The peculiarity of M. Sholokhov is that his books are firmly etched in the memory, they are not forgotten, no matter what situation you are in, no matter what you think about, no matter how hard or easy it is for you.

Yu. Bondarev

Mikhail Sholokhov is one of the few Russian writers whose work still attracts the attention of millions of different people and causes controversy in both literary and ordinary circles. As a simple reader, I would probably explain this by the fact that M. Sholokhov raised too large layers of life in his works, posed and resolved serious philosophical and moral issues. In all the works of this writer, in one context or another, the interweaving of two main themes can be traced: the theme of man and the theme of war.

In “The Fate of Man,” M. Sholokhov again and again reminds the reader of the innumerable disasters that the Great War brought to the Russian people. Patriotic War, about the resilience of Soviet people, who withstood all the torment - physical and spiritual - and did not break. The story “The Fate of Man” appeared at the end of 1956.

Russian literature has not seen such a rare phenomenon for a long time, when a relatively small work became an event. Reader letters poured in. Sholokhov's story about irreparable losses, about terrible grief was permeated with boundless faith in life, faith in the spiritual strength of the Russian person. “The Fate of Man” embodies with utmost clarity, truth, and genuine depth the idea of ​​the people’s military feat and expresses admiration for courage ordinary people, whose moral principles became the support of the country during the years of difficult trials.

The story “The Fate of a Man” is written in the usual Sholokhov manner: the plot is built on vivid psychological episodes. Seeing off to the front, captivity, first meetings with the Germans on the road, attempted escape, explanations with Muller, second escape, news about the family, news about the son. Such rich material would be enough for a whole novel, but Sholokhov managed to fit it into a short story. “The Fate of Man” was the discovery of a genre form that could conventionally be called an “epic story.”

The plot of “The Fate of Man” by M. Sholokhov was based on real story, told to the author in the first post-war year, on the day of the big spring flood, by a simple driver who had just returned from the war. There are two voices in the story: Andrei Sokolov is “leading” - main character, he talks about his life. The second voice is the voice of the author, the listener, the casual interlocutor.

Andrei Sokolov's voice in the story is a frank confession. He talked about his whole life to a stranger, poured out everything that he had been holding in his soul for years. The landscape background for Andrei Sokolov's story was surprisingly unmistakably found. The junction of winter and spring. When it is still cold and already warm. And it seems that only here, only in such circumstances, the life story of a Russian soldier could be heard with the breathtaking frankness of confession.

This man had a hard time in life. First, he goes to the front, leaving his wife and children at home, then falls into fascist captivity with inhuman living conditions.

How many humiliations, insults, and beatings Andrei Sokolov had to endure in captivity. But he had a choice, he could have provided himself with a more tolerable life by agreeing to serve the German officers and inform on his own comrades. But this did not happen, Andrei Sokolov remained true to himself, did not lose the honor and dignity of a Russian soldier, and became a model of perseverance and courage during the terrible years of the war.

Once, while working in a quarry, Andrei Sokolov carelessly spoke about the Germans. He knew that someone would definitely inform and betray him. His statement cannot be called simply a reckless remark thrown at the enemy, it was a cry from the soul: “Yes, one square meter of these stone slabs is even enough for the grave of each of us.”

A well-deserved reward for such perseverance of soul was the opportunity to see his family in Voronezh. But, having arrived home, Andrei Sokolov learns that his family has died, and in the place where his home stood there is a deep hole filled with rusty water and overgrown with weeds. It would seem that all that is left in Andrei Sokolov’s life is weeds and rusty water, but he learns from his neighbors that his son is fighting at the front. But here, too, fate did not spare the man tormented by grief: Andrei’s son dies in the last days of the war, when the long-awaited victory was just a stone’s throw away.

