Essay "war does not have a woman's face." Contemporary problems of science and education War does not have a female face problems of the work
War does not have a woman's face
The planet is burning and spinning,
There is smoke over our Motherland,
And that means we need one victory,
One for all, we won’t stand behind the price.
B. Okudzhava.
Yes! The planet was burning and spinning. We have lost millions of lives in this war, for which we remember and pray. Everyone was here: children, women, old people and men, capable of holding weapons, ready to do anything just to protect their land, their loved ones. War. Just five letters: v-o-y-n-a, and how much they say. Fire, grief, torment, death. This is what war is.
The main adult population of the great country was put under arms. These are grain growers and builders, scientists and cultural figures. Those who could do a lot for the prosperity of the country, but duty called. And both young and old stood up to defend the Fatherland.
Men and women stood shoulder to shoulder on the battlefields, whose duty was to keep the hearth, give birth and raise children. But they were forced to kill. And be killed. How excruciatingly painful it is! Woman and war are unnatural, but it was so. They killed to save children, mothers, and the lives of their loved ones.
Much has been written about the war. I want to talk about a book that shocked me. This is the story by Boris Vasiliev “And the dawns here are quiet...”. A peaceful name, but what a terrible tragedy is revealed to us. The story is about girls who still knew little about life, but were courageous and persistent. They are anti-aircraft gunners in the rear of our front. Everything is quiet and peaceful. But suddenly a meeting with the Germans changes everything, and they go to track down the enemy and enter into a battle with the saboteurs, not to the death. The girls had to kill an enemy who was strong, dangerous, experienced, and merciless.
There are only five of them. They are led by foreman Fedot Evgrafovich Vaskov, who, at his request, was sent non-drinkers. He asked for men, but they sent girls. And so he commands them. He is 32 years old, but for his subordinates he is “a mossy stump.” He is a man of few words, knows and can do a lot.
What about the girls? What are they? What are they? What do they know about life? All girls are different, with their own difficult fate.
Rita Osyanina is a young mother who married a lieutenant early, gave birth to a son and was widowed in the first days of the war. Silent. Strict. Never smiles. Her task is to avenge her husband. Having sent his son to his sick mother, who lived nearby, he goes to the front. Her soul is torn between duty and love for her little son, to whom she secretly runs at night. It was she, returning from AWOL, who almost stumbled upon the Germans.
Her complete opposite is Evgenia Komelkova, although no one calls her that. For everyone she is Zhenya, Zhenya, a beauty. “Red-haired, tall, white-skinned. And the eyes are green, round, like saucers.” Her entire family was shot by the Germans. She managed to hide. Very artistic, always in the lens of male attention. Her friends love her for her courage, cheerfulness, and recklessness. She remains mischievous, hiding her unbearable pain deep in her heart. She also has a goal - to avenge the death of her mother, father, grandmother and little brother.
And Galya Chetvertak lived in an orphanage, they gave her everything there: both her first and last name. And the little girl dreamed of a wonderful life, of parents. I fantasized. She lived in her own unreal, made-up world. No, she didn't lie, she believed in what she dreamed about. And suddenly a war that reveals its “unfeminine face” to her. The world is collapsing. She was frightened. Who wouldn't be scared? Who can blame this frail little girl for being afraid? Me not. And Galya broke, but did not break. This fear of hers must be justified by everyone. She's a girl. And in front of her are the enemies who killed her friend Sonya.
Sonechka Gurvich. Lover of poetry by Alexander Blok. Such a dreamer. And at the front he does not part with a volume of poetry. He is very worried about the lives of his parents who remained in the occupation. They are Jews. And Sonya didn’t know that they were no longer alive. She was worried about her friend, a fellow dreamer who was fighting on another front. I dreamed of happiness, thought about life after the war. And she met a ruthless killer who plunged a knife into a girl’s heart up to the hilt. A fascist came to a foreign land to kill. He doesn't feel sorry for anyone.
Meanwhile, Liza Brichkina is drowning in the swamp. She was in a hurry, she wanted to bring help, but she stumbled. What did she see in her short life besides work, the forest, and her sick mother? Nothing. I really wanted to study, go to the city, and experience a new life. But her dreams were also destroyed by the war. I liked Lisa for her thriftiness, homeliness, high sense of duty and responsibility. What if it weren't for the war? What would you become? How many children would you give birth to? But I didn’t have time. And I would like to say about her in the words of Strelkov’s song:
I became a willow, I became a grass,
Cranberries in other people's shops...
And how I wanted to become a crane,
Fly in the skies with your darling.
To be his most beloved woman,
Give birth to golden children...
Only the war made us related to the Karelian region -
I'm no longer alive.
It's a pity! Eternal memory to her!
How many girls - so many destinies. All different. But they have one thing in common: the girls’ lives were disfigured and broken by the war. The anti-aircraft gunners, having received an order not to let the enemy get to the railway, carried it out at the cost of their own lives. Everyone died. They died like heroes. But they went on reconnaissance, not knowing the number of the enemy, almost unarmed. The task was completed. The enemy was stopped. At what cost! How they wanted to live! How differently they died. I want to write songs about each one.
