(446 words)

The main character of the novel is M.A. Sholokhov is the Don Cossack Grigory Melekhov. We see how dramatically the fate of Gregory develops on one of the most controversial and bloody pages of our history.

But the novel begins long before these events. First, we are introduced to the life and customs of the Cossacks. In this time of peace, Gregory lives a calm life, not caring about anything. However, at the same time, the hero’s first mental turning point occurs, when, after a stormy romance with Aksinya, Grishka realizes the importance of family and returns to his wife Natalya. A little later, the First World War begins, in which Gregory takes an active part, receiving many awards. But Melekhov himself is disappointed in the war, in which he saw only dirt, blood and death, and with this comes disappointment in the imperial power, which sends thousands of people to their deaths. In this regard, the main character falls under the influence of the ideas of communism, and already in the seventeenth year he takes the side of the Bolsheviks, believing that they will be able to build a new, just society.

However, almost immediately, when the Red commander Podtelkov carries out a bloody massacre of the captured White Guards, disappointment sets in. For Gregory, this becomes a terrible blow; in his opinion, it is impossible to fight for a better future while committing cruelty and injustice. Melekhov’s innate sense of justice repels him from the Bolsheviks. Returning home, he wants to take care of his family and housekeeping. But life does not give him this chance. His native village supports the white movement, and Melekhov follows them. The death of his brother at the hands of the Reds only fuels the hero’s hatred. But when Podtelkov’s surrendered detachment is mercilessly exterminated, Grigory cannot accept such cold-blooded destruction of his neighbor.

Soon, the Cossacks, dissatisfied with the White Guards, including Grigory, deserted and let the Red Army soldiers pass through their positions. Tired of war and murder, the hero hopes that they will leave him alone. However, the Red Army soldiers begin to commit robbery and murder, and the hero, in order to protect his home and family, joins the separatist uprising. It was during this period that Melekhov fought most zealously and did not torment himself with doubts. He is supported by the knowledge that he is protecting his loved ones. When the Don separatists unite with the white movement, Grigory again experiences disappointment.

In the final, Melekhov finally goes over to the Red side. Hoping to earn forgiveness and a chance to return home, he fights without sparing himself. During the war he lost his brother, wife, father and mother. All he has left are his children, and he just wants to return to them so he can forget about the fight and never take up arms. Unfortunately this is not possible. For those around him, Melekhov is a traitor. Suspicion turns into outright hostility, and soon the Soviet government begins a real hunt for Gregory. During the flight, his still beloved Aksinya dies. After wandering around the steppe, the main character, aged and gray, finally loses heart and returns to his native farm. He has resigned himself, but wishes to see his son perhaps one last time before accepting his sad fate.

Quoted description of Grigory Melekhov from the novel “Quiet Don”

At the beginning of the novel "Quiet Don" Gregory is a cheerful, lively, mischievous guy:

“Youthfully round and thin neck, carefree lips, constantly smiling”

In Gregory’s veins flows the blood of a Turkish grandmother, whom his grandfather married, contrary to the opinion of all the villagers. He also inherited the cool temperament of his grandfather and father:

“Gregory walked, holding onto the front chair on which his brother was sitting; frowned. From the lower jaw, obliquely to the cheekbones, the nodules rolled, trembling. Petro knew: this was a sure sign that Gregory was seething and ready for any reckless act.

Human feelings are not subject to social rules. A deafening passion for his married neighbor Aksinya overwhelms the guy:

So extraordinary and obvious was their crazy connection, so frantically they burned with one shameless flame, people without conscience and without hiding, losing weight and blackening their faces in front of their neighbors, that now for some reason people were ashamed to look at them when they met.”

Gregory’s comrades, who had previously mocked him about his connection with Aksinya, were now silent, having gathered together, and felt awkward and tied up in Gregory’s company. The women, jealous in their hearts, judged Aksinya, gloated in anticipation of Stepan's arrival, and languished, consumed by curiosity. At the denouement, their assumptions trailed.

