Boris Vasiliev “And the dawns here are quiet.... There is cowardice in the work and the dawns here are quiet. What is real courage? The death of Liza Brichkina Courage in the story and the dawns here are quiet

The story “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” written by Boris Lvovich Vasiliev (life: 1924-2013), first appeared in 1969. The work, according to the author himself, is based on a real military episode when, after being wounded, seven soldiers serving on the railway prevented a German sabotage group from blowing it up. After the battle, only one sergeant, the commander of the Soviet fighters, managed to survive. In this article we will analyze “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” and describe the brief content of this story.

War is tears and grief, destruction and horror, madness and the extermination of all living things. She brought misfortune to everyone, knocking on every home: wives lost their husbands, mothers lost their sons, children were forced to be left without fathers. Many people went through it, experienced all these horrors, but they managed to survive and win the hardest war ever endured by humanity. We begin the analysis of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” with a brief description of the events, commenting on them along the way.

Boris Vasiliev served as a young lieutenant at the beginning of the war. In 1941, he went to the front while still a schoolboy, and two years later was forced to leave the army due to severe shell shock. Thus, this writer knew the war firsthand. Therefore, his best works are precisely about it, about the fact that a person manages to remain human only by fulfilling his duty to the end.

In the work “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” the content of which is war, it is felt especially acutely, since it is turned on an unusual side for us. We are all used to associating men with her, but here the main characters are girls and women. They stood up against the enemy alone in the middle of Russian land: lakes, swamps. The enemy is hardy, strong, merciless, well armed, and many times outnumbers them.

The events take place in May 1942. A railway siding and its commander are depicted - Fyodor Evgrafych Vaskov, a 32-year-old man. The soldiers arrive here, but then start partying and drinking. Therefore, Vaskov writes reports, and in the end they send him anti-aircraft gunner girls under the command of Rita Osyanina, a widow (her husband died at the front). Then Zhenya Komelkova arrives, replacing the carrier killed by the Germans. All five girls had their own character.

Five different characters: analysis

“The Dawns Here Are Quiet” is a work that describes interesting female characters. Sonya, Galya, Lisa, Zhenya, Rita - five different, but in some ways very similar girls. Rita Osyanina is gentle and strong-willed, distinguished by spiritual beauty. She is the most fearless, courageous, she is a mother. Zhenya Komelkova is white-skinned, red-haired, tall, with childish eyes, always laughing, cheerful, mischievous to the point of adventurism, tired of pain, war and painful and long love for a married and distant man. Sonya Gurvich is an excellent student, a refined poetic nature, as if she came out of a book of poems by Alexander Blok. She always knew how to wait, she knew that she was destined for life, and it was impossible to avoid it. The latter, Galya, always lived more actively in the imaginary world than in the real one, so she was very afraid of this merciless terrible phenomenon that is war. “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” portrays this heroine as a funny, never-grown-up, clumsy orphanage girl. Escape from an orphanage, notes and dreams... about long dresses, solo parts and universal worship. She wanted to become the new Lyubov Orlova.

The analysis of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” allows us to say that none of the girls were able to fulfill their desires, because they did not have time to live their lives.

Further developments

The heroes of “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” fought for their homeland like no one had ever fought before. They hated the enemy with all their souls. The girls always followed orders precisely, as young soldiers should. They experienced everything: losses, worries, tears. Right before the eyes of these fighters, their good friends died, but the girls held on. They fought to the death until the very end, did not let anyone through, and there were hundreds and thousands of such patriots. Thanks to them, it was possible to defend the freedom of the Motherland.

Death of Heroines

These girls had different deaths, just as the life paths followed by the heroes of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” were different. Rita was wounded by a grenade. She understood that she could not survive, that the wound was fatal, and she would have to die painfully and for a long time. Therefore, gathering the rest of her strength, she shot herself in the temple. Galya's death was as reckless and painful as she herself - the girl could have hidden and saved her life, but she did not. One can only guess what motivated her then. Perhaps just momentary confusion, perhaps cowardice. Sonya's death was cruel. She did not even manage to understand how the blade of the dagger pierced her cheerful young heart. Zhenya’s is a little reckless and desperate. She believed in herself until the very end, even when she was leading the Germans away from Osyanina, and did not doubt for a moment that everything would end well. Therefore, even after the first bullet hit her in the side, she was only surprised. After all, it was so implausible, absurd and stupid to die when you were only nineteen years old. Lisa's death happened unexpectedly. It was a very stupid surprise - the girl was pulled into the swamp. The author writes that until the last moment the heroine believed that “there will be tomorrow for her too.”

Sergeant Major Vaskov

Sergeant Major Vaskov, whom we have already mentioned in the summary of “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” is ultimately left alone in the midst of torment, misfortune, alone with death and three prisoners. But now he has five times more strength. What was human in this fighter, the best, but hidden deep in the soul, was suddenly revealed. He felt and worried both for himself and for his girls, “sisters”. The foreman laments, he does not understand why this happened, because they need to give birth to children, not die.

So, according to the plot, all the girls died. What guided them when they went into battle, not sparing their own lives, defending their land? Perhaps just a duty to the Fatherland, to one’s people, perhaps patriotism? Everything was mixed up at that moment.

Sergeant Major Vaskov ultimately blames himself for everything, and not the fascists he hates. His words that he “put all five down” are perceived as a tragic requiem.

