Problems of the story the fate of a person. Essay “The problem of moral choice in Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of Man”
The story "The Fate of Man" was written in 1956. He was immediately noticed and received many critical and reader responses. It is based on a real case. The writer dared to taboo topic: Russian man in captivity. Should I forgive it or accept it? Some wrote about the “rehabilitation” of prisoners, others saw lies in the story. The story is structured in the form of a confession. The fate of Andrei Sokolov before the war was quite typical. Work, family. Sokolov is a builder, a man of a peaceful profession. The war ruins Sokolov’s life, as well as the life of the entire country. A person becomes one of the fighters, part of the army. At the first moment, Sokolov almost dissolves in the general mass, and Sokolov later remembers this temporary retreat from humanity from the very beginning. acute pain. For the hero, the whole war, the whole path of humiliation, trials, camps is a struggle between man and the inhuman machine with which he faces.
Camp for Sokolov - test for human dignity. There he kills a man for the first time, not a German, but a Russian, with the words: “What kind of guy is he?” This is a test of the loss of “one’s own.” The attempt to escape is unsuccessful, since it is impossible to escape from the power of the machine in this way. The climax of the story is the scene in the commandant's room. Sokolov behaves defiantly, like a person for whom the highest good is death. And the power of the human spirit wins. Sokolov remains alive.
After this, fate sends another test, which Sokolov withstands: without betraying the honor of a Russian soldier in the commandant’s office, he does not lose his dignity in front of his comrades. “How are we going to share the food?” - asks my neighbor on the bunk, and his voice is trembling. “Equal share for everyone,” I tell him. We waited for dawn. Bread and lard were cut harsh thread. Everyone got a piece of bread the size of a matchbox, every crumb was taken into account, and the lard, you know, was just to anoint your lips. However, they divided it without offense."
After escaping, Andrei Sokolov ends up not in a camp, but in a rifle unit. And here is another test - the news of the death of his wife Irina and daughters. And on May 9, Victory Day, Sokolov loses his son. The most that fate gives him is to see his dead son before burying him in a foreign land. And yet, Sokolov retains his human dignity, despite any trials. This is Sholokhov’s idea.
In the first post-war year, Andrei Sokolov returns to his peaceful profession and accidentally meets little boy Vanya. The hero of the story has a goal, a person appears for whom life is worth living. And Vanya is drawn to Sokolov and finds a father in him. This is how Sholokhov introduces the theme of human renewal after the war. In the story “The Fate of Man,” ideas about the great hatred of peaceful Soviet people for the war, for the Nazis “for all that they caused to the Motherland” were developed, and, at the same time, about great love to the Motherland, to the people, which is kept in the hearts of soldiers. Sholokhov shows the beauty of the soul and the strength of character of the Russian person.
- New!
Many writers and poets dedicated their works to the Great Patriotic War. Among them you can find such names as Tvardovsky, Simonov, Vasiliev, Bykov and Astafiev. Mikhail Sholokhov’s work “The Fate of Man” is also connected with this topic, in which...
Enemies burned his home and destroyed his entire family. Where should the soldier go now, to whom to carry his sorrow? M. V. Isakovsky “The Fate of a Man” is a story about how a man conquered his fate, and a child became a symbol of this victory. At the front and in the German...
About the beauty of the soul Soviet man says in M. Sholokhov's story "SCh", in which the hero managed to rise above his personal tragic fate and with life, in the name of life, to overcome death. Andrey Sokolov talks about his life, which was full...
In this story, Sholokhov depicted the fate of an ordinary Soviet person who went through the war, captivity, who experienced a lot of pain, hardships, losses, deprivations, but was not broken by them and managed to maintain the warmth of his soul. For the first time we meet the main character Andrei Sokolov...
1. Human choice.
2. The position of the main character.
3. Nobility and generosity.
Russian writers have always paid great attention to the problem moral choice person. In extreme situations, a person shows his true qualities, commits definite choice. This confirms the right to be called a Human.
The main character of Sholokhov's story “The Fate of a Man” is a simple Russian man. He had a hard time in his youth; he took part in the Civil War, then started a family, built his life, tried to make his family and children happy. The war forced him to give up his hopes today. The need to defend their homeland with arms in hand was perceived by Andrei Sokolov as something self-evident. The main character makes his choice and goes to defend the country. He simply had no other way. Andrey stoically endures all the troubles that befall him. The words can be said about his position: “That’s why you’re a man, that’s why you’re a soldier, to endure everything, to endure everything, if need calls for it.” There can be no impossible tasks for a warrior. In difficult situations, a willingness to die in the name of a high goal is manifested. Andrei Sokolov had to bring the shells, despite the fact that the path was very dangerous. Andrey's moral choice is to agree to complete the task. “My comrades may be dying there, but I’ll be sick here”; “What a conversation!”; “I have to rush through and that’s it!” The risky trip turned out to be the reason that Andrei was captured. Any fighter in war is internally prepared for the fact that death can await him at any moment. Andrey is no exception. However, internal reconciliation with possible death has nothing to do with the situation of captivity.
