M. A. Sholokhov in his novel " Quiet Don"poeticizes the life of the people, deeply analyzes its way of life, as well as the origins of its crisis, which largely affected the fate of the main characters of the work. The author emphasizes that the people play a key role in history. It is they, according to Sholokhov, who are its driving force. Of course , the main character of Sholokhov's work is one of the representatives of the people - Grigory Melekhov. His prototype is believed to be Kharlampy Ermakov, a Don Cossack (pictured below). He fought in the Civil War and in the First World War.

Grigory Melekhov, whose characteristics interest us, is an illiterate, simple Cossack, but his personality is multifaceted and complex. Best features, which are inherent to the people, endowed it with the author.

at the beginning of the work

At the very beginning of his work, Sholokhov tells the story of the Melekhov family. Cossack Prokofy, Gregory's ancestor, returns home from the Turkish campaign. He brings with him a Turkish woman who becomes his wife. This event begins new story Melekhov family. Gregory's character is already ingrained in her. It is no coincidence that this character is similar in appearance to other men of his kind. The author notes that he is “like his father”: he is half a head taller than Peter, although he is 6 years younger than him. He has the same “dangling kite nose” as Pantelei Prokofievich. Grigory Melekhov stoops just like his father. Both of them even had something in common, “animalistic,” even in their smile. It is he who continues the Melekhov family, and not Peter, his older brother.

Connection with nature

From the very first pages, Gregory is depicted in everyday activities typical of the life of peasants. Like all of them, he takes horses to watering, goes fishing, goes to games, falls in love, and participates in common peasant labor. The character of this hero is clearly revealed in the meadow mowing scene. In it, Grigory Melekhov discovers sympathy for the pain of others, love for all living things. He feels sorry for the duckling that was accidentally cut with a scythe. Gregory looks at him, as the author notes, with “a feeling of acute pity.” This hero has a good feel for the nature with which he is vitally connected.

How is the character of the hero revealed in his personal life?

Gregory can be called a man of decisive actions and actions, strong passions. Numerous episodes with Aksinya speak eloquently about this. Despite his father's slander, at midnight, during haymaking, he still goes to this girl. Panteley Prokofievich cruelly punishes his son. However, not afraid of his father’s threats, Gregory still goes to his beloved again at night and returns only at dawn. Already here the desire to reach the end in everything is manifested in his character. Marriage to a woman whom he does not love could not force this hero to abandon himself, from sincere, natural feelings. He only calmed Pantelei Prokofievich a little, who called out to him: “Don’t be afraid of your father!” But nothing more. This hero has the ability to love passionately, and also does not tolerate any ridicule of himself. He does not forgive jokes about his feelings even to Peter and grabs a pitchfork. Gregory is always sincere and honest. He directly tells Natalya, his wife, that he does not love her.

How did life with the Listnitskys influence Grigory?

At first he does not agree to run away from the farm with Aksinya. However, the impossibility of submission and innate stubbornness ultimately force him to leave his native farm and go to the Listnitsky estate with his beloved. Grigory becomes a groom. However, life away from his parents’ home is not at all his thing. The author notes that he was spoiled by an easy, well-fed life. The main character became fat, lazy, and began to look older than his years.

In the novel "Quiet Don" he has enormous inner strength. The scene of this hero beating Listnitsky Jr. is clear evidence of this. Grigory, despite the position that Listnitsky occupies, does not want to forgive the offense he inflicted. He hits him on the hands and face with a whip, not allowing him to come to his senses. Melekhov is not afraid of the punishment that will follow for this act. And he treats Aksinya harshly: when he leaves, he never even looks back.

The self-esteem that is inherent in a hero

Complementing the image of Grigory Melekhov, we note that in his character there is a clearly expressed strength. It is in him that his strength lies, which is capable of influencing other people, regardless of position and rank. Of course, in the duel at the watering hole with the sergeant, Grigory wins, who did not allow himself to be hit by his senior in rank.

This hero is able to stand up not only for his own dignity, but also for that of others. It is he who turns out to be the only one who defended Franya, the girl whom the Cossacks violated. Finding himself in this situation powerless against the evil being committed, Gregory for the first time in a long time almost cried.

Gregory's courage in battle

The events of the First World War affected the destinies of many people, including this hero. Grigory Melekhov was captured by the whirlwind of historical events. His fate is a reflection of the fates of many people, representatives of the ordinary Russian people. Like a true Cossack, Grigory completely devotes himself to battle. He is brave and decisive. Grigory easily defeats three Germans and takes them prisoner, deftly repels the enemy battery, and also saves the officer. Medals and what he received officer rank- here is evidence of the courage of this hero.

Killing a person, contrary to the nature of Gregory

Gregory is generous. He even helps Stepan Astakhov, his rival, who dreams of killing him, in battle. Melekhov is shown as a skilled, courageous warrior. However, murder still fundamentally contradicts the humane nature of Gregory, his life values. He confesses to Peter that he killed a man and because of him “his soul is sick.”

Changing worldview under the influence of other people

Quite quickly, Grigory Melekhov begins to experience disappointment and incredible fatigue. At first, he fights fearlessly, without thinking about the fact that he is shedding both his own and other people’s blood in battles. However, life and war pit Gregory against many people who have completely different views on the world and the events taking place in it. After communicating with them, Melekhov begins to think about the war, as well as about the life he lives. The truth that Chubatiy conveys is that a person must be cut down boldly. This hero easily talks about death, about the right and opportunity to take the life of others. Grigory listens to him attentively and understands that such an inhumane position is alien and unacceptable to him. Garanja is the hero who sowed the seeds of doubt in Gregory's soul. He suddenly doubted the values ​​that had previously been considered unshakable, such as Cossack military duty and the Tsar, who is “on our necks.” Garanja makes the main character think about a lot. The spiritual quest of Grigory Melekhov begins. It is these doubts that become the beginning of Melekhov’s tragic path to the truth. He is desperately trying to find the meaning and truth of life. The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov unfolds at a difficult time in the history of our country.

