During the war, Sholokhov was at the front as a correspondent for central newspapers and was seriously shell-shocked in a plane crash. His mother was killed during the shelling of Vyoshenskaya.
Sholokhov wrote reports from the front, and in 1942 the story “The Science of Hate” was written. The impressions of this time were also reflected in the unfinished novel “They Fought for the Motherland” (1943).
After the war, Sholokhov continued active social work and wrote journalistic works.
In 1956, Sholokhov created the story “The Fate of a Man,” also dedicated to the war. In it, the writer first addressed the topic of former prisoners of war. His hero escapes from captivity twice. The fate of the majority of Soviet prisoners who exchanged fascist camps for Stalinist ones could not yet be covered in 1956, but even the mention of captivity in a work of fiction was unusual.
Sholokhov managed in his story, using the example of the fate of one simple Russian man, an ordinary soldier, to show the real cost of this war. (Remember how people were depicted in works of art during the Great Patriotic War and what caused this.)
The center of the story is not collective image, but an individual character. M. Sholokhov returns to Russian literature its traditional attention to the individual. He places emphasis not on the heroism of great battles, but on man's ability to overcome trials and tribulations. The tragic circumstances in which Andrei Sokolov is shown are exceptional even for a war story. Main character I went through the front, was captured, was in almost hopeless situations and survived. His wife and daughters died during the bombing. The only hope, son Anatoly, also dies - on the last day of the war - May 9.
The hero of “The Fate of Man” does not separate himself from the common fate of the people and the country. Telling the story of his life, he pays tribute to the many, like him, unsung heroes with whom fate brought him together. The author, correlating the life story of Andrei Sokolov with the history of the country, affirms the idea of the great value of man in history.
Many events occur in the life of the main character of the story, but they reveal the same conflict. All the plots that make up Andrei Sokolov's confession lead the reader to the conclusion that the driving force of history is the struggle between primordial humanity and that which contradicts eternal moral laws.
At the end of the story, Sholokhov makes the reader stop and think, return to the beginning: “And I would like to think that this Russian man, a man of unbending will, will endure and grow up near his father’s shoulder, one who, having matured, will be able to endure everything, overcome everything on his way , if his Motherland calls him to do so.” But throughout the entire story, as G.V. noted. Palievsky, it is mentioned three times that Andrei Sokolov has a sick heart, broken by war and loss, that he will probably die soon: “So what - there will be no father’s shoulder, the son will not grow up? Events appear to be leading there. But this is the strength of Sholokhov’s idea, that for him man is above events. He will grow up - although something may happen that requires an invisible force of overcoming - no less, and maybe even greater, than that of his father. Sholokhov actually hears unpredictable life in every situation.”
25 years after the creation of the novel “Quiet Don” - in 1965, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize for the novel, which by that time had been translated into many languages.
On February 21, 1984, Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov died. He was buried in the village of Veshenskaya on the steep bank of the Don, as he himself wished.
Laureate Nobel Prize, Hero Socialist Labor, Laureate of Lenin and State Prize– Mikhail Sholokhov began his literary path in 1923. He created a galaxy of bright works that rightfully took their rightful place in world literature: “The Fate of Man”, “Virgin Soil Upturned”, “They Fought for the Motherland” and, of course, “Quiet Don”. And his work relentlessly followed the stormy, rapid flow of history. First World War, civil war, collectivization, Great Patriotic War- all these themes entered Sholokhov’s work as organic impulses of his living mind, which missed nothing, were refracted through the prism of his talent and life experience. In the mouth of Sholokhov, these topics are natural and ordinary, like breathing. The life of the people, the destinies of people - that’s what worried the minds of writers of all generations. And Mikhail Alexandrovich could not remain indifferent to the events taking place in the Fatherland.
Just as at one time the Cossacks were divided into whites and reds, so now the population Chechen Republic stood on two sides: “federals” and “Mujahideen”. What about families? Has anyone thought about mothers, wives, children? What should old people do when one brother is a terrorist, and the other is the one who is looking for the first? History returns to normal.
