1. What character traits of Andrei Sokolov appeared in this fragment?
2. What role do artistic details play in the given fragment?
And here it is, the war. On the second day, a summons from the military registration and enlistment office, and on the third - welcome to the echelon. All four of mine accompanied me: Irina, Anatoly and daughters - Nastenka and Olyushka. All the guys were doing well. Well, the daughters - not without that, tears sparkled. Anatoly only twitched his shoulders, as if from cold, by that time he was already in his seventeenth year, and Irina was mine ... I had never seen her like that in all the seventeen years of our life together. At night, on my shoulder and on my chest, the shirt did not dry out from her tears, and in the morning the same story ... They came to the station, but I can’t look at her from pity: my lips swelled from tears, my hair fell out from under the scarf, and eyes cloudy, senseless, like those of a man touched by the mind. The commanders announce the landing, and she fell on my chest, clasped her hands around my neck and trembled all over, like a cut down tree ... And the kids persuade her and I, - nothing helps! Other women talk to their husbands and sons, but mine clung to me like a leaf to a branch, and only trembles all over, but cannot utter a word. I tell her: “Pull yourself together, my dear Irinka! Tell me a goodbye word." She speaks and sobs behind every word: “My dear ... Andryusha ... we will not see each other ... you and I ... more ... in this ... world ... "
Here, from pity for her, his heart is torn to pieces, and here she is with such words. I should understand that it’s not easy for me to part with them either, I’m not going to my mother-in-law for pancakes. Evil has taken me! By force, I parted her hands and lightly pushed her on the shoulders. I kind of pushed it lightly, but my strength was stupid; she backed away, stepped back three paces, and again walked toward me with small steps, stretched out her hands, and I shouted to her: “Is that how they say goodbye? Why are you burying me alive ahead of time?!” Well, I hugged her again, I see that she is not herself ...
He abruptly cut off the story in mid-sentence, and in the ensuing silence I heard something bubbling and gurgling in his throat. Another's excitement was transferred to me. I glanced askance at the narrator, but I did not see a single tear in his seemingly dead, extinct eyes. He sat with his head bowed dejectedly, only his large, limply lowered hands trembled slightly, his chin trembled, his hard lips trembled...
- Don't, friend, don't remember! I said softly, but he probably did not hear my words and, having overcome his excitement with some enormous effort of will, he suddenly said in a hoarse, strangely changed voice:
- Until my death, until my last hour, I will die, and I will not forgive myself for pushing her away then! ..
He fell silent again and for a long time. He tried to roll a cigarette, but the newsprint was torn, tobacco fell on his knees. Finally, he nevertheless somehow made a little twist, several times greedily puffed and, coughing, continued:
- I broke away from Irina, took her face in my hands, kissed her, and her lips were like ice. I said goodbye to the kids, ran to the car, jumped on the bandwagon already on the go. The train took off quietly; to drive me - past my own. I look, my orphaned children are huddled together, they wave their hands at me, they want to smile, but it doesn’t come out. And Irina pressed her hands to her chest; her lips are as white as chalk, she whispers something with them, looks at me, does not blink, and she herself leans forward, as if she wants to take a step against a strong wind ... This is how she remained in my memory for the rest of my life: hands pressed to breasts, white lips and wide-open eyes full of tears... For the most part, I always see her like that in my dreams... Why did I push her away then? The heart is still, as I remember, as if they are cut with a blunt knife ...
(M.A. Sholokhov. "The fate of man")
"Why did you, life, crippled me like that? I have no answer either in the dark or in the clear sun ..."
M. Sholokhov
During the Great Patriotic War, when M. Sholokhov was a correspondent for Pravda at the front, he wrote many essays on the courage and heroism of the Russian people. Already in the first military essays of the writer, there was an image of a man who retained what makes him invincible - a living soul, cordiality, philanthropy. About ordinary participants in the war, courageously fighting against the enemies of the motherland, Sholokhov tried to tell in his last major work - "They fought for the Motherland", but the novel remained unfinished. From the story created in the postwar years, the story "The Fate of a Man" (1957) entered the treasury of not only Russian, but also world literature.