“If Gregory had gone to the wicked Aksinya, pretending to be hiding from people, if the wicked Aksinya had lived with Gregory, keeping it in relative secrecy, and at the same time not shunned others, then there would have been nothing unusual in this, lashing the eyes"

At some point, Grigory ends the relationship, fulfills his father’s will and marries a young girl, Natalya. However, the marriage does not turn out to be happy, the son blames his father for this and again shows his rebellious character, takes Aksinya and leaves his father’s farm:

“Grigory pulled at the sleeve of a sheepskin coat thrown on the bed, flaring his nostrils, trembling in the same seething anger as his father. One blood, flavored with a Turkish admixture, flowed into them, and they were miraculously similar at that moment.”

Dexterous and brave, a born warrior, Grigory ends up on the front of the First World War, where he manages to distinguish himself and show his young prowess. Of course, the Cossacks were raised to be real fighters, in the spirit of serving the Tsar. However, it soon becomes clear that war and murder change a person, and not for the better:

“Grigory firmly guarded the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, acted extravagantly, went disguised to the rear of the Austrians, removed outposts without bloodshed, performed horseback riding as a Cossack and felt that the pain for a person that oppressed him in the first days of the war was gone forever. The heart became coarse, hardened, like a salt marsh in a drought, and just as a salt marsh does not absorb water, so Gregory’s heart did not absorb pity. With cold contempt he played with other people's and his own life; That’s why he was known as brave - he won four St. George’s crosses and four medals. At rare parades he stood at the regimental banner, covered in the gunpowder smoke of many wars; but he knew that he would no longer laugh as before; he knew that his eyes were sunken and his cheekbones were sticking out sharply; he knew that it was difficult for him, when kissing a child, to look openly into clear eyes; Gregory knew what price he paid for a full bow of crosses and production.”

Relations with Aksinya are deteriorating:

“There was a chill in the letters...” Returning home, where his little daughter died during his absence, Grigory learns that Aksinya is the mistress of the master's son. Having hit her with a whip in anger, he returns to his wife, but for many years he remembers his lost beloved:

“Lying here on the hill, for some reason he remembered that night when he walked from the Nizhne-Yablonovsky farm to Yagodnoye to Aksinya; with a cutting pain I remembered her too. Memory has sculpted obscure, infinitely dear and alien lines of the face, erased by time. With his heart suddenly beating, he tried to restore it to the way he had last seen it, distorted in pain, with the crimson mark of a whip on his cheek, but memory persistently suggested another face, slightly tilted to one side, smiling triumphantly. Here she turns her head, mischievously and lovingly, from underneath her fiery black eyes reek, something unspeakably affectionate, her viciously greedy red lips whisper something hot, and slowly looks away, turns away, there are two large fluffy curls on her dark neck. .. he once loved to kiss them so much...”

A civil war begins, Grigory takes the side of the Reds, but after the brutal senseless execution of prisoners he goes over to the side of the White Cossacks, differs there too:

“It began to seem that truth no longer existed in the world and, embittered to the brink, he thought: everyone has their own truth, their own furrow. People have always fought for a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life... We must fight with those who want to take away life, the right to it, we must fight hard, without swinging - as if in a wall - but the intensity of hatred, the firmness will be given by the fight ... "

Grigory, without leaving his wife, gets along with Aksinya too:

“Love! Unforgettable!

Over time, Grigory Melekhov becomes embittered and cruel. His father is angry with him:

“Hero, white officer, true eagle, division commander, honored, all over the place, and not a single one can be touched.”

Gregory himself understands this and says to his wife:

"Ha! Conscience! I forgot to think about her! What kind of conscience is there when all life has been stolen! You kill people... It’s unknown why all this mess... I smeared myself so much on other people’s blood that I no longer had any regrets left for anyone. I almost don’t regret my childhood, but I don’t even think about myself. The war took everything out of me. I myself became scary. Look into my soul, and there’s blackness there, like in an empty well...”