Of course, Gregory’s character is truly folk. The tragic fate of Grigory Melekhov, described by the author, still evokes the sympathy of many readers of "Quiet Don". Sholokhov (his portrait is presented above) managed to create a bright, strong, complex and truthful character of the Russian Cossack Grigory Melekhov.

Mikhail Sholokhov's novel "Quiet Don" reflects the fate of a simple Cossack Grigory Melekhov, who went through the First World War and the Civil War. Through the story of his life and moral vacillations, the author's intention of the novel is revealed - to show the Don Cossacks in a period of revolution full of heaviness and hardships, radical changes, in a turning point in the life of Russia. The turning point in Gregory’s consciousness and life occurs in two striking episodes in the first part of the novel - the hero’s stay in the hospital and his return home.

After fighting on the Austrian front, being wounded, scenes of bloodshed and the murder of a man, Grigory ends up in the hospital. There he finds himself in the same room with the Ukrainian Garanzha. “Black deafness among the people,” - with this one phrase Garanzha expresses the author’s opinion about Melekhov and other people who are too simple and busy with everyday affairs, during which they do not have time to comprehend what is happening, hear and think. A Ukrainian opens the eyes of a simple Cossack. An ardent anti-monarchist, he ideologically formulated and connected together the thoughts that now appeared and were vaguely wandering in Gregory’s mind, a feeling of dissatisfaction with the authorities, a feeling of injustice and wrongness of the war. "You've broken my heart." - Grigory admits during one of his conversations with the “evil” Ukrainian.

The story about Grigory Melekhov’s stay in the hospital ends with a visit there from “a person of the imperial family.” Having seen with his own eyes the king and his “polished officers of the retinue”, who came to ostentatiously honor the wounded soldiers with their presence, Gorigory is finally convinced of the truth of Garanzhi. Grigory notices the “marsupial cheeks” of the “benefactor” king, who brought and distributed icons, and his lifeless, bored look finally drives the Cossack crazy and he, no longer able to endure this mockery, is rude to the person, declaring that he wants to “go when necessary ".

Thus Sholokhov tells us that the revolution was caused not only by famine and war. it was caused by the disdainful attitude of the upper classes towards the lower classes, rudeness, rudeness, and hard-heartedness of the nobility towards the common people. "You rascal!" - the head of the hospital shouted at Melekhov. Events such as war served as only the last straw that broke the cup of patience and spurred people to desperate actions. the revolution itself took place long before this in the hearts of the oppressed.

Upon his return, Gregory was faced with two shocks at once - the death of his little daughter and the news of betrayal. Having learned that Aksinya cheated on him with the young master, the Cossack deceitfully strives to give him a ride and drives the horses so that the wind whistles in his ears (the furious speed and furious wind convey the feeling of rage that has taken possession of Gregory), and then stops the horses and brutally beats the master. This episode depicts the violent temper and unbridled anger, as well as the desire for freedom and a sense of justice, with which the Cossacks are filled.

Then he comes to Aksinya with the intention of dealing with her just as cruelly. But the feeling of love for her turns out to be so strong that Gregory walks away, whipping her only once. Aksinya catches up with him at a fork in the road (a fork in the road is the choice of the path along which Grigory’s future life will go. Aksinya stretches out his hands imploringly in an effort to return him, but he “never looked back,” in which the proud, irreconcilable disposition of Grigory Melekhov again manifested itself, which caught him he was again inspired to change his path abruptly.The warm welcome he received from his family testifies to his strong family unity Cossacks, but still cannot stop the seething of new ideas in Gregory for long.

These two episodes played a turning point in Gregory's life. Garanzha instilled in him the spirit of revolution, and Aksinya’s betrayal and break with her embittered him, but on the other hand, made him free. Now Melekhov had nothing to lose, nothing prevented him from now joining the Reds. In general, this gap to a certain extent determined the entire subsequent history of Gregory, doubts and tossing, actions and actions on the battlefields - right up to a new reunion with Aksinya. This ends temporarily love line and a serious military, revolutionary one begins, describing the events and fates of people during the Civil War, the next part of the epic novel.

Creating the image of Grigory Melekhov, the main character of the novel “Quiet”

Don,” M. A. Sholokhov achieves artistic integrity in the depiction of his actions, thoughts and feelings, no matter how different and contradictory they may be. The basis of Gregory’s personality is complete truthfulness to oneself, spontaneity, and uncompromisingness. He doesn't know how to hide his feelings. And this character trait repeatedly brings him into conflict with others. But with all his complexity and contradictions, Grigory Melekhov remains integral, true to himself, his thoughts, ideas, and beliefs.

The writer does not isolate his hero, does not separate him from the rest of the Cossacks. Knowing history well Don Cossacks, Mikhail Alexandrovich shows the reader the life and customs of these people. The Don Cossacks, who did not know serfdom, were a special type of peasantry. Cossacks differed from peasants not only in that from an early age they were prepared for military service, from childhood they were brought up with courage, daring, and resourcefulness. The tsarist government cultivated a sense of class isolation among the Cossacks, despising the “muzhik” and the “urban” worker. They were trained to serve as servants loyal to the “tsar, throne and fatherland.”

The Cossack family was built on patriarchal principles. The father was the eldest in her and the absolute master of the house. At his request, the gathering could publicly flog his disobedient son. From childhood, the Cossack had to absorb the fear of disobedience. Obedience and respect for elders were brought up not only in childhood, but were also instilled in military service. Thus, Cossacks of older years of service were given the right to punish young Cossacks.

