Grigory Melekhov is the most famous and memorable character in Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don”. But few people know that in the first edition of the work there was no such hero at all. His place was taken by a certain Abram Ermakov, who looked very much like Gregory. Why the author decided to make changes to the novel is still unknown.

Hero's appearance

Grigory Melekhov (the characteristics of the character will be discussed in detail in this article) is endowed by the author with “wild” beauty, like all the Cossacks of his family. He was taller than his older brother, with black hair and a hooked nose, which made him look like a gypsy. The eyes are slightly slanted, almond-shaped and “blue,” and “sharp slabs of cheekbones are covered with brown skin.” His smile was “bestial”, his “wolf teeth” were snow-white. Hands are stubborn and callous to affection.

In his entire appearance one can feel wildness and roughness, combined with incredible beauty. Even during the war, he did not lose his attractiveness. Although he lost a lot of weight and looked more like an Asian.

Grigory Melikhov wore traditional Cossack clothes: wide trousers, white woolen stockings, chiriki (shoes), zipun, loose shirt, short fur coat. The clothing has a direct indication of nationality. The author emphasizes the Cossack origin of his hero.

Who is the main character of the novel?

Let's start with the fact that Sholokhov's focus is on the people, and not on a specific individual. And Gregory stands out from the general background only because he is the embodiment of folk traits. It became a reflection of Cossack prowess and “love for farming, for work” - the two main commandments of the Cossacks, who were warriors and farmers at the same time.

But Grigory Melekhov (“Quiet Don”) is famous not only for this. The distinctive features of his character were self-will, the desire for truth and independence in action. He always strives to verify everything personally and does not take anyone’s word for it. For him, truth is born slowly, from concrete reality, painfully and painfully. His whole life is a search for truth. The same thoughts tormented the Cossacks, who first encountered the new government.

Grigory Melekhov and Aksinya

The love conflict is one of the main ones in the novel. The main character's relationship with Aksinya runs like a red thread throughout the entire work. Their feeling was high, but tragic.

Let's talk a little about heroin. Aksinya is a stately, beautiful and proud Cossack woman who perceives what is happening very emotionally. She had a difficult fate. At sixteen, Aksinya was raped by her father, and a year later she was married to Stepan Astakhov, who beat her. This was followed by the death of the child. An unloved husband and hard work - this is the whole life of a young woman. This was the fate of many peasant and Cossack women, which is why it is generally accepted that “Quiet Don” reflects an entire era.

The fate of Grigory Melekhov turned out to be closely intertwined with the life of Aksinya. The woman wanted true love, which is why she responded so readily to her neighbor’s advances. Passion flared up between the young people, burning away fear, shame and doubt.

Even marrying Natalya did not stop Gregory. He continued to meet with Aksinya, for which he was expelled from home by his father. But even here the lovers did not give up. Their life as workers does not bring happiness. And Aksinya’s betrayal with her master’s son forces Gregory to return to his wife.

However, the final break does not occur. The lovers begin to meet again. They carry their feelings throughout their lives, despite all misfortunes and tragedies.

Character

Grigory Melekhov does not run from reality. He soberly assesses everything that happens around him and takes an active part in all events. This is considered the most striking and memorable in his image. He is characterized by breadth of soul and nobility. So, he saves the life of Stepan Astakhov, risking himself, although he does not have any friendly feelings towards him. He then bravely rushes to save those who killed his brother.

The image of Melekhov is complex and ambiguous. He is characterized by tossing and feeling of internal dissatisfaction with his actions. That is why he constantly rushes about; making a choice is not an easy task for him.

Social aspect

The character of a hero is determined by his origin. For example, Listnitsky is a landowner, and Koshevoy is a farm laborer, so they cannot be relied upon. Grigory Melekhov has a completely different origin. “Quiet Don” was written during the heyday of socialist realism and harsh criticism. Therefore, it is not surprising that the main character has a peasant origin, which was considered the most “correct”. However, the fact that he was from the middle peasants was the reason for all his throwing. The hero is both a worker and an owner. This is the cause of internal discord.