Conclusion

Reading the work “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet,” you involuntarily become an observer of the everyday life of anti-aircraft gunners at a bombed crossing in Karelia. This story is based on an episode that is insignificant in the enormous scale of the Great Patriotic War, but it is told in such a way that all its horrors appear before the eyes in all their ugly, terrible inconsistency with the essence of man. It is emphasized both by the fact that the work is titled “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet” and by the fact that its heroes are girls forced to participate in the war.

(381 words) Man is a multifaceted creature. It rarely contains only positive or only negative sides. More and more halftones, smooth transitions from one state of mind to another. Some character traits appear only in extreme situations and serve as excellent indicators of true personality traits. These traits can easily be called courage and cowardice. In a difficult situation, a person is able to either decisively take matters into his own hands and go ahead, or run away with his tail between his legs, leaving behind only a question mark.

A similar opposition is described by L.N. Tolstoy in his work “War and Peace”. Here the courage of individual heroes closely borders on heroism. Tushin, setting an example for his soldiers, himself stands at the gun with full readiness to give his life for his native Fatherland, and Prince Bolkonsky supports the fighting spirit of his comrades, proudly carrying the banner forward and suppressing the enemy morally. On the other side are characters such as Zherkov and Dolokhov. The first experiences terrible fear when carrying out Bagration's order and is cowardly in the face of danger, like a boy, and Dolokhov, having killed the Frenchman, expects indispensable praise, as if he had accomplished an outstanding feat. But the whole point is that such feats were performed by soldiers every minute, and they, caring for their Motherland with all their souls, did not seek recognition. This was their courage, which manifested itself in an extreme situation, when it was most difficult to fight the fear for their lives.

B.L. also spoke about the true heroes in his story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet...” Vasiliev. The heroism of Sergeant Major Vaskov and his girls under his charge is truly amazing. These desperate people were heading towards certain death and were fully aware of their actions, but they didn’t even think about retreating or saving their own skins: “Don’t give the Germans a single scrap... No matter how hard it is, no matter how hopeless it is, to hold on...”. They were driven forward by patriotism and holy faith in victory. And for the sake of such a great goal, without regret they are ready to give up the most precious thing they had. In a situation where even men sometimes left their combat posts, Vasiliev’s heroines showed true courage and did not retreat. Their valor has been tested by mortal risk, so no one can doubt its authenticity.

Ultimately, true courage is a trait that manifests itself in circumstances that pose a real threat to life. If a person is capable of a feat, obscurity and fear of death will not stop him. A coward, in any case, will shirk responsibility and find a more comfortable place for himself, where nothing will disturb him, even if this means betraying what is smart, bright, eternal and going over to the side of the enemy.

Courage and timidity are moral categories associated with the spiritual side of the individual. They are an indicator of human dignity, demonstrate weakness, or, on the contrary, strength of character, which manifests itself in difficult life situations. Our history is rich in such ups and downs, so arguments in the direction of “Courage and Cowardice” for the final essay are presented in abundance in Russian classics. Examples from Russian literature will help the reader understand how and where courage manifests itself and fear comes out.

