Georgy Melikhov in search of the truth. Grigory Melekhov in search of life's truth
The purpose of the lesson: to show the inevitability of the tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, the connection of this tragedy with the fate of society.
Methodological techniques: checking homework - adjusting the plan drawn up by the students, conversation according to the plan.
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Methodological development of a lesson on the topic “The fate of Grigory Melekhov as a path to finding the truth.” 11th grade
The purpose of the lesson: to show the inevitability of the tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, the connection of this tragedy with the fate of society.
Methodological techniques: checking homework - adjusting the plan drawn up by the students, conversation according to the plan.
Lesson progress
Teacher's word.
Sholokhov’s heroes are simple, but extraordinary people, and Grigory is not only brave to the point of despair, honest and conscientious, but also truly talented, and not only the hero’s “career” proves this (a cornet from ordinary Cossacks at the head of a division is evidence of considerable abilities, although such cases were not uncommon among the Reds during the Civil War). This is confirmed by his collapse in life, since Gregory is too deep and complex for the unambiguous choice required by time!
This image attracts the attention of readers with its features of nationality, originality, and sensitivity to the new. But there is also something spontaneous in him, which is inherited from the environment.
Checking homework
Approximate plot plan for “The Fate of Grigory Melekhov”:
Book one
1. Predetermination of tragic fate (origin).
2. Life in my father's house. Dependence on him (“like dad”).
3. The beginning of love for Aksinya (thunderstorm on the river)
4. Skirmish with Stepan.
5 Matchmaking and marriage. ...
6. Leaving home with Aksinya to become farm laborers for the Listnitskys.
7. Conscription into the army.
8. Murder of an Austrian. Losing a foothold.
9. Wound. News of death received by relatives.
10. Hospital in Moscow. Conversations with Garanzha.
11. Break with Aksinya and return home.
Book two, parts 3-4
12. Etching the truth of Garanji. Going to the front as a “good Cossack.”
13.1915 Rescue of Stepan Astakhov.
14. Hardening of the heart. Chubaty's influence.
15. Premonition of trouble, injury.
16. Gregory and his children, desire for the end of the war.
17. On the side of the Bolsheviks. The influence of Izvarin and Podtelkov.
18. Reminder about Aksinya.
19. Wound. Massacre of prisoners.
20. Infirmary. “Who should I lean against?”
21. Family. "I am for Soviet power."
22. Unsuccessful elections to detachment atamans.
23. Last meeting with Podtelkov.
Book three, part 6
24. Conversation with Peter.
25. Anger towards the Bolsheviks.
26. Quarrel with father over stolen goods.
27. Unauthorized departure home.
28. The Melekhovs have Reds.
29. Dispute with Ivan Alekseevich about “male power.”
30. Drunkenness, thoughts of death.
31. Gregory kills the sailors
32. Conversation with grandfather Grishaka and Natalya.
33. Meeting with Aksinya.
Book four, Part 7:
34. Gregory in the family. Children, Natalya.
35. Gregory's dream.
36. Kudinov about Gregory’s ignorance.
37. Quarrel with Fitzkhalaurov.
38. Family breakdown.
39. The division is disbanded, Gregory is promoted to centurion.
40. Death of wife.
41. Typhoid and recovery.
42. Attempt to board a ship in Novorossiysk.
Part 8:
43. Grigory at Budyonny.
44. Demobilization, conversation with. Mikhail.
45. Leaving the farm.
46. In Owl's gang, on the island.
47. Leaving the gang.
48. Death of Aksinya.
49. In the forest.
50. Returning home.
Conversation.
The image of Grigory Melekhov is central in M. Sholokhov’s epic novel “Quiet Don”. It is impossible to immediately say about him whether he is a positive or negative hero. For too long he wandered in search of the truth, his path. Grigory Melekhov appears in the novel primarily as a truth-seeker.
At the beginning of the novel, Grigory Melekhov is an ordinary farm boy with the usual range of household chores, activities, and entertainment. He lives thoughtlessly, like grass in the steppe, following traditional principles. Even love for Aksinya, which has captured his passionate nature, cannot change anything. He allows his father to marry him, and, as usual, prepares for military service. Everything in his life happens involuntarily, as if without his participation, just as he involuntarily dissects a tiny defenseless duckling while mowing - and shudders at what he has done.
Grigory Melekhov did not come into this world for bloodshed. But harsh life placed a saber in his hardworking hands. Gregory experienced the first shed of human blood as a tragedy. The image of the Austrian he killed later appears to him in a dream, causing mental pain. The experience of war completely turns his life upside down, makes him think, look into himself, listen, and take a closer look at people. Conscious life begins.
The Bolshevik Garanzha, who met Gregory in the hospital, seemed to reveal to him the truth and the prospect of change for the better. “Autonomist” Efim Izvarin and Bolshevik Fyodor Podtelkov played a significant role in shaping the beliefs of Grigory Melekhov. The tragically deceased Fyodor Podtelkov pushed Melekhov away, shedding the blood of unarmed prisoners who believed the promises of the Bolshevik who captured them. The senselessness of this murder and the callousness of the “dictator” stunned the hero. He is also a warrior, he killed a lot, but here not only the laws of humanity are violated, but also the laws of war.