Zhenka! What an incendiary fire! Here she poses in front of the enemy, depicting a logging brigade. And she’s shaking all over from the inside, but she’s holding her own. Here he is leading the Germans away from the wounded Rita Osyanina. Screams, swears, laughs, sings and shoots at the enemy. She knows that she will die, but saves her friend. This is heroism, courage, nobility. Is death in vain? Of course not. But I’m very, very sorry for Zhenechka.
And Rita? She lies wounded, realizing that she will not survive. Shoots himself in the temple. Is this a weakness? No! A thousand times no! What was she thinking about before she raised the gun to her temple? Of course, about my son, whose fate was entrusted to Fedot Evgrafovich Vaskov.
They didn’t say anything about the foreman, but he’s a hero. He protected the girls as best he could. He taught how to escape from German bullets. But war is war. The enemy had an advantage in numbers and skill. And yet Fedot managed to defeat the monsters alone. Here he is, a modest Russian man, a warrior, a defender. He took revenge for his girls. How he shouted to the Germans at the moment of their capture! And he cried with grief. The foreman brought the prisoners to his own. And only then did he allow himself to lose consciousness. The duty is done. And he also kept his word to Rita. He raised her son, taught him and brought his mother and girls to the grave. He erected a monument. And now everyone knows that in this quiet place there was also a war and people died.
By reading the story, the younger generation will learn about a terrible war that they did not know. They will appreciate more the world that their great-grandparents gave them.
War does not have a woman's face... High school students write essays on this topic, not realizing how much cruel truth there is in this phrase. War was invented by men. But while inciting it, they could not protect their wives, daughters, mothers... So it was, is, and, alas, will be. The article is devoted to the most disharmonious and unnatural picture in the history of mankind - a woman at war.
The most brutal war
The Great Patriotic War is the most terrible war of the 20th century. Over the years, the woman has learned to kill. She destroyed the enemy, who attacked her home with unprecedented cruelty. She blew up bridges, bombed and went on reconnaissance missions. She had no other choice.
Lyudmila Pavlichenko - Hero of the Great Patriotic War
It can be dedicated to both an individual and a collective image. There are many examples of female heroism in Russian history. One of them is the image of Lyudmila Pavlichenko.
Expanding on the topic: “Woman at War,” the essay, without a doubt, can be dedicated to this extraordinary figure. The best female sniper in the entire history of the Soviet Union had three hundred fatal hits to her credit. Her heroism was admired and a sniper rifle was named in her honor. Songs, documentaries and feature films were dedicated to Pavlichenko. Once, in 1942, at a meeting with American journalists, she uttered the legendary phrase about the gentlemen who were hiding behind her back. She was applauded.
Heroine or living legend?
Much has been said about the heroism of this woman. There is an opinion that her exploits are somewhat exaggerated. The country needs heroes. Real or fictional. But besides Lyudmila Pavlichenko, several hundred Soviet girls and women served at the front. Unlike the legendary sniper, they had the right to talk about what they experienced. But they spoke little. Talking about war is a man's business.
A woman by nature is intended to generate life, but not to destroy it. But if it is necessary to protect her home and her children, she will take up arms. And she will learn to kill. But after that it will remain a heavy burden on her soul, a bleeding wound. A woman who takes a life is always scary. Even if this life belonged to the enemy, the fascist and the occupier. After all, war does not have a woman’s face...
An essay on how war can affect a person’s destiny can be written on the basis of fiction and historical literature. But it is better to refer not to pretentious books about high-profile exploits, but to read the stories of simple eyewitnesses. They contain less propaganda and more truth.
Truth and fiction
Stories are not about heroes and victors, but about ordinary people - this is the book “War Does Not Have a Woman’s Face.” The essay will become much more truthful if its topic is not the achievements of the legendary sniper, but the fate of ordinary women. Svetlana Alexievich is an author who wrote about women in war like no one else. She was accused of excessive naturalism and lack of patriotism. For her heroines, war means burnt faces after shelling, wounds from bullets and shrapnel. These are cauldrons with steaming porridge, which no one can eat, because out of a hundred people only seven returned from the battle.
For Lyudmila Pavlichenko, war is just an irreconcilable battle with a hated enemy. The memories of a Soviet sniper could not help but be subject to strict censorship. Therefore, they contain only part of the truth. The women in Alexievich’s book manage to believe more.
War is not only about battles and victories. This is a lot of terrible and disgusting little things that add up to an overall picture that only male eyes can bear. Still, war does not have a woman’s face... An essay on Russian literature on a military topic should be as truthful and reliable as possible. Its young author must know that war is a crime. She maims, she kills. And there are no winners in it.
I have only seen hand-to-hand combat once...
The Great Patriotic War made her a poetess. An essay on the topic “The Work of Yulia Drunina” should be written after first becoming more familiar not only with her poems, but also with her biography.
Since childhood, she dreamed of a feat. The thirst to participate in the Great Victory drove her to the military registration and enlistment office on June 22. She took her first steps at the front as a nurse. Then there was the Khabarovsk School of Junior Aviation Specialists. And finally - the Belarusian Front.