The second voice of Sholokhov’s story—the voice of the author—helps us not only to experience, but also to comprehend an individual human life as a phenomenon of an entire era, to see in it universal human content and meaning. But in Sholokhov’s story, another voice was heard - a ringing, clear child’s voice, which seemed not to know the full extent of all the troubles and misfortunes that befall the human lot. Having appeared at the beginning of the story so carefree and loud, he then leaves, this boy, in order to become a direct participant in the final scenes, the protagonist of a high human tragedy.

The significance of the story “The Fate of Man” is enormous. M. Sholokhov never forgot about what wars cost and what indelible traces they leave in the souls of people. In “The Fate of Man,” a humanistic condemnation of war and the fascist regime is heard not only in the story of Andrei Sokolov. With no less force of a curse, it is heard in the story of Vanyusha.

The war ended, Andrei Sokolov continued to travel along the roads. All that remains in this man’s life are memories of his family and a long, never-ending road. Fate can sometimes be very unfair, a person lives, and his only dream is simple human happiness, happiness in the circle of loved ones. But life cannot consist of only black stripes. The fate of Andrei Sokolov brought him together with a cheerful boy of about six years old, as lonely as himself, the same grain of sand, thrown by the hurricane of war into the land of loneliness and sorrow.

Nobody needed the grimy boy Vanyatka, covered in dust from head to toe. Only Andrei Sokolov took pity on the orphan, adopted Vanyusha, and gave him all his unspent fatherly love. In M. Sholokhov’s portrayal, this episode seems especially touching; Vanyatka’s words addressed to Sokolov forever sank into my soul: “Who are you?” The amazed Andrei Sokolov, without thinking twice, replied: “I am, and I, Vanya, are your father!”

And what an ineradicable power of goodness, the beauty of the soul is revealed to us in Andrei Sokolov, in the way he treated the orphan. He returned Vanyushka’s joy, protected him from pain, suffering and sorrow.

It was a feat, a feat not only in the moral sense of the word, but also in the heroic one. It was here, in Andrei Sokolov’s attitude towards childhood, towards Vanyusha, that humanism won its greatest victory. He triumphed over the inhumanity of fascism, over the destruction and loss that are the inevitable companions of war. He conquered death itself!

You read M. Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of Man” and it’s as if you see a man standing above the world in soldier’s boots, in clumsily repaired, faded protective trousers, in a soldier’s quilted jacket that had burnt out in several places. In each part of the story, the author allows the reader to especially clearly see more and more new sides of Andrei Sokolov’s character. We get to know a person in various spheres of life: family, soldier, front-line, in relationships with comrades, in captivity, etc.

M. Sholokhov focuses the reader’s attention not only on the episode of Sokolov’s meeting with the orphan Vanya. The scene in the church is also very colorful. The cruel Germans shot a man only because he asked to go outside so as not to desecrate a shrine, God’s temple.

In the same church, Andrei Sokolov kills a man. But not the way real cold-blooded killers do - he saved another person from imminent execution (the Germans killed all communists and Jews). Sokolov killed a coward who, for the sake of his own peace of mind, was ready to betray his immediate commander.

Andrei Sokolov endured so much in his life, but he was not broken, did not become embittered at fate, at people, at himself, he remained a man with a kind soul, a sensitive heart, capable of pity, love and compassion. Perseverance, tenacity in the struggle for life, the spirit of courage and camaraderie - all these qualities not only remained unchanged in the character of Andrei Sokolov, but also increased.

M. Sholokhov teaches humanism. This concept cannot in any way be transformed into beautiful word. After all, even the most sophisticated critics, discussing the topic of humanism in the story “The Fate of Man,” talk about a great moral feat, about the greatness of the human soul. Joining the opinion of critics, I would like to add one thing: you need to be a great personality, a real person, in order to be able to endure all the grief, misfortune, tears, separation, death of relatives, the pain of humiliation and insults and not become after that a beast with a predatory look and an eternally embittered soul, but to remain a person with an open soul and a kind heart.

Basic storyline The story is the military and post-war life of Andrei Sokolov. But the author gives an important role to the family theme.

