author himself are revealed. Sholokhov is a master of creating images. A man with a difficult fate visibly appears in full growth. From his story we learn that he is the same age as the century. Andrey was a “tall, stooped man.” We do not immediately see Sokolov’s portrait characteristics.
Sholokhov gives it in detail. First, he highlights “a large, callous hand,” then “eyes, as if sprinkled with ashes, filled with such an inescapable mortal melancholy.” The image of Andrei Sokolov is complemented by speech characteristics. In the hero’s speech you can often hear professional words: “steering wheel”, “blow on all the hardware”, “last stage”, “went at first speed”, “brother”. Sokolov is the embodiment of the national Russian character, therefore his speech is figurative, close to folk, colloquial. Andrey uses proverbs: “pickled tobacco is like a cured horse.”
He uses comparisons and sayings: “like a horse and a turtle,” “how much is a pound worth.” Andrey is a simple, illiterate person, so there are many incorrect words and expressions in his speech. Sokolov's character is revealed gradually. Before the war he was a good family man. “I worked day and night for these ten years. I made good money, and we lived no worse than other people. And the children made me happy..." “We built a little house before the war.” During the war, he behaves like a real man. Andrei could not stand “those slobbery ones” who “smeared their snot on the paper.” “That’s why you’re a man, that’s why you’re a soldier, to endure everything, to endure everything, if need calls for it.”
Sokolov was a simple soldier, fulfilling his duty, as if he were at work. Then he was captured and learned both the true brotherhood of soldiers and fascism. This is how they were taken into captivity: “...our people caught me on the fly, pushed me into the middle and led me by the arms for half an hour.” The writer shows the horrors of fascism. The Germans drove the prisoners into a church with a broken dome onto the bare floor. Then Andrei sees a captive doctor who shows true humanism towards his other comrades in misfortune. “He did his great work both in captivity and in the darkness.” Here Sokolov had to commit his first murder. Andrei killed a captured soldier who wanted to hand over his platoon commander to the Germans. “For the first time in my life I killed, and it was my own.” The climax of the story is the episode with Muller. Müller is the camp commandant, “short, thick-set, blond, and all sort of white himself.” “He spoke Russian like you and me.” “And he was a terrible master at swearing.”
Mueller's actions are the epitome of fascism. Every day, wearing a leather glove with a lead lining, he went out in front of the prisoners and hit every second one in the nose. It was “flu prevention.” Andrei Sokolov was summoned to Mueller following a denunciation from “some scoundrel,” and Andrei prepared to be “sprayed.” But even here our hero did not lose face. He wanted to show “that although he is falling from hunger, he is not going to choke on their handouts, that he has his own, Russian dignity and pride, and that they have not turned him into a beast.” And Muller, although he was a true fascist, respected Andrei and even rewarded him for his courage. Thus, Sokolov saved his life.
Afterwards he escapes from captivity. Here a new blow awaits him. Andrei learned that his wife and daughters had died. But Sokolov also receives good news - his son has become a commander. Andrei is preparing for a meeting with Anatoly, but this is not destined to come true, because on Victory Day Tolik is killed by a sniper. Any person would have broken down after such events, but Andrei Sokolov was not embittered by his tragic fate. After the war, he adopted the boy Vanyushka, and he got the meaning of life - to take care of the orphan and raise the boy. The image of Vanyushka appears in the story along with the image of Andrei Sokolov.
The author does not immediately give a portrait description. Sholokhov highlights individual details in the portrait of Vanyushka, a boy of five or six years old. First, he highlights the “pink, cold little hand,” and then “the eyes, as bright as the sky.” Vanyushka's portrait is based on a sharp contrast technique. It is contrasted with the portrait of Andrei Sokolov. In the story we see another very vivid image - the image of Irina.
She was brought up in an orphanage. Irina was “meek, cheerful, obsequious and smart.” Andrey speaks very highly of her: “I got a good girl!” In the story, the image of the author gradually emerges. We see that he loves life, nature, spring. He felt good in nature. The author was a participant in the war. He is very attentive to people. The author is no less worried than Andrei; he looked at the leaving people “with heavy sadness.” At the end of the story, a “burning and stingy male tear” runs down his cheek.
Throughout the entire story, the author tries to show the spiritual beauty of a hard worker who cannot be broken by any tragedy.