Young boys and girls died before Yulia Drunina’s eyes. Under fire, in the cold and mud, a seventeen-year-old girl from an intelligent Moscow family made her way with her fellow soldiers to the front line. She bandaged the wounded, was hungry, cold and saw corpses. And she wrote poetry in the trenches. “Front-line poetry of Yulia Drunina” is an interesting topic that is worth dedicating an essay to.
A person becomes stronger in war, unprecedented resources are discovered in him. But the experience remains in the soul forever.
Anyone who says that war is not scary knows nothing about war...
From childhood to the horrors of war - a motif that sounds even in Drunina’s later poems. Front-line nostalgia did not leave her until the last days of her life. The war did not abandon the poetess even in peacetime. There were horrors, but there was also true friendship. There is no deception, no lies on the front line. And it is not easy for those who were brought up at the front to live in a world where material values are above all. Especially when it comes to a woman. It is more difficult for her to adapt and adapt to a different way.
A terrible phenomenon that has no right to exist is a woman at war. An essay dedicated to the work of the poetess Yulia Drunina should be based on this axiom. She lived for so long in her beautiful romantic world, and justified the horrors of war with such boundless love for her homeland that when this homeland was gone, she was gone too. The poetess tragically passed away in 1991.
And the dawns here are quiet...
War is not a woman’s business... An essay on literature on this topic cannot be completed without reading the story by Boris Vasiliev. This author was one of the first to speak about how women, along with men, defended their homeland. Five lives were cut short before reaching the 1945 milestone. They could have given birth to children, and they could have given birth to grandchildren, but the strings were broken. Sergeant Major Vaskov thought about this when he prepared the grave for one of them.
Vasilyev wrote many books about brave soldiers. The essay “Man at War” can be written using the example of one of them.
A wonderful film, but, unfortunately, not without an ideological touch, based on Vasiliev’s story in 1972, it does not convey the thoughts of one of the heroines that came to her mind in the last moments of her life. In the wilds of the Karelian forests, leading the Germans with her, she ran and thought, “How stupid it is to die at eighteen!” Even a heroic death for a person who is just beginning his life’s journey is always stupid and monstrously absurd. Especially if this person is a woman.
Mother field
An essay on the topic “Years of War” can tell not only about exploits on the front line. And the horrors of battles are not the main theme in it. There are things worse than bombs and shelling. The worst thing is the fate of the mother who outlived her sons. Chingiz Aitmatov's story is dedicated to women who overcame all the hardships of war - hunger, daily exhausting work - but never received their children. A mother should not bury her son. She will not be able to come to terms with his death, no matter what valiant feat he performed. Even if her son is a Hero of the Great Patriotic War. An essay based on the work “Mother’s Field” allows us to explore the topic of the tragic fate of soldiers’ mothers.
Came to Berlin to kill the war
These words were written on the wall of the Reichstag by Sofia Kuntsevich, a girl who carried more than two hundred wounded from the battlefield. A journalistic and artistic work by Svetlana Alexievich is dedicated to her and other women.
This book is not about the big victory, but about the little people. The author looked at the topic of war from the perspective of a person who did not see it. She learned about it from the words of front-line soldiers. The stories and confessions that are presented in this work are pain and tears. And reading them, you see the true face of war. It is neither feminine nor masculine. It is completely inhuman.
However, there are lines in the book that prove that war is not capable of killing a woman. She cannot destroy the goodness and care inherent in nature.
German prisoners, exhausted by hunger, walk through a Russian village. Along those roads that they spent five years trying to burn and wipe out from the face of the earth. And Russian peasant women come out to meet them and offer them bread, potatoes, everything they have. In the present they have a destroyed house, in the future they have poor post-war years. And life without men who did not return. But even this could not destroy compassion in women's hearts.
A topic that should remain one of the important ones in the school curriculum is the Great Patriotic War. An essay about women in war is a difficult creative task. The victory was achieved not only thanks to male courage and bravery. War spares no one and is always impartial. Humanity is unable to get rid of it. It does not yet possess the humanity and wisdom necessary for this. But every man should understand from a young age that there is no place for a woman in war.
The Second World War brought the world a lot of grief, loss and destruction. Many authors wrote about it, each of whom had their own idea of the war. The story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet” was published in 1969 and was based on real events. Boris Vasiliev described the fate of five different girls who, by the will of fate, were involved in hostilities. As a rule, any war is associated with masculinity, but even young women took part in this war. The author more than once emphasized in his work the inappropriateness of women in war. It's scary when a woman-mother picks up a machine gun and goes to shoot people. This is possible only in the most difficult and hopeless situations.
So the heroines of Vasiliev’s story went to this length in order to protect their relatives, friends and fatherland. Each of them experienced their own tragedy. The platoon leader, Rita Osyanina, had her husband killed on the second day of the war. She was left alone with her little son. In front of the beautiful Zhenya Komelkova, the Nazis shot her entire family. She survived miraculously and was now full of hatred for the enemy. Galya Chetvertak, an orphan from an orphanage who was never noticed due to her short stature. She wanted to stand out somehow, to accomplish some memorable feat. When they didn’t want to take her to the front, she achieved her goal in every possible way, but she could not pass the test of war. Liza Brichkina is a village girl from the Bryansk region. All her life the girl dreamed of education, but she was never able to graduate. Lisa's father was a forester, and her mother was terminally ill. While caring for her mother, she was unable to finish school. Sonya Gurvich is a translator and student at Moscow University. Sonya grew up in a large and poor family. With the beginning of the war, she wanted to become a translator, but due to the large concentration of translators at the front, she was sent to a school for anti-aircraft gunners.