Soon, seeing the death of friends and loved ones, Gregory begins to lose interest in the war. He, like other officers, drinks, seeing the stupidity and senselessness of the murders. He is drawn to peaceful work:

“when he imagined how he would prepare harrows and carts for spring, weave a manger out of redwood, and when the earth undressed and dried out, he would go out into the steppe: holding the chapigs with his hands, bored with work; will follow the plow, feeling its living beating and jolts; imagining how it would be to inhale the sweet spirit of young grass and black soil raised by ploughshares, which had not yet lost the fresh aroma of snow dampness, my soul warmed. I wanted to clean up the cattle, throw the hay, breathe in the withered smell of sweet clover, wheatgrass, and the spicy aroma of manure. I wanted peace and silence, - that’s why the shy joy and shore in Grigory’s stern eyes, looking around: at the horses, at the steep, sheepskin-covered back of his father. The fatigue acquired during the war also broke him. I wanted to turn away from everything seething with hatred, hostile and incomprehensible world. There, behind, everything was confused and contradictory. It was difficult to find the right path; as if in a muddy road, the soil began to clog under your feet, the path became fragmented, and there was no certainty whether it was going along the right one...”

At the end of the novel, only his sister and son remain among Gregory’s close people. From the officers he falls into enemies, persecuted by the new government, But he still holds on in this world:

“A large, courageous Cossack who has lived and experienced a lot with tired squinting eyes, with the reddish tips of a black mustache, with premature gray hair at the temples and hard wrinkles on the forehead - ineradicable traces of the hardships experienced during the war years.”

Appearance description Grigory Melekhov: “...hump-nosed, wildly handsome Cossacks Melekhovs...” “... handsome in appearance...” “... to a black, affectionate guy...” “... the youngest, Grigory, like his father poper: half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same as his father’s, a drooping kite nose, slightly slanted slits with blue almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown, ruddy skin. Grigory was stooped in the same way as his father. even in their smile they both had something in common, a beastly quality...” “...What the hell, not particularly tall...” the gray-haired doctor purred...” “... the brown skin of his high-cheekbone face...” “... the only good thing is that he is black, like a gypsy..." "...Gregory blinded her with the whiteness of his wolf teeth..." "...on his forehead, hair jumped in black tangled bangs..." "...on his thrown back Grigory's head has curls as hard as horsehair..." "... Grishka's stubborn, callous hands..." "... looks at his beautiful cartilaginous nose..." "... kisses his face, neck, arms, tough curly black growth on his chest..." "...his strong legs, confidently trampling the ground..." "...His dark body shone the color of languid oak. He was embarrassed, looking at his legs, thickly covered with black hair..." "... Bandit face... Very wild..." "... Pervert! From the East, probably..." Grigory's eyes: "...in slightly slanted slits there are blue almonds of hot eyes..." "... Grishka's black eyes..." "... opens his hot, non-Russian eyes.. "...Imagine, the sovereign sees such a face, what then? He has only eyes..."

Appearance of Gregory in the service of the master before the war of 1914:"... His easy, well-fed life spoiled him. He became lazy, got fat, looked older than his years..."

Gregory's appearance during the war in 1914: "...He has noticeably lost weight, lost weight..." "...furrow<...>darkened, flowing obliquely across the forehead, unfamiliar..." (Grigory has a wrinkle on his face from mental suffering) "...Grigory, in a hurry, took off his trousers, walked to the crest of the dam, brown, stooped, slender, in Peter's opinion, aged for time of separation..."

Clothes of Grigory Melekhov(traditional Cossack clothing): “... he pulled off his everyday trousers from the pendant, put them into white woolen stockings and put on his chirik for a long time, straightening the back that had turned up...” (chiriki - shoes) “... the mark left by Grishin’s sharp-nosed chirik. .." "...into his muscular neck, burnt by the sun..." "...Grishka's wide trousers, tucked into white woolen stockings, were red with stripes. On his back, near his shoulder blade, a scrap of freshly torn dirty shirt fluttered, a dark triangle of bare skin was yellowing. bodies..." "...Grigory, with a zipun thrown over his shoulders, crawled out of the darkness, approached the fire..." (zipun - caftan) "... carefully hung up the festive trousers, with stripes..." ".. .on Gregory’s back, a satin blue shirt flutters, inflating with a hump from the wind...” (Grigory’s smart clothes when he goes to woo Natalya) “... pulled him by the hem of his frock coat...” (Grigory puts on a frock coat for his wedding with Natalya) “...Grigory, putting on a sheepskin coat, heard...” (winter clothes) “... picked up a hat that had fallen from the bed...”