The environment that raised and raised Grigory Melekhov is comprehensively shown in “Quiet Don”. This is, first of all, of course, the Melekhov family - grandfather Grigory Melekhov, who brought a captive Turkish woman from Turkey. “From then on, Turkish blood began to interbreed with Cossack blood. This is where the hook-nosed, wildly beautiful Melekhovs, and in the street style – Turks, came to be in the village.”

“...the youngest, Grigory, took after his father: half a head taller than Peter, although six years younger, the same as his father’s, a drooping kite nose, slightly slanting slits with blue almonds of hot eyes, sharp slabs of cheekbones covered with brown, ruddy skin. Grigory stooped in the same way as his father, even in their smile they both had something in common, a little beastly.”

How the family of middle peasants Melekhov lived can be seen from the words of its head Pantelei Prokofievich: “... even without the current harvest, we have enough for two years of bread. We have, thank God, up to our nostrils in our bins, and there are some of them somewhere.” But the Melekhovs are first and foremost a working family. In portraying her, M.A. Sholokhov does not remain silent about the harsh disposition of Pantelei Prokofievich, nor about the difficult lot of a woman, nor about the possessive habits under the roof of the Melekhov kuren. But, despite the fact that the wayward owner asserted his power with the help of a crutch, an atmosphere of friendship, mutual caring, and love reigned in the family. There were actually three families living in the house, but there were no clashes between them, no quarrels broke out that would destroy family relationships.

The Melekhovs were known not only for their loyalty to the patriarchal way of life, but also for their spirit of love of freedom and proud rebellion. The origins of the story about them are covered with romance tragic story Prokofy, who did not want to obey the farm rules and became a victim of prejudice. And Panteley Prokofievich, and his children, and even grandchildren are portrayed as people of high human worth.

The depiction of the tragic fate of the Melekhov family is one of

greatest artistic achievements in Sholokhov's novel. The story of the Melekhov family is, in essence, the story of how the foundations of social injustice were destroyed in old village. On the quiet Don, irreconcilable currents awoke and met. Mighty blows shake the Melekhov house. Panteley Prokofievich feels how unknown and frightening in its novelty forces are tearing the roots that forever, it seemed, connected the Cossacks with the monarch, with the ataman power. Grigory struggles, unable to escape from the circle of contradictions that surround him.

In all modern world literature one cannot find a figure as expressive as he is controversial. Equally captivating the eyes of readers and encouraging them, looking around, to look for Grigory Melekhov among non-fictional living people.1

Grigory Melekhov grew up in an atmosphere of admiration for the Cossack military virtues. Cossacks in uniforms with shoulder straps, wearing all the insignia, went to church and to the village gathering. St. George's crosses and medals evoked reverence, deep respect, and this respectful attitude towards titles and royal awards was instilled in childhood.

“Serve as you should,” father inspired Gregory, who was drafted into the army before the imperialist war. The Tsar’s service will not be wasted.” And he signed the letter: “Your parent, senior officer Panteley Melekhov.” My father was not just a father, but also a senior officer. This military rank, in the deep conviction of Pantelei Prokofievich, obliged him to additional respect.

Work was Gregory's need; he could not imagine his life outside of work. And more than once during the war, with a dull, heart-grabbing melancholy, Grigory recalled his close people, his native farm, work in the fields: “It would be nice to take the chapigs with your hands and follow the plow along the wet furrow, greedily taking in with your nostrils the damp and insipid smell of loosened earth, the bitter aroma of grass cut with a ploughshare.”

From childhood, Gregory was brought up with humanity, love for the earth, nature, and the animal world. While mowing, Grigory accidentally cut the chick in half, picked it up, “with a sudden feeling of acute pity, he looked at the dead lump lying in his palm.”

Before the war and the revolution that shook the whole country, Grigory Melekhov did not think about social issues. He loves his family, his kuren, and is attached to his native farm. He never had a feeling of rejection of the order of life in which he grew up. Even breaking up with his family and becoming a farm laborer did not distance Gregory from farm life. And when Aksinya suggested leaving everything and going to the mines, to the mines, “far away,” Grigory

In the difficult family drama, in the little things of everyday life, in the trials of war, the deep humanity of Grigory Melekhov is revealed. His character is characterized by a heightened sense of justice, awareness of the dignity of his human personality, strong, passionate love for all innumerable manifestations of life. And it is natural that Gregory, thrown into the heat of war, experiences his first battle heavily and painfully, and cannot forget the Austrian he killed. “I cut down a man in vain and because of him, the bastard, my soul is sick,” he complains to his brother Peter. Gregory develops a feeling of rejection of the imperialist war, a vague awareness of its aimlessness and destructiveness...

Grigory, like all Cossacks, is a man of agricultural labor, endowed with a feeling of an inextricably strong connection with the surrounding world of life, he is sensitive to everything beautiful. Gregory’s inherent sense of understanding a person is also revealed in the history of his relationships with Aksinya and Natalya. Love for the proud Aksinya, whose fiery, destructive beauty does not fade over the years, life with Natalya - a beautiful woman of a different kind, faithful and loving wife- mother - help us to grasp and understand a lot in Gregory.

Gregory is a man of strong passions, decisive actions and actions. His love for Aksinya, full of dramatic vicissitudes, shocks with its strength and depth. Returning from the hospital on leave after being wounded, Grigory learns that Aksinya has “confused” with young Lisnitsky... Grigory, a simple Cossack, terribly and brutally beat the plump-chested centurion, abandoned Aksinya, and returned to the farm, to his native kuren. But neither Aksinya’s betrayal, nor life with Natalya, nor the children extinguished the strong, passionate feeling. During the long nights at the front, he remembered and yearned for Aksinya.

Gregory is distinguished by a developed sense of self-esteem, consciousness of himself as a full-fledged person. In a class society built on the subordination and oppression of some by others, it inevitably had to lead and did lead to sharp clashes.