During the war, Grigory Melekhov practically does not care about his family, even Aksinya fades into the background. At this time, he is trying to understand the social structure and his place in it. In war, the hero does not seek benefit for himself, the main thing is to find the truth. That is why he peers so intently at the world around him. He does not share the enthusiasm of other Cossacks for the coming of the revolution. Grigory does not understand why they need her.

Previously, the Cossacks themselves decided who would rule them, they chose an ataman, but now they are imprisoned for this. There is no need for generals or peasants on the Don; the people will figure it out themselves, just as they figured it out before. And the promises of the Bolsheviks are false. They say that everyone is equal, but here comes the Red Army, the platoon commander has chrome boots, and the soldiers are all in bandages. And where is the equality?

Search

Grigory Melekhov sees reality very clearly and soberly assesses what is happening. In this he is similar to many Cossacks, but there is one difference - the hero is looking for the truth. This is what haunts him. Sholokhov himself wrote that Melekhov embodied the opinion of all Cossacks, but his strength lies in the fact that he was not afraid to speak out and tried to resolve contradictions, and did not humbly accept what was happening, hiding behind words about brotherhood and equality.

Grigory could admit that the Reds were right, but he felt the lies in their slogans and promises. He could not take everything on faith, and when he checked it in reality, it turned out that he was being lied to.

Turning a blind eye to lies was tantamount to betraying oneself, one’s land and one’s people.

How to deal with an unnecessary person?

Grigory Melekhov (his characterization confirms this) stood out from other representatives of the Cossacks. This attracted Shtokman's attention to him. This man did not have time to convince people like our hero, so he immediately decided to eliminate him. The innocent Gregory was doomed to arrest and death. What else to do with unnecessary people who ask unnecessary questions?

The order is given to Koshevoy, who is surprised and embarrassed. Gregory, his friend, is accused of having a dangerous way of thinking. Here we see the main conflict of the novel, where two sides collide, each of which is right. Shtokman is taking all measures to prevent an uprising that could prevent the accession of Soviet power, which he serves. Gregory’s character does not allow him to come to terms with either his fate or the fate of his people.

However, Shtokman's order becomes the beginning of the very uprising that he wanted to prevent. Together with Melekhov, who entered into battle with Koshev, the entire Cossacks rise. In this scene, the reader can clearly see that Gregory is truly a reflection of the people's will.

Melekhov decides to fight the power of the Reds. And this decision was due to a series of incidents: the arrest of his father, numerous executions in Tatarskoye, a threat to the life of the hero himself, insults to the Red Army soldiers stationed at his base.

Gregory has made his choice and is confident in it. However, not all so simple. This is not the last turn in his fate.

Throwing

The image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don” is very ambiguous. He is constantly tossing around and is not sure of the right choice. This is what happens with the decision to confront the Red Army. He sees the prisoners and dead who took part in his uprising, and understands who might benefit from this. The final epiphany comes when Gregory alone rushes to the machine gun and kills the sailors who controlled it. Melekhov then rolls around in the snow and exclaims: “Who did I kill!”

The hero again finds himself in conflict with the world. All Melekhov’s vacillations reflect the vacillations of the entire Cossacks, who first came from monarchism to Bolshevism, then decided to build autonomy, and then returned to Bolshevism again. Only in the example of Gregory do we see everything more clearly than what actually happened. This is connected with the very character of the hero, with his intransigence, passion, and unbridledness. Melekhov judges himself and those around him strictly. He is ready to answer for his wrong actions, but he wants others to answer too.