Gregory's weight is about 84.5 kg:“...Five poods, six and a half pounds,” answered the gray-haired doctor, without lowering his raised eyebrows...”

Personality and character of Grigory Melekhov

Grigory Melekhov - wayward and simple guy:"...similar to the old restive and simple guy..."

Grigory Melekhov - stubborn man. He doesn’t always obey his father: “..“Take a bite, Dad, even if I’m hobbled, I’ll go to the fun,” I thought, angrily gnawing at the back of my father’s steep head...” (hobbled - that is, with his legs tied)

Grigory Melekhov - daring Cossack: “...In his heart, Miron Grigorievich liked Grishka for his Cossack prowess...”

Grigory Melekhov - economical and hard-working man: "...I liked Grishka<...>for the love of farming and work..." "...A hard-working guy..." Grigory Melekhov is a conscientious man: "..“I hit a man who was lying down...” - Grigory turned purple. “... Ksyusha... lost his word, well, don’t be offended...”

Grigory Melekhov - hot man j. He is capable of reckless, “mad” actions: “...You’re a fool! Mad devil! You’ve degenerated into the batin’s breed, the tortured Circassian!..” “...From the lower jaw, obliquely to the cheekbones, trembling, the nodules rolled Petro knew: this is a sure sign that Grigory is seething and is ready for any reckless act..."

Grigory Melekhov - stubborn and persistent person: “...He persistently pursued her with his persistent and waiting love. And it was this persistence that scared Aksinya. She saw that he was not afraid of Stepan, she felt in her gut that he would not give up on her like that...”

Gregory - not a cowardly person: "...She saw that he was not afraid of Stepan, she felt in her gut that he would not give up on her like that..."

Gregory - proud Human. He does not allow his father to beat him and does not ask for help from his father when there is a need: “...I won’t let you fight!” Grigory muffled and, clenching his jaw, pulled on the crutch... “... he was hoping for the money he had made, not bowing to my father, buy a horse..."

Gregory - clever Cossack. He performs horseback riding perfectly: “...at the races Grishka took away the first prize for horseback riding...” (Jigitovka is a variety of complex exercises on a galloping horse) Grigory - competent Cossack. He knows how to write: "...Grigory wrote home occasionally..." Gregory loves the quiet village life on the farm: "...I won't move anywhere from the land. Here is the steppe, there is something to breathe, but there...?"

Grigory Melekhov loves his native place and the Don River: “...I miss the farm, Petro. I miss the Don, you won’t see running water here. It’s a sickening place!..”

Gregory can't stand female marks h: "...Grigory could not stand tears. He fidgeted restlessly on the ground, fiercely shook off a brown ant from his trouser leg and again briefly glanced at Aksinya..." Grigory Melekhov does not allow himself to be treated poorly in the army and (when others endure): “...the sergeant flew at him like a vulture, raised his hand. “Don’t touch it!” Grigory said dully, looking into the rippling water under the log house...." “...That’s what,” Grigory tore his head from the frame, “if you hit me, I’ll still kill you! Do you understand?”

Gregory tormented by conscience in war because he kills people in battle: “...I, Petro, have lost my soul. It’s as if I’ve never been beaten... It’s as if I’ve been under a millstone, they crushed me and spat me out...” “...My conscience is killing me. I stabbed someone with a pike near Leshnyov. In the heat of the moment... It couldn’t have been otherwise... Why did I cut this guy down?...” “...Well, I cut down a man in vain and because of him, I’m sick in my soul at night, is it my fault?..”