“Honest to the core,” Grigory Melekhov cannot help but see the deception. The Bolsheviks promised that there would be no rich and poor. However, a year has already passed since the “Reds” were in power, and the promised equality is not there: “the platoon leader is in chrome boots, and the Vanyok is in windings.” Grigory is very observant, he tends to think about his observations, and the conclusions from his thoughts are disappointing: “If the gentleman is bad, then the boorish gentleman is a hundred times worse.”
The civil war throws Grigory either into the Budennovsky detachment or into the white formations, but this is no longer thoughtless submission to the way of life or a coincidence of circumstances, but a conscious search for the truth, the path. He sees his home and peaceful work as the main values of life. In war, shedding blood, he dreams of how he will prepare for sowing, and these thoughts make his soul warm.
The Soviet government does not allow the former ataman of the hundred to live peacefully and threatens him with prison or execution. The surplus appropriation system instills in the minds of many Cossacks the desire to “re-conquer the war”, to replace the workers’ government with their own, the Cossack’s. Gangs are forming on the Don. Grigory Melekhov, hiding from persecution by the Soviet regime, ends up in one of them, Fomin’s gang. But bandits have no future. For most Cossacks it is clear: they need to sow, not fight.
The main character of the novel is also drawn to peaceful labor. The last test, the last tragic loss for him is the death of his beloved woman - Aksinya, who received a bullet on the way, as it seems to them, to a free and happy life. Everything died. Gregory's soul is scorched. There remains only the last, but very important thread connecting the hero with life - this is his home. A house, a land waiting for its owner, and a little son - his future, his mark on the earth.
The depth of the contradictions through which the hero went through is revealed with amazing psychological authenticity and historical validity. The versatility and complexity of a person’s inner world is always the focus of M. Sholokhov’s attention. Individual destinies and a broad generalization of the paths and crossroads of the Don Cossacks allow us to see how complex and contradictory life is, how difficult it is to choose the true path.
What is the meaning of Sholokhov when he speaks of Gregory as a “good Cossack”? Why was Grigory Melekhov chosen as the main character?
(Grigory Melekhov is an extraordinary person, a bright individuality. He is sincere and honest in his thoughts and actions (especially in relation to Natalya and Aksinya (see episodes: last meeting with Natalya - part 7, chapter 7; Natalya’s death - part 7, chapter 16 -18;death of Aksinya). He has a responsive heart, a developed sense of pity and compassion (duckling in the hayfield, Franya, the execution of Ivan Alekseevich).
Grigory is a person capable of action (leaving Aksinya for Yagodnoye, breaking up with Podtelkov, clashing with Fitzkhalaurov - part 7, chapter 10; decision to return to the farm).
In which episodes is Gregory’s bright, extraordinary personality most fully revealed? The role of internal monologues. Does a person depend on circumstances or make his own destiny?
(He never lied to himself, despite doubts and tossing (see internal monologues - part 6, chapter 21). This is the only character whose thoughts are revealed by the author. War corrupts people and provokes them to commit acts that a person would never normally do did not commit. Gregory had a core that did not allow him to commit meanness even once. A deep attachment to home, to the land is a strong spiritual movement: “My hands need to work, not fight.”
The hero is constantly in a situation of choice (“I’m looking for a way out myself”). Turning point: dispute and quarrel with Ivan Alekseevich Kotlyarov, Shtokman. The uncompromising nature of a man who never knew the middle. Tragedyas if transported into the depths of consciousness: “He painfully tried to understand the confusion of thoughts.” This is not political vacillation, but a search for truth. Gregory yearns for the truth, “under the wing of which everyone could warm themselves.” And from his point of view, neither the whites nor the reds have such truth: “There is no truth in life. It is clear that whoever defeats whom will devour him. And I was looking for the bad truth. I was sick at heart, I was swaying back and forth.” These searches turned out to be, as he believes, “in vain and empty.” And this is also his tragedy. A person is placed in inevitable, spontaneous circumstances and already in these circumstances he makes a choice, his destiny.) “What a writer needs most,” said Sholokhov, “he himself needs, is to convey the movement of a person’s soul. I wanted to talk about this charm of a person in Grigory Melekhov...”
Do you think the author of “Quiet Flows the Flow” manages to “convey the movement of the human soul” using the example of the fate of Grigory Melekhov? If so, what do you think is the main direction of this movement? What is its general character? Does the novel's protagonist have what you might call charm? If so, what is its charm? The main problematic of "Quiet Don" is revealed not in the character of one, even the main character, which is Grigory Melekhov, but in the comparison and contrast of many, many characters, in the entire figurative system, in the style and language of the work. But the image of Grigory Melekhov as a typical personality, as it were, concentrates the main historical and ideological conflict of the work and thereby unites all the details of a huge picture of the complex and contradictory life of many characters who are bearers of a certain attitude towards the revolution and the people in a given historical era.
How would you define the main issues of “Quiet Don”? What, in your opinion, allows us to characterize Grigory Melekhov as a typical personality? Can you agree that it is in it that “the main historical and ideological conflict of the work” is concentrated? Literary critic A.I. Khvatov states: “Grigory contained a huge reserve of moral forces necessary for the creative achievements of the emerging new life. No matter what complications and troubles befell him and no matter how painfully what he did under the influence of a wrong decision fell on his soul, Gregory never looked for motives that weakened his personal guilt and responsibility to life and people.”