War is a serious test for the entire state. Whether it is a battle with foreigners or a civil war, it falls heavily on the shoulders of the people and leaves an indelible mark on the destinies of generations. Sholokhov knew firsthand about the war. While still a 15-year-old boy, he joined the food detachment. And during the Great Patriotic War he went to the front as a military correspondent. His experience, his memories and feelings were especially clearly manifested in “The Fate of a Man.”
Sholokhov's style Critics consider the master's approach to creativity to be socialist realism. Here is the opinion of Sholokhov scholar M. Khrapchenko: “Sholokhov is an artist of great insight and high creative integrity. The embodiment of life's truth, no matter how difficult and cruel it may be, is for him a constant and immutable law of creativity. Sholokhova notes genuine fearlessness in the search for truth. He not only does not shy away from the difficult, tragic sides of life, but also persistently and closely examines them, without losing in the slightest degree the historical perspective, faith in man, in his creative, constructive capabilities.”
In my opinion, in Sholokhov’s description of the war, three components need to be distinguished: firstly, landscapes and detailed portraits, through which the author conveys the atmosphere of events, actions, Secondly, the fates of the main characters, and the last - crowd scenes where we see the horror and mercilessness of war.
“Melekhovsky yard is on the farm itself. The gates from the cattle base lead north to the Don. A steep eight-fathom descent between mossy, green chalk blocks, and here is the shore: a pearly scattering of shells, a gray, broken border of pebbles kissed by the waves” ... - we read at the very beginning of the novel. Don-Father is beautiful and majestic. He keeps untold riches within himself. The most magnificent greenery grows along the banks, as if asking for the Cossack plowman, “black from work, with flattened fingers,” to pluck it with his hand. Don beckons: “near a sunken elm, two carp jumped out at the same time in the bare arms of the branches; the third, smaller one, spinning into the air, persistently beat against the ravine over and over again.”
* The image of Grigory Melekhov is drawn larger than others. All the convolutions of his complex, contradictory path are traced with extraordinary attention. You really can’t tell right away whether it’s positive or bad guy. He wandered for too long at the crossroads of history, shed a lot of human blood...
“The first post-war spring on the Upper Don was unusually friendly and assertive. At the end of March, warm winds blew from the Azov region, and within two days the sands of the left bank of the Don were completely exposed, snow-filled ravines and gullies in the steppe swelled, breaking the ice, and the steppe rivers began to flow madly.”...
Andrei Sokolov, having gone through the crucible of war, lost everything: his family died, his home was destroyed. Peaceful life has arrived, the time of spring awakening has come, the time of hope. And he looks at the world eyes, “as if sprinkled with ashes”, “filled with inescapable melancholy”, the words come out of his lips: “Why have you, life, crippled me so much? Why did you distort it like that? I have no answer either in the dark or in the clear sun. No, and I can’t wait!”*
An important feature of Sholokhov’s style is the writer’s persistent faith in a bright future, in the humanity and justice of the people. That is why the cold sun “shines” over Grigory and Mishutka. And here are Sholokhov’s words from the story “The Fate of Man”: “What awaits them ahead? And I would like to think 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 endure everything, overcome everything on his way, if his Motherland calls him to it.” Yes, no matter what terrible situations the war puts a person in, he, according to the writer, will be able to overcome them with dignity.
The bloodshed reaches its climax during the battalion scenes. After all, some are guided by the once expressed thought of Chuboty: “Cut a man boldly!..” Most likely, the daily contemplation of blood, violence, cruelty bears fruit - the Cossacks (and everyone who finds themselves in this “meat grinder”) become less susceptible to human suffering , hearts become hardened.
Anti-humanity, the unnaturalness of war - this is the main thing that Sholokhov’s works convey. A heartfelt “thank you” to him for these lines: “I would like my books to help people become better, to become purer soul, awakened love for man, the desire to actively fight for the ideals of humanism and the progress of mankind.” He not only wanted, he nurtured in the hearts and minds of generations the unwritten truth that “life is the most valuable thing a person has.” Probably, this truth flows in each of us thanks to the efforts of Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov.
