Conclusion. On the resurrection of Grigory Otrepiev in the guise of General Secretary In the history of Russia, only once did it happen that a person who was involved in the clergy was on the royal throne. Even the imperious Metropolitan Filaret Romanov was forced to abandon the dream of

An inch of reclaimed land About Grigory Baklanov's prose Grigory Baklanov has a small, just a few pages, work - "How I lost my championship." Either a short story, or a sketch, - apparently, the author also found it difficult to determine the genre, putting at the first publication

The immortal work of M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" reveals the essence of the Cossack soul and the Russian people without embellishment and reticence. Love for the land and loyalty to one's traditions, along with betrayal, courage in the struggle and cowardice, love and betrayal, hope and loss of faith - all these contradictions are organically intertwined in the images of the novel. By this, the author achieved such sincerity, truthfulness and vitality of the image of the people in the abyss of the terrible reality of the first third of the twentieth century, thanks to which the work still causes discussions and different opinions, but does not lose its popularity and relevance. Contradictions are the main feature that characterizes the image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Flows the Don” by Sholokhov.

The inconsistency of the character of the hero

The author depicts the life path of the protagonist using the method of parallel storytelling. One line is the love story of Gregory, the second is family and domestic, the third is civil history. In each of his social roles: son, husband, father, brother, lover, he retained his ardor, inconsistency, sincerity of feelings and the steadfastness of a steel character.

The duality of nature, perhaps, is explained by the peculiarities of the origin of Grigory Melekhov. "Quiet Don" begins with a story about his ancestors. His grandfather Prokofy Melekhov was a true Don Cossack, and his grandmother was a captured Turkish woman, whom he brought from the last military campaign. Cossack roots endowed Grishka with perseverance, strength and persistent life principles, and eastern blood endowed him with a special wild beauty, made him passionate in nature, prone to desperate and often rash acts. Throughout his life's journey, he rushes about, doubts and repeatedly changes his decisions. However, the rebellious image of the protagonist is explained by his desire to find the truth.

Youth and despair

At the beginning of the work, the protagonist of the novel appears before the reader in the form of a hot young nature, a beautiful and free Don lad. He falls in love with his neighbor Aksinya and begins to actively and boldly conquer her, despite her marital status. The stormy romance that began between them, he does not hide too much, thanks to which the fame of a local ladies' man was entrenched in him.

To avoid a scandal with a neighbor and distract Grigory from a dangerous relationship, his parents decide to marry him, to which he easily agrees and leaves Aksinya. Future wife Natalia falls in love at the first meeting. Although her father doubted this hot free Cossack, the wedding nevertheless took place. But could the bonds of marriage change the fiery character of Gregory?

On the contrary, the desire for forbidden love only flared up in his soul more strongly. “So extraordinary and obvious was their crazy connection, so frenziedly they burned with one shameless fire, people not ashamed and not hiding, losing weight and turning black in their faces in front of their neighbors.”

Young Grishka Melekhov is distinguished by such a trait as carelessness. He lives easily and playfully, as if by inertia. He does his homework automatically, flirts with Aksinya without thinking about the consequences, obediently marries at the behest of his father, is going to work, in general, calmly drifts with the flow of a carefree young life.

Civic duty and responsibility

Grishka takes the sudden news of the war and the call to the front with honor and tries not to shame the old Cossack family. This is how the author conveys his prowess and courage in the battles of the First World War: “Grigory firmly protected the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, went wild, went disguised to the rear of the Austrians, removed outposts without bloodshed, a Cossack jigged ... ". However, staying at the front cannot pass without leaving a trace. A lot of human lives on his own conscience, albeit enemies, but still people, blood, groans and death that surrounded him, made Gregory's soul callous, despite the high merits to the sovereign. He himself understood at what cost he got four St. George Crosses for courage: “The war has drained everything from me. I became terrible myself. Look into my soul, and there is blackness, as in an empty well ... "

The main feature that characterizes the image of Gregory in The Quiet Don is the persistence that he will carry through the years of anxiety, loss and defeat. His ability not to give up and fight, even when his soul was black with anger and numerous deaths, which he had to not only see, but also bear sin on his soul, allowed him to withstand all adversity.