What do you think gives a scientist the right to claim that “a huge reserve of moral forces was hidden in Gregory”? What actions do you think support this statement? What about against him? What “wrong decisions” does Sholokhov’s hero make? In your opinion, is it generally acceptable to talk about the “wrong decisions” of a literary hero? Think about this topic. Do you agree that “Gregory never looked for motives that weakened his personal guilt and responsibility to life and people”? Give examples from the text. “In the plot of the combination of motives, the inescapability of love that Aksinya and Natalya give him, the immensity of Ilyinichna’s maternal suffering, the devoted comradely loyalty of fellow soldiers and peers are artistically effective in revealing the image of Gregory,” especially Prokhor Zykov. Even those with whom his interests intersected dramatically, but to whom his soul was revealed... could not help but feel the power of his charm and generosity.”(A.I. Khvatov).
Do you agree that a special role in revealing the image of Grigory Melekhov is played by the love of Aksinya and Natalya, the suffering of his mother, as well as the comradely loyalty of fellow soldiers and peers? If so, how does this manifest itself in each of these cases?
With which of the characters did Grigory Melekhov’s interests “intersect dramatically”? Can you agree that even these heroes reveal the soul of Grigory Melekhov, and they, in turn, were able to “feel the power of his charm and generosity”? Give examples from the text.
The critic V. Kirpotin (1941) reproached Sholokhov's heroes for primitivism, rudeness, and “mental underdevelopment”: “Even the best of them, Grigory, is slow-witted. A thought is an unbearable burden for him.”
Are there any among the heroes of “Quiet Don” who seemed to you rude and primitive, “mentally undeveloped” people? If so, what role do they serve in the novel?Do you agree that Sholokhov’s Grigory Melekhov is a “slow-witted” person, for whom thought is an “unbearable burden”? If yes, give specific examples of the hero’s “slow-mindedness,” his inability, and unwillingness to think. Critic N. Zhdanov noted (1940): “Gregory could have been with the people in their struggle... but he did not stand with the people. And this is his tragedy.”
In your opinion, is it fair to say that Gregory “did not stand with the people”? Are the people only those who are for the Reds?What do you think is the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov? (This question can be left as homework for a detailed written answer.)
Homework.
How do the events that gripped the country compare with the events in Grigory Melekhov’s personal life?
Grigory Melekhov in search of the truth. The dramatic fates of the main characters, the cruel lessons of the fate of Grigory Melekhov, the main character of the novel, reflect in Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” the painful search for historical truth on the way of building a new life for the people.
Grigory Melekhov is a real Don Cossack, economical and hardworking, a wonderful hunter, rider, and fisherman. Before the war and revolution, he was quite happy and carefree. An ardent commitment to military service and glory helps him out in his first trials, on the bloody battlefields of 1914.
But Gregory does not want blood and this makes him different from the others. He doesn’t want war either, but he gradually notices that all his talents, his life, his youth are being spent in the dangerous craft of killing people. Melekhov has no time to be at home, there is no time and opportunity to pay attention to his family and people who love him. The cruelty, dirt, and violence surrounding him forced Gregory to look at life in a new way.
In the hospital where Melekhov was after being wounded, under the influence of revolutionary propaganda, he began to doubt the correctness of maintaining loyalty to the tsar and military duty.
The year 1917 found Gregory in chaotic and painful attempts to make up his mind in this “time of troubles.” But his mistake is that he tries to distinguish the truth by external signs, without delving into the essence. At first Melekhov fights for the Reds, but their killing of unarmed prisoners repulses him, and when the Bolsheviks come to his native farm, committing robberies and violence, he fights them with cold rage. And again he doesn’t know what to do or what to do.
Deep doubts push Melekhov away from both the Reds and the Whites: “They are all the same... They are all a yoke on the neck of the Cossacks.” During this time of painful reflection, Gregory learns about the uprising of the Cossacks against the Bolsheviks in the upper reaches of the Don and takes the side of the rebels. He thinks: “Everyone has their own truth, their own furrow. People have always fought and will continue to fight 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 and the right to it; you have to fight hard, without swaying, like in a wall, but the intensity of hatred, the hardness, comes from struggle.”
Demotion, the death of his wife and many other painful blows of fate subsequently bring Grigory Melekhov to the last degree of despair. In the end, he joins Budyonny’s cavalry and heroically fights the Poles, wanting to cleanse himself before the Bolsheviks.
But for Gregory there is no salvation in Soviet reality, where even neutrality is considered a crime. And he envies the White Guards, thinking that everything was clear to them from the very beginning, “but to me everything is still unclear. They have straight roads... and since the 17th I’ve been walking around the villages like a drunk, swaying.”
Trying to get rid of doubts, Grigory runs away from his native farm, but after long wanderings, longing for his children, for Aksinya, he secretly returns to pick up his beloved woman. He wants to start a new life in the hope of getting to Kuban. But the happiness does not last long: on the road they are overtaken by a horse outpost, Aksinya dies. Grigory has nowhere else to go and there is no need to rush.
Hiding in the thicket of the forest for weeks, Grigory experiences an unbearable desire to “walk... around his native places, show off like the kids, then he could die.”