It was no coincidence that all these girls ended up in Sergeant Major Vaskov’s detachment. Fate brought them together. Perhaps in ordinary life they would not even have become friends, since they were too different in character. However, finding themselves in the same squad, with a common goal to defeat the enemy, they became a real family for each other. In addition to the girls, there is another main character in the story - Sergeant Major Vaskov. He himself was extremely surprised when female anti-aircraft gunners were sent to his squad. Accustomed to commanding only male soldiers, at first she didn’t even know how to treat the new ones, and they laughed at him. When the order came to go on reconnaissance in the direction of the railway siding, it was these girls who volunteered to go. Not far from the crossing, Rita Osyanina’s mother lived with her son Albert. Rita really wanted to be closer to them and help them if possible.
This mission was the last for the girls. All of them were killed in turn by the Germans, except for Lisa, who drowned in a swamp. Sergeant Major Vaskov tried with all his might to save them and got even with all the enemies who had settled in the forest, but the girls could not be returned. The author has repeatedly emphasized that war has no place for women. They should still live, study, fall in love, give birth to children, but they all fell at the hands of the Nazis, defending their homeland. Each of these girls contributed to the war. In fact, they prevented the German sabotage group from blowing up the railway in this area. Their feat was not forgotten. Many years later, on the spot where the girls died, through the efforts of Sergeant Major Vaskov and Rita Osyanina’s son, a monument was erected - a monument to the heroes of World War II.
Composition
Fifty-seven years ago our country was illuminated by the light of victory, victory in the Great Patriotic War. She got it at a difficult price. For many years, the Soviet people walked the paths of war, walked to save their Motherland and all of humanity from fascist oppression.
This victory is dear to every Russian person, and this is probably why the theme of the Great Patriotic War not only does not lose its relevance, but every year finds more and more new incarnations in Russian literature. In their books, front-line writers trust us with everything they personally experienced during the war. firing lines, in front-line trenches, in partisan detachments, in fascist dungeons - all this is reflected in their stories and novels. “Cursed and Killed”, “Overtone” by V. Astafiev, “Sign of Trouble” by V. Bykov, “Blockade” by M. Kuraev and many others - a return to the “kroshevo” wars, to the nightmarish and inhuman pages of our history.
But there is another topic that deserves special attention - the topic of the difficult lot of women in war. Such stories as “The Dawns Here Are Quiet...” by B. Vasiliev and “Love Me, Soldier” by V. Bykov are devoted to this topic. But the novel by the Belarusian writer and journalist S. Alexievich “War Has Not a Woman’s Face” makes a special and indelible impression.
Unlike other writers, S. Alexievich made the heroes of her book not fictional characters, but real women. The clarity, accessibility of the novel and its extraordinary external clarity, the apparent simplicity of its form are among the merits of this wonderful book. Her novel has no plot, it is built in the form of a conversation, in the form of memories. For four long years, the writer walked “burnt kilometers of other people’s pain and memory,” recording hundreds of stories of nurses, pilots, partisans, and paratroopers who recalled the terrible years with tears in their eyes.
One of the chapters of the novel, entitled “I don’t want to remember...” tells about those feelings that live in the hearts of these women to this day, which I would like to forget, but there is no way. Fear, along with a true sense of patriotism, lived in the hearts of the girls. This is how one of the women describes her first shot: “We lay down and I watched. And then I see: one German stood up. I clicked and he fell. And so, you know, I was shaking all over, I was pounding all over. I started crying. When I was shooting at targets - nothing, but here: how did I kill a man?
The women's memories of the famine, when they were forced to kill their horses in order not to die, are also shocking. In the chapter “It Wasn’t Me,” one of the heroines, a nurse, recalls her first meeting with the fascists: “I bandaged the wounded, a fascist was lying next to me, I thought he was dead... but he was wounded, he wanted to kill me. I felt someone push me, and I turned to him. I managed to kick the machine gun with my foot. I didn’t kill him, but I didn’t bandage him either, I left. He was wounded in the stomach."
War is, first of all, death. Reading the memories of women about the death of our soldiers, someone’s husbands, sons, fathers or brothers, it becomes scary: “You can’t get used to death. To death... We were with the wounded for three days. They are healthy, strong men. They didn't want to die. They kept asking for something to drink, but they couldn’t drink because they were wounded in the stomach. They died before our eyes, one after another, and we could do nothing to help them.”
Everything we know about a woman fits into the concept of “mercy.” There are other words: “sister”, “wife”, “friend” and the highest - “mother”. But mercy is present in their content as the essence, as the purpose, as the ultimate meaning. A woman gives life, a woman protects life, the concepts “woman” and “life” are synonymous. Roman S. Alexievich is another page of history, presented to readers after many years of forced silence. This is another terrible truth about war. In conclusion, I would like to quote the phrase of another heroine of the book “War Has Not a Woman’s Face”: “A woman in war... This is something about which there are no human words yet.”