SOUTH FEDERAL UNIVERSITY
PEDAGOGICAL INSTITUTE
- Department of Literature and Teaching Methods
Research work:
- "Military journalism
- Sholokhova M. A.”
- Introduction.
Military journalism in the works of Sholokhov M.A.
- Journalism.
Articles and essays by Sholokhov during the Second World War.
Essays. General analysis of essays
Bibliography.
Application.
Introduction.
To begin with, I would like to explain why I chose this particular topic for my research work. The reason is that at school there is not much time devoted to studying works about the Second World War, but this war is one of the most cruel and difficult for the Russian people. A lot of works were written by our writers of that time, and we studied so few of them at school. I read with pride about the exploits of our predecessors, and with tears in my eyes and sorrow in my heart about their deaths.
Sholokhov was also interesting to read because he wrote not just what he could hear, but what he himself went through and saw with his own eyes. Mikhail Alexandrovich himself took part in hostilities and therefore all his essays are so believable that they take your breath away. After getting acquainted with the works of Sholokhov M.A. on military topics, I became even more of a patriot of my Motherland.
1. In general, journalism during the war, diverse in form, individual in creative embodiment, was the focus of greatness, boundless courage and devotion of people to their Motherland. She had no equal in the entire history of the world.
From the first days of the war, genres designed to describe the lives of people at the front and in the rear, the world of their spiritual experiences and feelings, their attitude towards various facts wars, took a strong place on the pages of periodicals.
Sholokhov took an active part in the fight against fascism, against the threat of a new war. He keenly felt its approach and could not hide his ardent hatred of fascism. Speaking at the XVIII Party Congress in March 1939, Sholokhov said excitedly:
“If the enemy attacks our country, we, Soviet writers, at the call of the party and government, will put down our pen and take up another weapon, so that in the salvo of the rifle corps our lead, heavy and hot, like our hatred of fascism, will fly and defeat the enemy! .. Having defeated our enemies, we will also write books about how we defeated these enemies. These books will serve our people and will remain as an edification to those of the invaders who accidentally find themselves undead..."
Preparing for military trials. Sholokhov was full of peaceful plans and plans. He is working on completing the second book of Virgin Soil Upturned and is planning new novel about the work of the collective farm intelligentsia and about the great changes in the countryside. The writer devotes a lot of energy to social activities. From distant steppe farms, from Don villages
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Walkers are drawn to their deputy in order to resolve pressing issues in their lives together with him. Together with the communists of the Vyoshensky district and the entire Rostov region, Sholokhov affirms the socialist newness in his native Don.
The enormous creative work of the writer and public figure was disrupted by the Great Patriotic War. The writer met the beginning of difficult trials for the Motherland in his native village, full, like all the people, of the determination to defend the independence of their Fatherland.
On July 23, 1941, a crowded meeting gathered in Vyoshenskaya, on the old village square. Residents of the village and surrounding villages came to see off the Cossacks leaving for the front. Sholokhov, speaking to fellow villagers, expressed confidence in the victory of our people over the Nazi invaders. “Fascist rulers,” he said, “who have thoroughly forgotten history, would do well to remember that in the past the Russian people more than once crushed the German hordes, mercilessly stopping their movements to the east, and that the keys to Berlin were already in the hands of Russian military leaders.”
On the same day, Sholokhov sent a telegram to Moscow in which he asked to be credited to the USSR Defense Fund for the award he had received. Stalin Prize first degree for the novel " Quiet Don" and expressed readiness at any moment "to join the ranks of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and last straw blood to defend the socialist Motherland"
2. The very definition of journalism (from Latin Publicus - public) is a type of production dedicated to current problems and phenomena of the current life of society.
Journalism during the Second World War had no equal in all of world history. Writers, publicists, poets, journalists, playwrights stood up with the entire Soviet people to defend their Fatherland.