Melekhov returns to his native village. “So the little things that Gregory dreamed about during sleepless nights have come true. He stood at the gates of his home, holding his son in his arms... This was all that was left in his life, what still connected him with the earth, with this whole huge world shining under the cold sun.”
In the image of Grigory Melekhov, M. Sholokhov embodied the endless search by ordinary people for historical truth, which allows them to build an honest, bright, just and happy world for the majority.
Grigory Melekhov in search of the truth
“Quiet Don” reflects the era of great upheavals at the beginning of the 20th century, which had an impact on the fate of many people, and also influenced the fate of the Don Cossacks. Oppression by officials, landowners, and the more prosperous part of the population, as well as the inability of the authorities to resolve conflict situations and equitably organize the life of the people, led to popular indignation, riots, and a revolution that developed into a civil war. In addition, the Don Cossacks also rebelled against the new government and fought with the Red Army. Bands of Cossacks dealt with the same poor, with men who, like the Cossacks, wanted to work on their land. It was a difficult, troubled time when brother went against brother, and the father could turn out to be the murderer of his son.
M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” reflects the turning point era of wars and revolutions, shows the events that influenced the course of history. The writer depicted the centuries-old traditions of the Don Cossacks and the peculiarities of their life, the system of their moral principles and work skills that formed the national character, which is most fully embodied by the author in the image of Grigory Melekhov.
The path of Grigory Melekhov is completely special, different from the quests of the heroes of previous eras, since Sholokhov showed, firstly, the story of a simple Cossack, a farm boy with little education, not wise in experience, not versed in political issues. Secondly, the author reflected the most difficult time of upheaval and storms for the entire European continent and for Russia in particular.
The character of Grigory Melekhov represents a deeply tragic personality, whose fate is entirely connected with the dramatic events taking place in the country. The character of the hero can only be understood by analyzing his life path, starting from the beginning. It must be remembered that the Cossack genes contained the hot blood of a Turkish grandmother. The Melekhov family, in this regard, was distinguished by its genetic qualities: along with hard work, perseverance, and love for the land, Grigory, for example, had a proud disposition, courage, and self-will. Already in his youth, he confidently and firmly objected to Aksinya, who was calling him to foreign lands: “I will not move anywhere from the earth. Here is the steppe, there is something to breathe, but what about there?” Grigory thought that his life was forever connected with the peaceful work of a farmer on his own farm. The main values for him are land, steppe, Cossack service and family. But he could not even imagine how loyalty to the Cossack cause would turn out for him, when the best years would have to be given to war, killing people, ordeals on the fronts, and he would have to go through a lot, experiencing various shocks.
Grigory was raised in the spirit of devotion to Cossack traditions; he did not shy away from service, intending to honorably fulfill his military duty and return to the farm. He, as befits a Cossack, showed courage in battles during the First World War, “took risks, was extravagant,” but very soon realized that it was not easy to free himself from the pain for a person that he sometimes felt. Gregory suffered especially hard at the senseless murder of an Austrian who was running away from him. He even, “without knowing why, approached the Austrian soldier he had hacked to death.” And then, when he walked away from the corpse, “his step was confused and heavy, as if he was carrying an unbearable baggage over his shoulders; disgust and bewilderment crumpled the soul.”
After the first wound, while in the hospital, Gregory learned new truths, listening to how the wounded soldier of Garange “exposed the real reasons for the outbreak of the war, caustically ridiculed the autocratic government.” It was difficult for the Cossack to accept these new concepts about the king, the homeland, and military duty: “all those foundations on which consciousness rested began to smoke.” But after a stay in his native farm, he again went to the front, remaining a good Cossack: “Grigory tightly guarded the Cossack honor, seized the opportunity to show selfless courage...”. This was the time when his heart became hardened and coarsened. However, while remaining courageous and even desperate in battle, Gregory changed internally: he could not laugh carefree and cheerfully, his eyes were sunken, his cheekbones became sharper, and it became difficult to look into the clear eyes of the child. “He played with his own and other people’s lives with cold contempt, ... he won four St. George’s crosses, four medals,” but he could not avoid the mercilessly devastating impact of the war. However, Gregory’s personality was still not destroyed by the war: his soul was not completely hardened, he could not completely come to terms with the need to kill people (even enemies).
In 1917, after being wounded and in the hospital, while at home on vacation, Grigory felt tired, “acquired by the war.” “I wanted to turn away from everything seething with hatred, hostile and incomprehensible world. There, behind, everything was confused and contradictory.” There was no solid ground underfoot, and there was no certainty about which path to follow: “I was drawn to the Bolsheviks - I walked, led others with me, and then I began to think, my heart grew cold.” At the farm, the Cossack wanted to return to household chores and stay with his family. But they won’t let him calm down, because there will be no peace in the country for a long time. And Melekhov rushes between the “reds” and the “whites”. It is difficult for him to find political truth when human values are rapidly changing in the world, and the essence of events is difficult for an inexperienced person to understand: “Who should we lean on?” Gregory’s tossing was not connected with his political sentiments, but with a misunderstanding of the situation in the country, when power was alternately seized by numerous participants in the warring forces. Melekhov was ready to fight in the ranks of the Red Army, but war is war, it could not be done without cruelty, and the wealthy Cossacks did not want to voluntarily give “food” to the Red Army soldiers. Melekhov felt the distrust of the Bolsheviks, their hostility towards him as a former soldier of the tsarist army. And Grigory himself could not understand the uncompromising and ruthless activities of the food detachments taking the grain. The fanaticism and embitterment of Mikhail Koshevoy were especially repelled from the communist idea, and a desire appeared to get away from the unbearable confusion. I wanted to understand and comprehend everything, to find my own, “real truth,” but, apparently, there is not one truth for everyone: “People have always fought for a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life...”. And Gregory decided that “we must fight with those who want to take away life, the right to it...”.
