““War does not have a woman’s face” (based on the novel of the same name by S. Alexievich). The problem of a woman's feat in war. (Unified State Examination in Russian) Whoever says that war is not scary knows nothing about war...

The novel of voices by S. Alexievich “War does not have a woman’s face” is studied. A comparative analysis of the context was carried out with the memoirs of Zoya Aleksandrovna Troitskaya, a participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, a resident of the city of Kamyshin before the events of the Great Patriotic War and now. It was revealed that the work reveals a new understanding of the problem of personality in literature, an in-depth interest in the inner world of a woman. The writer’s field of view is the mental state of a person who has undergone enormous upheavals, and it helps to comprehend what was happening to society as a whole. The facts of the biography of individual heroines merge into one complex life-intricacy. The conducted research allows us to come to the conclusion that the “novel of voices” can be called a synthetic biography, since it represents the process of a woman’s accumulation of experience belonging to an individual and an entire era; the author chose such eyewitness accounts that objectively speak about the subjective perception of terrible events of the war, allow us to create a holistic picture of what is happening.

eyewitness memories.

context

benchmarking

synthetic autobiography

1. Alexievich S. War does not have a woman’s face. – M.: Pravda, 1988. – 142 p.

2. Dictionary of the Russian language: in 4 volumes / ed. A.P. Evgenieva. – M., 1982. – T.2.

5. Popova Z.D. Language and national consciousness. Questions of theory and methodology / Z.D. Po-pova, I.A. Sternin. – Voronezh, 2002. – P.26.

Every year the events of the Great Patriotic War move away from us living today, and, thinking about what the Soviet people had to endure, you understand: each of them is a hero. In 1983, the book “War Doesn’t Have a Woman’s Face” was written. She spent two years in the publishing house. The censorship representatives did not accuse the journalist of anything. The novel of voices “War Has Not a Woman’s Face” was published in 1985. After this, the book was republished several times here and in other countries.

The purpose of this work is to study the work of Svetlana Alexievich “War does not have a woman’s face” in the aspect of consistency with the interpretation of the events of the Battle of Stalingrad from the point of view of other eyewitnesses. The research material was based on the memoirs of Zoya Aleksandrovna Troitskaya, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War.

Svetlana Alexievich dedicated her “novel of voices” to the exploits of Russian women. The author himself defines the genre of the work as documentary prose. The book is based on over 200 women's stories. This determines the relevance of the problem, since the work is evidence of an era that played a decisive role in the life of the country. The scientific novelty of the topic is due to the low degree of knowledge of the writer’s work.

The work can be called a synthetic biography, since it represents the process of a woman’s accumulation of experience belonging to an individual and an entire era.

“For four painful years I have been walking, burned by kilometers of other people’s pain and memory,” collecting stories of women front-line soldiers: doctors, snipers, pilots, shooters, tank crews. There was no specialty in the war that was not given to them. On the pages of his stories, Alexievich interviews the war participants themselves, so each one is a story of heroes. Those who fought and survived this war. Svetlana listened, noting: “Everything they have: both words and silence is a text for me.” Making notes in notebooks, Alexievich decided that she would not speculate, guess or add anything for the front-line soldiers. Let them talk...

Svetlana Alexievich tried to reduce a big story to one person in order to understand something. But even in the space of a single human soul, everything became not only less clear, but even more incomprehensible than in big history: “There cannot be one heart for hatred, and another for love. A person has only one.” And women are fragile, tender - are they really created for war?

With each chapter, with each story, you begin to think differently. Everything that surrounds us is little things. Another thing is important: to see your children happy, to hear them laugh. Falling asleep and waking up next to your loved one and knowing that he is nearby. See the sun, the sky, the peaceful sky.

The work reveals a new understanding of the problem of personality in literature, an in-depth interest in the inner world of a woman. In the author's field of view is the mental state of a person who has undergone enormous upheavals, and it helps to comprehend what was happening to society as a whole. The facts of the biography of individual heroines merge into one complex life-intricacy. Proof of which is a comparative analysis of the context with the memoirs of Zoya Aleksandrovna Troitskaya, a participant in the Battle of Stalingrad, a resident of the city of Kamyshin.