During the conscription, a group of officers inspected the equipment of the Cossack recruits. White-handed officers evoke a hostile feeling in Grigory. His fingers, “rough and dark,” touched the “white, sugar fingers” of one of the officers. He pulled his hand back and, wincing in disgust, wiped it on the lining of his overcoat. Grigory looks at the officer with an evil smile, and the officer, meeting his gaze, could not stand it and shouted: “How are you looking? How do you look, Cossack? This same Gregory, when the sergeant came at him with his fists near the well, says with terrible power of hatred: “That’s what... if you hit me, I’ll still kill you!” Understood?" And the sergeant hastily moved away from Gregory.

In gray everyday life army service Grigory acutely feels the “impenetrable silent wall” between himself and the well-dressed officers—idlers. This is the feeling of a man - a worker who feeds on the labor of his hands and, not realizing the class division of society, nevertheless clearly understands that landowners and officers are people of another world, and despises this world of parasites and slackers standing above them. These feelings will grow in Gregory and in the years civil war more than once they will burst forth with heavy, scorching hatred of oppressors and parasites.

Gregory is always ready to stand up for the trampled dignity of a person. He rushes at the Cossacks who raped the maid Franya, they tied him up and threatened to kill him. And when the officer during the examination asked why a button on his overcoat was torn off, Grigory, remembering what happened in the stable, for the first time in a long period of time almost cried from shame and the consciousness of his powerlessness. This is how the imperialist war finds Grigory Melekhov.

It seems that we learned a lot about Gregory from the everyday environment in which he and his family lived, from the complex and intricate relationships that he developed with Natalya and Aksinya. A dark-skinned Cossack with a sullen, bestial look stands before us as if alive, hot-tempered to the point of recklessness, proudly protecting his human dignity, decisive, sharp, gentle and rude... Remarkable strength is felt in his stooped figure, in his quick glance, and his deft work acumen, in his dashing Cossack landing. And yet, there will be a certain incompleteness in our ideas about Grigory Melekhov until we understand what he thought about the war, with what ideas about the nature of its meaning he was plunged into the bloody abyss of battles.

In the hospital, Gregory met a smart and sarcastic soldier - the Bolshevik Garanzha. Under the fiery power and truth of his words, the foundations on which Gregory’s consciousness rested began to smoke. “These foundations were rotten, the monstrous absurdity of war undermined them with rust, and only a push was needed. An impetus was given, a thought awoke, it exhausted, pressed down Gregory’s simple, ingenuous mind.” The truth about the unnecessaryness of war, revealed to him by Garanzha, seemed terrible to Gregory. The dream leaves him, Grigory wakes up Garanzhu at night, angrily and anxiously asks: “You say that for the needs of the rich they are driving us to death, but what about the people? Does he not understand? Gregory struggles with the question: how to stop the war? “... Everything must be put upside down?.. And under the new government, where will you go?.. What will you give to shorten the war?..” Garanzha answered everything. And Grigory, parting with him, excitedly thanked him: “Well, Little Russian, thank you for opening my eyes. Now I’m sighted and... angry!”

The importance of Gregory's first political school cannot be underestimated. It was fully felt in the first months after the October Revolution, when Gregory, taking the side of the Bolsheviks, led the Cossacks against the White Guards.

Even if the truth discovered by Garanzha did not possess him for long, it nevertheless gave a strong impetus to unprecedented thoughts and feelings...

Grigory is going home on leave. Dissatisfaction with the war, rage against those who drove people to slaughter, combined with offended personal feelings, erupted in the scene of the brutal beating of Listnitsky. The family, the farm, oiled his troubled heart, caressed him with honor and undisguised flattery. Well, the first gentleman of St. George in the farmstead came on leave! The old people talked to him as an equal. Grigory caught respectful and amazed glances, the women and girls took off their hats at his bow, and did not hide the admiration of the women and girls. The family looked after him attentively, almost ingratiatingly. Panteley Prokofievich walked proudly next to him on the way to the Maidan or to church. Well, how could the poor head not get dizzy! Not everyone received such an honor. In the foggy distance of memories, the great truth discovered by Garanzha faded, the harsh bitterness of his words was forgotten. The order established from time immemorial, the concepts of Cossack honor, seemed indestructible, military valor, nurtured throughout life, regained their exciting, primordial value. “Grigory came from the front one person, and left another. Not putting up with the senselessness of war in his soul, he honestly cherished his Cossack glory...” And this Gregory “seized the opportunity to express selfless courage, took risks, acted extravagantly, went to the Austrians in disguise, took down outposts without bloodshed, the Cossack horse-rided and felt that that pain had gone away irrevocably for the person who crushed him in the first days of the war.”

With the beginning of such a historical event as a war, fraught with the most serious and unexpected consequences, in an atmosphere of a brewing revolutionary crisis, it was important to find out and bring to the fore the social and political feelings of Gregory. M.A. Sholokhov pits Melekhov against people with sharply expressed opposite social likes and dislikes. The Cossack Chubatiy and the soldier Garanzha, like litmus tests, contribute to the manifestation of different traits in the image of Melekhov.

The imperialist war brought Grigory together with Chubaty at the front. Chubaty professes a disgusting and wretched philosophy of hatred and contempt for man. This is who fully expressed the ideal of the Cossack - the grunt, the faithful servant of the “tsar, the throne and the fatherland”, which was so loved by the ruling classes of Tsarist Russia! To Gregory, who recalled with heightened pain the Austrian he had killed, Chubaty cynically lectured: “Cut down a man boldly... Don’t think about how or what. You are a Cossack, your job is to chop without asking... You cannot destroy an animal without need - a heifer, say, or whatever - but destroy a person. He’s a filthy man... Evil spirits, he stinks on the earth, he lives like a mushroom - a toadstool.” Gregory was initially hostile towards Chubaty. He shoots Chubaty when he cut down a captured Magyar for no reason. “If I killed you, it would be one less sin on my soul,” Grigory says directly and openly later, when Chubaty reminded him of the skirmish.