The image of Melekhov in cinema

The first to play the role of Gregory Me-le-ho-va was Andrey Ab-ri-ko-sov, who starred in the film, based on the first two books of the novel. As the actor later recalled, at the moment of the ki-no-trial he had not yet read the sho-lo-hov-s-pro-of-ve-de-niy and at -went to the square unprepared; the idea of ​​the image of the per-so-na-zha developed later. According to the words of the actress Emma Tsesarskaya, the role of Ak-si-new, Sho-lo-khov wrote about the continuation of the film after the release of the film. Ti-ho-go Don” with an eye to the heroes embodied in the film.

This rich image embodied the dashing, thoughtless Cossack youth and the wisdom of a life lived, filled with suffering and troubles of a terrible time of change.

Image of Grigory Melekhov

Sholokhov's Grigory Melekhov can safely be called the last free man. Free by any human standard.

Sholokhov deliberately did not make Melekhov a Bolshevik, despite the fact that the novel was written in an era when the very idea of ​​the immorality of Bolshevism was blasphemous.

And, nevertheless, the reader sympathizes with Gregory even at the moment when he flees on a cart with the mortally wounded Aksinya from the Red Army. The reader wishes Gregory salvation, not victory for the Bolsheviks.

Gregory is an honest, hardworking, fearless, trusting and selfless person, a rebel. His rebellion manifests itself in his early youth, when with gloomy determination, for the sake of love for Aksinya, a married woman, he breaks with his family.

He is determined enough not to be afraid of either public opinion or the condemnation of farmers. He does not tolerate ridicule and condescension from the Cossacks. He will contradict his mother and father. He is confident in his feelings, his actions are guided only by love, which seems to Gregory, in spite of everything, the only value in life, and therefore justifies his decisions.

You need to have great courage to live contrary to the opinion of the majority, to live with your head and heart, and not be afraid of being rejected by your family and society. Only a real man, only a real human fighter is capable of this. The father's anger, the contempt of the farmers - Gregory doesn't care about anything. With the same courage, he jumps over the fence to protect his beloved Aksinya from his husband’s cast-iron fists.

Melekhov and Aksinya

In his relationship with Aksinya, Grigory Melekhov becomes a man. From a dashing young guy with hot Cossack blood, he turns into a loyal and loving male protector.

At the very beginning of the novel, when Grigory is just wooing Aksinya, one gets the impression that he doesn’t give a damn about the future fate of this woman, whose reputation he ruined with his youthful passion. He even talks about this to his beloved. “The bitch won’t want it, the dog won’t jump up,” Grigory says to Aksinya and immediately turns purple at the thought that scalded him like boiling water when he saw tears in the woman’s eyes: “I hit a lying man.”

What Gregory himself initially perceived as ordinary lust turned out to be love that he would carry throughout his life, and this woman would not turn out to be his mistress, but would become his unofficial wife. For the sake of Aksinya, Grigory will leave his father, his mother, and his young wife Natalya. For the sake of Aksinya, he will go to work instead of getting rich on his own farm. Will give preference to someone else's house instead of his own.

Undoubtedly, this madness deserves respect, as it speaks of the incredible honesty of this man. Gregory is not capable of living a lie. He cannot pretend and live as others tell him to. He doesn't lie to his wife either. He does not lie when he seeks the truth from the “whites” and the “reds”. He lives. Grigory lives his own life, he himself weaves the thread of his destiny and he does not know any other way.

Melekhov and Natalya

Gregory's relationship with his wife Natalya is saturated with tragedy, like his whole life. He married someone he did not love and did not hope to love. The tragedy of their relationship is that Grigory could not lie to his wife. With Natalya he is cold, he is indifferent. Sholokhov writes that Grigory, out of duty, caressed his young wife, tried to excite her with young love zeal, but on her part he met only submission.

And then Gregory remembered Aksinya’s frantic pupils, darkened with love, and he understood that he could not live with the icy Natalya. He can't. I don’t love you, Natalya! - Grigory will somehow say something in his heart and he will immediately understand - no, he really doesn’t love you. Subsequently, Gregory will learn to feel sorry for his wife. Especially after her suicide attempt, but she will not be able to love for the rest of her life.