Summing up

The image of Grigory Melekhov in the novel “Quiet Don” is full of tragedy. Throughout his life he tried to find the truth, but what did he get in the end? In the last chapter of the book, we see how the hero loses his most precious thing - his beloved woman. Aksinya's death was the most terrible blow for Melekhov. At that moment the meaning of life was taken away from him. He has no more close people left in this world. Mental devastation leads him to the forest. He tries to live alone, but cannot stand it and returns to the farm where his son lives - the only thing left of Aksinya and their love.

What is the tragedy of Grigory Melekhov? He came into conflict with the world, could not come to terms with its new laws, attempts to change something ended in failure. But the hero could not come to terms with what was happening. The new era “grinded” and distorted his fate. Gregory simply turned out to be a person who could not adapt to change.

M. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” is a work of extraordinary power. The heroes of the novel reflect the historical and social upheavals of the twentieth century. Sholokhov created a gallery of images that, in terms of their expressiveness and artistic value, stood on a par with the most remarkable images of the world classics. Sholokhov introduced people from the people into great literature, and they occupied central places in the novel. K. Simonov, discussing the novel, wrote: “And there were no psychological problems that he would not undertake to solve by analyzing the soul of this so-called simple man, all the complexity of which he proved with such determination and strength on the pages of his books.”
Among the characters in the novel, the most attractive and controversial, reflecting the complexity of the quest of the Cossacks during the Civil War, is Grigory Melekhov. The image of Grigory Melekhov is not static; he is in the closest connection with the Cossacks of the entire Don, who, like him, suddenly lost their usual guidelines in life. Grigory Melekhov is a thinking, searching person. He fought bravely during World War I and received the St. George Cross. And everything was clear and understandable in the hero’s life. He is a Cossack - the support of the state - while there is no war, he sows and plows, but when called up for service, he goes to defend the fatherland. But the October Revolution, and the civil war that followed, threw Sholokhov’s hero into confusion. Gregory is trying to make his choice. After meeting with Podtelkov, Grigory begins to fight on the side of the Reds, but in his soul he cannot completely join them. Here is what the author writes about his doubts: “Back there, everything was confused and contradictory. It was difficult to find the right path; as if in a muddy road, the soil swayed underfoot, the path became fragmented, and there was no certainty whether he was following the right one.” The Reds' shooting of unarmed officers repulses him. And now he, with other fellow villagers, opposes Podtelkov’s detachment. The writer tragically describes the captivity of the Red detachment. Compatriots meet, people who believe in one God, connected by the same memories, and in the morning the captured Cossacks are put against the wall. A bloody river is spilling across the Don land. In mortal combat, brother goes against brother, traditions and laws that have developed over centuries are destroyed. And now Gregory, who had previously internally opposed bloodshed, easily decides the fate of others himself. And the time began when power changed, and yesterday’s victors, not having time to execute their opponents, became defeated and persecuted.
Soviet power seems alien to the majority of the Cossacks, and a widespread insurgency against it begins on the Don. Gregory becomes one of the major rebel military leaders, showing himself to be a skillful and experienced commander. But something is already breaking in his soul, he becomes more and more indifferent to himself, finding oblivion in drunkenness and carousing. The uprising is crushed. And again fate makes a revolution with Melekhov. He is forcibly mobilized into the Red Army, where he fights with Wrangel. Tired of the seven-year war, Melekhov returns to the farm, where he tries to live again through peaceful peasant labor. Life in his native village appeared as a terrible picture. Not a single family was spared by the fratricidal war. The words of one of the heroes turned out to be true: “There is no more life for the Cossacks and no more Cossacks!” But Melekhov is not allowed to live as a peasant in peace. The Soviet government, which won the Don, threatens with prison, or even execution, for fighting against it. The surplus appropriation committee has arrived in time and again unites the dissatisfied into Fomin’s detachment. But Fomin is hopeless and hopeless, and Grigory, realizing this, decides to return. In the bloody whirlwind of the civil war, the hero lost everything: parents, wife, daughter, brother, beloved woman. The writer at the end of the novel, through the mouth of Aksinya, explaining to Mishutka who his father is, says: “He’s not a bandit, your father. He’s such a... unhappy man.” How true these words are! Grigory Melekhov is an unfortunate man, caught in the millstones of a merciless history that grinds destinies, forcibly torn away from everything that is dear to him, forced to kill people for ideas that he can neither understand nor accept...