1. In the novel L.N. In Tolstoy’s “War and Peace,” one such situation is war, which puts the heroes before a choice: to give in to fear and save their own lives, or, despite the danger, to preserve their fortitude. Andrei Bolkonsky shows remarkable courage in battle; he is the first to rush into battle to encourage the soldiers. He knows that he may die in battle, but the fear of death does not frighten him. Fyodor Dolokhov also fights desperately in the war. The feeling of fear is alien to him. He knows that a brave soldier can influence the outcome of a battle, so he bravely rushes into battle, despising
   cowardice. But the young cornet Zherkov gives in to fear and refuses to give the order to retreat. The letter, which was never delivered to them, causes the death of many soldiers. The price for showing cowardice turns out to be prohibitively high.
2. Courage conquers time and immortalizes names. Cowardice remains a shameful stain on the pages of history and literature.
   In the novel by A.S. Pushkin’s “The Captain’s Daughter”, an example of courage and courage is the image of Pyotr Grinev. He is ready at the cost of his life to defend the Belogorsk fortress under the onslaught of Pugachev, and the fear of death is alien to the hero at the moment of danger. A heightened sense of justice and duty does not allow him to escape or refuse the oath. Shvabrin, clumsy and petty in his motives, is presented in the novel as the antipode of Grinev. He goes over to Pugachev's side, committing betrayal. He is driven by fear for his own life, while the fates of other people mean nothing to Shvabrin, who is ready to save himself by exposing another to the blow. His image entered the history of Russian literature as one of the archetypes of cowardice.
3. War reveals hidden human fears, the most ancient of which is the fear of death. In V. Bykov’s story “The Crane Cry,” the heroes face a seemingly impossible task: to detain the German troops. Each of them understands that fulfilling their duty is possible only at the cost of their own lives. Everyone must decide for themselves what is more important to them: to avoid death or to carry out orders. Pshenichny believes that life is more valuable than a ghostly victory, so he is ready to surrender in advance. He decides that surrendering to the Germans is much wiser than risking his life in vain. Ovseev also agrees with him. He regrets that he did not have time to escape before the arrival of German troops, and spends most of the battle sitting in a trench. During the next attack, he makes a cowardly attempt to escape, but Glechik shoots at him, not allowing him to escape. Glechik himself is no longer afraid to die. It seems to him that only now, in a moment of complete despair, did he feel responsible for the outcome of the battle. The fear of death for him is small and insignificant compared to the thought that by fleeing he could betray the memory of his fallen comrades. This is the true heroism and fearlessness of a hero doomed to death.
4. Vasily Terkin is another archetype hero who has gone down in the history of literature as the image of a brave, cheerful and gallant soldier going into battle with a smile on his lips. But it is not so much with feigned fun and well-aimed jokes that he attracts the reader, but with genuine heroism, masculinity and perseverance. The image of Tyorkin was created by Tvardovsky as a joke, however, the author depicts the war in the poem without embellishment. Against the backdrop of military realities, the simple and captivating image of the fighter Tyorkin becomes the popular embodiment of the ideal of a real soldier. Of course, the hero is afraid of death, dreams of family comfort, but he knows for sure that protecting the Fatherland is his main duty. Duty to the Motherland, to fallen comrades and to oneself.
5. In the story “Coward” by V.M. Garshin displays the character's characteristics in the title, thereby, as if assessing him in advance, hinting at the further course of the story. “The war absolutely haunts me,” the hero writes in his notes. He is afraid that he will be recruited as a soldier and does not want to go to war. It seems to him that millions of ruined human lives cannot be justified by a great goal. However, reflecting on his own fear, he comes to the conclusion that he can hardly accuse himself of cowardice. He is disgusted by the idea that he can take advantage of influential contacts and evade war. His inner sense of truth does not allow him to resort to such a petty and unworthy means. “You can’t run away from a bullet,” says the hero before his death, thereby accepting it, realizing his involvement in the ongoing battle. His heroism lies in the voluntary renunciation of cowardice, in the inability to do otherwise.
6. “And the dawns here are quiet...” B. Vasilyeva’s book is by no means about cowardice. On the contrary, it is about incredible, superhuman courage. Moreover, its heroes prove that war can have a feminine face, and courage is not only a man’s lot. Five young girls are fighting an unequal battle with a German detachment, a battle from which they are unlikely to emerge alive. Each of them understands this, but none of them stops before death and humbly goes towards it to fulfill their duty. All of them - Liza Brichkina, Rita Osyanina, Zhenka Komelkova, Sonya Gurvich and Galya Chetvertak - die at the hands of the Germans. However, there is not a shadow of doubt about their silent feat. They know for sure that there can be no other choice. Their faith is unshakable, and their perseverance and courage are examples of true heroism, direct proof that there are no limits to human capabilities.
7. “Am I a trembling creature or do I have rights?” - asks Rodion Raskolnikov, confident that he is more likely the latter than the former. However, due to an incomprehensible irony of life, everything turns out to be exactly the opposite. Raskolnikov's soul turns out to be cowardly, despite the fact that he found the strength to commit murder. In an attempt to rise above the masses, he loses himself and crosses the moral line. In the novel, Dostoevsky emphasizes that taking the wrong path of self-deception is very simple, but overcoming fear in oneself and incurring the punishment that Raskolnikov is so afraid of is necessary for the spiritual purification of the hero. Sonya Marmeladova comes to the aid of Rodion, who lives in constant fear for what he has done. Despite all her external fragility, the heroine has a persistent character. She instills confidence and courage in the hero, helps him overcome cowardice, and is even ready to share Raskolnikov’s punishment in order to save his soul. Both heroes struggle with fate and circumstances, this shows their strength and courage.
8. “The Fate of a Man” by M. Sholokhov is another book about courage and courage, the hero of which is an ordinary soldier Andrei Sokolov, to whose fate the pages of the book are dedicated. The war forced him to leave home and go to the front to undergo trials of fear and death. In battle, Andrei is honest and brave, like many soldiers. He is faithful to duty, for which he is ready to pay even with his own life. Stunned by a live shell, Sokolov sees the approaching Germans, but does not want to flee, deciding that the last minutes must be spent with dignity. He refuses to obey the invaders, his courage impresses even the German commandant, who sees in him a worthy opponent and a valiant soldier. Fate is merciless to the hero: he loses the most precious thing in the war - his loving wife and children. But, despite the tragedy, Sokolov remains a man, lives according to the laws of conscience, according to the laws of a brave human heart.
9. V. Aksenov’s novel “The Moscow Saga” is dedicated to the history of the Gradov family, which gave its entire life to serving the Fatherland. This is a trilogy novel, which is a description of the life of an entire dynasty, closely connected by family ties. The heroes are ready to sacrifice a lot for the sake of each other's happiness and well-being. In desperate attempts to save loved ones, they show remarkable courage, the call of conscience and duty for them is decisive, guiding all their decisions and actions. Each of the heroes is brave in their own way. Nikita Gradov heroically defends his homeland. He receives the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The hero is uncompromising in his decisions, and several military operations are successfully carried out under his leadership. The Gradovs’ adopted son, Mitya, also goes to war. By creating heroes, plunging them into an atmosphere of constant anxiety, Aksenov shows that courage is the lot of not only an individual, but also an entire generation raised to respect family values ​​and moral duty.
10. Feats are an eternal theme in literature. Cowardice and courage, their confrontation, numerous victories of one over the other, are now becoming the subject of debate and search by modern writers.
    One of these authors was the famous British writer Joan K. Rowling and her world-famous hero, Harry Potter. Her series of novels about a boy wizard won the hearts of young readers with the fantastical plot and, of course, the brave heart of the central character. Each of the books is a story of the struggle between good and evil, in which the first always wins, thanks to the courage of Harry and his friends. In the face of danger, each of them remains steadfast and believes in the final triumph of good, with which, according to a happy tradition, the winners are rewarded for courage and bravery.
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An analysis of Vasiliev’s work “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” will be useful in preparing for literature lessons for 8th grade students. This is a surprisingly heartfelt tragic story about the role of women in war. The author touches on the problems of historical memory, courage and boldness, heroism and cowardice, inhuman cruelty. The fate of five young girls, for whom the first battle was the last, was truthfully and touchingly portrayed by the writer who went through the entire war - Boris Vasiliev.