That unconscious humanism, which was absorbed with the milk of his working mother, defeated the destructive philosophy of Chubaty in Grigory’s soul. The obvious senselessness of the war provokes restless thoughts, melancholy, and acute discontent in him. Thus, the writer, as it were, leads Gregory to a meeting with Garanzha, to the perception of a great human truth. Democracy and humanism gain victory over proprietary and class prejudices in Gregory for some time.

Gregory's intense search begins great truth suitable for all people. By creating this image of a restless seeker of truth, the writer revealed in him the complex theme of the tragedy of a man who was crippled by the forces of the past, entangling and blinding him on a difficult path.1 Subsequently, he will abandon these searches as naive childhood dreams and will think, seek the truth, suitable only for the Cossacks. Grigory goes home from the hospital firmly convinced that he knows where and on which side the truth lives in the world.

After returning from home, rested, once again imbued with his “Cossack” identity, Grigory became close to Chubaty. There are no more clashes and quarrels between them. Chubaty's influence affected Grigory's psyche and character. “Pity for the man has disappeared,” Gregory’s heart has “hardened, become coarse.” And we suddenly feel quite clearly the terrible connection that exists between the centuries-old Cossack way of life and the anti-human, degenerate philosophy of Chubaty. The Melekhov family, the circumstances of their life and Chubaty came into contact with something very significant in the reader’s perception...

The writer covers relatively little of Gregory’s front-line life after returning from home. This is stated either in general terms or in Gregory’s memoirs. M.A. Sholokhov focuses on the internal transformations of the hero. “With cold contempt he played with someone else’s and his own life... 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.” This is, as it were, the result of what Gregory the man came to the revolution with.

But Garanja planted a living seed in his soul. The words of the wise man have not been forgotten, evil neighbor in the hospital room. Grigory once outlined to Chubatom

Finding the meaning of life, your path

Great October Revolution, The Civil War posed the question to Grigory Melekhov, as well as to all the Cossacks: with whom to go and where to go?

The Bolsheviks brought peace to the tormented country. The majority of Cossacks - front-line soldiers, exhausted by the war, took the side of the Bolsheviks. Grigory Melekhov was among them.

Gregory came to the revolution with weak, undeveloped sympathies for the Bolsheviks. He did not have strong political convictions, and he would not have them throughout the entire civil war. But the events associated with the uprising were of decisive importance for the entire future fate of Gregory. It was necessary to show Melekhov from all sides: the attitude of the Cossacks towards him, painful doubts about the correctness of the chosen path, the behavior of the sailors in battle, love for Aksinya, grief after the death of Natalya... Self-characteristics that come to the fore in psychological analysis, the psychological significance of the events was supposed to convey tense inner life Gregory, their search for the right path.

The combination of the Cossack rebels with the whites sharpens Gregory’s understanding of the incompatibility of the interests of the Cossacks with the goals of the counter-revolutionary movement. A whole series of scenes follows: a clash with Fitzkhalaurov, indignation at the English officer. In this chain of events, the writer reveals Gregory’s growing antipathy towards the White Guards and shows the deep connection between spontaneous patriotic feeling and Melekhov’s working nature. The hostile attitude towards the “cadets” manifests itself in the harshest form: refusal to carry out Fitzkhalaurov’s orders, cancellation of Ermakov’s combat mission.

Melekhov's further stay in the White Army becomes uninteresting. And it is no coincidence that Sholokhov says almost nothing about this period of Gregory’s life. There is not a single event associated with it. Sick with typhus, he is brought home on the eve of the counter-revolutionary movement. In fact, he no longer takes part in the struggle. He follows along with those retreating, not as part of a military unit, but on his own. It is as if he were observing the decomposition and collapse of the army from the outside. At night, in the steppe, listening to an ancient Cossack song, which was sung by a cavalry regiment passing by, repeating its words to himself, Gregory, with aching melancholy, with tears, experiences all the shame of the inglorious struggle against the Russian people. This is one of those events that prepared Grigory for the transition to serve in the Red Army.

The sequence of events reveals the internal logic of Melekhov’s actions, the pattern of his fate. In accordance with the truth of the turbulent revolutionary era, the writer constantly confronts his hero with the need for immediate action. Every time Gregory has to choose between two things: life will not give him the opportunity to evade decisions. He himself didn’t know how to wait and hide, and he didn’t want to. A chain of actions is created that are tightly connected and condition each other. Outwardly, he found himself in some kind of vicious circle: in the war he became an officer; for this, the Red Army soldiers of one of the regiments that entered Tatar almost killed him; He was running; then again he had to hide from arrest; joined the uprising.

The sequence of actions and their character reveal a combination of objective and subjective factors in the fate of Grigory Melekhov. M.A. Sholokhov achieves here a complete merging of the truth of history and the truth of character. It is in this fusion that the greatest artistic persuasiveness and authenticity of the image of Grigory Melekhov lies. His fluctuations and flights from one side to the other during the civil war were inevitable. The painful search for the path to follow continues. “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 path, the soil began to clog under your feet, the path became fragmented, and there was no certainty whether he was following the right one. He was drawn to the Bolsheviks - he walked, led others along with him, and then he began to think, his heart grew cold. “... Who should I lean against?”

But life more than once gave Gregory the opportunity to choose. Before Podtyolkov’s execution, he could have gone to the Red Army, but he didn’t leave and ended up in the White Cossack camp; during the uprising he could have submitted to the Soviet authorities on time, but did not do so and ended up with the defeated White army reaching the sea; He could have served in the Red Army until the end of the war, but he returned to the farmstead, in the difficult situation of an imminent anti-Soviet uprising, and ended up in Fomin’s gang. The criticism expressed the idea that, by bringing Grigory Melekhov into Fomin’s gang, the writer executed his hero in a spectacle of a bloody parody of the ideals that he once professed and defended with arms in his hands during the days of the Veshensky rebellion.1

The fourth volume of “The Quiet Don” is a book of results. Every scene, picture, detail is executed here deep meaning and meanings. They are selected and evaluated with that measure of artistic tact and expediency that does not allow anything superfluous or unnecessary. Sholokhov keeps the reader in extreme suspense.