War has always been a great grief for the people. It is difficult to imagine what terrible victims and losses this asocial phenomenon leaves in its wake.
The enemy was inhuman in the full sense of the word. Following the principles of belief in the existence of a superior Aryan race, countless people were destroyed. How many people were taken into slavery, how many perished in concentration camps, how many villages were burned at that time... The scale of destruction and human casualties is shocking and hardly anyone can be left indifferent.
It seemed that fighting was a man's business. But no! Women also stood up to defend the Motherland, enduring all the hardships of wartime just like men. Their contribution to the approach of the Great Victory is invaluable.
Writer Boris Vasiliev in his story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet...” describes the life and death of five female anti-aircraft gunners. Having come to the war of their own free will, almost unable to shoot, they die at the hands of fascist intelligence, defending themselves and their homeland. Women and girls, very young and young, the war does not set boundaries of age and gender, here everyone and everyone is a soldier. There were Germans in the rear, and every soldier felt his duty to his homeland to stop and destroy the enemy at any cost. And they will stop him, but at the cost of their lives. The narration is conducted on behalf of the commandant of the patrol, Vaskov. The whole story is based on his memories. Within the framework of the post-war period, there is a narrative about the past horrors of an inhumane war. And this plays an important role in the ideological and artistic perception of the story. This story was written by a person who visited and went through the entire war, so it is all written believably and excitingly, with a vivid highlighting of all the horrors of war. The author devotes his story to the moral problem of the formation and transformation of the character and psyche of an individual in war conditions. The painful topic of war, unjust and cruel, the behavior of different people in its conditions is shown by the example of the heroes of the story. Each of them has his own attitude to the war, his own motives for fighting the fascists, except for the main ones, and they are all different people. And it is these soldiers, young girls, who will have to prove themselves in war conditions; For some it’s their first time, and for others not. Not all girls show heroism and courage, not all remain firm and persistent after the first battle, but all girls die. Only foreman Vaskov remains alive and carries out the execution of the order to the end.
Each Vasiliev character has its own flavor and its own range of feelings. The events that take place make you empathize with each character. After reading the story and watching the film adaptation, there is a feeling of pain and pity for the young anti-aircraft gunners who died a brave death in the name of liberating the Motherland. 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.
At first glance, what could the responsible, strict Rita Osyanina, the insecure dreamer Galya Chetvertak, the throwing 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.
Let's look at each character separately. Let's start with commandant Fedot Efgrafovich Vaskov. A lonely person is encrypted under this character. For him, there was nothing left in life except the charters, regulations, orders of his superiors and the department entrusted to him. The war took everything away. Therefore, he devoted himself completely to the service of his Motherland. He lived strictly according to the rules, as prescribed, and imposed this rule on everyone who surrounded him. Many platoons were assigned to him, and he constantly asked his superiors to send him others. The platoons consisted of young guys who did not disdain alcohol and walks with young ladies. All this incredibly irritated Vaskov and constantly pushed him to make another request for a replacement. Of course, such requests irritated the management themselves.
The authorities once again did not ignore Vaskov’s request. And it’s true: the anti-aircraft gunners sent did not drink alcohol. You could also forget about walking with the ladies, because the anti-aircraft gunners themselves are girls! “So they sent non-drinkers...” - this is how the foreman reacted to the arrival of the newcomers. One can understand him; the man is accustomed to young men who have wind in their heads and completely wrong thoughts, even though there is a war going on. And then a crowd of young girls appeared in front of him, who didn’t even really hold a weapon in their hands. And here they are, young beauties that have not yet been shot, fall into Vaskov’s possession. In addition to their pleasant appearance, the new arrivals were also sharp-tongued. It was impossible without witty remarks and jokes addressed to the foreman. All this humiliated Vaskov. But the girls themselves were decisive and, moreover, economical. Everything changed in the commandant's life. Could he have expected this? And could he have known that these stupid girls would later become almost like family to him? But all this will come later, for now there is war, and we must not forget that even these girls are soldiers. And they have the same debt as Vaskov. Despite the noticeable rudeness, Vaskov shows concern for all five anti-aircraft gunners whom he chose to capture two, as it seemed then, German saboteurs. The image of Vaskov experiences a rebirth throughout the story. But not only the foreman himself is the reason for this. The girls also contributed a considerable share, each in their own way. Meanwhile, a spark of sympathy runs past Vaskov and the young “savage” Liza Brichkina. Vaskov trusts her, knowing that she lived all the time on the cordon in the forest, and therefore knew every little detail of the forest and noticed everything that did not belong to these little things. Everyone was surprised when Lisa answered the question “Did you notice anything strange?” answered: “The dew has been knocked off the bushes,” everyone was stunned, especially Vaskov.
Fedot Efgrafovich is having a hard time experiencing the death of the girls. He became mentally attached to each of them, each of the deaths left a scar on his heart.