Brief Analysis

Year of writing– 1969.

History of creation– the text was originally conceived as a story about seven heroes who were able to defend their combat objective at the cost of their own lives. However, having rethought the plot, adding novelty to it, the author changed the idea - 5 anti-aircraft gunners appeared who came under the command of Sergeant Vaskov.

Subject- feat of women in war.

Composition– narration from the sergeant’s point of view, through his eyes the author shows the events at the crossing. Memories, retrospectives, pictures from the past are a fairly common technique that harmoniously weaves into the narrative the stories of the destinies of the girls and the sergeant himself.

Genre- story.

Direction- realistic military prose.

History of creation

The first publication took place in the magazine “Youth” in 1969. Boris Vasiliev wanted to write a story about a feat that actually took place in 1942 in one small outpost. Seven soldiers who participated in the operation stopped the enemy at the cost of their lives. But after writing a few pages, the author realized that his plot was one of thousands; there are a lot of such stories in literature.

And he decided that the sergeant would have girls under his command, not men. The narrative began to sparkle with new colors. This story brought great fame to the author, because no one wrote about women in the war, this topic was left without attention. The writer approached the creation of images of anti-aircraft gunners very responsibly: they are completely unique and absolutely believable.

Subject

Subject completely new for military prose: war through the eyes of a woman. By artistically transforming reality, endowing the heroines with completely different individual traits, the author achieved amazing verisimilitude. People believed in real girls, especially after the film adaptation of the story in 1972.

Meaning of the name is revealed at the very end of the story, when the surviving foreman and the son of one of the dead anti-aircraft gunners come to the site of the girls’ deaths after the war to erect a monument. And the phrase that became the title of the story sounds like the thought that life goes on. The mournful calm of these words contrasts with the terrible tragedy that happened here. Main thought, embedded in the title of the story - only nature lives correctly, everything is quiet and calm in it, but in the human world there are storms, confusion, hatred, pain.

Feat in war is a common thing, but a woman fighter is something touchingly sacred, naive and helpless. Not all heroines understand what war is, not all have seen death: they are young, diligent and full of hatred for the enemy. But the girls are not ready to face a real war: the reality turns out to be worse and more merciless than the young “fighters in skirts” could have expected.

Anyone who reads Vasilyev’s story inevitably comes to the conclusion that the tragedy could have been avoided if the foreman and his “combat units” had been more experienced, if only... But war does not wait for readiness, death in war is not always a feat, there is an accident, there is stupidity , there is inexperience. The truthfulness of the work is the secret of its success and recognition of the author’s talent, and problems– a guarantee of the demand for the work. What this work teaches should remain in the hearts of future generations: war is scary, it does not distinguish between gender and age, we must remember those who gave their lives for our future. Idea of all the works of Boris Vasiliev about the war: we must remember those terrible years in the life of the country, preserve and pass on this knowledge from generation to generation so that the war does not happen again.

Composition

The narration is told from the perspective of Sergeant Vaskov, his memories form the main plot. The narration is interspersed with lyrical digressions, excerpts from childhood from memories of various years that emerge in the memory of the foreman. Through his male perception, the author presents images of gentle, touching anti-aircraft gunner girls, revealing the motives for which they end up at the front.

To introduce readers to the next heroine, the author simply transfers the action to her past, replaying the brightest moments from the character’s life. The pictures of peaceful life are so inconsistent with the horrors of war that, returning to the events at the crossing, the reader involuntarily wants to return to peacetime. Compositionally, the story contains all the classic components: exposition, plot, climax, denouement and epilogue.

Main characters

Genre

The work is written in the middle genre of military prose - a story. The term “lieutenant's prose” appeared in literature thanks to those who, having gone through the years at the front as junior officers, became writers, covering the events experienced during the Patriotic War. Vasilyev's story also belongs to lieutenant prose; the author has his own unique view of military reality.

In terms of content, the work is quite worthy of the novel form, and the ideological component, perhaps, has no equal in Russian literature of that period. War through women's eyes is even more terrible because next to death there are heels and beautiful lingerie, which beauties persistently hide in duffel bags. Vasiliev's story is completely unique in its piercing tragedy, vitality and deep psychologism.

Work test

Rating Analysis

Average rating: 4.2. Total ratings received: 421.

