There are many works in Russian literature that tell about the Great Patriotic War. A striking example is Mikhail Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man,” where the author gives us not so much a description of the war, but a description of the life of an ordinary person during the difficult war years. In the story "The Fate of Man" the main characters are not historical figures, not titled officials, nor famous officers. They are ordinary people, but with a very difficult fate.
Main characters
Sholokhov's story is small in volume, it takes up only ten pages of text. And there are not so many heroes in it. The main character of the story is a Soviet soldier - Andrei Sokolov. Everything that happens to him in life, we hear from his lips. Sokolov is the narrator of the entire story. His named son, the boy Vanyusha, plays an important role in the story. It ends the sad story of Sokolov and opens a new page in his life. They become inseparable from each other, so let’s classify Vanyusha as one of the main characters.
Andrey Sokolov
Andrei Sokolov is the main character of the story “The Fate of Man” by Sholokhov. His character is truly Russian. How many troubles he experienced, what torments he endured, only he himself knows. The hero speaks about this on the pages of the story: “Why did you, life, cripple me like that?
Why did you distort it like that?” He slowly tells his life from beginning to end to a fellow traveler with whom he sat down to have a cigarette by the road.
Sokolov had to endure a lot: hunger, captivity, the loss of his family, and the death of his son on the day the war ended. But he endured everything, survived everything, because he had a strong character and iron fortitude. “That’s why you’re a man, that’s why you’re a soldier, to endure everything, to endure everything, if need calls for it,” Andrei Sokolov himself said. His Russian character did not allow him to break down, retreat in the face of difficulties, or surrender to the enemy. He snatched life from death itself.
All the hardships and cruelties of the war that Andrei Sokolov endured did not kill his human feelings or harden his heart. When he met little Vanyusha, just as lonely as he was, just as unhappy and unwanted, he realized that he could become his family. “There is no way for us to disappear separately! I’ll take him as my child,” Sokolov decided. And he became a father to a homeless boy.
Sholokhov very accurately revealed the character of the Russian man, a simple soldier who fought not for ranks and orders, but for the Motherland. Sokolov is one of those many who fought for the country, not sparing their lives. He embodied the entire spirit of the Russian people - persistent, strong, invincible. The characterization of the hero of the story “The Fate of a Man” is given by Sholokhov through the speech of the character himself, through his thoughts, feelings, and actions. We walk with him through the pages of his life. Sokolov goes through a difficult path, but remains human. A kind, sympathetic person who lends a helping hand to little Vanyusha.
Vanyusha
A boy of five or six years old. He was left without parents, without a home. His father died at the front, and his mother was killed by a bomb while traveling on a train. Vanyusha walked around in tattered, dirty clothes, and ate what people served. When he met Andrei Sokolov, he reached out to him with all his soul. “Dear folder! I knew! I knew you would find me! You'll find it anyway! I’ve been waiting so long for you to find me!” – the delighted Vanyusha shouted with tears in his eyes. For a long time he could not tear himself away from his father, apparently afraid that he would lose him again. But in Vanyusha’s memory the image of his real father was preserved; he remembered the leather cloak that he wore. And Sokolov told Vanyusha that he probably lost him in the war.
Two loneliness, two destinies are now intertwined so tightly that they can never be separated. The heroes of “The Fate of Man” Andrei Sokolov and Vanyusha are now together, they are one family. And we understand that they will live according to their conscience, in truth. They will survive everything, they will survive everything, they will be able to do everything.
Minor characters
There are also a number of minor characters in the work. This is Sokolov’s wife Irina, his children – daughters Nastenka and Olyushka, son Anatoly. They don’t speak in the story, they are invisible to us, Andrei remembers them. The company commander, the dark-haired German, the military doctor, the traitor Kryzhnev, Lagerführer Müller, the Russian colonel, Andrei’s Uryupinsk friend - all these are the heroes of Sokolov’s own story. Some have neither a first nor a last name, because they are episodic characters in Sokolov’s life.
The real, audible hero here is the author. He meets Andrei Sokolov at the crossing and listens to his life story. It is with him that our hero talks, to whom he tells his fate.
Work test
There are many works in Russian literature that tell about the Great Patriotic War. A striking example is Mikhail Sholokhov’s story “The Fate of a Man,” where the author gives us not so much a description of the war, but a description of the life of an ordinary person during the difficult war years. In the story "The Fate of Man" the main characters are not historical figures, not titled officials, nor famous officers. They are ordinary people, but with a very difficult fate.