"The Fate of a Man" is a story-poem about a man, a warrior-worker, who endured all the hardships of the war years and managed to carry a pure, wide, open soul to goodness and Light through incredible physical and moral suffering.
The Fate of a Man describes unusual, exceptional events, but the plot is based on a real case. The story is built in the form of a confession of the protagonist. About his participation in the civil war, about the fact that he was already an orphan from a young age, that in the hungry twenty-second year "he went to the Kuban, fuck his fists, that's why he survived," he reports in passing, focusing in contrast on life with his family before the Patriotic War and mainly in the most recently ended war.
We learn that before the war, Andrei Sokolov was a modest worker, builder, father of a family. He lived an ordinary life, worked and was happy in his own way. But the war broke out, and the peaceful happiness of Sokolov, like millions of other people, was destroyed. The war tore him away from his family, from home, from work, from everything that he loved and valued in life.
Andrei Sokolov went to the front to defend his homeland. His path was hard and tragic. All the hardships and troubles of the wartime fell on his shoulders, and at first he almost disappeared into the general mass, became one of the many workers in the war, but Andrei later recalls this temporary retreat from the human with the most acute pain.
The war became for Sokolov the road of endless humiliations, trials, and camps. But the character of the hero, his courage are revealed in the spiritual single combat with fascism. Andrei Sokolov, the driver who was carrying shells to the front line, came under fire, was shell-shocked and lost consciousness, and when he woke up, there were Germans around. The human feat of Andrei Sokolov is truly presented not on the battlefield and not on the labor front, but in the conditions of fascist captivity, behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp.
Far from the front, Sokolov endured all the hardships of the war and endless bullying. The memories of the B-14 prisoner of war camp, where thousands of people behind barbed wire were separated from the world, where there was a terrible struggle not just for life, for a pot of gruel, but for the right to remain human, will forever remain in his soul. The camp became for Andrei a test of human dignity. There, for the first time, he had to kill a man, not a German, but a Russian, with the words: "But what is he like?" This event was a test of the loss of "one's own".
Then there was an unsuccessful attempt to escape. The culmination of the story was the scene in the commandant's room. Andrei behaved defiantly, like a man who has nothing to lose, for whom death is the highest good. But the strength of the human spirit wins - Sokolov remains alive and withstands another test: without betraying a Russian soldier as a commandant, he does not lose dignity in front of his comrades. "How are we going to share grub?" - asks his bunk neighbor, and his voice trembles. "We eat equally," Andrey replies. - Waiting for dawn. Bread and lard were cut with a harsh thread. Each got a piece of bread the size of a matchbox, each crumb was taken into account, well, and bacon ... just anoint the lips. However, they shared without resentment."
Death more than once looked into his eyes, but each time Sokolov found the strength and courage to remain a man. He remembered how on the first night, when he, along with other prisoners of war, was locked up in a dilapidated church, he suddenly heard a question in the darkness: "Are there any wounded?" It was a doctor. He corrected Andrei's dislocated shoulder, and the pain receded. And the doctor went on with the same question. And in captivity, in terrible conditions, he continued to "do his great work." This means that even in captivity it is necessary and possible to remain human. Moral ties with humanity could not be cut off by any vicissitudes of life, Andrey Sokolov in any conditions acts in accordance with the "golden rule" of morality - do not hurt another, remain kind and responsive to people (according to Sholokhov, a person must preserve the human in himself, despite for which test).
Andrei Sokolov escaped from captivity, taking a German major with valuable documents, and survived, but fate prepared a new blow for him: his wife Irina and daughters died in their own house. The last native of Andrey, the son of Anatoly, was killed by a German sniper "accurately on the ninth of May, in the morning, on Victory Day." And the greatest gift that fate has given him is to see his dead son before burying him in a foreign land ...