Zoya Aleksandrovna says that she decided to volunteer to go to the front: “At the military registration and enlistment office they gave me a tunic, belts and caps, and I had my own shoes. They immediately dressed us, took the bags that our parents had collected for us, and gathered in the park...” Let’s compare how the heroine of the novel of voices, Maria Ivanovna Morozova, talks about being sent to the front: “We came to the military registration and enlistment office, they immediately led us through one door and out the other: I braided such a beautiful braid, and left without it... Without a braid. .. They cut their hair like a soldier... And they took away the dress. I didn’t have time to give my mother either the dress or the braid. She really asked that she keep something from me, something of mine. They immediately dressed us in tunics and caps, gave us duffel bags, and loaded us onto a freight train on straw. But the straw was fresh, it still smelled like the field.”

“We started saying goodbye, the ferry arrived, we were all herded there. Our parents remained on the steep bank. And we swam to the other side. We were transported to the other side. And we walked along this left bank all the way to Krasny Yar. This is just the village opposite Stalingrad” (according to the memoirs of Z. Troitskaya).

In the book, S. Alexievich continues the story with the heroine Elena Ivanovna Babina: “From Kamyshin, where we took the oath, we marched on foot along the left bank of the Volga all the way to Kapustin Yar. The reserve regiment was stationed there." Dry parts. Comparing the memories of Z. Troitskaya with the events of the novel of voices, we understand that the author, despite numerous reproaches from critics, in this case softens the difficulties of the moment of transition: “Our junk, our bags were carried on oxen, because the horses were at the front at that time. And this was our first test, because many were wearing different shoes, not everyone had boots: some had boots, some had felt boots, galoshes. Many feet were chafed. Someone fell behind us, someone drove ahead in a car. Well, in general, we got there - we walked twenty kilometers. And so in Kapusny Yar some were sent to Rodimtsev, and some were sent to the 138th division. Lyudnikov was commanded there by Ivan Ilyich.”

The girls were trained in just a few days. “In Krasny Yar we studied communications for ten days. Rima was a radio operator, and Valya, I and Zina became telephone operators” (according to Troitskaya’s memoirs). Alexievich chooses the memoirs of Maria Ivanovna Morozova, which absorb all the details of entering military life: “They began to study. We studied regulations, ... camouflage on the ground, chemical protection. ... With our eyes closed, we learned to assemble and disassemble a “sniper gun,” determine wind speed, target movement, distance to the target, dig cells, and crawl on our bellies.”

Each had their own first meeting with death, but one thing unites them: the fear that then settles in the heart forever, that your life can easily be cut short: “I had a curious incident - my first, so to speak, meeting with a German. We went to the Volga for water: they made an ice hole there. Run quite far after the bowlers. It was my turn. I ran, and here the shelling with tracer bullets began. It was scary, of course, there was a rumble here. I got halfway, and there was a bomb crater. The shelling began. I jumped there, and there was a dead German there, so I jumped out of the crater. I forgot about water. Run quickly” (according to Troitskaya’s memoirs).

Let’s compare with the memories of ordinary signal operator Nina Alekseevna Semenova: “We arrived at Stalingrad... There were mortal battles there. The deadliest place... The water and the ground were red... And now we need to cross from one bank of the Volga to the other. ... They wanted to leave me in reserve, but I made such a roar... In the first battle, the officers pushed me off the parapet, I stuck my head out to see everything for myself. There was some kind of curiosity, childish curiosity... Naive! The commander shouts: “Private Semenova! Private Semenova, you’re crazy! Such a mother... She’ll kill you!” I couldn’t understand this: how could this kill me if I had just arrived at the front? I didn’t yet know how ordinary and indiscriminate death was. You can’t beg her, you can’t persuade her. They transported the people's militia in old lorries. Old men and boys. They were given two grenades and sent into battle without a rifle; the rifle had to be obtained in battle. After the battle there was no one to bandage... All were killed...”

Klavdia Grigorievna Krokhina, senior sergeant, sniper: “We are lying down, and I am watching. 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?..”

Overcoming themselves, they brought Victory closer, the road to which began from Stalingrad: “At this time, the surrender of the Germans was being prepared, ultimatums were presented, and our banners began to be displayed, erected on the ruins of a department store. The commander has arrived - Chuikov. I started traveling around the division. And on February 2 they held a rally and danced, sang, and hugged, and shouted, and shot, and kissed, oh, and the guys drank vodka. Of course, we didn't drink much, but the point is that it was all a piece of victory. This was already the hope that the Germans would not go, as they planned, to the Urals. We had faith in victory, in the fact that we would win” (Troitskaya). And every participant in the war has the same feeling: “I only remember one thing: they shouted - victory! There was a cry all day... Victory! Victory! Brothers! We won... And we were happy! Happy!!” .