Courage and cowardice

B. Vasiliev. And the dawns here are quiet...

Tale Boris Vasiliev “And the dawns here are quiet...”- one of the most piercing works about the war in its lyricism and tragedy.
Five female anti-aircraft gunners, led by Sergeant Major Vaskov, in May 1942, on a distant patrol, confront a detachment of selected German paratroopers - fragile girls enter into mortal combat with strong men trained to kill. The bright images of the girls, their dreams and memories of their loved ones, create a striking contrast with the inhuman face of the war, which did not spare them - young, loving, gentle. But even through death they continue to affirm life and mercy.
Young girls are torn from peaceful life and thrown into the horrors of war. They are feminine, childish, defenseless, inept, inexperienced. During a raid by the Messers, a serving girl was killed, and at the funeral, “the girls roared loudly.” A meeting with death does not fit into their joyful youth!
They perceive trials easily and naively. “They giggled, you fools,” Sergeant Major Vaskov notes to himself, without malice, as he teaches them how to give signals in the forest like a duck.
When getting ready for an important mission, the sergeant major is forced to teach his squad how to use footcloths: after all, “the footcloths are wound like scarves.”
They go into their first battle, not knowing about it and thinking about it, not even suspecting the danger. Although many of them already had their first encounter with war behind their fragile shoulders. Rita Osyanina lost her husband in the first days of the war: “Senior Lieutenant Osyanin died on the second day of the war in a morning counterattack.” And she learned to hate “quietly and mercilessly” the enemies who destroyed her short-lived happiness. Zhenya Komelkova’s mother, sister and brother were shot down with a machine gun - this is how the families of the command staff were shot. Sonya Gurevich is from an intelligent Jewish family. The family remained in occupied Minsk. Only the hope that they could hide saved her from severe melancholy. “Oh, you little sparrow, how strong is the grief on your hump,” Vaskov pities her.
Can they all bear grief? Are these fragile girls capable of a soldier's lot? The war did not ask about this.
Vaskov’s team has five girls anti-aircraft gunners. Among them, Zhenya Komelkova stands out with her special charm. She's a beauty. The girls admire: “Mermaid! Your skin is transparent! You need to go to the museum! Under glass on black velvet!” and she was thrown into the war. Sociable, mischievous, artistic, brave, truly heroic. She helped out her friends, Sergeant Major Vaskov, more than once. The scene of swimming in the lake at gunpoint from German machine guns is true heroism. After all, she understands that they could shoot at her at any moment, but she boldly and desperately plays her role to the end. Only Vaskov, who looked into her face, saw that “she was smiling, and her eyes, wide open, were full of horror, as if with tears.”
Then she will help Vaskov defeat the German, finishing him off with the butt of her rifle.
No, it’s not a woman’s business to kill! Then “she felt sick, vomited, and she sobbed, kept calling for someone. Mom or something...” This is how she experiences her feat. Like her friend, Rita Osyanina, who first timely and skillfully killed a German paratrooper, did not sleep all night - “she was shaking!”
But the world turned so that death was near. We had to kill, we had to kill our friends, we had to die ourselves. Junior Sergeant Rita Osyanina was wounded in the stomach by a grenade fragment. She realizes that the wound is hopeless and courageously chooses death.
And desperate Zhenya does not believe in death - neither hers nor Rita’s. Zhenya was not afraid of anything even in happy, carefree times: “she rode horses, shot at the shooting range, sat with her father in an ambush for wild boars, rode her father’s motorcycle around the military camp...”. And in his last battle, he boldly and desperately leads the Germans into the forest - away from the wounded Rita. “She believed in herself even now, not for a moment doubting that everything would end well. It’s so stupid, so absurd and implausible to die at the age of nineteen...”
Liza Brichkina dies horribly - she drowns in a swamp without fulfilling Vaskov's instructions. I’m very sorry for this girl from a remote corner of Bryansk. She spent her youth alone. She lived all 19 years waiting for tomorrow. She so wanted affection, care, love. How sincerely she fell in love with Sergeant Major Vaskov. And this dream did not come true.
Can Sonya Gurvich and Galya Chetvertak be considered heroes? The author's sympathies for them are undeniable. “An excellent student, an excellent student both at school and at college,” her friends recalled about her after her death. A smart girl reads Blok by heart and knows German. She has no physical strength: she bends like a reed, her voice is squeaky. But there is so much feminine kindness and human sensitivity in her. When he eats from the same pot with Sergeant Major Vaskov, he strives to throw him “the best brew.” And she dies when she runs for the foreman’s forgotten pouch.
The author is especially sorry for Galya Chetvertak. She’s all “thin, pointy-nosed, with tow braids and a flat chest like a boy’s,” “a runny little thing.” And incompetent. I lost my boot in the swamp and caught a cold. She is a dreamer and even a liar. She lies that her mother is a nurse, and she herself is from an orphanage, a foundling. In the first battle I was so scared that I was never able to shoot.” Her friends were even going to judge her for this. But she couldn’t stand her second battle either - she simply couldn’t stand the presence of the Germans nearby!
But the wise foreman Vaskov also defends her: “There was no cowardice.” “Our comrades died the death of the brave. Chetvertak was in a shootout, and Liza Brichkina drowned in a swamp...”
The rest of the Germans were captivated by Vaskov, an extraordinary, generous, heroic personality. With a difficult personal fate. A man with “almost no education,” but so wise in everyday life, of enormous human kindness. Caring, attentive to his anti-aircraft gunners, notices and supports their mood. The sick Chetvertak gave his overcoat and stands up for her when the girls are going to judge her for cowardice. He understands each one and regrets each one.
He is an experienced warrior: he calculated everything correctly, managed to overcome the swamp with his detachment, and took the blow upon himself. He just did not foresee that instead of two saboteurs, as Rita reported, the detachment would stumble upon 16 machine gunners - hefty men. But Vaskov was not going to retreat.
“Vaskov knew one thing in this battle: not to retreat. Don’t give up a single piece of land on this coast to the Germans. No matter how hard, no matter how hopeless it was to hold on... And he had such a feeling, as if all of Russia had come together behind his back, it was he, Fedot Evgrafych Vaskov, who was now her last son and protector. And there was no one else in the whole world: only him, the enemy and Russia.”
One takes the remaining four Germans prisoner. Together with five girls, he, himself seriously wounded, defeated an armed fascist detachment. After the war, he will become a father to the son of the deceased Rita Osyanina.
And the dawns here are quiet... The fishermen are so delighted by the silence of the lake. But for this silence to come, what price did our people have to pay?