Cruelty and violence were demonstrated by all warring parties: the White Guards, the rebel Cossacks, and various gangs. Melekhov did not want to join them, but Grigory had to fight against the Bolsheviks. Not out of conviction, but out of forced circumstances, when Cossacks from their farms were gathered into detachments by opponents of the new government. He had a hard time experiencing the atrocities of the Cossacks and their indomitable vindictiveness. While in Fomin's detachment, Grigory witnessed the execution of a young non-party Red Army soldier who loyally served the people's power. The guy refused to go over to the side of the bandits (that’s what he called the Cossack detachment), and they immediately decided to “put him to waste.” “Do we have a short trial?” - says Fomin, turning to Grigory, who avoided looking the leader in the eyes, because he himself was against such “trials”.
And Gregory’s parents are in solidarity with their son in matters of rejection of cruelty and hostility between people. Panteley Prokofievich kicks out Mitka Korshunov because he does not want to see in his house the executioner who killed a woman and children in order to take revenge on the communist Koshevoy. Ilyinichna, Grigory’s mother, says to Natalya: “The Reds could have chopped up you and me and Mishatka and Polyushka for Grisha, but they didn’t chop them up, they had mercy.” The old farmer Chumakov also utters wise words when he asks Melekhov: “Are you going to make peace with Soviet power soon? We fought with the Circassians, we fought with the Turks, and then peace was achieved, but you are all your own people and can’t get along with each other.”
Gregory’s life was also complicated by his unstable position everywhere and in everything: he was constantly in a state of search, deciding the question of “where to lean.” Even before serving in the Cossack army, Melekhov was unable to choose a life partner for love, since Aksinya was married, and his father married him to Natalya. And all his short life he was in a position “in between,” when he was drawn to his family, to his wife and children, but his heart was also calling to his beloved. The desire to manage the land tore at my soul no less, although no one was exempted from military duty. The position of an honest, decent man between the new and the old, between peace and war, between Bolshevism and Izvarin’s populism and, finally, between Natalya and Aksinya only aggravated and increased the intensity of his tossing.
The need to choose was very exhausting, and perhaps the Cossack’s decisions were not always correct, but who could judge people then and make a fair verdict? G. Melekhov fought passionately in Budyonny’s cavalry and thought that through his faithful service he had earned forgiveness from the Bolsheviks for his previous deeds, however, during the years of the civil war there were cases of quick reprisals against those who either did not show devotion to the Soviet government or rushed from side to side. And in Fomin’s gang, already fighting against the Bolsheviks, Grigory did not see a way out of how to solve his problem, how to return to a peaceful life and not be an enemy to anyone. Grigory left Fomin’s Cossack detachment, and, fearing punishment from the Soviet authorities, or even lynching from any side, since he allegedly became everyone’s enemy, he tries to hide with Aksinya, to escape somewhere far from his native farm. However, this attempt did not bring him salvation: a chance meeting with Red Army soldiers from the food detachment, flight, pursuit, shots after him - and the tragic death of Aksinya stopped Gregory’s throwing forever. There was nowhere to rush, no one to rush to.
The author is far from indifferent to the fate of his main character. He writes bitterly that because of homesickness, Grigory can no longer wander around and, without waiting for an amnesty, he takes the risk again and returns to the Tatarsky farm: “He stood at the gates of his home, holding his son in his arms...”. Sholokhov does not end the novel with a message about the further fate of G. Melekhov, probably because he sympathizes with him and would like to finally give the battle-weary man some peace of mind so that he could live and work on his land, but it is difficult to say whether it is possible This.
The merit of the writer is also that the author’s attitude towards the characters, his ability to understand people, to appreciate the honesty and decency of those who sincerely sought to understand the confusion of rebellious events and find the truth - this is the author’s desire to convey the movement of the human soul against the backdrop of dramatic changes in the country. appreciated by both critics and readers. One of the former leaders of the rebellious Cossacks, emigrant P. Kudinov, wrote to Sholokhov scholar K. Priyma: “Quiet Don” shook our souls and made us change our minds all over again, and our longing for Russia became even sharper, and our heads brightened.” And those who, while in exile, read M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”, “who sobbed over its pages and tore out their gray hair - these people in 1941 could not and did not go to fight against Soviet Russia " It should be added: not all, of course, but many of them.
Sholokhov’s skill as an artist is also difficult to overestimate: we have a rare example, almost a historical document, depicting the culture of the Cossacks, life, traditions and peculiarities of speech. It would be impossible to create vivid images (and for the reader to imagine them) if Gregory, Aksinya and other characters spoke neutrally, in a stylized language close to literary. This would no longer be the Don Cossacks, if we take away their centuries-old peculiarities of speech, their own dialect: “vilyuzhinki”, “skroz”, “you are my good one”. At the same time, representatives of the command staff of the Cossack troops, who have education and experience communicating with people from other territories of Russia, speak a language familiar to Russians. And Sholokhov objectively shows this difference, so the picture turns out to be reliable.