All these scars kindled terrible hatred in the heart of the sergeant major. The thirst for revenge ruled Vaskov’s consciousness after the death of Rita Osyanina, who asked to take her little son to her. Vaskov will subsequently replace his father.
The Germans also suffered losses and were noticeably weakened. However, Vaskov was still alone against them. The command of the saboteurs remained unharmed. Filled with anger and a desire to avenge the young anti-aircraft gunners, he breaks into the monastery (where the Germans set up headquarters) and takes prisoner everyone who was in it. They may not have known Russian, but they certainly understood everything that Vaskov laid out for them. He instilled in them the fear of the sight of a Russian soldier, whom they had deprived of people very dear to him. It became clear that they were now powerless, and they had no choice but to submit to the will of Vaskov, who managed to get the better of them. And only then Vaskov allowed himself to “relax” when he saw girls calling him behind him, rushing to his aid. Vaskov’s arm was shot, but his heart hurt many times more. He felt guilty for the death of each of the girls. The death of some could have been prevented if the circumstances of each of them were analyzed. Without losing the pouch, he might have avoided the death of Sonya Gurvich; Without sending Lisa Brichkina on an empty stomach, and more convincingly forcing her to take a good rest on an island in the swamp, her death could also have been avoided. But was it possible to know all this in advance? You won't bring anyone back. And the last request of Rita Osyanina, the last of the five anti-aircraft gunners, became a real order, which Vaskov simply did not dare to disobey. There is a moment in the story when Vaskov, deprived of that very shot hand, together with the son of the late Rita, lays flowers on a memorial plaque with the names of all five female anti-aircraft gunners. And he raised him as his own, feeling a sense of fulfilled duty to Margarita Osyanina, who died in the name of the Motherland.
The story of Elizaveta Brichkina, who suffered an absurd, but terrible and painful death, is complex. Lisa is a silent, somewhat withdrawn girl. She lived with her parents on a cordon in the forest. Filled with a sense of hope for happiness and anticipation of a bright future, she walked through life. She always remembered her parents' parting words and promises of a “happy tomorrow.” Having lived surrounded by forest, she learned and understood everything that relates to it. Lisa was a thrifty and strong girl quite adapted to life. But at the same time, she was very vulnerable and sentimental. Before the war, Lisa fell in love only once. But the feelings turned out to be non-reciprocal. Lisa was worried, but, being strong in spirit, she endured this pain, understanding with her young mind that this was not the last pain and that life would throw a worse test, and in the end the same “tomorrow” that Lisa had been dreaming about all her life would certainly come.
Once in the detachment of anti-aircraft gunners, Lisa was calm and restrained. It was difficult to call her the soul of the company, like, for example, Kiryanova, who loved gossip and jokes about Vaskov to death. Lisa was not a gossip, and therefore did not take part in such conversations. Besides all this, she liked Vaskov. And she could not help but object to Kiryanova when she began to spread gossip about the commandant in front of everyone. In response, she heard only ridicule. Lisa could not stand it and hurried away in tears. And only Rita, as the squad leader, made a remark to Kiryanova and ran to calm Lisa down, making her understand that she needed to be simpler and should not believe such slander.
When Osyanina noticed two German saboteurs, Vaskov began to assemble a detachment of five girls. Lisa, without hesitation, asked to join everyone. Vaskov agreed. Throughout the journey, Lisa surprised Vaskov, attracting his attention more and more. Vaskov said to her: “You take note of everything, Lizaveta, you are our forest man...”. Even when the entire squad was walking through the swamp, Lisa never stumbled and, in addition, helped the others if someone stumbled, fell through, or simply could not pull their leg out of the viscous mess. Having arrived at the place, everyone began to arrange their own observation positions. Lisa arranged the place for herself competently and comfortably. Arriving at her, Vaskov could not resist praising her. Getting ready to leave, he sang a song to her: “Liza, Liza, Lizaveta, why don’t you send me greetings...”. Lisa wanted to say how they sing this song in her homeland, but Vaskov gently cut her off: “We’ll sing with you later, Lizaveta. Here, let’s carry out the combat order and sing...” These words instilled hope in the heart of young Lisa. She realized that now her feelings were mutual and the long-awaited happiness was now also close.
Realizing the danger of the situation, when instead of two saboteurs sixteen appeared on the horizon, Vaskov immediately knew who he would send for help. Having given Brichkina all the instructions, he finally said: “Blow, Lizaveta Batkovna!”, jokingly, of course.
Lisa was in a hurry. She wanted to bring help as soon as possible. All the way she thought about the words of Fedot Evgrafovich and warmed herself with the thought that they would definitely carry out the order and sing. Passing through the swamp, Lisa experienced incredible fear, as the author tells us, “animal horror.” And this is understandable, because then, when she walked with everyone else, they would definitely have helped her if anything happened, but now she is alone, in a dead, deaf swamp, where there is not a single living soul who could help her. But Vaskov’s words and the proximity of the “cherished stump,” which was a landmark for Lisa, and therefore solid ground under her feet, warmed Lisa’s soul and lifted her spirits. But the author decides to take a tragic turn of events.