About the cruelty and inhumanity of war, the amazing story by B.L. Vasilyev “And the dawns here are quiet...” about girls - anti-aircraft gunners and their commander Vaskov. Five girls, together with their commander, go to meet the fascists - saboteurs, whom Rita Osyanina noticed in the forest in the morning. Only there were 19 fascists, and all of them were well armed and prepared for action behind enemy lines. And so, in order to prevent the impending sabotage, Vaskov goes on a mission with the girls.
Sonya Gurvich, Galka Chetvertachok, Lisa Brichkini, Zhenya Komelkova, Rita Ovsyanina - these are the fighters of the small detachment.
Each of the girls carries some kind of life principle, and all of them together personify the feminine principle of life, and their presence in the war is as disharmonious as the sounds of shooting on the shore of Lake Ferapontov.
It is impossible to read the story without tears. How scary it is when girls, whom nature itself intended for life, are forced to defend their Fatherland with weapons in their hands. This is precisely the fundamental idea of ​​Boris Vasiliev’s story. It tells about a feat, about the feat of girls who defend their love and youth, their family, their homeland and who did not spare their lives for this. Each of the girls could live, raise children, bring joy to people... But there was a war. None of them had time to fulfill their dreams, they did not have time to live their own lives.
Woman and war are incompatible concepts, if only because a woman gives life, while any war is, first of all, murder. It was difficult for any person to take the life of someone like him, but what was it like for a woman in whom, as B. Vasiliev believes, hatred of murder is inherent in her very nature? In his story, the writer showed very well what it was like for a girl to kill for the first time, even an enemy. Rita Osyanina hated the Nazis quietly and mercilessly. But it’s one thing to wish someone dead, and quite another to kill someone yourself. When I killed the first one, I almost died, by God. I dreamed about a reptile for a month...” In order to kill calmly, one had to get used to it, to harden one’s soul... This is also a feat and at the same time a huge sacrifice of our women, who, for the sake of life on earth, had to step over themselves, go against their nature.
B. Vasiliev shows that the source of the feat was love for the Motherland, which needed protection. It seems to Sergeant Major Vaskov that the position he and the girls occupy is the most important. And he had such a feeling, as if all of Russia had come together behind his back, as if he was her last son and protector. And there was no one else in the whole world: only he, the enemy, and Russia.
The story of Staninstructor Tamara speaks best about the mercy of our women. Stalingrad. The most, the most battles. Tamara was dragging two wounded (in turn), and suddenly, when the smoke cleared a little, she, to her horror, discovered that she was dragging one of our tankers and one German. The station instructor knew very well that if she left the German, he would literally urinate from blood loss in just a few hours. And she continued to drag them both... Now, when Tamara Stepanovna remembers this incident, she never ceases to amaze herself.

remembers this incident and never ceases to amaze himself. “I am a doctor, I am a woman... And I saved a life” - this is how she simply and uncomplicatedly explains her, one might say, heroic act. And we can only admire these girls who went through all the hell of war and did not “harden their souls”, they remained so humane. This, in my opinion, is also a feat. Moral victory is our greatest victory in this terrible war.
All five girls die, but complete the task: the Germans did not get through. And although their battle with the Nazis was only of “local significance,” it was thanks to such people that the Great Victory took shape. Hatred for enemies helped Vaskov and the heroines of the story accomplish their feat. In this struggle they were driven by a sense of humanity, which forces them to fight evil.

The sergeant major is grieving the death of the girls. His entire human soul cannot come to terms with this. He thinks about what they, the soldiers, will definitely be asked to do after the war: “Why couldn’t you, men, protect our mothers from bullets? Did they get married when they died? And he doesn’t find an answer. Vaskov’s heart hurts because he killed all five girls. And in the sorrow of this uneducated soldier is the highest human feat. And the reader feels the writer’s hatred of the war and pain for something else that few people wrote about - for the broken threads of human kindred.
In my opinion, every moment of war is already a feat. And Boris Vasiliev only confirmed this with his story.

When war breaks into the peaceful life of people, it always brings grief and misfortune to families and disrupts the usual order of things. The Russian people experienced the hardships of many wars, but never bowed their heads to the enemy and bravely endured all the hardships. The Great Patriotic War, which dragged on for five long years, became a real disaster for many peoples and countries, and especially for Russia. The Nazis violated human laws, so they themselves found themselves outside of any laws.

Both young men, men, and even old people rose to defend the Fatherland. The war gave them the opportunity to show all their best human qualities, to show strength, courage and bravery. It just so happened historically that war is a man’s business, requiring from a warrior courage, perseverance, self-sacrifice and even sometimes callousness of heart. But if a person is indifferent to the misfortunes of others, then he will not be able to perform a heroic act; his selfish nature will not allow him to do this. Therefore, many writers who touched on the topic of war, the feat of man in war, always paid a lot of attention to the problem of humanity, humaneness. War cannot harden an honest, noble person; it only reveals the best qualities of his soul.

Among the works written about the war, the books by Boris Vasiliev are especially close to me. All his heroes are warm-hearted, sympathetic people with a gentle soul. Some of them behave heroically on the battlefield, bravely fighting for their Motherland, others are heroes at heart, their patriotism is not noticeable to anyone.

Vasiliev’s novel “Not on the Lists” is dedicated to the young lieutenant Nikolai Pluzhnikov, who heroically fought in the Brest Fortress. The young lone fighter personifies a symbol of courage and perseverance, a symbol of the spirit of the Russian man.