Andrey Sokolov walked along the roads of wars and hardships, through hunger and cold, mortal danger and risk. He lost everything: the family died, the hearth was destroyed, the meaning of life was lost. After everything that this man has experienced, it would seem that he could become embittered, hardened, broken, but he does not grumble, does not withdraw into his grief, but goes to people. Life for those who have not hardened their souls, the author says, continues, because they are able to love and bring good to people, they know how to do something for another, accept him into their hearts and become close and dear to him. Having met a little boy, Vanya, and learning that all his relatives had died, the hero decides: "It won't happen that we disappear separately! I'll take him as my children!" It is in this love for the boy that Andrei Sokolov finds both overcoming his personal tragedy and the meaning of his future life. It is she, and not only his exploits in the war, that highlights in him a truly humane, human beginning, so close to the author.
Andrei Sokolov is a simple Russian man who embodies the typical features of a national character. He went through all the horrors of the war imposed on him and, at the cost of enormous, incomparable and irreparable personal losses and personal hardships, defended his homeland, affirming the great right to life, freedom and independence of his homeland. Sholokhov showed in tragic circumstances a man majestic in his simplicity. The fate of Andrei Sokolov is a generalized history of the life of a person who comes into this world for the sake of the main thing - life itself and active love in it for other people, and at the same time - an extremely individual history of the life of a particular person in a particular historical period and in a particular country.
M. A. Sholokhov is one of the most talented Russian writers. He is a master of creating atmosphere, color. His stories immerse us completely in the life and life of the heroes. This writer writes about the complex simply and clearly, without going into the wilds of artistic generalizations. His peculiar talent manifested itself both in the epic "Quiet Flows the Don" and in short stories. One of these small works is the story "The Fate of a Man", dedicated to the Great Patriotic War.
What is the meaning of the title of the story "The Fate of Man"? Why, for example, not "The Fate of Andrei Sokolov", but in such a generalized and indirect way? The fact is that this story is not a description of the life of a particular person, but a show of the fate of the whole people. Sokolov lived as usual, like everyone else: work, wife, children. But his ordinary, simple and happy life was interrupted by the war. Andrei had to be a hero, he had to risk himself in order to protect his home, family from the Nazis. And so did millions of Soviet people.
What helps Andrei Sokolov endure the trials of fate?
The hero went through the hardships of war, captivity, concentration camps, but what helps Andrei Sokolov to endure the trials of fate? The point is the patriotism of the hero, humor and, at the same time, will. He understands that his trials are not in vain, he is fighting against a strong enemy for his land, which he will not give up. Sokolov cannot dishonor the honor of the Russian soldier, because he is not a coward, does not cease to fulfill his military duty, and continues to behave with dignity in captivity. One example is the call of a hero in a concentration camp to the chief Muller. Sokolov spoke frankly about the camp working: "They need four cubic meters of working, but for the grave of each of us, even one cubic meter through the eyes is enough." This was reported to the authorities. The hero was taken out to be interrogated, he was threatened with execution. But the hero does not beg, does not show his fear to the enemy, does not refuse his words. Muller offers to drink for the German victory, but Sokolov rejects the offer, but for his death he is ready to drink not even one, but three glasses without blinking an eye. The stamina of the hero surprised the fascist so much that "Rus Ivan" was pardoned and awarded.
Why does the author call Andrei Sokolov "a man of unbending will"?
First of all, the hero did not break down, although he lost all his loved ones and went through hell on earth. Yes, his eyes are "as if sprinkled with ashes", but he does not give up, he takes care of the homeless boy Vanya. Also, the hero always acts according to his conscience, he has nothing to reproach himself with: if he had to kill, it was only for the sake of safety, he did not allow himself betrayal, he did not lose his composure. It is phenomenal that he has no fear of death when it comes to honor and defense of the motherland. But such is not only Sokolov, such is the people of unbending will.
Sholokhov in one fate described the will to victory of the whole people, which did not break, did not bend under the onslaught of a harsh enemy. “Nails should be made of these people,” said Sholokhov's colleague Mayakovsky. It is this idea that the writer embodies in his great creation, which still inspires us to accomplishments and feats. The strong-willed power of the human spirit, the Russian spirit, appears before us in all its splendor in the image of Sokolov.