V. A. Sukhomlinsky, an innovative Soviet teacher, said that family life may never be a continuous holiday. Know how to share not only joys, but also grief, misfortune, misfortune.

Andrei Sokolov begins his story from the moment he met the girl who became his first and only wife.

He talks a little about her external characteristics, but this phrase alone is enough to understand his tender, reverent attitude towards his chosen one. “Looking from the outside, she wasn’t that distinguished, (100) but I wasn’t looking at her from the outside, but point-blank.” He himself realizes and admits without concealment that meeting such a girl is a great success: “Quiet, cheerful, obsequious and smart, no match for me.” In a rush of feelings, overflowing with sweet memories, he reveals to the author even a little personal, home life of his wife. And from the story it is clear that Irina had the chance to see Andrei in different ways, but she remained faithful to him alone, which is clear evidence of devoted love.

“Soon our children started to leave.” And in the life of the main character comes new stage, the stage of taking decisive steps, taking responsibility into one’s own hands. There were three children in the family, but even here the author pays more attention to the eldest, Anatoly. And for good reason: after all, it is he who will still figure in Andrei’s fate during the war.

One of the most touching scenes of the story, as well as the lives of those people, is the farewell to the front. His whole family comes to the station with the main character. The situation is more than difficult and sad. The author shows, but does not focus on the feelings of the children: “...the daughters – not without that, tears sparkled. Anatoly just shrugged his shoulders as if from the cold...” But a whole scene unfolds between husband and wife, filled with tragedy and bitterness. Pity of disappointment, pain, tenderness - everything is mixed up in Andrei’s soul, and in this confusion he does something for which he will reproach himself for the rest of his life. “Why did I push her away? To this day, as I remember, my heart feels like it’s being cut with a dull knife...” And for a long time, the family for the main character remains only in letters and memories.

The war has passed, but Andrei Sokolov does not share the happiness of the new world. All his relatives, all those whom he loved and appreciated, died. Having completely lost the meaning of life, he sadly spends his everyday life at work, living only with thoughts of the past. Well, fate is not indifferent to Andrey: she presents him with a new chance, a chance to turn over a new leaf and start again. He meets Vanyushka, a small, deeply lonely boy. And they find a reflection of themselves in each other. Andrei becomes a father to him not only because of pity, but also because this boy, like an angel descending from heaven, helped him cleanse his soul and begin to live life to the fullest.

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The theme of human destiny, which takes shape under the influence of various historical events, has always been one of the most important in Russian literature. Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Dostoevsky turned to her. The famous writer, master of wide epic canvases M. A. Sholokhov did not bypass her either. In his works he reflected all the most important stages of history in the life of our country. The writer painted the fate of his hero, a simple Russian man, against the backdrop of military battles and peaceful battles, showing that not only history carries out its strict judgment, but also man makes history, carrying its heavy load on his shoulders.

In 1956, Sholokhov wrote his famous story “The Fate of Man” in an amazingly short time - just a few days. However creative history This work takes many years: between the author’s chance meeting with a man, the prototype of Andrei Sokolov, and the appearance of the story, ten whole years pass. And all these years, the writer has a persistent need to speak out and convey to people the confession he once heard.

“The Fate of a Man” is a story about great suffering and the great perseverance of a common man, in whom all the traits of the Russian character were embodied: patience, modesty, responsiveness, a sense of human dignity, merged with a sense of great patriotism, devotion to one’s Fatherland.

From the very beginning of the story, describing the signs of the first post-war spring, the author prepares us for a meeting with the main character Andrei Sokolov. Before us appears a man in a burnt, roughly darned padded jacket, whose eyes are “filled with inescapable mortal melancholy.” Having found an interlocutor in the author, he restrainedly and tiredly, placing his large dark hands on his knees, hunched over, begins his confession about the past, in which he had to “sip the bitterness up to the nostrils and above.”

Sokolov's fate is full of such difficult trials, such irreparable losses that it seems impossible for a person to endure all this and not break down, not lose heart. But this simple soldier and worker, overcoming all physical and moral suffering, retains a pure soul, wide open to goodness and light. His difficult fate reflects the fate of the entire generation.