Sholokhov's work occupies a special place in military prose. And that's why. The writer found himself at the front in the very first days of the Great Patriotic War and, starting from 1941, his front-line essays were published one after another: “In the Cossack villages”, “On the way to the front”, “People of the Red Army”, “Prisoners of War”, Yuge" and others. The prophetic lines from the famous story “The Science of Hate” found the greatest response in the hearts of those who fought.
“The Science of Hate” is a story about fascist cannibals, about thoughtful routines in death camps, about the extreme brutality of thugs and hangers, who systematically, methodically accurately carried out the program of extermination and enslavement of peoples. All the more justified in the story is the hatred of the Soviet people, their powerful force of resistance,
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which was stronger than armored vehicles.
Immediately after the victory, summarizing the journalism of the war years, Sholokhov created the “Word about the Motherland.” This is both a hymn to the liberated land and a requiem to the dead. The position taken by the writer, assessing and comprehending the experience of formidable battles, is typical for the literature of the war and post-war years. This is a position of ardent intransigence towards the enemies of the Fatherland, grief over millions of victims, persistent optimism and confidence in future victories.
Here, for example, is the symbolic picture the author paints in “A Lay on the Motherland”: a half-filled trench, the skeleton of a killed Nazi, a shrapnel cut face and a mouth full of fertile black soil, from which a curly twig covered with flowers is already reaching towards the wall of the trench. “Yes, we have a lot of fertile land. And there will be more than enough of it to fill the mouths of everyone who decides to move from talking about all-out battles to action.”
The leading genre of artistic journalism during the Second World War was the essay - a genre that combines logical-rational and emotional-figurative ways of reflecting reality, presenting and analyzing real facts and phenomena public life accompanied by a direct interpretation of them by the author. The most common during the war were essays about events, portrait essays dedicated to war heroes, and the genre of sketch diary. The wartime essays were distinguished by their deep lyricism and selfless love for native land, and this could not but affect the reader. During the war years, the essay went through several stages - from the first days of the war, the days of retreat, when the word of the publicist united people to repel the enemy and called forward, to the victorious march of the Red Army through countries liberated from the fascist yoke. Sketches from the wartime presented us with a gallery of brightly individual heroes, awakening a feeling of hatred for the enemy and love for the Motherland.
The artistic originality of writers and journalists was convincingly demonstrated in the journalism of the Great Patriotic War. The peculiarity of journalism is that the pen of a master of words gave it the qualities of artistic prose. “During the days of war, a newspaper is air,” wrote Ilya Ehrenburg at the height of the Great Patriotic War. – People open a newspaper before opening a letter from a close friend. The newspaper is now a letter addressed to you personally. Your fate depends on what’s in the newspaper.” These words succinctly characterize the strength of the charge of optimism and confidence in victory that journalists and writers carried from the pages of newspapers and magazines, what role their speeches played in
education of patriotism.
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On July 4, 1941, the first military essay by M.A. appeared in Pravda. Sholokhov "On the Don". This is the story of how I met Soviet people the news of the war made him boil
noble rage, what a granite wall he stood up to defend the Fatherland. The writer draws portraits of his fellow countrymen, forces them to express their thoughts about the events that shook the world, to utter an excited word about the Motherland. The war destroyed
peaceful life brought grief to people.
“So they’re attacking us again. You, Fedya, look there, don’t let them down!” (volume 8), says a young dark woman, accompanying her husband to the front. And on the square, one after another, the villagers appeared, and there was not one who would falter, or a word of cowardice and confusion would escape from his lips.
Excited calls, father's orders to his sons, parting speeches - “beat the enemy mercilessly, until complete destruction, both in the air and on the ground...”. This was the time when the military registration and enlistment offices received an endless stream of applications asking to be sent to the front... People looked up from the most urgent matters and took up the rifle.
The essay is extremely concise and laconic, but it widely reflects the breath of an alarming time, since what was said about the village was then in all corners of our country.