In the eighth part of “The Quiet Don,” Grigory, demobilized from the Red Army, returns home. In the stormy, faded autumn steppe, he recalls his distant childhood, dreams of a peaceful life, of happiness with Aksinya.

We haven't seen him for a long time. We said goodbye to him in Novorossiysk, when a patrol of red horsemen came around the corner to meet Gregory and his companions, also participants in the Verkhnedonsky. From the words of Prokhor Zykov, we learned that Grigory served in the Red Army, fought with Wrangel and the White Poles. Many events took place during this time in the farmstead. Grigory’s mother died without waiting for her “little one”, “desired”.

Dunyasha married Koshevoy, who became the chairman of the Council. Aksinya returned to her kuren, having recovered from typhus. What happened to Gregory? What has he become now?

As if anew, after a long separation, when all the changes are seen sharper, more clearly, we peer into Gregory through the eyes of his random companion, “name.” In such a choice life situation The author's mature skill was revealed. After all, Sholokhov could convey the appearance of the present Gregory in a variety of circumstances: when meeting with close people - Aksinya,

Dunyashka, Prokhor, and finally, in the author’s objectified description, Sholokhov gives the appearance of Gregory as perceived by a random female guide. Author's portrait in this place the spontaneity of feeling would be lacking; Aksinya and Dunyashka, from the excitement and joy of meeting, would not have been able to see Gregory the way the studying, curious, worldly, experienced eyes of his “name” saw him: “He is not very old, although he is gray-haired. And kind of eccentric,” she thought. - All his eyes are frowning, why are they squinting? How, tell me, is he so tired, how, tell me, did they carry a cart on him... But he’s nothing of himself. Only there is a lot of gray hair and his mustache is almost gray. And so it’s okay. Why is he still thinking?

The unwise woman seems to be talking to herself, you can even hear a conversational intonation here. And this “squinting his eyes” Grigory, “depressed, how, say, they drove a cart on him,” she saw, not only reminds us of those seven years of war during which he “did not get off his horse.” This Gregory awakens pity, a nagging, melancholy presentiment. Oh, I can’t believe that he has reached a peaceful family haven! Life had much more grief and loss in store for him...

The writer found an image of great emotional strength and expressiveness, which not only recreated the appearance of Gregory, “killed” by grave delusions, a war that reminded him of his past, but also an image in which there is a premonition of a tragic ending. The ability to see, feel and excite in this way distinguishes a perfect master.

Critics about the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov

The life of Grigory Melekhov was not easy; his journey ends tragically in “Quiet Flows the Flow.” Who is he: a victim of delusions who experienced the full brunt of historical retribution, or an individualist who broke with the people and became a pitiful renegade? In the critical literature about Sholokhov and his novel, debates about the essence of the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov still continue. At first, the prevailing opinion was that this was a tragedy of a renegade. This view is most clearly expressed in the work of L. Yakimenko:

“...the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov is ultimately precisely in isolation from the revolutionary people, who affirm in life the high ideals of the new society. Grigory Melekhov’s break with the laboring Cossacks and revolt were the result of unresolved hesitations and anarchic denial of the new reality. His defection becomes tragic, since this confused man from the people went against himself, against millions of workers just like himself.”1

But Doctor of Philology V.V. Agenosov refutes this point of view: “The renegade does not evoke sympathy - even those who in the ranks of the Red Army mercilessly dealt with the real Melekhovs cried over the fate of Gregory. Gregory did not become a beast, did not lose the ability to feel, suffer, and did not lose the desire to live.”

“The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov is a tragedy of historical error,” - given point view, going back to B. Emelyanov’s article “On the Quiet Don and Its Critics,” which appeared in 1940, is currently most sharply and consistently pursued by A. Britikov and N. Maslin. According to this theory, Grigory carried many Russian traits national character, Russian peasantry. “One cannot but agree with this, but “he wanders like a blizzard in the steppe” not because he is an owner, like any peasant, but because in each of the warring parties he does not find absolute moral truth, which he strives for with the inherent Russian people maximalism,” writes V.V. Agenosov.

V. Hoffenschefer argued that in the eighth part of the novel the story of the tragedy of Gregory as a typical representative of the Cossacks ends and the story of an unfortunate man broken by trials begins.2

There is another way of looking at this issue. G. A. Frolov, a researcher of the work of M. A. Sholokhov, writes: “The origins of the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov lie in the fact that he is a typical representative of the Don Cossacks, who became a victim of revolutionary violence. The fate of Gregory in the novel is universalized, it actualizes important problems for the 20th century: man - revolution - power - freedom. Through the broken fate of Gregory, through the collapse of the Melekhov family, Sholokhov showed the fate of the Russian peasantry at a turning point in history, in its rejection or contradictory attitude towards the revolution. And Grigory Melekhov, being one of the leaders of the uprising, fights not only for his kuren and allotment of land. This is a fight against violence, against an inhuman regime, against forms of enslavement, a fight for a free Don, for the idea of ​​freedom. And this is the truly correct “third path” of Sholokhov’s hero, chosen in torment and doubt.”

Much has been written about Sholokhov’s novel; critics have been arguing about its characters for decades, but the character of Grigory Melekhov, his tragic fate still remain mysterious, because none of the existing concepts covers the image in its entirety.