With the death of Aksinya, the hero loses his last hope and goes to his home, where he is no longer the master. And yet the last scene of the novel is life-affirming. Grigory Melikhov has a son in his arms, which means he has something to live for, something to go through new trials for.
Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” is a huge epic canvas woven from thousands of destinies. In the image of Grigory Melekhov we see the image of millions of peasants, Cossacks, lost in the cycle of events and standing on the threshold of new trials that befell our people.

The main character of "Quiet Don" is, without a doubt, the people. The novel shows the patterns of the era through the prism of the many heroic destinies of ordinary people. If among other heroes Grigory Melekhov comes to the fore, it is only because he is the most...

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, creating the epic novel “Quiet Don” in the turning years of the revolution and civil war, devotes a lot of space to the Cossack woman: her hard work in the field and at home, her grief, her generous heart. Unforgettable is the image of Gregory’s mother, Ilyinichna....

Mikhail Sholokhov's novel "Quiet Don" was created over many years, the first chapters of the novel were written in 1925, and its last pages were published in the magazine "New World" in 1940. Sholokhov defined his plan for the novel as follows: “I wanted...

M.A. Sholokhov is rightly called the chronicler of the Soviet era. "Quiet Don" - a novel about the Cossacks. The central character of the novel is Grigory Melekhov, an ordinary Cossack guy. True, maybe too hot. In Gregory's family, large and friendly, the Cossacks are sacredly revered...

“Show the charm of a person...” - how did this writer’s attitude affect the creation of the image of Grigory Melekhov?

In Sholokhov's novel, Grigory Melekhov became a hero who fully corresponds to the character and objectives of the epic. At the beginning of the novel, the character traits, lifestyle and attitude to the world that unite the hero with other Cossacks are emphasized. He is the successor of the Melekhov family. Hardworking, youthfully poetic, but also frivolous. At first, Grigory does not even realize his relationship with Aksinya as his destiny and suggests breaking up with her. Like everyone else, he marries according to his parents’ choice, but soon shows disobedience and independence of character, taking Aksinya out of the village, abandoning the “unloving” Natalya.

“Normal” conflicts of dramatic, but peaceful life are abruptly interrupted by war. Grigory perceives with pain the violence in which he is forced to participate. Nowhere does Sholokhov wax poetic about military exploits, front-line camaraderie, and mutual assistance of the Cossacks, although he shows all this. Front-line paintings are colored by a basic feeling in which the hero and the author are united - rejection of war, which burns out the souls of the victors and the vanquished. It is the deep conviction of the unrighteousness of the war started by the tsarist government that pushes the hero to sympathize with the revolutionaries.

Truth and justice are for Gregory the criteria for evaluating theories and actions. It is precisely the attempts to find, and if necessary, to defend in the struggle the truth, a fair world order, that determine the hero’s hesitation during the course of civil strife. Twice he fights on the side of the Reds, three times he finds himself in the ranks of their opponents. And Gregory’s talent makes everything he undertakes powerful and bright, be it work or battle. Gregory has no trust in the tsarist generals and the Cossack authorities, who dream of returning to the past, where not everything suited the Cossacks. A former officer, a rebel, a proud man who does not agree to bend his neck to anyone, Gregory is constantly under suspicion by the new, Bolshevik authorities. Thus, M.A. Sholokhov shows his main, beloved hero at a crossroads, where none of the roads leads to the goal. A civil war is also incapable of untying historical knots and solving the pressing problems of people and society in a fair manner.