Seeing a suddenly appearing bubble that swelled almost next to her, Lisa stumbles and ends up in the very quagmire. Attempts to get out and heart-rending cries for help are in vain. And at the moment when the last moment in Lisa’s life has come, the sun appears as a promise of happiness and a symbol of hope. Everyone knows the saying: hope dies last. This is what happened to Lisa. All her hopes disappeared with her into the vile depths of the swamp. The author writes: “...All that was left of her was her skirt, which she tied to the edge of her bag*, and nothing else, not even the hope that help would come.”
Let's turn to the film adaptation of the story. In general, the film reflects both the events of war and peacetime, with the war filmed in black and white, and peacetime in color. One of these “colored” fragments is a moment in Vaskov’s subconscious, when he was sitting on an island among an impassable swamp and thinking about the senseless death of Lisa, on whom he had great hopes, first of all, for the speedy arrival of help. Before us is a picture: Lisa appears on a white background, and Vaskov appears somewhere behind the scenes. He asks her: the moral character of a girl in war
How are you doing this, Lizaveta?..
I was in a hurry, Fedot Efgrafych.
Not of her own free will, but Lisa let her comrades down. However, the author does not condemn her; on the contrary, he sympathizes with her.
Watching the film, you can note that the image of Lisa in the story slightly does not correspond to the image from the film. In the story, Lisa is a dreamy and calm, but at the same time serious girl. Elena Drapeko, who played the role of Brichkina, somewhat misjudged the image of the “sentimental and dreamy Liza,” but the actress conveyed the rest of her qualities entirely. Elena Drapeko even played the death scene without an understudy. Five takes were filmed. The funnel into which the actress was supposed to dive was blown up and marked with dynamite. The scene was filmed in November, in cold mud, but the feelings that Lisa experienced when she was sucked deeper into the quagmire were fully conveyed; the actress herself confirms that she was truly scared during filming.
The death of Sonya Gurvich, who, trying to do a good deed, dies from an enemy blade, was unnecessary. A student preparing for the summer session is forced to fight the German occupiers. She and her parents were of the Jewish nation, and the policy of genocide intended to destroy, first of all, the Jews. It is not difficult to understand why Sonya ended up in the anti-aircraft detachment. Sonya got into the group that Vaskov recruited because she knew German and could communicate. Like Brichkina, Sonya was quiet. In addition, she was very fond of poetry and often read them aloud, either to herself or to her comrades. To make things clear, Vaskov called her a translator and tried to protect her from danger. Before “crossing” the swamp, he ordered Brichkina to take her duffel bag and told her to follow him, then only everyone else. Vaskov dropped his memorable tobacco pouch. Sonya understood his feelings about the loss and decided to help him. Remembering where she had seen this pouch, Sonya rushed to look for it. Vaskov ordered her to return in a whisper, but Sonya no longer heard him. The German soldier who grabbed her plunged a knife into her chest. Not expecting that the girl would be in front, he made two blows with a knife, because the first of them did not immediately hit the heart. Therefore, Sonya managed to scream. Having decided to do a good deed for her boss, Sonya Gurvich passed away.
Sonya's death was the first loss of the detachment. That is why everyone, especially Vaskov, took it very seriously. Vaskov blamed himself for her death, talking about how Sonya could have lived if she had listened to him and stayed in place. But nothing could be done. She was buried, and Vaskov removed the buttonholes from her jacket. He will subsequently remove the same buttonholes from all the jackets of the dead girls.
The following three characters can be viewed simultaneously. These are the images of Rita Osyanina (maiden name Mushtakova), Zhenya Komelkova and Galya Chetvertak. These three girls always stayed together. Young brat Zhenya was incredibly pretty. The cheerful “laugher” had a difficult life story. Before her eyes, her whole family was killed, her loved one died, so she had her own personal scores to settle with the Germans. She and Sonya came to Vaskov’s disposal a little later than the others, but nevertheless they immediately joined the team. She also did not immediately develop a friendship with Rita, but after a sincere conversation, both girls saw themselves as good friends. They also did not immediately accept homely Galya into their “company”. Galya showed herself to be a good person who will not betray and will give her last piece of bread to her comrade. Having managed to keep Rita's secret, Galya became one of them.
Young Galya lived in an orphanage. She got to the front by deception. But wanting to help the Red Army, she boldly committed deception by lying about her age. Galya was very timid. From early childhood, deprived of maternal warmth and care, she made up stories about her mother, believing that she was not an orphan, that her mother would return and take her. Everyone laughed at these stories, and unfortunate Galya swallowed the pain and tried to come up with other stories to amuse others.
Passing through the swamp, Galya “drowned” her boot before reaching the shore. Vaskov gave her a “chunya” by tying spruce branches around her leg with ropes. However, Galya still caught a cold. Vaskov covered her with his cap and gave her alcohol to drink, in the hope that Gala would feel better by the morning. After Sonya's death, Vaskov orders her boots to be put on. Galya immediately objected, starting to come up with another story about a non-existent mother who works as a doctor and forbids removing shoes from a dead person. Rita cruelly cut her off, telling everyone that she was a foundling, and there was no trace of her mother. Zhenya stood up for Galya. During war, it is very important for everyone to stick together and not quarrel. It is necessary to stand for each other and value each one, because one of them may no longer exist tomorrow. Zhenya says: “We need to be free from anger now, otherwise we’ll become frantic like the Germans...”.