The tragedy of Grigory Melekhov is the tragedy of the Don and the entire Russian Cossacks as a whole. Here’s what M. A. Sholokhov himself said about this to the correspondent of “Soviet Russia”: “Gregory, in my opinion, is a kind of symbol of the middle peasant Cossacks. Those who know the history of the civil war on the Don, who know its course, know that it was not just Grigory Melekhov and dozens of Grigori Melekhovs who staggered until 1920.”1

And in a conversation with V. Vasiliev, he noted: “... the social appearance of Grigory Melekhov embodies features characteristic not only of a certain layer of the Cossacks, but also of the peasantry in general. After all, what happened among the Don Cossacks during the years of the revolution and civil war happened in similar forms among the Ural, Kuban, Siberian, Semirechensk, Transbaikal, Terek Cossacks and among the Russian peasantry”2.

It has long been indisputable that the fate of Gregory uniquely refracts the path of the historical errors of the Cossacks during the years of the Civil War. If you follow Gregory step by step along his entire path, from memorable meetings with Izvarin and Podtyolkov to Novorossiysk, to joining the ranks of Budyonny’s cavalry, then you will notice the amazing commonality of his fate, the consonance of moods, the kinship of illusions with the fate, moods and illusions of the Cossacks .

Even the outline of the external fate of Grigory Melekhov during the Veshensky uprising peculiarly reflects the ebbs and flows in the mood of the Cossack masses

[It is more important for Sholokhov to show that not only the external fate of Gregory coincides with the fate of the Cossacks during the days of the uprising, but also his thoughts and moods are surprisingly consonant with those thoughts and moods that engulfed the Cossacks. A writer with an astonishing succession As if reluctantly, Grigory Melekhov became involved in the fight against the Reds, but gradually bitterness came to him. But the same sentiments were also captured by the Cossacks, who, too, succumbing to bitterness, took prisoners less and less, and more and more often engaged in robberies. The idea of ​​​​the ideological and moral community of Grigory Melekhov with the Cossack masses receives its artistic implementation in the compositional structure, in the logic of plot development.

Grigory Melekhov is closely connected with the Cossack masses, personifying their intelligence and prejudices, those features of the Cossacks that developed historically and manifested themselves in the heated situation of the civil war. The path of historical error that befell the Cossacks, the social roots that gave birth to the “Don Vendee”, also uniquely determined the fate of Grigory Melekhov: he found himself a participant in a reactionary movement, historically doomed. But this was a movement of the masses awakened by the revolution, so the process of overcoming prejudices and destroying illusions that pushed people onto the wrong path of fighting the revolution was inevitable. These were hard lessons that became a turning point in the movement of the Cossacks towards a new life.

Grigory Melekhov fully experienced the bitterness of the collapse of illusions and the painful feeling of shame. However, the difficult experiences of searching for the truth did not pass without a trace for him. Spontaneous impulses are replaced by the ability to think. Moral and psychological prerequisites for the evolution of character in the direction that the masses of the Cossacks suffered at a difficult cost are outlined.

Grigory Melekhov is the most famous and memorable character in Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. But few people know that in the first edition of the work there was no such hero at all. His place was taken by a certain Abram Ermakov, who looked very much like Gregory. Why the author decided to make changes to the novel is still unknown.

Hero's appearance

Grigory Melekhov (the characteristics of the character will be discussed in detail in this article) is endowed by the author with “wild” beauty, like all the Cossacks of his family. He was taller than his older brother, with black hair and a hooked nose, which made him look like a gypsy. The eyes are slightly slanted, almond-shaped and “blue,” and “sharp slabs of cheekbones are covered with brown skin.” His smile was “bestial”, his “wolf teeth” were snow-white. Hands are stubborn and callous to affection.

In his entire appearance one can feel wildness and roughness, combined with incredible beauty. Even during the war, he did not lose his attractiveness. Although he lost a lot of weight and looked more like an Asian.

Grigory Melikhov wore traditional Cossack clothing: wide trousers, white woolen stockings, chiriki (shoes), zipun, loose shirt, short fur coat. The clothing has a direct indication of nationality. The author emphasizes the Cossack origin of his hero.

Who is the main character of the novel?

Let's start with the fact that Sholokhov's focus is on the people, and not on a specific individual. And Gregory stands out from the general background only because he is the embodiment of folk traits. It became a reflection of Cossack prowess and “love for farming, for work” - the two main commandments of the Cossacks, who were warriors and farmers at the same time.

But Grigory Melekhov (“Quiet Don”) is famous not only for this. Distinctive features His character became self-willed, the desire for truth and independence in actions. He always strives to verify everything personally and does not take anyone’s word for it. For him, truth is born slowly, from concrete reality, painfully and painfully. His whole life is a search for truth. The same thoughts tormented the Cossacks, who first encountered the new government.

Grigory Melekhov and Aksinya

The love conflict is one of the main ones in the novel. The main character's relationship with Aksinya runs like a red thread throughout the entire work. Their feeling was high, but tragic.

Let's talk a little about heroin. Aksinya is a stately, beautiful and proud Cossack woman who perceives what is happening very emotionally. She had a difficult fate. At sixteen, Aksinya was raped by her father, and a year later she was married to Stepan Astakhov, who beat her. This was followed by the death of the child. An unloved husband and hard work - this is the whole life of a young woman. This was the fate of many peasant and Cossack women, which is why it is generally accepted that “Quiet Don” reflects an entire era.

The fate of Grigory Melekhov turned out to be closely intertwined with the life of Aksinya. The woman wanted true love, that’s why she responded so readily to her neighbor’s advances. Passion flared up between the young people, burning away fear, shame and doubt.

Even marrying Natalya did not stop Gregory. He continued to meet with Aksinya, for which he was expelled from home by his father. But even here the lovers did not give up. Their life as workers does not bring happiness. And Aksinya’s betrayal with her master’s son forces Gregory to return to his wife.

However, the final break does not occur. The lovers begin to meet again. They carry their feelings throughout their lives, despite all misfortunes and tragedies.