Main characters
Sholokhov's story is small in volume, it takes up only ten pages of text. And there are not so many heroes in it. The main character of the story is a Soviet soldier - Andrei Sokolov. Everything that happens to him in life, we hear from his lips. Sokolov is the narrator of the entire story. His named son, the boy Vanyusha, plays an important role in the story. It ends the sad story of Sokolov and opens a new page in his life. They become inseparable from each other, so let’s classify Vanyusha as one of the main characters.
Andrey Sokolov
Andrei Sokolov is the main character of the story “The Fate of Man”
Sholokhov. His character is truly Russian. How many troubles he experienced, what torments he endured, only he himself knows. The hero speaks about this on the pages of the story: “Why did you, life, cripple me like that? Why did you distort it like that?” He slowly tells his life from beginning to end to a fellow traveler with whom he sat down to have a cigarette by the road.
Sokolov had to endure a lot: hunger, captivity, the loss of his family, and the death of his son on the day the war ended. But he endured everything, survived everything, because he had a strong character and iron fortitude. “That’s why you’re a man, that’s why you’re a soldier, to endure everything, to endure everything, if need calls for it,” Andrei Sokolov himself said. His Russian character did not allow him to break down, retreat in the face of difficulties, or surrender to the enemy. He snatched life from death itself.
All the hardships and cruelties of the war that Andrei Sokolov endured did not kill his human feelings or harden his heart. When he met little Vanyusha, just as lonely as he was, just as unhappy and unwanted, he realized that he could become his family. “There is no way for us to disappear separately! I’ll take him as my child,” Sokolov decided. And he became a father to a homeless boy.
Sholokhov very accurately revealed the character of the Russian man, a simple soldier who fought not for ranks and orders, but for the Motherland. Sokolov is one of those many who fought for the country, not sparing their lives. He embodied the entire spirit of the Russian people - persistent, strong, invincible. The characterization of the hero of the story “The Fate of Man” is given by Sholokhov through the speech of the character himself, through his thoughts, feelings, and actions. We walk with him through the pages of his life. Sokolov goes through a difficult path, but remains human. A kind, sympathetic person who lends a helping hand to little Vanyusha.
Vanyusha
A boy of five or six years old. He was left without parents, without a home. His father died at the front, and his mother was killed by a bomb while traveling on a train. Vanyusha walked around in tattered, dirty clothes, and ate what people served. When he met Andrei Sokolov, he reached out to him with all his soul. “Dear folder! I knew! I knew you would find me! You'll find it anyway! I’ve been waiting so long for you to find me!” - the overjoyed Vanyusha shouted with tears in his eyes. For a long time he could not tear himself away from his father, apparently afraid that he would lose him again. But in Vanyusha’s memory the image of his real father was preserved; he remembered the leather cloak that he wore. And Sokolov told Vanyusha that he probably lost him in the war.
Two loneliness, two destinies are now intertwined so tightly that they can never be separated. The heroes of “The Fate of Man” Andrei Sokolov and Vanyusha are now together, they are one family. And we understand that they will live according to their conscience, in truth. They will survive everything, they will survive everything, they will be able to do everything.
Minor characters
There are also a number of minor characters in the work. This is Sokolov’s wife Irina, his children - daughters Nastenka and Olyushka, son Anatoly. They don’t speak in the story, they are invisible to us, Andrei remembers them. The company commander, the dark-haired German, the military doctor, the traitor Kryzhnev, Lagerführer Müller, the Russian colonel, Andrei’s Uryupinsk friend - all these are the heroes of Sokolov’s own story. Some have neither a first nor a last name, because they are episodic characters in Sokolov’s life.
The real, audible hero here is the author. He meets Andrei Sokolov at the crossing and listens to his life story. It is with him that our hero talks, to whom he tells his fate.
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The literary work of M. Sholokhov “The Fate of a Man” is a story about the Great Patriotic War. This tragic milestone in human history caused the loss of lives for millions of people. The central character of the work, Andrei Sokolov, worked as a driver before the war, had an uncomplaining and gentle wife, and three children. The main character experienced a lot of hardships during the difficult period of captivity, but retained his human appearance and the title of a Russian warrior, who, even being on the verge of death, did not lose loyalty to his homeland and did not drink with an enemy officer for the superiority of “Germany’s weapons.”