Melekhov and the Civil War

Grigory Melekhov is a truth-seeker. That is why in the novel Sholokhov portrayed him as a rushing man. He is honest, and therefore has the right to demand honesty from others. The Bolsheviks promised equality, that there would be no more rich or poor. However, nothing has changed in life. The platoon commander is still wearing chrome boots, but the “vanek” is still wearing windings.

Grigory first falls to the whites, then to the reds. But it seems that individualism is alien to both Sholokhov and his hero. The novel was written in an era when being a “renegade” and being on the side of a Cossack businessman was mortally dangerous. Therefore, Sholokhov describes Melekhov’s throwing during the Civil War as the throwing of a lost man.

Gregory evokes not condemnation, but compassion and sympathy. In the novel, Gregory gains a semblance of mental balance and moral stability only after a short stay with the “Reds”. Sholokhov could not have written it any other way.

The fate of Grigory Melekhov

Over the course of 10 years, during which the action of the novel develops, the fate of Grigory Melekhov is filled with tragedies. Living during wars and political changes is a challenge in itself. And remaining human in these times is sometimes an impossible task. We can say that Grigory, having lost Aksinya, having lost his wife, brother, relatives and friends, managed to retain his humanity, remained himself, and did not change his inherent honesty.

Actors who played Melekhov in the films "Quiet Don"

In the film adaptation of the novel by Sergei Gerasimov (1957), Pyotr Glebov was cast in the role of Grigory. In the film by Sergei Bondarchuk (1990-91), the role of Gregory went to the British actor Rupert Everett. In the new series, based on the book by Sergei Ursulyak, Grigory Melekhov was played by Evgeniy Tkachuk.

Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” is an epic of the Russian life of individual people, the Cossacks, and all of Russia. The work covers a difficult time period for the country from May 1912 to March 1922: the fall of the monarchy, the provisional government, the Bolsheviks coming to power. These events become key in people's lives. The main character of the novel is Grigory Melekhov, a Don Cossack, through whose life the events described in the book run like a red thread. So what is the characterization of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don”?

Appearance of Grigory Melekhov

Grigory Melekhov at the beginning of the novel is a young handsome guy. He is full of energy, cheerful, loves to work and help his family. His grandmother was a captive Turkish woman, and the main character inherited much of his appearance (especially his dark skin) from her. Gregory is a tall, dark-skinned young man with brown eyes. Gregory has an older brother, Peter, who looks like his mother, but he himself is more like his father: “... the youngest, Gregory, takes after his father: half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same as his father, a pendulous kite a nose, in slightly slanting slits there are blue almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones are covered with brown, ruddy skin. Grigory slouched in the same way as his father, even in their smile they both had something in common, a little beastly...”

White teeth, black hair, high cheekbones made him very handsome. Aksinya could not resist him, although she was married. Also, Natalya Korshunova, a young girl who falls in love with him and whom, as a result of parental pressure, Grigory has to marry, falls unconsciously in love with him.

Character of Grigory Melekhov

At the beginning of the novel, Grigory Melekhov is an ardent young Cossack, capable of reckless actions. He is capable of loving strongly and selflessly. Grigory loves his family and helps his father with the housework. A strong feeling came over the young man when he met Aksinya, the wife of his neighbor Stepan Astakhov. Her position as a married woman does not stop the lovers, and they, without any embarrassment, begin to meet.

However, despite his ardor and ability to do crazy things, Grigory Melekhov does not dare to contradict his father and dutifully marries the young Natalya Korshunova, who is in love with him.

The contradictory character and duality of nature are characteristic of the main character in military life. During the First World War, he behaved boldly and courageously; numerous awards and St. George's crosses serve as proof of his courage. In war conditions, all the humanity and generosity of Melekhov’s image is revealed. He saves his blood enemy, tries to protect the girl who is being raped by his comrades.

But Gregory quickly gets tired of the war. He cannot find himself, and in the end he becomes disillusioned with the Tsar, the white officers and the Bolsheviks. The only thing he dreams of is to be closer to his children.