Sholokhov is restrained in expressing his own feelings; his essays do not contain pathetic words or exclamations. The power of their influence lies elsewhere... To hate the enemy, you need to look into his eyes, see the black darkness of his soul. The strength to defeat him is given not only by hatred, but also by contempt. The different faces look like they were Nazis who were captured. The writer talks about them in his essay “Prisoners of War”. Corporal Berkmann “considers himself a cultured, decent person and, of course, a resolute opponent of unnecessary cruelty” (Volume 8). His “culture” is just a mask that barely covers the grin of the beast.
Disgust and disgust are evoked by the images of Hitler’s thugs depicted in the essays “Prisoners of War”, “In the South”... Having been captured, hungry and ragged, they “like animals pounce on food and, getting burned, chomping, almost without chewing, swallow hastily, greedily... "(Volume 8). The writer does not resort to artistic tricks, showing the essence of those who imagine themselves to be a superior race. They are brazen and self-confident as they torture unarmed civilians. "Captured by them external image changes dramatically” (Volume 8). The artist does not limit himself to pumping up details that enhance the repulsive impression.
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“This is what they look like here. But let’s give the floor to those who saw them in a different setting” (8
volume). The old collective farmer Kolesnichenko, who recently escaped from German captivity, talks about the monstrous atrocities committed by fascist beasts on Soviet soil. His speech is leisurely, but so much bitterness, hidden excitement and burning hatred,
breathless.
In Sholokhov's essays, the main, cherished idea - the idea of the inevitability of the enemy's death - finds a unique artistic embodiment. Even the composition of his essays is dictated by it: the beginning and laconic ending, written in the form of the author’s thoughts or sketches of what he saw during his front-line wanderings, act as a kind of frame that gives completeness and completeness to the entire essay.
At the end of the essay is the image of a captured German, a peasant with large calloused hands, shocked by the terrible thought that “the entire German people will have to pay” for the atrocities inflicted on the people. Even more consistently and clearly the same artistic principle implemented in the essay “In the South.” “The owners of Donbass – that’s who we are, and we are going to put the exploded and flooded mines in order. It's clear?" (Volume 8) - this was the answer of a stocky, broad-shouldered man walking along the steppe road to the west in a column of people.
M.A. Sholokhov writes “The Lay of the Motherland.” This is a word of love and pride, anxious excitement and sad memories of the past: “Winter. Night. Stay a little in silence and solitude, my dear compatriot and friend, remember the recent past and in your mind’s eye you will see...” (Volume 8) - the writer addressed the people so soulfully and simply, as if together with them, surrendering to thoughts inspired by memories of the past. The writer entrusts to him, his compatriot and friend, his gift to take a mental look at the expanses of the Motherland and think about everything that now worries, excites, pleases and saddens millions of people in their native land. The lyrical image of the Motherland that appears at the beginning of the essay captivates. Quite recently, a military hurricane swept over Russian soil and left traces of destruction that have not yet been erased. However, not only this arouses heavy thoughts: “Remembering the past, you will involuntarily think, you cannot help but think about how many orphaned people are, how bitter a widow’s tear is, how painful the sigh of a child who did not live to see his father is, how tragic old age is in its inconsolable grief "
When in Sholokhov’s essay the image of the Motherland appears before your mind’s eye and portraits of those orphaned by the war emerge, you realize the humanistic legitimacy of the Soviet writer’s call to sacred hatred of the enemy: “My
etc.................
The Great Patriotic War passed through the destinies of millions Soviet people, leaving behind a difficult memory: pain, anger, suffering, fear. During the war years, many lost their dearest and closest people, many experienced severe hardships. Rethinking of military events and human actions occurs later. Appear in the literature works of art, in which, through the prism of the author’s perception, an assessment of what is happening in difficult war times is given.