Gali's death can be called stupid. Succumbing to fright, she breaks away and runs screaming. A German bullet instantly overtakes her and Galya dies.
During her nineteen years, Rita Osyanina managed to be married and give birth to a son. By doing this, she aroused terrible envy on the part of her “colleagues.” Her husband died in the first days of the war. Rita herself became an anti-aircraft gunner, wanting to avenge her husband’s death. When we were on the road, Rita began to run away to the city at night to visit her son and sick mother, returning in the morning. One day that same morning, Rita came across those two unfortunate saboteurs who brought so much trouble and loss to the entire department.
Left with the three of us, Vaskov and Zhenya, it was necessary to stop the enemy in every possible way and prevent him from reaching the Kirov Railway. It was useless to wait for help; ammunition was running out. At this moment, the heroism of the remaining girls and foreman Vaskov manifests itself. Rita was wounded and gradually lost blood. Zhenya, with the last bullets, began to lead the Germans away from her wounded friend, giving Vaskov time to help Rita. Zhenya accepted a heroic death. She wasn't afraid to die. The last bullets ran out, but Zhenya did not lose her self-esteem and died with her head held high, not surrendering to the enemy. Her last words meant that by killing one soldier, even a girl, you would not kill the entire Soviet Union. Zhenya literally cursed before her death, laying out everything that hurt her.
Not the entire German detachment was defeated. Rita and Vaskov knew this very well. Rita felt that she was losing a lot of blood and that her strength was running out, asking Vaskov to take her son in and look after her mother. Then she admits to her nightly escapes from the location. What's the difference now? Rita clearly understood that death was inevitable, which is why she opened up to Vaskov. Rita could have survived, but why did she decide to commit suicide? Vaskov was left alone. Rita was wounded, moreover, she could not walk. Vaskov alone could have easily gotten out and brought help. But he would never leave a wounded soldier. And together with Rita, he will become an accessible target. Rita did not want to be a burden for him and decides to commit suicide, trying to help her elder. The death of Rita Osyanina is psychologically the most difficult moment of the story. B. Vasiliev very accurately conveys the state of a young twenty-year-old girl, perfectly aware that her wound is fatal and that nothing awaits her except torment. But at the same time, she was only concerned with one thought: she was thinking about her little son, realizing that her timid, sickly mother would hardly be able to raise her grandson. The strength of Fedot Vaskov is that he knows how to find the most precise words at the right moment, so you can trust him. And when he says: “Don’t worry, Rita, I understood everything,” it becomes clear that he will really never leave little Alik Osyanin, but will most likely adopt him and raise him as an honest man. The description of Rita Osyanina's death in the story takes only a few lines. At first a shot sounded quietly. “Rita shot in the temple, and there was almost no blood. Blue powder particles thickly surrounded the bullet hole, and for some reason Vaskov looked at them for a particularly long time. Then he took Rita aside and began to dig a hole in the place where she had been lying before.”
The subtext inherent in B. Vasiliev’s author’s style allows us to read between the lines that Vaskov kept his word, he adopted Rita’s son, who became a rocket captain, that all these years Vaskov remembered the dead girls and, most importantly, the respect of modern young people for military past. An unknown young man wanted to help carry the marble slab to the grave, but did not dare. I was afraid of hurting someone's sacred feelings. And as long as people on earth experience such respect for the fallen, there will be no war - this is the main meaning of the news “And the dawns here are quiet...”
It would seem how simple and everyday everything is, and how creepy this everydayness becomes. Such beautiful, young, absolutely healthy girls are disappearing into oblivion. This is the horror of war! That's why she shouldn't have a place on earth. In addition, B. Vasiliev emphasizes that someone needs to answer for the death of these girls, perhaps later, in the future. Sergeant Major Vaskov speaks about this simply and intelligibly: “As long as there is war, it’s understandable. And then, when will there be peace? Will it be clear why you had to die? Why didn’t I let these Krauts go further, why did I make such a decision? What to answer when they ask: why couldn’t you, men, protect our mothers from bullets? Why did you marry them with death, but you yourself remain intact?” After all, someone will have to answer these questions. But who? Perhaps all of us.
The tragedy and absurdity of what is happening is emphasized by the fabulous beauty of the Legontov monastery, located next to the lake. And here, amid death and blood, “there was a grave silence, there was already a ringing in my ears.” So, war is an unnatural phenomenon. War becomes doubly terrible when women die, because it is then, according to B. Vasiliev, that “the thread leading to the future breaks.” But the future, fortunately, turns out to be not only “eternal”, but also grateful. It is no coincidence that in the epilogue, a student who came to relax on Lake Legontovo wrote in a letter to a friend: “It turns out that they fought here, old man. We fought when we were not yet in the world... We found the grave - it is behind the river, in the forest... And the dawns here are quiet, I only saw it today. And pure, pure, like tears...” In B. Vasiliev’s story, the world triumphs. The girls’ feat has not been forgotten; their memory will be an eternal reminder that “war does not have a woman’s face.”