Ideological search

With the onset of the Revolution, the hero tries to figure out which side to take, where is the truth. On the one hand, he swore allegiance to the sovereign, who was overthrown. On the other hand, the Bolsheviks promise equality. He, at first, began to share the ideas of equality and people's freedom, but when he did not see either one or the other in the actions of the red activists, he led the Cossack division, which fought on the side of the whites. The search for truth and doubt is the basis of the characterization of Grigory Melekhov. The only truth that he accepted was the struggle for the possibility of a peaceful and calm life on his land, growing bread, raising children. He believed that it is necessary to fight with those who take away this opportunity.

But in the whirlpool of events of the Civil War, he became more and more disappointed in the ideas of certain representatives of the military-political movements. He saw that everyone has their own truth, and everyone uses it as they please, and the fate of the Don and the people living there did not bother anyone. When the Cossack troops were disbanded, and the white movement more and more resembled gangs, the retreat began. Then Grigory decided to take the side of the Reds and even led a cavalry squadron. However, when he returned home at the end of the Civil War, he became an outcast, a stranger among his own, since local Soviet activists, in particular, in the person of his son-in-law Mikhail Koshevoy, did not forget about his white past and threatened to be shot.

Awareness of core values

In the work of Mikhail Sholokhov, the central attention is paid to the problem of a person's search for his place in the world, where everything familiar and dear suddenly changed its appearance, turning into the most severe conditions of life. In the novel, the author affirms a simple truth: even in inhuman conditions, one must remain human. However, not everyone was able to realize this covenant at that difficult time.

The difficult trials that befell Gregory, such as the loss of loved ones and loved ones, the struggle for his land and freedom, changed him, formed a new person. The once carefree and daring boy realized the true value of life, peace and happiness. He returned to his roots, to his home, holding in his arms the most valuable thing he had left - his son. He realized what price was paid for standing on the threshold of his native home with his son in his arms under a peaceful sky, and he understood that there is nothing more expensive and more important than this opportunity.

Artwork test

In the novel The Quiet Flows the Don, M. A. Sholokhov poeticizes folk life, gives a deep analysis of its way of life, the origins of its crisis, which largely affected the fate of the heroes of the novel. The author emphasizes the decisive role of the people in history. According to Sholokhov, it is the people that are the driving force of history. One of his representatives in the novel is Grigory Melekhov. Undoubtedly, he is the main character of the novel.

Gregory is a simple and illiterate Cossack, but his character is complex and multifaceted. The author endows him with the best features inherent in the people.

At the very beginning of the novel, Sholokhov describes the history of the Melekhov family. The Cossack Prokofy Melekhov returns from the Turkish campaign, brings with him his wife, a Turkish woman. With this begins the "new" history of the Melekh family. Already in it the character of Gregory is laid. It is no coincidence that Gregory is outwardly similar to men of his kind: “... he popped into his father: you are half a head taller than Peter, at least six years younger, the same drooping vulture nose as Bati’s, in slightly slanting cuts blue tonsils of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown ruddy skin. Grigory stooped in the same way as his father, even in a smile both had something in common, animalistic. It is he, and not the elder brother Peter, who is the successor of the Melekhov family.

From the very first pages, Gregory is depicted in everyday peasant life. He, like everyone else on the farm, goes fishing, leads horses to water, falls in love, goes to games, participates in scenes of peasant labor. The character of the hero is clearly revealed in the episode of the meadow mowing. Gregory discovers love for all living things, a keen sense of someone else's pain, the ability to compassion. He is painfully sorry for the duckling accidentally cut with a scythe, he looks at him "with a sudden feeling of acute pity."

Gregory feels nature very well, he is vitally connected with it. “Good, oh, good! ..” he thinks, deftly handling the scythe.