Mikhail Sholokhov could not ignore the topic that concerned everyone and therefore wrote short story“The Fate of Man”, touching on the issue heroic epic. At the center of the story are wartime events that changed the life of Andrei Sokolov, the main character of the work. The writer does not describe military events in detail; this is not the author’s task. The writer’s goal is to show the key episodes that influenced the development of the hero’s personality. The most important event in the life of Andrei Sokolov there is captivity. It is in the hands of the fascists, in the face of mortal danger, that various sides of the character’s character are revealed, it is here that the war appears to the reader without embellishment, revealing the essence of people: the vile, vile traitor Kryzhnev; a real doctor who “did his great work both in captivity and in the dark”; “such a skinny, snub-nosed guy,” platoon commander. Andrei Sokolov had to endure inhuman torment in captivity, but the main thing is that he managed to preserve his honor and dignity. The climax of the story is the scene at Commandant Muller's, where the exhausted, hungry, tired hero was brought, but even there he showed the enemy the strength of the Russian soldier. Andrei Sokolov’s action (he drank three glasses of vodka without a snack: he didn’t want to choke on a handout) surprised Muller: “That’s it, Sokolov, you are a real Russian soldier. You are a brave soldier." The war appears to the reader without embellishment: after escaping from captivity, already in the hospital, the hero receives terrible news from home about the death of his family: his wife and two daughters. The heavy war machine spares no one: neither women nor children. The final blow fate - the death of the eldest son Anatoly on May 9, Victory Day, at the hands of a German sniper.
War takes away the most precious things from people: family, loved ones. In parallel with the life of Andrei Sokolov, story line little boy Vanyusha, whom the war also made an orphan, depriving his relatives of his mother and father.
This is the assessment the writer gives to his two heroes: “Two orphaned people, two grains of sand, thrown into foreign lands by a military hurricane of unprecedented force...”. War dooms people to suffering, but it also develops will, character, when one wants to believe “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 endure everything, overcome everything on his way.” , if his homeland calls for it.”
The theme of war in the works of Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov Completed by: Pupil of the 11th “b” class Kravchenko Lyudmila Supervisor: Natalya Petrovna Bondareva, Taganrog, 2005 Nobel Prize winner, Hero of Socialist Labor, Lenin and State Prize laureate - Mikhail Sholokhov began his literary career in 1923 year. He created a galaxy of bright works that rightfully took their rightful place in world literature: “The Fate of Man”, “Virgin Soil Upturned”, “They Fought for the Motherland” and, of course, “Quiet Don”. And his work relentlessly followed the stormy, rapid flow of history. The First World War, the Civil War, collectivization, the Great Patriotic War - all these themes entered Sholokhov’s work as organic impulses of his living mind, which missed nothing, and were refracted through the prism of his talent and life experience. In the mouth of Sholokhov, these topics are natural and ordinary, like breathing. The life of the people, the destinies of people - that’s what worried the minds of writers of all generations. And Mikhail Alexandrovich could not remain indifferent to the events taking place in the Fatherland. Just as at one time the Cossacks were divided into whites and reds, so now the population of the Chechen Republic has taken two sides: the “federals” and the “mujahideen.” What about families? Has anyone thought about mothers, wives, children? What should old people do when one brother is a terrorist, and the other is the one who is looking for the first? History returns to normal. War is a serious test for the entire state. Whether it is a battle with foreigners or a civil war, it falls heavily on the shoulders of the people and leaves an indelible mark on the destinies of generations. Sholokhov knew firsthand about the war. While still a 15-year-old boy, he joined the food detachment. And during the Great Patriotic War he went to the front as a military correspondent. His experience, his memories and feelings were especially clearly manifested in “The Fate of a Man.” Sholokhov's style Critics consider the master's approach to creativity to be socialist realism. Here is the opinion of Sholokhov scholar M. Khrapchenko: “Sholokhov is an artist of great insight and high creative integrity. The embodiment of life's truth, no matter how difficult and cruel it may be, is for him a constant and immutable law of creativity. Sholokhova notes genuine fearlessness in the search for truth. He not only does not shy away from the difficult, tragic sides of