Among all the works written by N.V. Gogol, “Taras Bulba” is the most piercing and heroic.
It reflects not only the life of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, but also reveals the characteristics of the nature of people for whom duty to the Motherland determined their whole lives, views, customs, and actions.
Recall a brief summary. Taras Bulba meets sons who returned from study in bursa. Instead of hugging them, he starts a comic brawl with his eldest son and taunts the ridiculous, from his point of view, Bursak clothes. Some inattentive readers consider this a manifestation of callousness, inability to parental love. But this is far from the case.
The image of Taras Bulba helps to realize that the concept of love changes at different times. Taras did not undead sons, did not show affection for his wife. He knew: in difficult times, the husband, the defender, has no right to weakness. Any manifestation of tenderness can weaken the spirit, deprive strength. Looking ahead, we say that he was right: it was because of the tenderness that his youngest son Andriy died. He could not overcome the craving for affection, the desire to live in love and became a traitor.
Taras is killing his son. A terrible, terrible act, but it is also a manifestation of great fatherly love for his son. The father did not allow his son to become a traitor, saved him, albeit at the cost of his life, from great shame. It is not true that Taras does not spare Andrei. Just pity, like love, can manifest itself in different ways. And there are times when it is better to kill a person than to let him lose his dignity, create a great sin, become a traitor.
The image of Taras Bulba is surprisingly integral. Having spent his whole life in Sich, Taras became an experienced and wise leader, colonel, selflessly loving the Motherland, not sparing neither himself nor his children for the sake of its freedom.
Taras’s courage and heroism is celebrated by everyone, but few people think that he was not only a warrior, but also a wise educator who, by his example, showed how to live and die. That is why he brings his sons to Sich, believing that there will be no better science for them. That is why, loving his homeland and his children, he devoted his whole life to the struggle for liberation. Perhaps that is why he returned for the pipe, as soon as the Cossacks broke through the Polish army pursuing them. Somewhere deep down he understood: leaving the battlefield, even such, could greatly undermine the spirit of the Cossacks, or even completely destroy them: after all, the Poles could catch up with the detachment. By his death, he showed that a true patriot knows how to fight, is not afraid to die in the name of his homeland, and is ready to sacrifice his life for his comrades.
The image of Taras Bulba perfectly conveys the characters of the best representatives of the Zaporizhzhya Sich. Recall the epithets that Gogol describes the colonel: wise, experienced, valiant.
Loyalty to Ukraine is reflected in its rejection of alien customs, and in its willingness to sacrifice itself and the most precious thing in life for the freedom of the Motherland.
The image of Taras Bulba is the brightest not only in the work of Gogol. He stands apart in all the works of Russian and Ukrainian literature, showing an example of steadfastness, devotion, great love for the motherland.