It should be noted that the author is able to combine an epic depiction of historical events with the lyricism of the narrative, especially those moments in which the personal experiences of the characters are reported. The writer uses the technique of psychologism, revealing the internal state of a person, showing the mental movements of the individual. One of the features of this technique is the ability to give an individual description of the hero, combining with external data, with a portrait. For example, the changes that happened to Gregory as a result of his service and participation in battles look very memorable: “... he knew that he would no longer laugh as before; I knew that his eyes were sunken and his cheekbones were sticking out sharply...”
The author’s empathy for the heroes of the work is felt in everything, and the reader’s opinion coincides with the words of Y. Ivashkevich that M.A. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” has “deep inner content - and its content is love for a person.”
Sholokhov Don Melekhov Roman
Sources
- 1. M.A. Sholokhov "Quiet Don"
- 2. Literature textbook for grades 10-11
The hero of Mikhail Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” - Grigory Melikhov - is a simple Cossack from the middle peasants, caught in the whirlpool of the First World War, revolution and civil war. In this difficult time, he, a skilled warrior, turns out to be needed by everyone - both white and red. In the whirlwind of war, Melekhov finds himself in all the opposing armies of the civil war and tries to understand whose side is right.
First he is with the Reds, led by Podtelkov and Krivoshlykov. This reflects Melekhov’s inherent dislike for noble officers, whom
The interests of the people, including the Cossacks, are alien. However, it is Podtelkov’s savage reprisal against captured White Guard officers that turns Grigory away from the Reds. He angrily throws at the leader of the Red Cossacks, who is about to be executed by a painful death:
“Do you remember the battle under Gluboka? Do you remember how the officers were shot... They shot on your orders! A? Now you're burping! Well, don't worry! You're not the only one to tan other people's skins! You have left, Chairman of the Moscow Council of People's Commissars! You, toadstool, sold the Cossacks to the Jews!” But Grigory Melekhov’s anger is cooled by his comrade Christonya: “Let’s go, then, to the horses. I'm on my way! Us
There's nothing to do with you here. Lord God, what is happening to people!..” The upcoming execution of Podtelkov, Krivoshlykov and their comrades also shocks Grigory. Without waiting for it to begin, he leaves the Ponamarev farm, where reprisals are being carried out against the prisoners.
Grigory himself, after the execution of his brother Peter by the Reds, is also able to give the order to exterminate the captured Red Army soldiers. Capable of cutting down countless red sailors in open battle. But he takes such actions only in moments of extreme anger or battle-induced excitement. In calm moments, he releases the captive enemy in peace, and about the same chopped up sailors, having cooled down, he speaks with melancholy “in some moment of monstrous enlightenment”:
“Who did he chop down!..” And for the first time in his life he began to thrash in a severe fit, shouting, spitting out along with foam that even swirled on his lips: - “Brothers, there is no forgiveness for me!.. Hack, for God’s sake... in God’s mother... Death ... betray!..” He speaks in almost the same words as the Cossack Yegor Zharkov, who received a mortal wound in the First World War and begged his comrades to stop his torment: “Brothers, put him to death! Brothers! .. Brothers ... Well, what are you looking? .. Ahahaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh , but experiences almost the same torment that he has to kill compatriots, Russian people, Cossacks, men, sailors... Even when killing the enemy in a fair fight, he sometimes experiences moral torment. What can we say about the murder of unarmed people? True, in avenging Peter, Gregory does such a dirty deed. But the feeling of revenge quickly passes. And having learned that Peter’s killers had fallen into the hands of the Cossacks, Gregory hurries to his native farm not to hasten their death, but on the contrary, to save them from death. But he was too late: during the lynching of Ivan Alekseevich, Peter’s widow Daria is killed. Truly, “what happens to people”! Gregory does not accept the brutality caused by the civil war. And ultimately he turns out to be a stranger in all warring camps. He begins to doubt whether he is looking for the right truth. Melekhov thinks about the Reds: “They fight so that they can live better, but we fought for our good life... There is no truth in life. It can be seen whoever defeats whom will devour him... But I was looking for the bad truth. He was sick at heart, he swayed back and forth... In the old days, you can hear, the Tatars offended the Don, they went to take away the land, to force him. Now - Rus'. No! I won't make peace! They are strangers to me and to all the Cossacks.” He feels a sense of community only with his fellow Cossacks, especially during the Vyoshensky uprising. He dreams of the Cossacks being independent from both the Bolsheviks and the “cadets,” but quickly realizes that there is no place left for any “third force” in the struggle between the Reds and the Whites. In the White Cossack army of Ataman Krasnov, Grigory Melekhov serves without enthusiasm. Here he sees robbery, violence against prisoners, and the reluctance of the Cossacks to fight outside the region of the Don Army, and he himself shares their sentiments. And just as without enthusiasm, Grigory fights with the Reds after the Vyoshensky rebels united with the troops of General Denikin. The officers who set the tone in the Volunteer Army are not just strangers to him, but also hostile. It is not for nothing that Captain Evgeny Listnitsky also becomes an enemy, whom Grigory beats half to death for his connection with Aksinya. Melekhov anticipates the defeat of White and is not too sad about this. By and large, he is already tired of the war, and the outcome is almost indifferent. Although during the days of retreat “at times he had a vague hope that danger would force the scattered, demoralized and warring white forces to unite, fight back and overturn the victoriously advancing red units.”