At the beginning of the novel, Pluzhnikov is an inexperienced graduate of a military school. The war dramatically changes the young man's life. Nikolai finds himself in the thick of it - in the Brest Fortress, the first Russian line on the path of the fascist hordes. The defense of the fortress is a titanic battle with the enemy, in which thousands of people die, because the forces are not equal. And in this bloody human mess, among the ruins and corpses, a youthful feeling of love arises between the young lieutenant Pluzhnikov and the crippled girl Mirra. It emerges as a glimmer of hope for a bright future. Without the war, perhaps they would not have met. Most likely, Pluzhnikov would have risen to a high rank, and Mirra would have led the modest life of a disabled person. But the war brought them together, forced them to gather strength to fight the enemy. In this fight, each of them accomplishes a feat.

When Nikolai goes on reconnaissance, he goes to remind him that the defender is alive, that the fortress did not surrender, did not submit to the enemy, he does not think about himself, he is worried about the fate of Mirra and those fighters who are fighting next to him. There is a cruel, deadly battle with the fascists, but Nikolai’s heart has not hardened, he has not become embittered. He carefully takes care of Mirra, realizing that without his help the girl cannot survive. But Mirra does not want to be a burden to the brave soldier, so she decides to come out of hiding. The girl knows that these are the last hours of her life, but she is driven by only one feeling: the feeling of love. She does not think about herself, she is concerned about the fate of Nikolai. Mirra doesn’t want him to see her suffering and blame himself for it. This is not just an act - it is a feat of the heroine of the novel, a moral feat, a feat of self-sacrifice. “A military hurricane of unprecedented force” closes the heroic struggle of the young lieutenant. Nikolai bravely meets his death; even his enemies appreciated the courage of this Russian soldier, who “was not on the lists.”

The war did not bypass Russian women; the Nazis forced mothers, present and future, to fight, in whom the hatred of murder was inherent by nature. Women work steadfastly in the rear, providing the front with clothing and food, caring for sick soldiers. And in battle, women were not inferior to experienced fighters in strength and courage.

Vasiliev’s story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet...” is dedicated to the heroic struggle of women and girls in the war. Five completely different girlish characters, five different destinies. The female anti-aircraft gunners are sent on reconnaissance under the command of Sergeant Major Vaskov, who “has twenty words in reserve, and those are from the regulations.” Despite the horrors of the war, this “mossy stump” retained the best human qualities. He did everything to save the lives of the girls, but his soul still cannot calm down. He realizes his guilt before them for the fact that “the men married them with death.” The death of five girls leaves a deep wound in the foreman’s soul; he cannot find an excuse for it even in his own soul. The sorrow of this simple man contains the highest humanism. He accomplished a feat by capturing German intelligence officers; he can be proud of his actions. Trying to capture the enemy, the foreman does not forget about the girls; he always tries to lead them away from the impending danger. The sergeant major performed a moral feat while trying to protect the girls.

The behavior of each of the five girls is also a feat, because they are completely unsuited to military conditions. The death of each of them is terrible and at the same time sublime. Dreamy Liza Brichkina dies, wanting to quickly cross the swamp and call for help. This girl dies with the thought of her tomorrow. The impressionable Sonya Gurvich, a lover of Blok’s poetry, also dies when she returns for the pouch left by the foreman. And these two “unheroic” deaths, for all their apparent randomness, are associated with self-sacrifice. The writer pays special attention to two female characters: Rita Osyanina and Evgenia Komelkova. According to Vasiliev, Rita is “stern and never laughs.” The war destroyed her happy family life, Rita is constantly worried about the fate of her little son. Dying, Osyanina entrusts the care of her son to the reliable and wise Vaskov; she leaves this world, realizing that no one can accuse her of cowardice. Her friend dies with a weapon in her hands. The writer is proud of the mischievous, impudent Komelkova, sent on the road after a staff affair. This is how he describes his heroine: “Tall, red-haired, white-skinned. And the eyes are childish, green, round, like saucers.” And this wonderful girl dies, dies undefeated, performing a feat for the sake of others.

Many generations, reading this story by Vasiliev, will remember the heroic struggle of Russian women in this war, and will feel pain for the broken threads of human birth. We learn about the exploits of the Russian people from ancient Russian epics and legends, and from the famous epic novel by L. N. Tolstoy “War and Peace”. In this work, the feat of the modest captain Tushin was not even noticed by anyone. Heroism and courage suddenly seize a person, one single thought possesses him - to defeat the enemy. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to unite the commanders and the people, a moral victory of man over his fear, over the enemy is necessary. The motto of all brave, courageous people can be proclaimed in the words of General Bessonov, the hero of Yuri Bondarev’s work “Hot Snow”: “Stand and forget about death!”

Thus, showing the feat of man in war, writers of different times pay special attention to the strength of the Russian national spirit, moral fortitude, and the ability to sacrifice for the sake of saving the Fatherland. This theme is eternal in Russian literature, and therefore we will more than once witness the appearance to the world of literary examples of patriotism and morality.

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No one could have known that, having received the task of going and capturing two German intelligence officers, a small detachment of six people would stumble upon sixteen fascist soldiers. The forces are incomparable, but neither the foreman nor the five girls even think about retreating. They don't choose. All five young anti-aircraft gunners are destined to die in this forest. And not everyone will suffer a heroic death. But in the story everything is measured with the same measure. As they said during the war, there is one life and one death. And all the girls can equally be called true heroines of war.