Gregory is a man of strong passions, decisive deeds and actions. Numerous scenes with Aksinya speak eloquently about this. Despite his father's slander, during haymaking, at midnight, he still goes in the direction where Aksinya is. Cruelly punished by Panteley Prokofievich and not afraid of his threats, he still goes to Aksinya from the night and returns only at dawn. In Gregory, already here a desire is manifested in everything to reach the end, not to stop halfway through. Marrying an unloved woman could not make him give up himself, from a natural, sincere feeling. He only slightly reassured his father, who sternly proclaimed to him: “Do not mischief with your neighbor! Do not fear your father! Don't drag around, doggie! ”, But no more than that. Gregory loves passionately and does not tolerate ridicule. Even Peter does not forgive the joke on his feelings and grabs the pitchfork. "You are fool! Damn crazy! Here, the ardent Circassian has degenerated into a batin breed! exclaims Peter, frightened to death.

Gregory is always honest and sincere. “I don’t love you, Natashka, don’t be angry,” he frankly says to his wife.

At first, Grigory protests against fleeing from the farm with Aksinya, but his innate stubbornness and the impossibility of submission still forced him to leave the household, go with his beloved to Listnitsky's estate. Gregory is hired as a groom. But such a life away from his native nest is not for him. “Easy well-fed life spoiled him. He became lazy, put on weight, looked older than his years,” says the author.

Gregory has tremendous inner strength. A vivid evidence of this is the episode of the beating of Listnitsky Jr. by him. Despite the position of Listnitsky, Grigory does not intend to forgive him insults: “Having intercepted the whip, he beat the whip in the face, on the hands, not allowing the centurion to come to his senses.” Melehov is not afraid of punishment for his deed. He treats Aksinya sternly too: when he left, he never looked back. Gregory has a deep sense of self-worth. It is his strength, and she is able to influence other people, regardless of their rank and position. In a duel with a sergeant-major at a watering place, Gregory undoubtedly wins, not allowing the senior in rank to hit himself.

The hero is ready to stand up not only for his own, but also for someone else's dignity. He was the only one of all who stood up for Franya, who was abused by the Cossacks. Being powerless against evil, he "for the first time in a long period of time almost cried."

The First World War picked up the fate of Gregory and twisted it in a whirlwind of turbulent historical events. Grigory, like a true Cossack, gives himself over to the battle. He is determined and bold. Easily captures three Germans, deftly beats off the battery from the enemy, saves the officer. Evidence of his courage - St. George's crosses and medals, officer rank.

Melekhov is generous. In battle, he extends a helping hand to his rival Stepan Astakhov, who dreams of killing him. Gregory is shown as a courageous, skillful warrior. But still, killing a person deeply contradicts his humane nature, his life values: “Well, well, I cut down a person in vain and I’m sick through him, a bastard, with my soul,” he says to brother Peter, “... I’m tired of my soul .. It was as if I had been under millstones, they crushed me and spit me out.

Gregory quickly begins to experience incredible fatigue and disappointment. At first, he fights fearlessly and without thinking that sheds his own and other people's blood. But war and life confront Melekhov with many people who have fundamentally different views on the world, on what is happening in it. Communication with them makes the hero think about the war and the life he lives.

Chubaty bears the truth "Cut the man boldly." He easily talks about human death, about the possibility and right to deprive a person of life. Grigory listens attentively to him and understands: such an inhuman position is unacceptable for him, alien.

Garanja sowed the seeds of doubt in Melekhov's soul. He suddenly doubted the previously unshakable values, such as the king and the Cossack military duty. “The tsar is a drunkard, the queen is a whore, the lord's pennies from the war are an increase, and on our necks ..” Garanzha cynically declares. He makes Gregory think about many things. These doubts laid the foundation for Gregory's tragic path to the truth. The hero makes desperate attempts to find the truth and the meaning of life.

The character of Grigory Melekhov is a truly amazing character, truly a folk character.

The birth of the epic novel is connected with the events of Russian history that are of world significance. The first Russian revolution of 1905, the world war of 1914-1918. The October Revolution, the civil war, the period of peaceful construction caused the desire of the artists of the word to create works of wide epic scope. It is characteristic that in the 1920s they began to work almost simultaneously: M. Gorky - on the epic "The Life of Klim Samgin", A. N. Tolstoy - on the epic "Walking through the torments", M. Sholokhov turned to the creation of the epic "Quiet Flows the Don" .

The creators of epic canvases relied on the traditions of Russian classics, on such works about the fate of the people as “The Captain's Daughter”, “Taras Bulba”, “War and Peace”.