In captivity, a person can easily lose his dignity. Someone is thinking about how to save their life. The episode in the church, when Andrei Sokolov kills the traitor Kryzhnev, has great value. Here again the problem of the moral choice of the protagonist appears. The death of a traitor is the key to the salvation of other people. The laws of war are inexorable, and Andrei understands this very well. However, after the murder, he still worries about what he did. And he reassures himself that the traitor does not deserve a different fate.
The conditions of captivity, and especially fascist captivity, are the most severe test that a person can face. The moral choice in such conditions is the opportunity to preserve one’s honor, not to act against one’s conscience, and to endure all the hardships and adversities with steadfastness. Andrey succeeds. It will be difficult for him to remember what he had to endure. However, now these memories have become a part of his life: “It’s hard for me, brother, to remember, and even harder to talk about what I experienced in captivity. When you remember the inhuman torment that you had to endure there in Germany, when you remember all the friends and comrades who died and were tortured there in the camps, your heart is no longer in your chest, but in your throat, and it becomes difficult to breathe,” these are the words of the main The hero is shown in the best possible way by his attitude to the past, which hides the hardships and torments of fascist captivity. However, even in these words one can feel the strength of character that distinguishes Andrei Sokolov. The episode when Andrei refuses to drink German weapons to the victory again shows us an example of a person’s moral choice. The Russian prisoner of war had absolutely nothing to lose.
He had already prepared for death; execution seemed inevitable to him. However, the very idea that one could drink to an enemy victory was unthinkable for Sokolov. Here he again passed the test with honor. A mortally hungry man refuses food, because he does not want to bring joy to the fascists: “I wanted to show them, damned, that although I am disappearing from hunger, I am not going to choke on their handouts, that I have my own, Russian dignity and pride and that they didn’t turn me into a beast, no matter how hard they tried.”
Even the Nazis appreciated the fortitude and dignity of the prisoner. Andrei was saved from imminent death, and even received a loaf of bread and a piece of lard as a “gift”. And again we can say that Sholokhov’s hero is a highly moral person, because he shares the pitiful crumbs of food with his comrades, despite the fact that he is practically dying of hunger. Andrei's moral choice is to decide to escape from captivity, to bring his German major with documents. Not everyone can decide to do this either. Sokolov has enough strength not to think about the immediate preservation of his life.
However, captivity was far from the last test in Andrei’s life. The death of his wife, daughters, and as the final chord of the war - the death of the eldest son-officer - these are terrible trials. But even after this, Andrei finds the strength to take a noble step - to give the warmth of his heart to a little street boy. Andrey is ready to work for the good of the Motherland, ready to raise his adopted child. This also reveals the spiritual greatness of the main character of Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man.”
Story by M.A. Sholokhov’s “The Fate of Man” was written in the 1950s. The genre of this work is transitional. A small volume and an episode as a plot basis are characteristic of the story. However, the scale of the conflict in which the hero becomes a participant turns the short story about an incident that happened with “two orphaned people” into a story about a “Russian man... of unbending will” who withstood a “military hurricane of unprecedented force.”
The humanistic idea is already stated in the title of the work. The author focused on the character and fate of the one who was able to remain human under inhuman conditions and preserve a soul capable of love and compassion. The war in the story is not only described through the eyes of an eyewitness and participant, but is also shown as the destruction of life itself (the image of an insulted, ruined childhood).
The events in “The Fate of Man” take place “in the first post-war spring on the Upper Don.” The narrator, trying to get to the village of Bukanovskaya, remains on the pier for two hours waiting for his companions. There he meets a “strange” couple - “a tall, stooped man” and “a little boy, judging by his height, about five or six years old, no more.” From the words of the “random interlocutor” it turns out that he is a former “truck driver”, a participant in the war. From the very beginning, the boy’s father makes him want to “ask where he is going with the child, what need is driving him into such muddy times.” When the narrator “looked at him” more closely, he begins to feel “something uneasy” from the man’s eyes, “as if sprinkled with ashes, filled with such an inescapable mortal melancholy that it is difficult to look into them.”