Characteristics of the heroes “The Fate of Man”
Main characters
Andrey Sokolov |
In the story “The Fate of a Man,” the hero Andrei Sokolov is the main character. His nature absorbs all those features that are characteristic of a Russian person. How many hardships this indomitable man endured, only he knows. The nature and inner strength of the hero is evidenced by the way he talks about his life. There is no haste, no confusion, no vanity in the narrative. Even the choice of a listener in the person of a random fellow traveler speaks of the hero’s internal anguish. |
Vanyushka |
Vanyushka is the key character of the story in the person of an orphan boy about six years old. The author describes it using features that perfectly characterize the picture of those post-war years. Vanyushka is a trusting and inquisitive child with a kind heart. His life is already filled with difficult trials for a child. Vanya's mother died during the evacuation - she was killed by a bomb that hit the train. The boy's father met his death at the front. In the person of Sokolov, the boy finds a “father”. |
Minor characters
Irina |
The woman was raised in an orphanage. She was funny and smart. A difficult childhood left its mark on her character. Irina is an example of a Russian woman: a good housewife and a loving mother and wife. During her life with Andrei, she never reproached her husband or contradicted him. When her husband went to war, she seemed to have a presentiment that they would never meet again. |
Camp Commandant Müller |
Müller was a cruel and ruthless man. He spoke Russian and loved Russian swearing. He liked to beat prisoners. He called his sadistic tendencies “prevention against the flu” - he hit prisoners in the face using a lead pad in a glove. He repeated this every day. The commandant feels fear when he tests Andrei. He is surprised by his courage and fortitude. |
The list of the main characters of “The Fate of Man” is a sample of personalities corresponding to the spirit of the times. Sholokhov himself is, to some extent, an indirect hero of his own story. A common misfortune united the people and made them stronger. Both Andrei Sokolov and Vanyusha, despite their age, appear before the reader as strong-willed and persistent people. The list of heroes is also symbolic in that it reflects the social diversity of people. The picture is emerging that everyone is equal before the war. And the moment where the camp commandant refuses to shoot Sokolov demonstrates military solidarity and respect for the enemy. This part of the story contains the most accurate and succinct description of the perseverance of the Soviet and Russian soldier even in the face of danger and imminent death. The true essence of the moral image of Commandant Mueller is revealed, his weakness, insignificance and helplessness.
Time quickly pushes into the depths of history important milestones in the lives of countries and peoples. The last volleys died down long ago. Time mercilessly takes living witnesses of heroic time into immortality. Books, films, and memories bring descendants back to the past. The exciting work The Fate of a Man, authored by Mikhail Sholokhov, takes us back to those difficult years.
In contact with
The title tells you what it will be about. The focus is on the fate of a person, the author spoke about it in such a way that it absorbed the fate of the whole country and its people.
The fate of man main characters:
- Andrey Sokolov;
- boy Vanyusha;
- son of the main character - Anatoly;
- wife Irina;
- the daughters of the main character are Nastya and Olyushka.
Andrey Sokolov
Meeting with Andrey Sokolov
The first post-war war turned out to be “pushy”, the Upper Don melted quickly, and the roads were a mess. It was at this time that the narrator had to get to the village of Bukanovskaya. On the way, we crossed the overflowing Elanka River and sailed for an hour on a dilapidated boat. While waiting for the second flight, he met a father and son, a boy about 5-6 years old. The author noted the deep melancholy in the man’s eyes, as if they were sprinkled with ashes. The father's careless clothes suggested that he lived without female care, but the boy was dressed warmly and neatly. Everything became clear when the narrator learned a sad story new friend.
The life of the main character before the war
The hero himself is from Voronezh. At first, everything in life turned out as usual. Born in 1900, served and fought in the Kikvidze division. He survived the famine of 1922 working for the Kuban kulaks, but his parents and sister died that year from hunger in the Voronezh province.
All alone left. Having sold the house, he left for Voronezh, where started a family. He married an orphan; there was no one more beautiful and desirable for him than his Irina. Children were born, a son Anatoly and two daughters, Nastenka and Olyushka.
He worked as a carpenter, a factory worker, and a mechanic, but he was truly “attracted” by machines. Ten years flew by unnoticed in work and worries. The wife bought two goats, the wife and owner Irina was excellent. The children were well-fed, well-fed, and enjoyed excellent studies. Andrey earned good money, he saved some money. They built a house not far from the aircraft factory, which the main character later regretted. In another place, the house could have survived the bombing, and life could have turned out completely differently. Everything that was created over the years collapsed in an instant - the war began.