The same age as the century, Andrei participates in the civil war, fighting in the ranks of the Red Army against the enemies of Soviet power. In the hungry twenties, he left his native Voronezh village and ended up in Kuban. At this time, my father, mother and sister die of hunger at home. Returns back to Voronezh, works as a carpenter, mechanic, and driver. He meets a girl, Irina, with whom he will create a wonderful family. He dreams of a happy life with his “wife-friend” and children. But the war destroys all plans and hopes. Andrei, like millions of Soviet people, goes to the front.

His path on the roads of the great war was difficult and tragic. And the milestones on this path are the feats accomplished mainly not on the battlefield, but in conditions of fascist captivity, behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp. In inhuman conditions, the hero proves his moral superiority over the enemy, his fortitude and courage. Intolerant of cowardice, cruelty and cowardice, he deals with the traitor who tried to betray his platoon commander to the Germans.

Deprived of the opportunity to fight the enemy with weapons, Sokolov demonstrates his superiority in a duel with the camp commandant Muller, who turned out to be powerless before the proud dignity and human greatness of the Russian soldier. The exhausted, exhausted, exhausted prisoner was ready to face death with such courage and endurance that it further amazes the commandant, who had lost his human appearance. “That’s what, Sokolov, you are a real Russian soldier. You are a brave soldier. I am also a soldier and I respect worthy opponents,” the German officer is forced to admit.

But it is not only in a clash with the enemy that Sholokhov shows the manifestation of this heroic nature. The loneliness that the war brought him becomes a serious test for the hero. After all, Andrei Sokolov, a soldier who defended the independence of his homeland, who returned peace and tranquility to people, himself loses everything he had in life: family, love, happiness. The harsh fate does not even leave him shelter on earth. It would seem that everything is over, but life “distorted” this man, but could not break him, kill the lustful soul in him. Sokolov is lonely, but he is not a loner.

Family occupies an important place in the life of every person, but special meaning it is for those people who lost their loved ones early, know what it means to remain orphans, and therefore strive at all costs to create their own corner of love and comfort on earth. This is precisely the meaning that family had for Andrei Sokolov, the main character of Mikhail Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man” (1956).

This man lost his family early: the hero’s mother, father and sister died of hunger when Andrei was very young. Returning from Kuban, where he “played with his fists,” the man soon married an “orphan” like himself, Irina. He got a good wife: “... humble, cheerful, obsequious and smart...”.

Irina was indeed very wise, since from childhood she knew “how much a pound is worth,” since she was brought up in an orphanage. The girl always treated her husband kindly, never scolded or reproached him. That is why Andrei Sokolov loved his “Irinka” very much and for him there was no woman “more beautiful and more desirable than her” in the world.

Soon the young couple had children: first the eldest son, and then two daughters. Andrey had good job, so he and his wife built a nice house and started a household. The kids grew up and then went to school. This period was the happiest in the life of Andrei Sokolov, but then the war began.

Soon the man received a summons from the military registration and enlistment office, and it was time to go to the front. It was hard for Andrey to part with his beloved family. His heart was breaking with pity for his wife, who said goodbye to him as if she had seen her husband for the last time. He looked with bitterness at his “orphaned” children huddled together.

Being at the front, and then in German captivity, the hero did not forget about his family for a moment. In his thoughts, he talked all the time with his wife and children, and this is what gave him the strength to survive and go through all the hell of the fascist camps.

Returning to his homeland, the first thing a man does while in the hospital is write a letter to his wife, but he has to wait a very long time for an answer to this message. The hero is so worried that he can’t even eat or sleep: he feels trouble in his heart.

And indeed, a terrible tragedy happened to the family of Andrei Sokolov: a bomb fell on the house where Irina and her daughters were. When the hero finds out about this, his eyes darken and his heart shrinks into a lump. The man cannot even read the letter with the terrible news to the end, and simply “lies in bed” on his bed.