There is something unusual about this hero, attracting attention, causing surprise even in the narrator, who went through almost the entire war. This explains the narrator’s special interest (“...I have completely turned into a rumor”) in the confession of “a native of the Voronezh province” Andrei Sokolov.
The narration of the hero's life uses the form of a tale. Sokolov tells his biography himself. His story is a journey from one suffering to another. The hero survived civil war, the only one of the entire family who survived the famine of 1922 (“Rodney... not a single soul”). But life went on. The hero gets a wife (“Quiet, cheerful, obsequious and smart...”), children (“First a little son was born, a year later two more girls...”), a house (“In ten years we saved up a little money and before the war we built a little house for ourselves... ").
Life seemed to be getting better, but the war ruins everything. “On the third day” Andrei Sokolov leaves home, accompanied by his “orphaned” children and his wife, sobbing from the premonition of eternal separation. At first, her tears are perceived by Sokolov as harbingers of his own death (“Why are you burying me alive ahead of time?!”), and only three years later he learns what “then a woman’s heart told her” the terrible truth about herself. She and her daughters were killed by a direct bomb hit on their home, “awkwardly” built “near an aircraft factory.”
For four years, the hero had to experience all the hardships of the war. He was wounded twice, the third time, severely shell-shocked, he was captured, where death awaited him at every step. The hero was miraculously not shot by “six machine gunners” who noticed a wounded Russian soldier in the field: “...a corporal...older” decided that it was better to send the prisoner “to work for...the Reich.” Then he was detained for attempting to escape, beaten, poisoned with dogs (“Naked, covered in blood, and brought to the camp. I spent a month in a punishment cell for escaping, but still alive... I remained alive”).
For the “bitter words” that “four cubic meters of production is a lot, ... but one cubic meter through the eyes is enough for the grave of each of us,” Lagerführer Müller wants to shoot Sokolova. But even here the hero is saved by the will to live.
In 1944, Andrei Sokolov turns out to be a driver for a “German engineer.” Escape from captivity does not complete his series of trials. For a short time joy flashed in life when a son was found, over the past years became an artillery officer. But Anatoly dies on the last day of the war, “and something broke” in his father’s soul. His existence has lost its meaning.
However, six months pass, and life is reborn. The hero takes “as his children” the little orphan Vanyushka, whom he accidentally met “near the tea shop.” His heart, hardened by grief, “moves away,” his soul becomes joyful, “light and somehow bright.” The hero has a desire for the future.
Andrei Sokolov’s story evokes not only “heavy sadness,” but also admiration for the “unbending will” of the Russian man.
Thus, the story shows the will and character of the Russian person. He overcomes mortal dangers, deep internal crises caused by the loss of family and friends, always maintaining presence of mind (“The lieutenant colonel came up to me and quietly said: “Courage, father! Your son... was killed today...” I swayed, but stayed on my feet”) , dignity and pride, open kind heart.
The finale of the work is addressed to the future, “towards the eternal affirmation of the living in life,” personified by Vanyusha’s “little hand” waving from afar. Summing up the test of Russian character in the wars and troubles of the 20th century, the author anticipates “great achievements” new spring in the life of Russia.
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov wrote the work “The Fate of Man” in 1956. It is, in fact, a summary of the story that the writer heard at the front. This is the first story that deeply touches on the problem of soldiers who were captured by the German occupiers. In short, this story tells about human sorrows, losses and at the same time hope for another life, faith in man. In this article we will look at brief analysis"The Fate of Man" by Sholokhov.
The main character of the story
The plot of the story and its main topic structured like a confession. The main character's name is Andrei Sokolov, he is a simple hard worker who worked on a collective farm in pre-war times. Sokolov's life is calm and measured, he feeds his family and lives like many others. But everything changes dramatically, because the Nazis attack.
Everyone at that time considers it his duty to go to the front to protect native land from the aggressor, Andrei Sokolov is no exception. During the analysis of “The Fate of Man,” it becomes clear that Sholokhov does not want to present Sokolov as a hero to readers and elevate him to some kind of special status. However, his example is an opportunity to show what is happening in the souls of all Russian people; the life of the main character is the fate of the people. Sholokhov tries to evoke in the reader a sense of pride in the courage, endurance and willpower that were shown in Hard times war.
Characteristics of Andrey Sokolov
It is impossible to analyze the story “The Fate of a Man” by Sholokhov without characterizing the main character. Following Sokolov's story, we notice words that convey notes of true Russian character. There are many proverbs in his speech. Although Andrey is not highly literate, because he is a simple worker, and his expressions often contain simple or incorrect figures of speech, this is not the main thing.