The epic novel "Quiet Don" occupies a special place in the history of Russian literature. Sholokhov gave fifteen years of life and hard work to its creation. M. Gorky saw in the novel the embodiment of the enormous talent of the Russian people.

Events in the "Quiet Don" begin in 1912, before the First World War, and end in 1922, when the civil war died down on the Don. Knowing perfectly well the life and way of life of the Cossacks of the Don region, being himself a participant in the severe struggle on the Don in the early 1920s, Sholokhov focused on depicting the Cossacks. The work closely combines document and fiction. There are many original names of farms and villages of the Don region in the “Quiet Don”. The center of events, with which the main action is connected, is the village of Veshenskaya.

Sholokhov portrays the actual participants in the events: this is Ivan Lagutin, chairman of the Cossack department of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the first chairman of the Don All-Russian Central Executive Committee Fedor Podtelkov, a member of the Revolutionary Committee of the Elan Cossack Mikhail Krivoshlykov. At the same time, the main characters of the story are fictional: the families of the Melekhovs, Astakhovs, Korshunovs, Koshevs, and Listnitskys. The Tatar farm is also fictional.

"Quiet Don" begins with an image of the peaceful pre-war life of the Cossacks. The days of the Tatarsky farm are spent in hard work. The Melekhov family, a typical middle peasant family with patriarchal foundations, is brought to the forefront of the narrative. The war interrupted the working life of the Cossacks.

The First World War is portrayed by Sholokhov as a national disaster, and the old soldier, confessing Christian wisdom, advises the young Cossacks: “Remember one thing: if you want to be alive, get out of a mortal battle alive, you must observe human truth ...”

Sholokhov with great skill describes the horrors of war, crippling people both physically and morally. Cossack Chubaty teaches Grigory Melekhov: “To kill a man in battle is a sacred thing ... destroy a man. He's a rotten man!" But Chubaty with his animal philosophy scares people away. Death, suffering awaken sympathy and unite soldiers: people cannot get used to war.

Sholokhov writes in the second book that the news of the overthrow of the autocracy did not evoke joyful feelings among the Cossacks, they reacted to it with "restrained anxiety and expectation." The Cossacks are tired of the war. They dream of finishing it. How many of them have already died: not one Cossack widow voted for the dead.

The Cossacks did not immediately understand the historical events. Bitter words in the novel precede the description of the tragic events on the Don, the story of the massacre of the Podtelkov expedition, and the Upper Don uprising.

Having returned from the fronts of the world war, the Cossacks did not yet know what tragedy of the fratricidal war they would have to endure in the near future.

The Upper Don uprising appears in the image of Sholokhov as one of the central events of the civil war on the Don. There were many reasons. The Red Terror, the unjustified cruelty of the representatives of the Soviet authorities on the Don in the novel are shown with great artistic power. Numerous executions of Cossacks carried out in the villages - the murder of Miron Korshunov and grandfather Trishka, who personified the Christian principle, preaching that all power is given by God, the actions of Commissar Malkin, who gave orders to shoot bearded Cossacks.

Sholokhov showed in the novel that the Upper Don uprising reflected a popular protest against the destruction of the foundations of peasant life and the centuries-old traditions of the Cossacks, traditions that became the basis of peasant morality and morality, which developed over the centuries, and passed down from generation to generation.

The writer also showed the doom of the uprising. Already in the course of events, the people understood and felt their fratricidal character. One of the leaders of the uprising, Grigory Melekhov, declares: “But I think that we got lost when we went to the uprising.”

A. Serafimovich wrote about the heroes of "The Quiet Flows the Don": "... his people are not drawn, not written out - this is not on paper." In the images-types created by Sholokhov, the deep and expressive features of the Russian people are summarized. Depicting the thoughts, feelings, actions of the characters, the writer did not break, but exposed the threads leading to the past.

Among the characters of the novel, Grigory Melekhov is attractive, contradictory, reflecting the complexity of the searches and delusions of the Cossacks. There is no doubt that the image of Grigory Melekhov is an artistic discovery of Sholokhov. Creating this image, the writer acted as an innovator, artistically reproducing what in life was the most controversial, the most difficult, the most exciting. Grigory Melekhov is not an isolated character in the epic. He is in the closest unity and is connected both with his family and with the Cossacks of the Tatarsky farm and the entire Don, among whom he grew up and with whom he lived and fought, constantly in search of truth and the meaning of life. Melekhov is not separated from his time. He not only communicates with people and participates in events, but always reflects, evaluates, judges himself and others.