There are lines from the author in the book that she was no longer worried about the description of military operations, but about a person’s life in war, every little detail of everyday life. After all, these untrained girls were ready for a feat, but not for life in war. Did they really imagine that they would have to wrap up foot wraps, wear boots two or three sizes too big, crawl on their bellies, dig trenches...

The women in this book are strong, courageous, honest, but above all, they need peace. How much I had to overcome, how difficult it is to continue my life’s path with these memories. We are sincerely proud of everyone about whom this work is about and about whom books have not been written. The conducted research allows us to come to the conclusion that the “novel of voices” can be called a synthetic biography, since it represents the process of a woman’s accumulation of experience belonging to an individual and an entire era; the author chose eyewitness accounts that objectively speak about the subjective perception of the terrible events of the war , allow you to create a holistic picture of what is happening.

Brysina E.V., Doctor of Philology, Professor, Head of the Department of General and Slavic-Russian Linguistics, Volgograd Social and Pedagogical University, Volgograd;

Aleshchenko E.I., Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of General and Slavic-Russian Linguistics, Volgograd Social Pedagogical University, Volgograd

Bibliographic link

A woman for me is the embodiment of the harmony of life. And war is always disharmony. And a woman in war is the most incredible, incompatible combination of phenomena.

War is a terrible word because it brings death, grief, and suffering. We associate war with men,

With soldiers. Everything we know about a woman is best “fitted” into the word “mercy.” There are other words: sister, wife, and the highest - mother. A woman gives life, a woman protects life, woman and life are synonymous words. In the most terrible war of the twentieth century, a woman had to become a soldier. She not only saved and bandaged the wounded, but also shot, bombed, and went on reconnaissance missions. The woman killed. But this is not a woman’s lot. One of the women who reached Berlin will sign on the walls of the defeated Reichstag: “I, Sofya Kuntsevich, came to Berlin to kill the war.” Fortunately, we know about the war only from the stories of veterans, from books and films.

When you start reading B. Vasiliev’s story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet.”, you don’t even imagine such a tragic ending. The work is based on a small, very insignificant episode in the scale of the Great Patriotic War, but it is told in such a way that it reflects the entire tragedy of the past war. The heroines of the story are Rita Osyanina, Zhenya Komelkova, Lisa Brichkina, Galya Chetvertak, Sonya Gurvich. Five girls who did not want war and did not think about death. But life had other plans.

When you read the story, you feel pain for the dead girls. None of them managed to realize their dreams. They gave their lives so that “the dawns would be quiet,” so that we, the current generation of girls and boys, could live happily. Reading the story, you begin to understand how scary and terrible it is to die at twenty years old. All aspirations and dreams end on a piece of lead, a knife blade, in a swamp. The girls behaved heroically. Of course they were scared. Let us remember the words of Yulia Drunina: “Whoever says that war is not scary knows nothing about war.” Five girls, together with their commander, Sergeant Major Vaskov, crossed the swamp and did not lose heart at the first meeting with the Germans. They acted with extraordinary caution and were very resourceful.

Everyone probably remembers the episode when a small detachment of anti-aircraft gunners led by Vaskov, in order to deceive the Nazis and force them to take a long road around the river, made a noise in the forest, pretending to be lumberjacks. I admire the desperate courage, dedication, and willpower of Zhenya Komelkova, who rushed to swim in the icy water. It's a shame for the ridiculous death of Sonya Gurvich and Gali Chetvertak. But they can be understood: they are young, confused, defenseless girls who were not ready for war.

Many works have been written about the war, but the story “The Dawns Here Are Quiet.” - an unusual work, perhaps because B. Vasiliev was able to show an unusual facet of war, which is perceived with particular pain. He showed young girls who defeated war and death. Zhenya Komelkova and Rita Osyanina, Lisa Brichkina and Galya Chetvertak, Sonya Gurvich will forever remain young for us, just as all women front-line soldiers will be forever young.

And never believe that women were not afraid, that they did not want to love, did not want to be gentle wives, caring mothers. Their love and youth were taken away by the war. It became a school of life for them. Yulia Drunina, who went through the war, will say this about her youth:

I don’t know where I learned tenderness, -

Don't ask me about this.

Soldiers' graves are growing in the steppe,

My youth is wearing an overcoat.

Woman and war are incompatible concepts, because a woman is the keeper of the hearth, she brings goodness with her. creation, and war is destruction and evil.

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 only possible 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. Lisa 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.

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, Zhenechka, 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. I was worried about my 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 it 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.

Zhenya! 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.

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 cite 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.”