The writer presented us with five completely different characters. At first glance, what could the responsible, strict Rita Osyanina, the insecure dreamer Galya Chetvertak, the dreamy Sonya Gurvich, the silent Liza Brichkina and the mischievous, daring beauty Zhenya Komelkova have in common? But, oddly enough, not even a shadow of misunderstanding arises between them. This is due in no small part to the fact that they were brought together by exceptional circumstances. It is not for nothing that Fedot Evgrafych will later call himself the girls’ brother, and it is not for nothing that he will take upon himself the care of the son of the deceased Rita Osyanina. There is also in these six, despite the difference in age, upbringing, education, a unity of attitude towards life, people, war, devotion to the Motherland and readiness to give their lives for it. The six of them need to hold their positions at all costs, as if “all of Russia came together” behind them. And they keep it.

Galya Chetvertak dies stupidly, but we do not blame her. Maybe she was too weak and insecure, but a woman shouldn’t be at war at all. But Galya still tried to the best of her ability: she carried a heavy load of things, walked on the icy ground in only a birch bark jacket. Even though she did not accomplish a feat, she did not enter into direct combat with the enemy, but she did not retreat, stubbornly moving forward and following the orders of the sergeant major.

The death of Sonya Gurvich seems to be an accident, but it is associated with self-sacrifice. After all, when she ran towards her death, she was led by a natural spiritual movement to please the kind and caring foreman - to bring the left pouch.

Lisa Brichkina also sacrifices herself. Her death is terrible and painful. Even though she did not fall on the battlefield, she died in the performance of her duty, hurrying to quickly cross the swamp and bring help.

In the end, the two bravest and most persistent girls remained with the foreman - Rita Osyanina and Zhenka Komelkova. Zhenya, saving the foreman, killed a German soldier by smashing his head with the butt of a rifle. She fearlessly bathes in front of her enemies, portraying a simple village girl. And she takes the enemies with her into the forest, away from the wounded Rita Osyaina. Rita was wounded by shrapnel while she was shooting back at her enemies. This was not the first shootout where the girls showed themselves. Alas, the forces were unequal, and Rita and Zhenya were destined to die a painful death: one was wounded in the stomach and put a bullet in her forehead, the other was finished off at point-blank range by the Germans.

Sergeant Major Vaskov also faced severe trials. He was destined to bury all his fighters, overcome grief, wounds and inhuman fatigue, and in the last frenzied battle, cruelly take revenge on his enemies, and then, until the end of his days, carry the heaviness in his soul because he did not save the girls.

Each of the girls paid her “personal bill” to the invaders. Rita Osyanina’s husband died on the second day of the war, Zhenya’s whole family was shot before her eyes, Sonya Gurvich’s parents died. This “personal account” of each is linked to the account of the entire country. After all, how many women and children remained widows and orphans. Therefore, while taking revenge on the Germans for themselves, the girls also took revenge for the entire country, for all its inhabitants.

The heroines of the story, young girls, were born for love and motherhood, but instead they picked up rifles and took up an unfeminine business - war. Even this already constitutes considerable heroism, because they all voluntarily went to the front. The origins of their heroism are in love for the Motherland. This is where the path to achievement begins.

1. The cruelty of war.

2.1. Five heroines.

2.2. Sergeant Major's pain.

3. A local battle.

War is a terrible word that carries pain and destruction, despair and anxiety, death and suffering. This is widespread grief, this general confusion. The torment suffered by a person who experienced war cannot be compared with anything; it cannot be conveyed.

Pain for your loved ones and for yourself, pain for the country and for the future - this is what the heart feels every minute, every second. This is exactly how Boris Vasiliev portrays the Great Patriotic War to us - without embellishment, without exaggeration.

Five young girls go to war to defend their land. Five different destinies, five unequal characters merge in unison in the fight against the fascists. Rita Osyanina is a young mother and widow who did not have time to enjoy family happiness. She is the most courageous and fearless, responsible and serious.

An orphanage and funny girl who dreams of becoming a great artist. Sonya Gurvich is an ordinary student - an excellent student, in love with a boy and engrossed in poetry. , who grew up in the forest, dreaming of city life and bustle. - a cheerful, mischievous general’s daughter, in front of whose eyes the whole family was shot.

All of them are bright individual personalities who have experienced severe grief and strive for only one thing - to serve the fatherland. And the girls succeeded. They receive an important task together with commander Vaskov, they are all brave, fearless, and courageous. Young beautiful heroines, full of strength and health, die one by one. Rita was hit by grenade fragments, Zhenya was riddled with machine gun shots, Sonya was killed with a dagger in the heart... These terrible, painful deaths did not shake the confidence of the girls, did not force them to betray their homeland, did not force them to lose courage.

Losing his comrades in arms, the foreman begins to understand how much they meant to him, with their girlish laughter, feminine jokes, and youthful enthusiasm. He admires their strength and fearlessness, their hatred of the enemy and love of life, their heroism and feat. The man mourns these terrible deaths: “What is it like to live now? Why is this so? After all, they don’t need to die, but give birth to children, because they are mothers!” How much sorrow, how much tenderness, how much pain in these words! And he took revenge on the Germans for the death of the girls, carrying with him throughout his life the memory of the valor of his “sisters.”

The events described in the story are events of local significance. It would seem that the girls’ feat did not affect the overall victory and was lost among the high-profile famous feats. But that's not true. If it were not for the heroic deeds of ordinary soldiers, if it were not for the courage of ordinary ordinary soldiers defending every centimeter of the earth, then a grandiose victory would not have become possible. Because without the little there can be no great.