The fate of Grigory Melekhov

For Grigory Melekhov, fate had many tragic events in store. The young man, being the grandson of a Turkish woman, adopted her dark appearance and straightforward character. Having fallen in love with the married Aksinya, he does not think about his reputation and plunges into the relationship as if in a pool. Neither rumors nor gossip bother the young man. However, the character traits of Grigory Melekhov contain gentleness and submission to the will of his father, who did not like Aksinya. He matches his son with Natalya Korshunova, and Grigory, unable to contradict his father, marries her.

During the war, Gregory shows himself to be a true patriot and receives many awards. However, killing another person goes against his nature. Grigory remembers for a long time the Austrian whom he had to kill. Finding himself in a civil war, the main character does not understand or fully accept the side of any one side. He cannot decide who is right and who is wrong in this war. Watching murders, cruel treatment of people, looting, his soul hardens, he becomes for some time the same cruel warrior.

Mikhail Sholokhov knew and loved his small homeland and could describe it perfectly. With this he entered Russian literature. First appeared "Don Stories". The masters of that time drew attention to him (today’s reader does not know any of them) and said: “Beautiful! Well done!" Then they forgot... And suddenly the first volume of the work was published, which almost put the author on a par with Homer, Goethe and Leo Tolstoy. In the epic novel “Quiet Don,” Mikhail Alexandrovich reliably reflected the fate of a great people, the endless search for truth in the chaotic years and bloody revolution.

Quiet Don in the fate of a writer

The image of Grigory Melikhov captivated the entire reading public. Young talent needs to develop and develop. But circumstances were not conducive to the writer becoming the conscience of the nation and people. Sholokhov's Cossack nature did not allow him to strive to become the favorites of the rulers, but they did not allow him to become in Russian literature what he was supposed to become.

Many years after the Great Patriotic War and the publication of “The Fate of Man,” Mikhail Sholokhov made a strange, at first glance, entry in his diary: “They all liked my Man. So I lied? Don't know. But I know what I didn’t say.”

Favorite hero

From the first pages of "Quiet Don" the writer draws a diverse and wide river of life in the Don Cossack village. And Grigory Melikhov is only one of many interesting characters in this book and, moreover, not the most important, as it seems at first. His mental outlook is primitive, like his grandfather's saber. He has nothing to become the center of a large artistic canvas, except for his willful, explosive character. But from the first pages the reader feels the writer’s love for this character and begins to follow his fate. What attracts us and Gregory from our youth? Probably due to your biology, your blood.

Even male readers are not indifferent to him, like those women from real life who loved Gregory more than life itself. And he lives like Don. His inner masculine force draws everyone into his orbit. Nowadays, such people are called charismatic personalities.

But there are other forces at work in the world that require comprehension and analysis. However, they continue to live in the village, not suspecting anything, thinking that they are protected from the world by their courageous moral virtues: they eat their own (!) bread, serve the Fatherland as their grandfathers and great-grandfathers taught them. It seems to all village residents, including Grigory Melikhov, that a more just and sustainable life does not exist. They sometimes fight among themselves, mainly over women, not suspecting that it is women who choose, giving preference to powerful biology. And this is correct - Mother Nature herself ordered this so that the human race, including the Cossacks, would not dry out on Earth.

War

But civilization has given rise to many injustices, and one of them is a false idea, clothed in truthful words. The quiet Don flows truthfully. And the fate of Grigory Melikhov, who was born on its banks, did not foretell anything that would make the blood run cold.

The village of Veshenskaya and the village of Tatarsky were not founded by St. Petersburg and they were not fed by him either. But the idea that life itself was almost granted to each Cossack personally, not by God, but by his father and mother, but by some center, broke into the tough but fair life of the Cossacks with the word “war.” Something similar happened on the other side of Europe. Two large groups of people went to war against each other in an organized and civilized manner in order to flood the earth with blood. And they were inspired by false ideas, clothed in words about love for the Fatherland.

War without embellishment

Sholokhov paints the war as it is, showing how it cripples human souls. Sad mothers and young wives remained at home, and the Cossacks with pikes went to fight. Gregory's sword tasted human meat for the first time, and in an instant he became a completely different person.

