In 1968, the novel "Cathedral" was published by Oles Honchar, a Ukrainian writer who created it from 1964 to 1967. The basis was taken on real facts and events.
The characterization of the main images of the novel, as well as the ideological content of the work, is the topic of this article. The characters of the novel "Cathedral" by Oles Gonchar belong to the cathedral (Treasure), depending on their spiritual development, their erudition, understanding of the past, and also on the most ordinary human conscience. Trotsky Cathedral, located in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in the city of Novomoskovsk, served as a prototype of the temple described in the novel (a photo of the author of the work is presented in the review).
Nikolay Baglay
This hero appears before us at the beginning of the second paragraph of the novel. He is deeply convinced that righteous, righteous people live on Zachiplyantsi. Nikolay is in love with his factory village. This hero of the work "Cathedral" Oles Gonchar likes his hard-working residents. However, his fullest, most bright love is the cathedral. Baglaya is pleased with the “music” of the “bath-domes” raised to the sky. He feels it in reality as the unsolved mystery of the world. The beauty of the creation of human hands and the beauty of the earth are perceived by him as a single whole. He is admired, surprised and by the mighty metallurgical plants, and the magical surrounding nature. True, Baglai cannot reconcile himself to the fact that the plants do not have a purification system, and he set himself the goal of constructing it, because the air must certainly be clean. The hero’s design passion testifies to the beauty of his intellectual efforts and thoughts.
Christmas tree
Fir-tree is another character of the novel "Cathedral" by Oles Honchar. She is one of the most attractive characters in the work. Her fate is similar to the unenviable fate that has befallen many rural girls. When they grow up, they go wherever they look from their native village in search of happiness. The fate of this heroine is complicated by the fact that she grew up without a father, half orphaned at the farm. And when her mother crushed her in the clay, she became an orphan. With great love, sincerely depicted the image of a simple village girl Oles Gonchar. The novel "Cathedral" is a work, reading which we peer into the brooding green eyes of this heroine, take her wanderings close to the heart, sympathize with her in the grief inflicted by soulless hypocrites and offenders, such as the nasty worthless brigadier.
Volodka Quinoa
Literary scholars call the image of Volodya Lebeda quite complicated, even somewhat mysterious . Eugene Sverstyuk in his work entitled "Cathedral in the Forests" notes that this character is fundamentally new: the writer was able to show an image devoid of strong criteria, free from human goals, on the verge of a robot. He splits values in one word, with one touch. Just as in the lips of a brilliant philosopher or poet everything acquires a higher meaning, energy of life, meaning, so the reverse process takes place in Lebeda - everything goes out, decomposes and decays.
Izot Ivanovich Quinoa
Izot Ivanovich Quinoa is a character who is a steelworker. This is a principled, honest man, who was portrayed in the work by Oles Gonchar ("Cathedral"). His characteristic is given by Volodka as follows: he has a "Cossack freedom-loving soul." However, the son cannot feel the terrible pain inflicted on his own father, sending him to a place where there is only one road - to the cemetery.
The deep symbolic meaning is the image of the Lebed-Nechuyvitra. It seems to live in the spirit of the Cossacks. He is also marked by love for his native land. In this image, the experience of the steelmaker and the state guard of the Treasure was combined. In eternity, he stepped between green meadows and clear waters of his native land.
The ideological sound of the novel
Polyphonic is the ideological sound of the novel, which was created by Oles Gonchar ("Cathedral"). His problems concern different aspects of society. The writer focused his attention on historical, philosophical, ethical, moral, environmental issues. The psychology of the spiritual poacher is debunked in the work. A unity of content and word has been achieved. The work is marked by a high level of artistic skill.
The author did not set out to plunge into religious morality. The image of the cathedral temple for him is mainly a memorial to Cossack architecture. Potter values both the spiritual genius of the knighthood of Zaporozhye, and his patriotic deeds both in the field of construction and art, and in battles with enemies. Our ancestors immortalized themselves in the beauty of this building, which still captivates everyone who sees it from afar or nearby, delves into the idea of this "poem" of Cossack architecture. And we involuntarily set ourselves a far from simple question that so worried Baglai: “Where are our poems, what will our souls immortalize themselves with?”
Reading Questions
With all its deep philosophical and ideological content, the novel is addressed to descendants. What have we created? What trace were left in the history of our people? What was destroyed and what was built? With what feeling will the descendants remember us?
The acts and testaments of the ancestors remind us of the obligation to the present and history, to the future and the past: how do we protect, respect the national shrines? We must protect the heritage of past centuries as a sacred memory. It should be increased and protected. All these thoughts and questions arise in many of those who read the novel "Cathedral" by Oles Honchar. The summary of the work, of course, will not make you seriously think about it.
Journalistic pathos of the work
Designated by a polemic, journalistic pathos, the “Cathedral” calls on each of us to protect and cherish spiritual treasures, our cultural, historical and construction heritage. The novel at the same time describes the negative manifestations of modernity. This is spirituality, red tape, a nihilistic attitude to culture, a spirit of destruction, consumer trends, neglect of the customs of the people, feelings of patriotism, and folk song. The “Cathedral” sounds like a symphony of the greatness of the people, singing its creative genius.