In the village of Veshenskaya, on the Don land, the Soviet writer Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov was born. "Quiet Don", a brief summary of which will be presented in the article, he wrote about this region, the homeland of proud and freedom-loving workers. About 800 characters are involved in the work. The novel reflects the real fate of Cossack families, distorted by the iron whirlwind of the First World War and the Civil War. Let us present a summary of the novel "Quiet Don".
More than two hundred characters are shown under their real names, real events are woven into the plot. Sholokhov, who had a phenomenal memory, with the painstakingness of an artist for about twenty years, smear after brushstroke created his “Quiet Don”. The chapter summary was supplemented by thousands of details. The archives were available to the writer: from statistics to the interrogation protocols of the White Guard generals. Most of the heroes of the book appear under fictitious, but recognizable surnames. For example, the Shamili brothers (really - this is not a surname, but a street nickname) - Drozdovs from the Pleshaki farm. But the Veshen Cossack Chernichkin, who killed the commissar, is shown in the novel under a false name, and not in vain. In fact, his name is Borshchov, and the act is retribution for the execution of the arrested Cossacks. If the actual course of things surfaced, a person would be shot. The prototype of Grigory Melekhov was Harlampy Vasilyevich Ermakov, whom the writer personally knew.
Let's try to fragmentarily describe the novel "Quiet Don". A summary of the chapters opens with a description of the family of Gregory, starting with Porfiry Melekhov, a grandfather who married a Turkish woman. His father, Pantelei Prokofievich, is also shown as a zealous owner, and his mother, Vasilisa Ilyinichna, is attentive and domovy. Parents raised sons Gregory, Peter and daughter Dunyasha. Young Gregory falls in love with the wife of Stepan Astakhov’s neighbor, Aksinya, the same, knowing that her husband is cheating on her with the zolmerkas, reciprocates Gregory.
Pantelei Prokofievich decides to separate the lovers by marrying his son to a Cossack Natalya Korshunova. With this trampled love begins the knowledge of life by Gregory.
In the second part of the novel, Gregory leaves his wife, despite the protests of the parents who liked the daughter-in-law. He and Aksinya leave the farm and are arranged by workers at the landowner. Aksinya gives birth to a daughter. Gregory calls for service, for his money he buys a horse, Pantelei Prokofievich gives the rest of the equipment. The abandoned wife, Natalia, is trying to stab herself with a scythe, but after spending more than six months between life and death, she remains to live. This concludes the “peaceful” “Quiet Don”. The summary, beginning with the third chapter, is of a front-line character, the protagonist painfully gets used to the bloody life of the war. The embedded personal moral principles prevent Gregory from committing low deeds. He fearlessly rebels against the Cossacks, who were brutalized from idleness, who raped the maid of France, trying to shoot the Cossack Chubaty for senseless cruelty to prisoners.
In the battle, Melekhov is seriously wounded, and a funeral comes to his parents' home. But two weeks later there follows a letter from the front from Brother Peter, telling that Gregory is alive and awarded for the salvation of an officer. At this time, in the hands of Aksinya, the daughter of Gregory, Tatyana, dies from scarlet fever. The landowner’s son, Yevgeny Listnitsky, sent on leave due to injury, comes into contact with her. Returning to visit, Gregory beats him with a whip and, abandoning Axinho, returns to Natalia.
The fourth part of the novel is also front-line. The regiment is the machine gunner-virtuoso Bunchuk, a secret member of the RSDLP, for military merits he receives an officer rank. Separate coverage deserves the front-line heroism of Grigory Melekhov. His place in the ranks of the regiment is now near the banner. A full bow of St. George's crosses and four medals adorn the chest of the hero. The honor of the Cossack for him now is the main thing, he boldly penetrates and smashes the Austrian rear, horsemans, makes a fool of himself. At the same time, he feels that the war has stolen his old smile, understands that after a bloody military craft it will be difficult for him to look into the clean eyes of a child. The army is unhappy with the leadership of the Kerensky government. There is a revolution in Petrograd.
The fifth part is post-war. Cossacks return to the village. But among them there is no former unity. Gregory first adjoins the sympathetic Bolsheviks. In the battle for the village, thanks to the actions of two hundred horsemen led by Gregory, the Reds win, capturing forty people. But the chairman of the Revolutionary Committee Podtelkov shoots them. The truth seeker Gregory after this speaks out against the Bolsheviks. In the spring of 1918, a split broke out among the Cossacks: the Verkhodonets stand for the Reds, the Nizovs - against.
The Melekhov brothers serve in the
army of General Kornilov. Quiet Don rose. A summary of the chapters further carries documentary objectivity. The Cossack general does not receive support from the arrogant Denikin, the army of Kornilov is doomed. Leafing through a novel. Its sixth-eighth parts reflect the picture of the
civil war on the Don. Brother Peter is dying. Pantelei Prokofievich dies from typhus. In the last year of her life, Ilyinichna accepts Aksinya as the wife of her son Gregory. The younger Melekhov, fighting the Reds, skillfully commands a whole Cossack division. Having returned to the family, he turns out to be the persecuted husband of Dunyashka’s sister, the chairman of the revolutionary committee, fleeing the reprisal of the Reds, adjoins the gang. After its defeat, it is decided to flee with Aksinya, but they stumble upon a red food detachment. A stray bullet kills Axinho.
The scene of grief experienced by Gregory in which he saw a dazzling black sun is one of the most convincing in world literature. Returning to the threshold of the house, he picks up Mishatka, the only remaining soulmate, in his son’s arms.
Only a child and still love for his native land can save this man, who has lost loved ones, crippled by the Iron Age. On such a piercing note ends the “Quiet Don”. A summary of the chapters will give a greater effect of understanding, if supplemented with citations. But ideally, of course, you still need to read the book.
The novel feels a breakdown in the community of the Cossacks - for centuries, the existing mechanism for maintaining Christian statehood. The main character of the novel, Grigory Melekhov, is certainly a vivid character, he is solid, sincere, you can feel both the worker and the knight, and the true character of the Don Cossack is visible. At a different turn in history, people like Gregory would be the stronghold of the Russian state, the earners of its new glory. But the artist Sholokhov introduces him into the iron XX century, cruel, trampling people, their feelings, breaking hopes. The work of Mikhail Sholokhov is so multifaceted that from an attempt to draw a conclusion a mile away is untenable. Here are the conclusions - as in a forest of mushrooms. Everyone can find something for himself. We recommend readers not to stop reading “Quiet Don”. After all, such events, only taking place among the townspeople, were covered by Muscovite Boris Leonidovich Pasternak in the novel Doctor Zhivago. Both of these books, echoing each other in the era illuminated in them, reflecting a realistic picture of suffering and misery, still teach love for the motherland. After all, how intelligibly the words of Dr. Zhivago sound that a real man is obliged to share the fate of his land!