How does Andrey Sokolov manifest himself in a situation of moral choice?
War puts people in extreme, critical circumstances, so it is then that all the best and worst in a person manifests itself. How does Andrey Sokolov manifest himself in a situation of moral choice? Once in German captivity, the hero saved from death an unfamiliar platoon leader, whom his colleague Kryzhnev was going to hand over to the Nazis as a communist. Sokolov strangled the traitor. It is difficult to kill one's own, but if this person is ready to betray the one with whom he risks his life together, can such a person be considered his own? The hero never chooses the path of betrayal, acts for reasons of honor. His choice is to stand up for his homeland and defend it at any cost.
The same simple and firm position manifested itself in the situation when he stood on the mat with Muller. This meeting is very indicative: the German, although he bribed, threatened, was the master of the situation, could not break the Russian spirit. In this conversation, the author showed the whole war: the fascist pressed on, but the Russian did not give up. No matter how hard the Mullers tried, the Sokolovs outplayed them, although the advantage was on the side of the enemy. The moral choice of Andrei in this fragment is the principled position of the entire people, who, although they were far, far away, supported their representatives with their invincible power in moments of severe trials.
What role did the meeting with Vanya play in the fate of Andrei Sokolov?
The losses of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War beat all records, as a result of this tragedy, entire families died, children lost their parents and vice versa. The protagonist of the story was also left completely alone in the world, but fate brought him together with the same lonely creature. What role did the meeting with Vanya play in the fate of Andrei Sokolov? The adult found in the child hope for the future, for the fact that not everything in life is over. And the child found the lost father. Let Sokolov's life not become the same, but you can still find meaning in it. He went to victory for the sake of such boys and girls, so that they live freely, not be left alone. After all, they are the future. In this meeting, the author showed the readiness of the people, exhausted by the war, to return to peaceful life, not to become hardened in battles and hardships, but to restore their home.
Sholokhov's work is closely connected with the era in which he lived. His works are a special look at life. This is the look of an adult, hardened by the harsh reality of a person who loves his homeland and appreciates people who have met danger with their breasts. These people died so that we could live in a free country, so that tears of happiness would shine in the eyes of their children.
During the Great Patriotic War, Sholokhov set himself the goal of strengthening the love for the motherland among the Soviet people. The story "The Fate of a Man", written in 1957, is an amazing work about how two souls, tormented by the horrors of the war years, find support and the meaning of life in each other.
Andrei Sokolov is an ordinary person, his fate is similar to thousands of other destinies, his life is similar to many other lives. The protagonist of the story endured the trials that fell to his lot with enviable fortitude. He perfectly remembered the difficult parting with his family when he went to the front. He cannot forgive himself for pushing away his wife during parting, who had a presentiment that this was their last meeting: “I forcefully separated her hands and gently pushed her on the shoulders. I kind of pushed it lightly, but my strength was stupid; she backed away, took three steps, and again walks towards me with small steps, stretching out her hands.
In early spring, Andrei Sokolov was wounded twice, shell-shocked, and, worst of all, captured. The hero had to endure inhuman trials in Nazi captivity, but, nevertheless, he did not break. Andrei still managed to escape, and he again returned to the ranks of the Red Army. This man endured a tragic death. He hears terrible news on the last day of the war: “Be of good cheer, father! Your son, Captain Sokolov, was killed today at the battery.
Andrei Sokolov has amazing courage and mental strength, the horrors he experienced do not make him embittered. The protagonist leads a continuous struggle within himself and emerges from it as a winner. This man, who lost his relatives during the Great Patriotic War, finds the meaning of life in Vanyusha, who also remained an orphan: “Such a little ragamuffin: his face is all in watermelon juice, covered with dust, dirty as dust, unkempt, and his eyes are like stars at night after the rain! It is this boy with "eyes as bright as a sky" that becomes the new life of the protagonist.