Grigory always worries and thinks in his own way and at the same time in the same way as most honest Cossacks. His position is not on the sidelines of popular quests, but in the thick of it, at the very core of national life. It was precisely such a hero who should rightfully take a central place in the national epic. The author, despite the horrors and violence that depict most of his work, still said that his main goal was to show the “charm of man.” The more gifted a person is initially, the more actively he is involved in the contradictory historical whirlwind, the more misconceptions and insights he experiences, the more he takes on guilt and acquires a difficult but necessary truth.

This charm of human characters and personalities constitutes a real alternative to the next “ruin of the Russian land” described in “Quiet Don”.

Searched here:

• image of Grigory Melekhov
• Grigory Melekhov image
• image of Grigory Melekhov essay

Mikhail Sholokhov knew and loved his small homeland and could describe it perfectly. With this he entered Russian literature. First appeared "Don Stories". The masters of that time drew attention to him (today’s reader does not know any of them) and said: “Beautiful! Well done!" Then they forgot... And suddenly the first volume of the work was published, which almost put the author on a par with Homer, Goethe and Leo Tolstoy. In the epic novel “Quiet Don,” Mikhail Alexandrovich reliably reflected the fate of a great people, the endless search for truth in the chaotic years and bloody revolution.

Quiet Don in the fate of a writer

The image of Grigory Melikhov captivated the entire reading public. Young talent needs to develop and develop. But circumstances were not conducive to the writer becoming the conscience of the nation and people. Sholokhov's Cossack nature did not allow him to strive to become the favorites of the rulers, but they did not allow him to become in Russian literature what he was supposed to become.

Many years after the Great Patriotic War and the publication of “The Fate of Man,” Mikhail Sholokhov made a strange, at first glance, entry in his diary: “They all liked my Man. So I lied? Don't know. But I know what I didn’t say.”

Favorite hero

From the first pages of "Quiet Don" the writer draws a diverse and wide river of life in the Don Cossack village. And Grigory Melikhov is only one of many interesting characters in this book and, moreover, not the most important, as it seems at first. His mental outlook is primitive, like his grandfather's saber. He has nothing to become the center of a large artistic canvas, except for his willful, explosive character. But from the first pages the reader feels the writer’s love for this character and begins to follow his fate. What attracts us and Gregory from our youth? Probably due to your biology, your blood.

Even male readers are not indifferent to him, like those women from real life who loved Gregory more than life itself. And he lives like Don. His inner masculine force draws everyone into his orbit. Nowadays, such people are called charismatic personalities.

But there are other forces at work in the world that require comprehension and analysis. However, they continue to live in the village, not suspecting anything, thinking that they are protected from the world by their courageous moral virtues: they eat their own (!) bread, serve the Fatherland as their grandfathers and great-grandfathers taught them. It seems to all village residents, including Grigory Melikhov, that a more just and sustainable life does not exist. They sometimes fight among themselves, mainly over women, not suspecting that it is women who choose, giving preference to powerful biology. And this is correct - Mother Nature herself ordered this so that the human race, including the Cossacks, would not dry out on Earth.

War

But civilization has given rise to many injustices, and one of them is a false idea, clothed in truthful words. The quiet Don flows truthfully. And the fate of Grigory Melikhov, who was born on its banks, did not foretell anything that would make the blood run cold.

The village of Veshenskaya and the village of Tatarsky were not founded by St. Petersburg and they were not fed by him either. But the idea that life itself was almost granted to each Cossack personally, not by God, but by his father and mother, but by some center, broke into the tough but fair life of the Cossacks with the word “war.” Something similar happened on the other side of Europe. Two large groups of people went to war against each other in an organized and civilized manner in order to flood the earth with blood. And they were inspired by false ideas, clothed in words about love for the Fatherland.

War without embellishment

Sholokhov paints the war as it is, showing how it cripples human souls. Sad mothers and young wives remained at home, and the Cossacks with pikes went to fight. Gregory's sword tasted human meat for the first time, and in an instant he became a completely different person.