War
Andrey was summoned with a summons on the second day, we saw off the whole family to war. It was hard to say goodbye. His wife Irina seemed to feel that they would not see each other again; day and night her eyes did not dry out from tears.
Formation took place in Ukraine, near Bila Tserkva. They gave me a ZIS-5, and I went to the front with it. Andrei fought for less than a year. He was wounded twice, but he quickly returned to duty. He wrote home infrequently: there was no time, and there was nothing special to write about - they were retreating on all fronts. Andrei condemned those “bitches in pants who complain, seek sympathy, slobber, but don’t want to understand that these unfortunate women and children had it no worse in the rear.”
In May 1942, near Lozovenki, the main character fell into fascist captivity. The day before, he volunteered to deliver shells to the artillerymen. There was less than a kilometer left to the battery when a long-range shell exploded near the car. He woke up, and the battle was going on behind him. It was not of his own free will that he was captured. The German machine gunners took off his boots, but did not shoot him, but drove him in a column of Russian prisoners to work for their Reich.
Once we spent the night in a church with a destroyed dome. A doctor was found, and he did his great work in captivity - helping the wounded soldiers. One of the prisoners asked to go outside to relieve himself. Holy faith in God does not allow a Christian to desecrate the temple; the Germans slashed at the door with machine-gun fire, wounding three at once and killing a pilgrim. Fate also prepared a terrible test for Andrey - to kill a traitor from “his own.” By chance at night he overheard a conversation from which he realized that the big-faced guy was planning to hand over his platoon commander to the Germans. Andrei Sokolov cannot allow Judas Kryzhnev to save himself at the cost of betrayal and the death of his comrades. An incident full of drama in the church shows the behavior of different people in inhumane circumstances.
Important! It is not easy for the main character to commit murder, but he sees salvation in the unity of people. In the story “The Fate of Man” this episode is full of drama.
An unsuccessful escape from the Poznan camp, when they were digging graves for prisoners, almost cost Andrei Sokolov his life. When they caught him, beat him, hounded him with dogs, his skin, meat and clothes fell into shreds. They brought me to the camp naked, covered in blood. He served a month in a punishment cell and miraculously survived. For two years of captivity traveled half of Germany: worked at a silicate plant in Saxony, in a mine in the Ruhr region, in Bavaria, Thuringia. The prisoners were brutally beaten and shot. Here they forgot their name, remembered their number, Sokolov was known as 331. They fed him half-and-half bread with sawdust, thin rutabaga gruel. The list of inhumane trials in captivity does not end there.
Survive and withstand Nazi captivity helped. Lagerführer Müller appreciated the strength of spirit of the Russian soldier. In the evening in the barracks, Sokolov was indignant at the four cubic meters of output, bitterly joking that a cubic meter would be enough for the grave of every prisoner.
The next day, the camp commandant summoned Sokolov following a denunciation from some scoundrel. The description of the duel between the Russian soldier and Muller is fascinating. Refusal to drink German weapons for victory could cost Sokolov his life. Muller did not shoot and said that he respected a worthy opponent. As a reward he gave a loaf of bread and a piece of lard; the food was divided among everyone, captured by a harsh thread.
Sokolov did not give up the thought of escape. He carried an engineer for the construction of defensive structures with the rank of major. In the front line The captive driver managed to escape, taking the stunned engineer with important documents. They promised to present me with a reward for this.
They sent me to the hospital for treatment, Andrei Sokolov immediately wrote a letter to Irina. Are your relatives alive or not? I waited a long time for an answer from my wife, but received a letter from a neighbor, Ivan Timofeevich. When the aircraft factory was bombed, nothing was left of the house. Son Tolik was in the city at that time, and Irina and her daughters died. A neighbor reported that Anatoly volunteered for the front.
On vacation I went to Voronezh, but I could not stay even an hour in the place where there was his family happiness and family hearth. He went to the station and returned to the division. Soon his son found him, received a letter from Anatoly and dreamed of meeting him. The country was already preparing to celebrate the Victory when Andrei's son was killed Anatoly. A sniper shot him on the morning of May 9th. It is very tragic that Andrei Sokolov’s son lived to see victory, but was unable to enjoy life in peacetime. The main character buried his son in a foreign land, and he himself was soon demobilized.