life, but also persistently and closely examines them, without losing in the slightest degree the historical perspective, faith in man, in his creative, constructive capabilities.” In my opinion, in Sholokhov’s description of the war, three components need to be distinguished: firstly, landscapes and detailed portraits, through which the author conveys the atmosphere of events, actions, secondly, the fate of the main characters, and lastly, crowd scenes where we see horror and mercilessness war. “Melekhovsky yard is on the farm itself. The gates from the cattle base lead north to the Don. A steep eight-fathom descent between mossy, green chalk blocks, and here is the shore: a pearly scattering of shells, a gray, broken border of pebbles kissed by the waves” ... - we read at the very beginning of the novel. Don-Father is beautiful and majestic. He keeps untold riches within himself. The most magnificent greenery grows along the banks, as if asking for a Kazakh farmer “black from work, with flattened fingers” to pluck it with his hand. Don beckons: “near a sunken elm, two carp jumped out at the same time in the bare arms of the branches; the third, smaller one, spinning into the air, persistently beat against the ravine over and over again.” Sholokhov captured the rough imprint of the war in nature. “The earth groaned dully, crucified under many hooves.” The author repeatedly mentions “leaning huts”, speaking about the troubles that the war brought to every farm, every village. * The image of Grigory Melekhov is drawn larger than others. All the convolutions of his complex, contradictory path are traced with extraordinary attention. You really can’t tell right away whether he’s a positive or negative character. He wandered for too long at the crossroads of history, shed a lot of human blood... He fell in love with Aksinya and fell in love with her for the rest of his life. This love reveals one of the best sides of his soul. Having become the commander of the Red Guard division, Melekhov, an experienced front-line soldier, soberly notes how little order there is in the Red Army, how easily it succumbed to panic in Glubokaya, how sluggish the commanders are... “The first post-war spring in the Upper Don was unusually friendly and assertive. At the end of March, warm winds blew from the Azov region, and within two days the sands of the left bank of the Don were completely exposed, snow-filled ravines and gullies in the steppe swelled, breaking the ice, and the steppe rivers began to leap madly”... His path in the war was tragic. Andrei Sokolov is captured under circumstances in which, unfortunately, thousands of people find themselves. Andrei Sokolov, having gone through the crucible of war, lost everything: his family died, his home was destroyed. Peaceful life has arrived, the time of spring awakening has come, the time of hope. And he looks at the world around him with eyes “as if sprinkled with ashes”, “filled with inescapable melancholy”, the words come out of his lips: “Why have you, life, crippled me so much? Why did you distort it like that? I have no answer either in the dark or in the clear sun. No, and I can’t wait!”* An important feature of Sholokhov’s style is the writer’s persistent faith in a bright future, in the humanity and justice of the people. That is why the cold sun “shines” over Grigory and Mishutka. And here are Sholokhov’s words from the story “The Fate of Man”: “What awaits them ahead? And I would like to think 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 endure everything, overcome everything on his way, if his Motherland calls him to it.” Yes, no matter what terrible situations the war puts a person in, he, according to the writer, will be able to overcome them with dignity. The bloodshed reaches its climax during the battalion scenes. After all, some are guided by the once expressed thought of Chuboty: “Cut a man boldly!..” Most likely, the daily contemplation of blood, violence, cruelty bears fruit - the Cossacks (and everyone who finds themselves in this “meat grinder”) become less susceptible to human suffering , hearts become hardened. In general, war is a terrible, crazy action, where the main role is assigned to death. A gloomy shadow, she walks among the army, noticing the victim in advance. She chooses human hatred as her weapon. That is why on the faces of those who died in battle one can read the silent question: “For what?!” Anti-humanity, the unnaturalness of war - this is the main thing that Sholokhov’s works convey. A heartfelt “thank you” to him for these lines: “I would like my books to help people become better, to become purer in soul, to awaken love for man, the desire to actively fight for the ideals of humanism and the progress of mankind.” He not only wanted, he nurtured in the hearts and minds of generations the unwritten truth that “life is the most valuable thing a person has.” Probably, this truth flows in each of us thanks to the efforts of Mikhail Alexandrovich Sholokhov.