These features help to conclude that Melekhov is depicted in the epic as the son of his people and his time. Gregory's world is a people's world, he never cut himself off from his people, from nature. In the fire of battles, in the dust of campaigns, he dreams of working in his native land, of a family. Grigory completes his journey through torment by returning to his native Tatarsky farm. Throwing his weapons into the Don, he hurries back to what he loved so much and from which he was cut off for so long.

The end of the novel has a philosophical sound. Sholokhov left his hero on the threshold of new life trials. What are his paths? How will his life turn out? The writer does not answer these questions, but makes the reader think about the difficult fate of this hero.

Sholokhov turns to the creation of female characters at the very beginning of his creative path. But if in the stories the characters of women are only outlined, then in The Quiet Don, Sholokhov creates vivid artistic images. Women are central to the epic; women of different ages, different temperaments, different destinies - the mother of Grigory Ilyinichna, Aksinya, Natalya, Daria, Dunyashka, Anna Pogudko and others.

The ardent, passionate Aksinya, with her “vicious beauty, is opposed by the modest, reserved in feelings worker Natalya. The fate of both Aksinya and Natalya is tragic. There was much hard in their lives, but they also knew real human happiness. The writer shows their diligence, their huge role in family life.

Speech characteristics, portrait ones are of great importance (Aksinya has a “chiseled neck”, “fluffy curls of hair”, “calling lips”. Natalya has a “smooth white forehead”, “big hands crushed by work”, Daria has “antimony arches of eyebrows”, "curly gait".

The action of the novel "Quiet Don" involves a wide range of people, representatives of various social strata. It begins with a depiction of life in the Tatarsky Cossack farm, captures the Listnitsky landowner's estate, is transferred to the places of the unfolding world war - to Poland, Romania, East Prussia, to Petrograd, Novocherkassk, Novorossiysk, to the villages of the Don.

Sholokhov is an unsurpassed master of the artistic word, he skillfully uses the language that the Cossacks speak. Both the main characters and episodic characters visibly stand before the reader. Landscape sketches testify to the artist's passionate love for the nature of the Don region. The landscape is humanized, it performs a variety of ideological and artistic functions; helps to reveal the feelings, moods of the characters, to convey their attitude to the events. Skillfully used works of folk art: proverbs, sayings, fables, songs. They convey the mood, feelings, experiences of the people, reflect the aesthetic world of the characters. Works of folk art, especially songs, reveal the philosophical depth of the epic. The epigraphs for the first and third books of the novel are old Cossack songs.

Great spiritual meaning lies in the poetic image of the Don, which acts as a symbol of the life of the people. The very name “Quiet Flows the Don” is full of symbolism: it contrasts with the events depicted. There is a special meaning in the image of the steppe, which acts as a symbol of the Motherland: “Dear steppe above the low Don sky!., A barrow in wise silence, protecting the buried Cossack glory... I bow low and kiss your red earth like a son... watered with Don stainless blood steppe...". Only a writer who was passionately in love with the beauty of his native Don nature and his people could find and say such words.

Working on the epic "Quiet Don", Sholokhov proceeded from the philosophical concept that the people are the main driving force of history. This concept received a deep artistic embodiment in the epic: in the depiction of the people's life, life and work of the Cossacks, in the depiction of the participation of the people in historical events.

Sholokhov showed that the path of the people in the revolution and civil war was difficult, tense, tragic. The destruction of the "old world" was associated with the collapse of centuries-old folk traditions, Orthodoxy, the destruction of churches, the rejection of moral precepts that were instilled in people from childhood.

When presenting the Nobel Prize for the novel “Quiet Flows the Don”, Sholokhov spoke about the greatness of the historical path of the Russian people and that “to all that I have written and will write, bow to this people-worker, people-builder, people-hero”.