Grigory, “oppressed by idleness,” wanted to “join some military unit,” but friend and orderly Prokhor Zykov strongly advised against doing so: “You, Grigory Panteleevich, apparently have gone completely crazy! - he said indignantly. - Why the hell are we going there, into this hell? The matter is over, you see for yourself, why are we going to waste ourselves in vain? Al you think that the two of us will help them! Until they touch us and forcibly take us into the unit, we must, as soon as possible, get away from sin, and what the hell are you going to do! No, please, let’s retreat peacefully, like an old man. You and I have already fought enough in five years, now let others try!”
And Gregory agrees with his arguments. After all, Melekhov is also tired of the war, although he has a military streak, prowess, even some kind of desire for battle. That is why Gregory is bored in retreat without real work. However, he does not consider either side in the civil war to be right, and for this reason he quickly cools down to fighting for a cause that he does not consider fair. Melekhov then goes to serve the Reds in order to atone for his previous sins, and even fights against the Poles with enthusiasm, almost like against the Germans and Austrians in the First World War.
Prokhor Zykov, who returned to the Tatarsky farm and lost his arm, tells Aksinya about Grigory: “Together with him in Novorossiysk we entered the cavalry army of comrade Budyonny... Our Grigory Pantelevich accepted a hundred, that is, a squadron, I, of course, am with him, and went in marching order to Kyiv . Well, girl, we gave these Poles the devil! We went there, Grigory Pantelevich and said: “They chopped up the Germans, tried broadswords on all sorts of Austrians, do the Poles really have stronger shards? It seems to me that it will be easier to chop them down than our own - Russians, what do you think?” - and winks at me, grins. He changed when he joined the Red Army, he became cheerful, smooth as a gelding... He says I will serve until I atone for my past sins. He will do this - a simple foolish thing... Near one place he led us into an attack. Before my eyes, he cut down four of their lancers. He, damn it, was left-handed from childhood, so he got them from both sides... After the battle, Budyonny himself stood with him before the formation, and there was gratitude to the squadron and to him.” Nevertheless, the gratitude of the legendary commander of the First Cavalry did not save Melekhov from suspicion. And when the Budennovites were transferred to the Crimea against Wrangel, Grigory had to cut down not the Poles, but his own, Russian people. After being wounded on the Wrangel front, Melekhov was demobilized from the Red Army, not relying too much on his reliability.
Gregory’s words that the Poles have “shards” no stronger than the Germans cannot be understood as a joyful readiness to kill people. Melekhov is happy, so to speak, only because he has to kill foreigners, and not compatriots. However, as we see, he later had to kill Russians, perhaps the same Cossack brothers who fought under the banner of Wrangel.
Grigory, returning to the farm, expects that he will be left alone: “He’s finished fighting. He's had enough. He was going home to finally get to work, live with the children, with Aksinya...” Grigory, it seems, had found his truth: a quiet family life, with children, with his wife. He confesses to his former friend and current son-in-law: “I don’t want to serve anyone anymore. I have fought enough in my time and have become terribly tired of my soul. I'm tired of everything - both the revolution and the counter-revolution. Let it all go to waste... let it all go to waste! I want to live near my children, take care of the house, that’s all. Believe me, Mikhail, I say this from the bottom of my heart.” However, Kosheva does not believe, and Grigory’s dreams of a calm, peaceful life are not destined to come true.
The threat of arrest forced Grigory to flee from his native farm, and chance led him to Fomin’s gang, where he was no longer looking for the truth, but was simply hiding from persecution. He decided to leave with Aksinya for Kuban and start a new life there, but his beloved died from a stray bullet.
After this, Melekhov “still clung convulsively to the ground, as if in fact his broken life was of some value both for him and for others.” In the end, Gregory, without waiting for an amnesty, returned home.
In the finale, “the little that Gregory dreamed about during sleepless nights came true. He stood at the gates of his home, holding his son in his arms... This was all that was left in his life, what still connected him with the earth and with this whole huge world shining under the cold sun.”
Sholokhov led his beloved hero through all the circles of hell of the civil war, finally brought him to a peaceful shore and left him here. And although he himself perfectly understood what awaited Grigory Melekhov ahead, he could not and did not want to say this, and therefore left the appearance of a happy ending. In an era of revolutionary cataclysms, there is no happiness for honest people.
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Grigory Melekhov is one of the central characters in M. Sholokhov’s epic work “Quiet Don”. The epic novel is a real encyclopedia of people's life during a turning point in Russian history. Gregory is a collective image of a person who faced a difficult choice between mutually exclusive views.
Melekhov is a typical representative of the Cossacks, associated with them by centuries-old traditions and customs. He cannot imagine life apart from his national roots. Gregory is endowed with all the qualities of a real Cossack. He is a courageous and courageous person, ready to support a comrade in any situation.
At the same time, Melekhov is characterized by an unconscious desire for truth and justice. If the overwhelming number of Cossacks without hesitation take the side of the white movement simply because of unshakable traditions, then Grigory wants to figure it out on his own.