Vanyusha's meeting with Sokolov was significant for both. The boy, whose father died at the front, and his mother was killed on the train, still hopes that they will find him: “Daddy, dear! I know that you will find me! You will still find it! I've been waiting for you to find me for such a long time.” Andrey Sokolov awakens paternal feelings for someone else's child: “He clung to me and trembled like a blade of grass in the wind. And I have a fog in my eyes and I also tremble all over, and my hands are shaking ... "
The glorious hero of the story again performs some mental, and, possibly, moral feat when he takes the boy for himself. He helps him get back on his feet and feel needed. This child became a kind of “medicine” for Andrei’s crippled soul: “I went to bed with him and for the first time in a long time I fell asleep calmly. ... I wake up, and he will take shelter under my arm, like a sparrow under a trap, quietly sniffing, and before I feel joyful in my soul, you can’t say it in words!
“Two orphaned people, two grains of sand thrown into foreign lands by a military hurricane of unprecedented strength ... what lies ahead for them?” - asks Maxim Alexandrovich Sholokhov at the end of the story. One thing is certain - these people will still find their happiness, otherwise it cannot be.
Sholokhov's story is permeated with deep, bright faith in man. The name is also very symbolic, because this work expresses not only the fate of the soldier Andrei Sokolov, but also the fate of Vanyusha himself, and indeed of the whole country. “And I would like to think,” writes Sholokhov, “that this Russian man, a man of inexhaustible will, will survive, and one will grow up near his father’s shoulder who, having matured, will be able to withstand everything, overcome everything on his way, if the Motherland calls for this.”
I think that the characters in The Fate of Man are typical of their time. Millions of people were left orphans in the brutal war of 1941-1945. But the resilience and courage of a generation that has found the strength to believe and wait is amazing. People did not become embittered, but, on the contrary, rallied and became even stronger. Both Andrei Sokolov and Vanyusha, who is still a very young boy, are strong-willed and persistent people. Perhaps this helped them find each other.
In my opinion, Sholokhov took upon himself the sacred duty to tell humanity the harsh truth about the enormous price paid by the Soviet people for the right to be free and for the right to make the next generation happy. War is cruel and heartless, it does not make out who is right and who is wrong, it does not spare children, women or old people. Therefore, future generations are obliged to know the whole truth about her.
The life path of Andrei Sokolov (according to the story of M. Sholokhov "The Fate of a Man")
The story of M. A. Sholokhov is one of the best works of the writer. In its center is the tragic fate of a particular person, associated with the events of history. The writer concentrates his attention not on depicting the feat of the masses, but on the fate of an individual person in the war. The striking combination in The Fate of a Man of the private and the general makes it possible to speak of this work as a real “story-epo-pee”.
The protagonist of the story is not quite a traditional figure for the literary works of that time. He is not a convinced communist, not a well-known hero, but a simple worker, a completely ordinary person, he is like everyone else. Sokolov is a hard worker on the ground and at the factory, a warrior, a family man, a husband, a father. He is a simple native of the Voronezh province, fought heroically back in the civil war. Andrei is an orphan, his father and mother died of starvation long ago. Nevertheless, in the personality of this seemingly unremarkable person, the writer finds qualities worthy not only of all respect, but also of glorification.
The war fell on the country unexpectedly, like a formidable and terrible disaster. Andrei Sokolov, like millions of other people, went to the front. The scene of the hero's farewell to the house is touching and dramatic. She occupies one of the leading places in the story. Wife, children, work - these are the values for which Andrei lives and for which he is ready to give his life. They are the main thing in the life of the hero. He is distinguished by a keen sense of responsibility for those around him.
Misfortune after misfortune haunts Sokolov. His life path contained, it would seem, more than one person can bear. The terrible news of the death of his wife and children, which overtakes Sokolov upon his return from captivity, strikes him in the heart. With his inherent moral purity and conscientiousness, he tries to find his own guilt in the death of loved ones. He did not caress his wife in parting, did not say a warm word to her, did not calm her down, did not understand all the horror of her parting cry, and now he torments himself with reproaches. Sokolov passionately loves his wife, says about her: “Looking from the side, she wasn’t so prominent, but I didn’t look from the side, but at close range ...”.