The characterization of Andrei Sokolov shows that he a real man, he loves his family. Sholokhov portrays his main character in all colors, because you can read how he, a simple soldier, felt the full burden of wartime, you can also learn about how he visited German captivity. A lot happened in Sokolov’s fate: he encountered betrayal and cowardice, soldier’s friendship and like-mindedness. Sokolov even had to commit murder. This was during captivity, when a captured soldier was going to betray his commander by handing him over to the Germans. Next came an acquaintance with the doctor. He was also captured, but showed unprecedented courage and human compassion.
conclusions
To do accurate analysis story “The Fate of Man” by Sholokhov, we recommend that you definitely read this work, at least its brief content. Of course, it seems that the events that occurred in the life of Andrei Sokolov, whose description you could read above, are not special and it is difficult to call his actions feats. But this was Sholokhov’s idea.
Yes, main character received several minor wounds and did what many did at that time, but the episodes of Sokolov’s life clearly show how courage, willpower, pride, love for his country and other outstanding qualities manifested themselves. And this is a feat, what everyone must do - go through everything, remain human, live on and work for the benefit of others. This was evident in Andrei Sokolov’s characterization.
The problem of a person’s moral choice has always been especially significant in Russian literature. It is in difficult situations, making one or another moral choice, that a person truly reveals his true nature. moral qualities, showing how worthy he is of the title of Man.
Story by M.A. Sholokhov’s “The Fate of Man” was written in 1956 - at the beginning of the “thaw”, a complex, transitional historical period. It is dedicated to the recent events of the Great Patriotic War and post-war years and represents a narrative common man, driver Andrei Sokolov about his life. In this simple story - typical story thousands of people: in his youth he worked as a laborer, fought in the Civil War, worked at a factory, started a family, built a house. The war destroyed all his peaceful happiness: his family died, his eldest son, an officer, was killed. All this is usual for that time, as usual, that, like thousands of other people, for Andrei Sokolov in this situation there was the only possible moral choice: to courageously defend his Motherland. “That’s why you’re a man, that’s why you’re a soldier, to endure everything, to endure everything, if need calls for it,” he says to his interlocutor. When the artillerymen need to deliver shells and the commander asks Sokolov if he will get through, Andrei cannot even have a doubt about this: “I have to get through, and that’s it!” He is not used to thinking about himself; he first of all thinks about his dying comrades. But shell shock and captivity put him in completely new, unusual conditions for him. He is ready for death, and for him it is more important not to lose his dignity, to remain a person faithful to the moral law of his own conscience. It is not easy for him to make the decision to kill a traitor who is ready to betray his commander. But he cannot live by the principle “your shirt is closer to your body,” and in order to save the skinny boy commander, Sokolov strangled the traitor with his own hands. He experiences this event: “For the first time in my life I killed, and then my own... But what is he like? He’s worse than a stranger, a traitor.” The situation of moral choice is resolved by the hero according to the laws socialist realism: by the death of the traitor, prevent the death of many honest people.
The main moral choice of the hero in captivity was the same: not to collude with enemies, not to betray his comrades for a piece of bread, to bravely endure torture and humiliation. Someone less resistant in spirit denounced Andrei for a carelessly spoken phrase, and, summoned to the camp commandant, Sokolov prepared to fearlessly accept death, “so that my enemies would not see at my last minute that it was still difficult for me to part with life...”. Refusing to drink “for the victory of German weapons,” Andrei Sokolov agrees to drink “for his death and deliverance from torment,” proudly refusing the snack. It was important for him to show “that although I am disappearing from hunger, I am not going to choke on their handouts, that I have my own, Russian dignity and pride, and that they did not turn me into a beast, no matter how hard they tried.” And even his enemy appreciated his dignity, letting Sokolov go to the barracks in peace and giving him bread and lard. Dividing the “grub” among everyone is also the moral choice of the hero, who remains true to his concepts of honor, justice, and collectivism.
Andrei Sokolov still has a lot to endure - escape from captivity, news of the death of his family, the death of his son - “exactly on the ninth of May, in the morning, on Victory Day.” Such blows of fate can break any person no less persistent than Andrei Sokolov. Having been demobilized, he works as a driver, drinking “one hundred grams a day” after a flight. But he doesn’t drink himself to death, doesn’t complain about his fate - the hero finds the strength in himself to pick up an orphan boy and adopt him. This is also the moral choice of Andrei Sokolov - to find in himself generosity and take responsibility for little man dispossessed by the war. And the author believes that, a man of strong will, with a kind and courageous heart, Andrei Sokolov will be able to raise a person with the same moral criteria as his, a person “who, having matured, will be able to endure everything, overcome everything on his way, if His homeland will call him to this.”