All hopes and dreams of a happy, calm future with a wife and children for the hero collapse in one moment. Even many years after the tragedy, Andrei Sokolov finds it so difficult to remember this event that he interrupts his story, and then in a completely “different, intermittent and quiet” voice asks the author to “take a smoke break” with him.

A person must have amazing courage in order to find the strength to survive the death of loved ones and not become isolated in his grief, and Andrei Sokolov manages to cope with himself. He soon learns that his son Anatoly, who went to the front, is alive and well. Joyful “old man’s dreams” immediately awaken in the hero.

But life is again preparing a new blow for Andrei Sokolov: Anatoly is “exactly” killed by a German sniper on Victory Day. It is difficult to describe in words what the hero could feel when he buried “his last joy and hope in a foreign, German land.”

It seems that after such a blow the man will definitely not be able to recover, but the hero still manages to find a new meaning for himself: he takes the orphaned boy Vanya “as his child.” Thus, Andrei Sokolov finds his family again, and this allows him to remember what love is and feel that he is not alone in this world.

The Fate of a Man by Sholokhov is a work where the author reveals the theme of the fate of a person using the example of the hero’s life. In the work, the author showed the life of a hero who had to survive the years of war.

Sholokhov wrote his work quickly, and it was based on the story of one person, the prototype of the main character, who shared his life story. This story became his confession, which the writer could not remain silent about. So he gave the world a work in which he spoke about the suffering he experienced, about the invincibility of a simple soldier, in whose character true Russian traits are manifested. We will write on the topic The Fate of Man, which will help students write their final work on literature.

The fate of man short essay reasoning

M. A. Sholokhov wrote the story in 1956. The work begins with a meeting between the author and the hero of the story, Sokolov. This was a man whose eyes seemed to be covered with ashes, filled with mortal melancholy. And Sokolov saw his interlocutor, who wanted to pour out his soul and he told about his fate. At the same time, we see that the fate of one hero reflected the fate of the entire people.

Having read the work, I would like to note that it was a common person hard worker. He had to live in a period civil war, he also survived the hungry twenties. Afterwards he settled in Voronezh, met his wife and dreamed of a family with many children. But the war came and destroyed all his plans.

Sokolov also went to the front. However, he is captured by the Nazis. He had to suffer a bitter fate, living behind the barbed wire of a concentration camp. Listening to his story about the inhuman conditions in which the prisoners lived, we understand the cruelty of the enemy. Sokolov confesses in his confession to the murder of a man. On the enemy, your own. But it’s hard to call him one of our own, because he committed betrayal. Even Sokolov, exhausted by hunger, thinks first of all not about himself, but about his comrades, carrying food and sharing it in half with his comrades.

Our hero managed to survive captivity and returned home. Only no one meets him. The site of his house is now a bomb crater. The war not only brought him difficult trials of captivity, but also loneliness, pain, taking away his wife, home, and hope for happiness forever. Having defended the right to a free life and elections for the independence of the Motherland, our hero loses everything at once.

It is amazing that in spite of everything, this man was not broken, not bitter, his kind nature continued to live in him. Yes, he cannot understand why fate is so cruel to him, why such torment, but a living soul still strives for life. And so fate, as if having mercy on him, sent a meeting with a little boy from whom the war had taken away his family and friends. Two loneliness met to reunite. Sokolov adopted the child, giving him all his warmth. And here we see the true manifestation of humanity.

Sholokhov The Fate of Man: Heroes of the Work

The main character of Sholokhov's story is Andrei Sokolov - a kind, intelligent and humane man who had boundless love for the Motherland and was attached with all his soul to his native land. The war did not break this man, did not harden him, and his soul did not harden. He managed to withstand all the hardships of wartime, maintaining the responsiveness of his soul and his human dignity. A film was made based on Sholokhov's story of the same name.

Essay on the topic: “The Fate of Man” by M. Sholokhov

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