A dying German listened to him, not understanding a word of Russian, but understanding that universal evil was being committed - the essence of the image and likeness of God was being mutilated.

Revolution

Again, not in the village, not on the Tatarsky farm, but far, far from the banks of the Don, tectonic shifts begin in the depths of society, the waves from which will reach the hardworking Cossacks. The main character of the novel returned home. He has a lot of personal problems. He has had his fill of blood and no longer wants to shed it. But the life of Grigory Melikhov, his personality is of interest to those who have not obtained a piece of bread for their own food for decades with their own hands. And some people bring false ideas to the Cossack community, clothed in truthful words about equality, brotherhood and justice.

Grigory Melikhov is drawn into a struggle that is alien to him by definition. Who started this quarrel in which the Russians hated the Russians? The main character does not ask this question. His fate carries through life like a blade of grass. Grigory Melikhov listens in surprise to the friend of his youth, who began to speak incomprehensible words and look at him with suspicion.

And the Don flows calmly and majestically. The fate of Grigory Melikhov is just an episode for him. New people will come to its shores, new life will come. The writer says almost nothing about the revolution, although everyone talks about it a lot. But nothing they say is remembered. Don's image steals the show. And the revolution is also just an episode on its shores.

The tragedy of Grigory Melikhov

The main character of Sholokhov's novel began his life simply and clearly. Loved and was loved. He vaguely believed in God, without going into details. And in the future he lived as simply and clearly as in childhood. Grigory Melikhov did not retreat even one small step from his essence, nor from the truth that he absorbed into himself along with the water that he drew from the Don. And even his saber did not dig into human bodies with pleasure, although he had an innate ability to kill. The tragedy was precisely that Gregory remained an atom of society, which could either be split into component parts by a will alien to him, or combined with other atoms. He did not understand this and strived to remain free, like the majestic Don. On the last pages of the novel we see him calmed down, hope for happiness glimmers in his soul. A questionable point in the novel. Will the main character find what he dreams of?

The end of the Cossack way of life

An artist may not understand anything that happens around him, but he must feel life. And Mikhail Sholokhov felt it. Tectonic shifts in world history destroyed the beloved Cossack way of life, distorted the souls of the Cossacks, turning them into meaningless “atoms” that became suitable for the construction of anything and anyone, but not the Cossacks themselves.

There are a lot of didactic policies in volumes 2, 3, and 4 of the novel, but, describing the path of Grigory Melikhov, the artist involuntarily returned to the truth of life. And false ideas receded into the background and dissolved in the haze of centuries-old prospects. The triumphant notes of the final part of the novel are drowned out by the reader’s longing for the bygone life that the writer depicted with such incredible artistic power in volume 1 of “The Quiet Don.”

The first one is the basis

Sholokhov begins his novel with a description of the appearance of a child who founded the Melikhov family, and ends with a description of a child who should extend this family. "Quiet Don" can be called a great work of Russian literature. This work not only opposes everything that was later written by Sholokhov, but is a reflection of the core of the Cossack people, which gives hope to the writer himself that the existence of the Cossacks on Earth has not ended.

Two wars and a revolution are just episodes in the life of a people who recognize themselves as Don Cossacks. He will still wake up and show the world his beautiful Melikhovo soul.

The life of the Cossack family is immortal

The main character of Sholokhov's novel entered the very core of the worldview of the Russian people. Grigory Melikhov (his image) ceased to be a household name back in the 30s of the twentieth century. It cannot be said that the writer endowed the hero with the typical features of a Cossack. There is just not enough typical in Grigory Melikhov. And there is no special beauty in it. It is beautiful with its power, vitality, which is capable of overcoming all the sediment that comes to the banks of the free, quiet Don.