Grigory Melekhov is the main character of the novel. His fate, the formation and development of character, exploits, disappointments, the search for a path are the basis of the plot of the work. It connects family, love and socio-historical lines of action.

At the beginning of the novel, Gregory is nineteen years old. From his grandfather, he received an independent character, and from a Turkish grandmother - a bright appearance and indefatigable nature. At first, all the actions of Gregory look like ordinary youth. This is how everyone around him and his connection with the married Aksinya explain. Gregory breaks with her by marrying Natalya. But the unusual power of love, which violates all foundations, makes Melekhov go against his father, leave home and live with Aksinya on the Listnitsky estate. Thus begins the special path of the hero.

The "millstones" of the war pass through his soul. In the war, the hero matured, earned four St. George crosses and four medals, became an officer, supported the Cossack "honor and glory", but became "evil". After getting acquainted with the Bolshevik "philosophy", the hero feels "sighted". His return home at the end of the first book reveals the changes that have taken place in Gregory.

In the second book, a number of oppositions to the protagonist arise. First of all, these are ideological opponents and supporters of royal power. Each of them, according to Sholokhov, has its own truth. But the officers are far from the people, their superiority over the soldiers is imaginary, some of them manifest themselves as cowards.

At the beginning of the third book, the civil war of 1918 is shown, when Melekhov is fighting in a detachment under the command of his older brother Peter. But even now he is experiencing the same "thick longing" for a peaceful life. Now, along with other Cossacks, he is ready to blame the Bolsheviks for dividing the people. Three horses were killed near Gregory, his overcoat was pierced in five places, but heroism turns out to be in vain - "the stream of the Red Army floods" the Don land.

The Melekhov brothers return home, but even there they are overtaken by class enmity. For the new government, Melekhov is a white officer, "contra". The Bolshevik Mishka Koshevoy, with whom they are “roots, studied together at school, ran around the girls,” is ready to stab Grigory. The hero again involuntarily finds himself in a hostile camp.

Cruelty is becoming a terrible norm. Villagers kill each other. So, Koshevoy kills Grigory's older brother - Peter. Melekhov is the commander of the regiment, and on his orders, brutal massacres are committed. But, at the same time, he releases the prisoners in Veshenskaya, pours vodka over melancholy, asks for death. Unable to stand it, the hero returns home again, "half gray".

The fourth book reveals a new feature in Melekhov - the emerging ability to resist the "stream of life". It awakens pity and love as opposed to a merciless war. Despite the defeat of the Volunteer Army, despite his illness (he had been ill with typhus for a month), Grigory “cheered up” and left the thought of death. Craving for something new explains his entry into the Red Army, where he commands a squadron. Ahead of Grigory is persecution by the Reds for his "white" past, the death of Aksinya. The life path of the hero, described in the novel, ends with the return home, an attempt to start life from scratch.

In the image of Grigory Melekhov, the features of a person of a transitional moment in history are typified. In his fate, all the most important directions of the socio-political struggle, the revolutionary era in Russia, are refracted. At the same time, the hero is depicted as a person who comes into conflict with the inevitable fate, seeking to pave his own way in history.

The individual features of the image of Melekhov are deeply peculiar. The hero is shown as a real Don Cossack. A distinctive feature of Gregory is his spiritual quest and the depth of his experiences. He stands out against the background of a simple, illiterate mass of Cossacks living according to grandfather's customs. Melekhov has a need to live in harmony with his heart, to find a fair justification for common actions.

The ability to experience deep feelings is the most important characteristic of a hero. His return to Aksinya is the basis of the plot. This love cannot be obscured by war, jealousy, or suffering. This invincible feeling, which comes into conflict with the foundations of Cossack morality, finds an analogy only in history. It is similar to the love of grandfather Prokofy for his Turkish wife. In this regard, Grigory's feelings for Aksinya bear the imprint of romantic loftiness.

The image of Grigory Melekhov embodies the author's intention. Sholokhov sought to show the collision of history with a person who is trying to preserve humanistic values ​​​​as a legacy of centuries-old folk morality at the turn of epochs. The description of Melekhov's participation in socio-political events and their influence on his fate is painted with tragic pathos. Based on a historically accurate picture of events, the author creates a generalized image of the hero of his time.