A dying German listened to him, not understanding a word of Russian, but understanding that universal evil was being committed - the essence of the image and likeness of God was being mutilated.

Revolution

Again, not in the village, not on the Tatarsky farm, but far, far from the banks of the Don, tectonic shifts begin in the depths of society, the waves from which will reach the hardworking Cossacks. The main character of the novel returned home. He has a lot of personal problems. He has had his fill of blood and no longer wants to shed it. But the life of Grigory Melikhov, his personality is of interest to those who have not obtained a piece of bread for their own food for decades with their own hands. And some people bring false ideas to the Cossack community, clothed in truthful words about equality, brotherhood and justice.

Grigory Melikhov is drawn into a struggle that is alien to him by definition. Who started this quarrel in which the Russians hated the Russians? The main character does not ask this question. His fate carries through life like a blade of grass. Grigory Melikhov listens in surprise to the friend of his youth, who began to speak incomprehensible words and look at him with suspicion.

And the Don flows calmly and majestically. The fate of Grigory Melikhov is just an episode for him. New people will come to its shores, new life will come. The writer says almost nothing about the revolution, although everyone talks about it a lot. But nothing they say is remembered. Don's image steals the show. And the revolution is also just an episode on its shores.

The tragedy of Grigory Melikhov

The main character of Sholokhov's novel began his life simply and clearly. Loved and was loved. He vaguely believed in God, without going into details. And in the future he lived as simply and clearly as in childhood. Grigory Melikhov did not retreat even one small step from his essence, nor from the truth that he absorbed into himself along with the water that he drew from the Don. And even his saber did not dig into human bodies with pleasure, although he had an innate ability to kill. The tragedy was precisely that Gregory remained an atom of society, which could either be split into component parts by a will alien to him, or combined with other atoms. He did not understand this and strived to remain free, like the majestic Don. On the last pages of the novel we see him calmed down, hope for happiness glimmers in his soul. The novel's dubious point. Will the main character find what he dreams of?

The end of the Cossack way of life

An artist may not understand anything that happens around him, but he must feel life. And Mikhail Sholokhov felt it. Tectonic shifts in world history destroyed the beloved Cossack way of life, distorted the souls of the Cossacks, turning them into meaningless “atoms” that became suitable for the construction of anything and anyone, but not the Cossacks themselves.

There are a lot of didactic policies in volumes 2, 3, and 4 of the novel, but, describing the path of Grigory Melikhov, the artist involuntarily returned to the truth of life. And false ideas receded into the background and dissolved in the haze of centuries-old prospects. The triumphant notes of the final part of the novel are drowned out by the reader’s longing for the bygone life that the writer depicted with such incredible artistic power in volume 1 of “The Quiet Don.”

The first one as a basis

Sholokhov begins his novel with a description of the appearance of a child who founded the Melikhov family, and ends with a description of a child who should extend this family. "Quiet Don" can be called a great work of Russian literature. This work not only opposes everything that was later written by Sholokhov, but is a reflection of the core of the Cossack people, which gives hope to the writer himself that the existence of the Cossacks on Earth has not ended.

Two wars and a revolution are just episodes in the life of a people who recognize themselves as Don Cossacks. He will still wake up and show the world his beautiful Melikhovo soul.

The life of the Cossack family is immortal

The main character of Sholokhov's novel entered the very core of the worldview of the Russian people. Grigory Melikhov (his image) ceased to be a household name back in the 30s of the twentieth century. It cannot be said that the writer endowed the hero with the typical features of a Cossack. There is just not enough typical in Grigory Melikhov. And there is no special beauty in it. It is beautiful with its power, vitality, which is capable of overcoming all the sediment that comes to the banks of the free, quiet Don.

This is an image of hope and faith in the highest meaning of human existence, which is always the basis of everything. In a strange way, those ideas that tore apart the village of Veshenskaya and erased the Tatarsky farm from the earth have sunk into oblivion, but the novel “Quiet Don” and the fate of Grigory Melikhov remained in our consciousness. This proves the immortality of Cossack blood and clan.