This is an image of hope and faith in the highest meaning of human existence, which is always the basis of everything. In a strange way, those ideas that tore apart the village of Veshenskaya and erased the Tatarsky farm from the earth have sunk into oblivion, but the novel “Quiet Don” and the fate of Grigory Melikhov remained in our consciousness. This proves the immortality of Cossack blood and clan.

The image of Grigory Melikhov (based on the novel by M. Sholokhov “Quiet Don”)

The image of Grigory Melekhov is central in M. Sholokhov’s epic novel “Quiet Don”. It is impossible to immediately say about him whether he is a positive or negative hero. For too long he wandered in search of the truth, his path. Grigory Melekhov appears in the novel, first of all, as a truth-seeker. At the beginning of the novel, Grigory Melekhov is an ordinary farm boy with the usual range of household chores, activities, and entertainment. He lives thoughtlessly, like grass in the steppe, following traditional principles. Even love for Aksinya, which has captured his passionate nature, cannot change anything. He allows his father to marry him, and, as usual, prepares for military service. Everything in his life happens involuntarily, as if without his participation, just as he involuntarily dissects a tiny defenseless duckling while mowing - and shudders at what he has done. Grigory Melekhov did not come into this world for bloodshed. But harsh life placed a saber in his hardworking hands. Gregory experienced the first shed of human blood as a tragedy. The image of the Austrian he killed later appears to him in a dream, causing mental pain. The experience of war completely turns his life upside down, makes him think, look into himself, listen, and take a closer look at people. Conscious life begins.

The Bolshevik Garanzha, who met Gregory in the hospital, seemed to reveal to him the truth and the prospect of change for the better. “Autonomist” Efim Izvarin and Bolshevik Fyodor Podtelkov played a significant role in shaping the beliefs of Grigory Melekhov. The tragically deceased Fyodor Podtelkov pushed Melekhov away, shedding the blood of unarmed prisoners who believed the promises of the Bolshevik who captured them. The senselessness of this murder and the callousness of the “dictator” stunned the hero. He is also a warrior, he killed a lot, but here not only the laws of humanity are violated, but also the laws of war. “Honest to the core,” Grigory Melekhov cannot help but see the deception. The Bolsheviks promised that there would be no rich and poor. However, a year has already passed since the “Reds” were in power, and the promised equality is not there: “the platoon leader is in chrome boots, and the Vanyok is in windings.” Grigory is very observant, he tends to think about his observations, and the conclusions from his thoughts are disappointing: “If the gentleman is bad, then the boorish gentleman is a hundred times worse.”

The civil war throws Grigory either into the Budennovsky detachment or into the white formations, but this is no longer thoughtless submission to the way of life or a coincidence of circumstances, but a conscious search for the truth, the path. He sees his home and peaceful work as the main values ​​of life. In war, shedding blood, he dreams of how he will prepare for sowing, and these thoughts make his soul warm. The Soviet government does not allow the former ataman of the hundred to live peacefully and threatens him with prison or execution. The surplus appropriation system instills in the minds of many Cossacks the desire to “re-conquer the war”, to replace the workers’ government with their own, the Cossack’s. Gangs are forming on the Don. Grigory Melekhov, hiding from persecution by the Soviet regime, ends up in one of them, Fomin’s gang. But bandits have no future. For most Cossacks it is clear: they need to sow, not fight.

The main character of the novel is also drawn to peaceful labor. The last test, the last tragic loss for him is the death of his beloved woman - Aksinya, who received a bullet on the way, as it seems to them, to a free and happy life. Everything died. Gregory's soul is scorched. There remains only the last, but very important thread connecting the hero with life - this is his home. A house, land waiting for its owner, and a little son - his future, his mark on the earth.

The depth of the contradictions through which the hero went through is revealed with amazing psychological authenticity and historical validity. The versatility and complexity of a person’s inner world is always the focus of M. Sholokhov’s attention. Individual destinies and a broad generalization of the paths and crossroads of the Don Cossacks allow us to see how complex and contradictory life is, how difficult it is to choose the true path.