After the war
It was painful for him to return to his native Voronezh. Andrey remembered that a friend invited me to Uryupinsk. He arrived and began working as a driver. Here fate brought two lonely people together. Boy Vanya is a gift of fate. A war-wounded man now has hope for happiness.
Sholokhov’s story ends with the father and son going “in marching order” to Kashary, where a colleague will get the father a job in a carpenter’s artel, and then they will give him a driver’s license. He lost his previous document by an unfortunate accident. On a muddy road, the car skidded and he knocked down a cow. Everything worked out, the cow got up and walked, but I had to put the book down.
Important! Any true story or story about the fate of a person who miraculously survived in fascist captivity is interesting. This is a special story, it is about the Russian character unbroken by the war. The author expressed with utmost clarity his admiration for the feat, heroism and courage of ordinary people during the Second World War.
Features of Sholokhov's story “The Fate of a Man”
In the history of literature, it is rare that a small story becomes a grand event. After the publication of the story “The Fate of a Man” in the first issue of the Pravda newspaper in 1957, the novelty attracted everyone’s attention.
- In the story “The Fate of a Man,” a convincing and reliable description of real events is captivating. Mikhail Sholokhov heard the tragic story of a Russian soldier in 1946. Then ten long years of silence. The year the short story “The Fate of Man” was written is considered to be late 1956. Later the work was filmed.
- Ring composition: the story “The Fate of a Man” begins with a chance meeting between the author and the main character. At the end of the conversation, the men say goodbye and go about their business. In the central part, Andrei Sokolov opened his soul to a new acquaintance. He heard the hero's story about pre-war life, years at the front, and return to peaceful life.
Sholokhov “The Fate of Man” the main characters live in times of war, lose what is most precious, but find the strength to live on.
M. Sholokhov “The Fate of Man” main characters and their characteristics
- Andrey Sokolov
- Vanyushka
- Irina, Andrey's wife
- Ivan Timofeevich, neighbor of the Sokolovs
- Müller, camp commandant
- Soviet colonel
- captured military doctor
- Kyryzhnev is a traitor
- Peter, friend of Andrei Sokolov
- landlady
- Anatoly Sokolov- son of Andrei and Irina. He went to the front during the war. Becomes battery commander. Anatoly died on Victory Day, he was killed by a German sniper.
Nastenka and Olyushka- Sokolov's daughters
Andrey Sokolov- the main character of the story “The Fate of a Man”, a front-line driver, a man who went through the whole war.
Andrei Sokolov is the main character of the story “The Fate of Man” by Sholokhov. His character is truly Russian. How many troubles he experienced, what torments he endured, only he himself knows. The hero speaks about this on the pages of the story: “Why did you, life, cripple me like that? Why did you distort it like that?” He slowly tells his life from beginning to end to a fellow traveler with whom he sat down to have a cigarette by the road.
Sokolov had to endure a lot: hunger, captivity, the loss of his family, and the death of his son on the day the war ended. But he endured everything, survived everything, because he had a strong character and iron fortitude. “That’s why you’re a man, that’s why you’re a soldier, to endure everything, to endure everything, if need calls for it,” Andrei Sokolov himself said. His Russian character did not allow him to break down, retreat in the face of difficulties, or surrender to the enemy. He snatched life from death itself.
All the hardships and cruelties of the war that Andrei Sokolov endured did not kill his human feelings or harden his heart. When he met little Vanyusha, just as lonely as he was, just as unhappy and unwanted, he realized that he could become his family. Sokolov told him that he was his father and took him in for upbringing.
Vanyushka- an orphan boy of five or six years old. The author describes him as follows: “fair-haired curly head”, “pink cold little hand”, “eyes as bright as the sky”. Vanyushka is trusting, inquisitive and kind. This child has already experienced a lot; he is an orphan. Vanyushka’s mother died during the evacuation, was killed by a bomb on a train, and her father died at the front.
Andrei Sokolov told him that he was his father, which Vanya immediately believed and was incredibly happy about. He knew how to sincerely enjoy even the little things. He compares the beauty of the starry sky to a swarm of bees. This child, dispossessed by the war, early developed a courageous and compassionate character. At the same time, the author emphasizes that he is just a small, vulnerable child, who, after the death of his parents, spends the night anywhere, lying around covered in dust and dirt (“he lay quietly on the ground, dozing under the angular matting”). His sincere joy indicates that he yearned for human warmth.