A new shock for Andrei is the tragic, fatal death of his son on the last day of the war. However, he has an amazing ability to patiently endure the blows of fate. “That’s why you are a man, that’s why you’re a soldier, to wipe everything, endure everything, if the need called for it,” he says.
In critical situations, the hero retains the great dignity of a Russian person, a Russian soldier. By this, he earns respect not only from his co-workers, but also from enemies. The episode of Sokolov's duel with Muller is extremely important and fascinating. This is a moral duel, from which Andrey came out with honor. He does not beat his chest in the face of the enemy, he does not speak big words, but he does not beg Muller for mercy either. A simple Russian soldier turns out to be a winner in this difficult situation.
Sokolov passed German captivity. People like him were then officially considered traitors in the Soviet country. And the great merit of the writer is that he was one of the first to touch on this acute problem, opened the veil of the life of people who, by the will of fate, found themselves in captivity.
It is not Andrei's fault that, shell-shocked, he falls among the Germans. Being in captivity, he retains the dignity of a Russian soldier. He is opposed by the traitor Kryzhnev, who is trying to save his own life at the cost of the life of another person. Sokolov kills the traitor and saves the platoon leader. The murder of a person is not easy for the hero, because he has to transgress those moral principles on which he was brought up, and which were sacred to him. The traitor Kryzhnev is the first person whom Sokolov takes his life.
In captivity, Andrei meets many worthy people. So the military doctor, in spite of everything, tries to alleviate the suffering of the wounded. In inhuman conditions, he remains true to himself and his calling. This position is shared by Sokolov. He himself is distinguished by selflessness of feat, modesty and courage.
The hero picks up an orphan boy at the teahouse. He does not just replace Sokolov's son. For a person who has lost everything in life except himself, this child becomes the only meaning of his crippled life. Having passed severe trials, Andrei retains his spiritual sensitivity and warmth of the heart. Yes, and how could one not sympathize with Vanyusha when he saw him: “Such a little ragamuffin: his face is all in watermelon juice, covered with dust, dirty, ... unkempt, and his eyes are like stars at night after the rain.” He is as restless and lonely as Andrei himself. The author emphasizes that while the need to love lives in a person, his soul is alive.
He draws the reader's attention to the eyes of his hero, "as if sprinkled with ashes, filled with such an inescapable longing that it is difficult to look into them." The path of Sokolov is difficult and tragic. But his path is the path of a feat accomplished by a person who was not broken by cruel circumstances, who did not reconcile himself with misfortune, who did not recognize the power of the enemy over himself, who retained moral superiority over him.
Reflecting on the story, we involuntarily pass from the fate of a particular person to the fate of humanity in general. The very title of the story attaches the hero to the masses of the people. Drawing his path, the writer emphasizes at what cost the victory was obtained. The fate of Andrei Sokolov is typical for a person of that time, this is the fate of the entire Russian people, who bore a terrible war on their shoulders, fascist camps, who lost their closest people in the war, but did not break. Sokolov is an integral part of his people. His biography reflected the history of the whole country, a difficult and heroic history.
“Why did you, life, cripple me like that? Why so distorted? - Andrei exclaims, but he does not bow his head before a harsh fate, retains a craving for life and human dignity.
Before us appears the image of an orphaned man, boldly opening his crippled soul. Watching his fate, the reader is imbued with pride in the Russian people, admiration for his strength, the beauty of the soul. He is embraced by an inexplicable faith in the boundless possibilities of man. Andrey Sokolov evokes love and respect.
“And I would like to think that this Russian man, a man of unbending will, will survive, and one will grow up near his father’s shoulder, who, having matured, will be able to endure everything, overcoming everything in his path, if his Motherland calls him to this,” - the author says with faith in his hero.