Character

Grigory Melekhov does not run from reality. He soberly assesses everything that happens around him and accepts Active participation in all events. This is considered the most striking and memorable in his image. He is characterized by breadth of soul and nobility. So, he saves the life of Stepan Astakhov, risking himself, although he does not have any friendly feelings towards him. He then bravely rushes to save those who killed his brother.

The image of Melekhov is complex and ambiguous. He is characterized by tossing and feeling of internal dissatisfaction with his actions. That is why he constantly rushes about; making a choice is not an easy task for him.

Social aspect

The character of a hero is determined by his origin. For example, Listnitsky is a landowner, and Koshevoy is a farm laborer, so they cannot be relied upon. Grigory Melekhov has a completely different origin. “Quiet Don” was written during the heyday of socialist realism and harsh criticism. Therefore it is not surprising that main character has a peasant origin, which was considered the most “correct”. However, the fact that he was from the middle peasants was the reason for all his throwing. The hero is both a worker and an owner. This is the cause of internal discord.

During the war, Grigory Melekhov practically does not care about his family, even Aksinya fades into the background. At this time, he is trying to understand the social structure and his place in it. In war, the hero does not seek benefit for himself, the main thing is to find the truth. That is why he peers so intently at the world. He does not share the enthusiasm of other Cossacks for the coming of the revolution. Grigory does not understand why they need her.

Previously, the Cossacks themselves decided who would rule them, they chose an ataman, but now they are imprisoned for this. There is no need for generals or peasants on the Don; the people will figure it out themselves, just as they figured it out before. And the promises of the Bolsheviks are false. They say that everyone is equal, but here comes the Red Army, the platoon commander has chrome boots, and the soldiers are all in bandages. And where is the equality?

Search

Grigory Melekhov sees reality very clearly and soberly assesses what is happening. In this he is similar to many Cossacks, but there is one difference - the hero is looking for the truth. This is what haunts him. Sholokhov himself wrote that Melekhov embodied the opinion of all Cossacks, but his strength lies in the fact that he was not afraid to speak out and tried to resolve contradictions, and did not humbly accept what was happening, hiding behind words about brotherhood and equality.

Grigory could admit that the Reds were right, but he felt the lies in their slogans and promises. He could not take everything on faith, and when he checked it in reality, it turned out that he was being lied to.

Turning a blind eye to lies was tantamount to betraying oneself, one’s land and one’s people.

How to deal with an unnecessary person?

Grigory Melekhov (his characterization confirms this) stood out from other representatives of the Cossacks. This attracted Shtokman's attention to him. This man did not have time to convince people like our hero, so he immediately decided to eliminate him. The innocent Gregory was doomed to arrest and death. What else to do with unnecessary people who ask unnecessary questions?

The order is given to Koshevoy, who is surprised and embarrassed. Gregory, his friend, is accused of having a dangerous way of thinking. Here we see the main conflict of the novel, where two sides collide, each of which is right. Shtokman is taking all measures to prevent an uprising that could prevent the accession of Soviet power, which he serves. Gregory’s character does not allow him to come to terms with either his fate or the fate of his people.

However, Shtokman's order becomes the beginning of the very uprising that he wanted to prevent. Together with Melekhov, who entered into battle with Koshev, the entire Cossacks rise. In this scene, the reader can clearly see that Gregory is truly a reflection of the people's will.

Melekhov decides to fight the power of the Reds. And this decision was due to a series of incidents: the arrest of his father, numerous executions in Tatarskoye, a threat to the life of the hero himself, insults to the Red Army soldiers stationed at his base.

Gregory has made his choice and is confident in it. However, not all so simple. This is not the last turn in his fate.

Throwing

The image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don” is very ambiguous. He is constantly tossing around and is not sure of the right choice. This is what happens with the decision to confront the Red Army. He sees the prisoners and dead who took part in his uprising, and understands who might benefit from this. The final epiphany comes when Gregory alone rushes to the machine gun and kills the sailors who controlled it. Melekhov then rolls around in the snow and exclaims: “Who did I kill!”

The hero again finds himself in conflict with the world. All Melekhov’s vacillations reflect the vacillations of the entire Cossacks, who first came from monarchism to Bolshevism, then decided to build autonomy, and then returned to Bolshevism again. Only in the example of Gregory do we see everything more clearly than what actually happened. This is connected with the very character of the hero, with his intransigence, passion, and unbridledness. Melekhov judges himself and those around him strictly. He is ready to answer for his wrong actions, but he wants others to answer too.

Summing up

The image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don” is full of tragedy. Throughout his life he tried to find the truth, but what did he get in the end? In the last chapter of the book, we see how the hero loses his most precious thing - his beloved woman. Aksinya's death was the most terrible blow for Melekhov. At that moment the meaning of life was taken away from him. He has no more close people left in this world. Mental devastation leads him to the forest. He tries to live alone, but cannot stand it and returns to the farm where his son lives - the only thing left of Aksinya and their love.

What is the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov? He came into conflict with the world, could not come to terms with its new laws, attempts to change something ended in failure. But the hero could not come to terms with what was happening. New era“grinded” and distorted his fate. Gregory simply turned out to be a person who could not adapt to change.

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 of this book and, moreover, not the most important one, as it seems at first. His mental outlook is primitive, like his grandfather's saber. He has nothing to become the center of a big artistic canvas, except for his willful, explosive nature. 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 the very teenage years? Probably due to your biology, your blood.

Even male readers are not indifferent to him, like those women from real life, which more life loved Gregory. 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 people went to war against each other in an organized and civilized manner 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 say 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, they will come new life. 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 last pages In the novel we see him calmed down, hope for happiness glimmers in his soul. A questionable point in the novel. 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 was so incredibly artistic power drawn by the writer in volume 1 of “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. He is beautiful with his 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.