The First World War became a turning point in Melekhov’s soul. When participating in hostilities, he immediately attracts attention with his fearlessness. At the same time, doubt arises in his soul about the justice of the war in general. Melekhov understands that the generals do not care at all about the suffering of ordinary soldiers.
Since that time, Melekhov no longer feels calm. He admits to himself and those around him that he has lost a stable footing in life. The traditions of the Cossacks turned out to be an illusion that did not give a true sense of truth. Gregory's soul is rushing about in search of a way out. His spiritual emptiness is gradually filled with the slogans of the red movement. It seems to Melekhov that he has found what he was striving for.
In the ranks of the Bolsheviks, Grigory continued to perform exploits. But the struggle for the next truth turns into the blood of innocent people. Melekhov understands that in addition to the Reds and Whites, who equally commit cruelty and lawlessness, there must be some kind of “real” truth. It is higher than political convictions and comes from the human soul.
The author does not put an end to Melekhov’s fate, giving the reader the opportunity to figure out the problem of finding the truth for himself. Gregory's internal struggle is an important philosophical theme. The problem of difficult choices can affect any person.
Option 2
What is truth? What is she like? Each of us will probably answer this question in our own way and will be right, because this concept is contradictory and ambiguous. How to distinguish truth from lies? What choice should I make? Some immediately decide on a choice, while others rush around, doubting the correctness of the choice they have made. Their souls are tormented by doubts, and they begin a painful search for the truth. Sometimes it takes a lifetime.
One of these truth-seekers is Grigory Melekhov, the main character of Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. Having become acquainted with the work, we learn the following about him: he was born into a hereditary family of Don Cossacks who had a strong economy and material wealth. From his ancestors he inherited such character qualities as honesty, love of peasant labor, compassion, pride and independence. He differed from other Cossacks in his courage, depth of feelings, and kindness. The main feature of his character was that he was constantly trying to find his truth, for which it was worth serving and for which it was worth living. Does not accept lies.
The First World War was the beginning of the hero's life trials. She divided the Cossacks into red and white, giving each one a choice. Our hero could not figure out everything that was happening on his own; he did not meet a person who could explain everything to him in a simple and understandable language. It happened that he vaguely sensed the truth, but did not know how to prove it, so he was forced to submit, with which he internally disagreed. Finding himself at war, Gregory proves himself to be a brave and decisive person, never hides behind the backs of others, but quickly becomes disillusioned. He feels that he is doing everything wrong. For him, a warrior and humanist, massacres of the unarmed are disgusting. He wants to find a truth that will be acceptable to everyone and everyone will feel good.
Having been wounded, Melekhov ends up in a hospital, where he meets the Bolshevik Garanzha. Under his influence, the hero has an epiphany, who is increasingly convinced that he lived in illusions far from reality. He understood the meaning of the imperialist war and hated it.
The search for truth becomes more acute during the Civil War. The meeting with Efim Izvarin sowed doubts in Gregory’s soul; he tries to argue with him, but is semi-literate, fails in verbal battles with his opponent, and does not have enough knowledge to prove his truth.
Thus, the path to the truth was long, painful, and difficult for Gregory, but along this path he remained human.
Melekhov is looking for the truth
Roman M.A. Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" is an excellent example of a work that touches on almost all the problems of humanity. When reading this novel, it is sometimes difficult to understand what is the main theme of this work, however, through a careful analysis of the work, one can single out the main character’s search for his place in the world as the most mentioned in the text.
The main character of the novel was Grigory Malekhov. On his difficult life path he encountered a large number of trials associated with life at the beginning of the twentieth century - in a bloody time of war and great changes. As a participant in hostilities, Gregory achieved great success: he received the rank of officer, was awarded many awards, but at the same time did not achieve the main goal of his life. He was constantly tormented by the question: “What is the meaning of life?” He could not understand why people need war, why they need victory and power. Gregory participates in the civil war in 1918 in a detachment of whites under the command of his older brother. Over time, in an attempt to understand who is right in this fratricidal war and who is wrong, he becomes a bandit, but even in such an environment he does not feel calm. Restless thoughts come to Gregory. He still can't find an answer to his questions. In the end, risking his life, he returns to his homeland to his native village. Meeting his family: his wife, son and sister gives him strength and desire to live. However, later a great tragedy awaits the hero: his wife is killed with a bullet that was intended for him. He is left alone with his child, sister and her husband, who at that time is his main enemy.
In my opinion, M.A. Sholokhov in the image of Gregory contained all the features of a typical village man of those times. Few of the ordinary peasants understood the meaning of the war, the seizure of power and the possible consequences of one or another outcome of the war. Malekhov is a person with a sufficient level of intelligence because he can talk about very complex topics, but due to lack of education and lack of life experience, he cannot find himself in this life. The main obstacle is war. In those days, armed conflicts not only led to the death of a large number of people, but also to sad consequences among the survivors.
Grigory Malekhov is a good example of how much war can ruin a person’s destiny. Because of conflicts, he loses a lot of time, his wife, and faith in himself. In addition, he often had to kill in order to survive, which he clearly did not want to do, which robbed him of perhaps his greatest wealth - a clear conscience. The war turned the simple worker Gregory into a tragic hero, an unfortunate bandit who is looking for the truth of life and still cannot find it, dooming himself to eternal unsuccessful attempts.
