The author and narrator in the story is the fate of man. "The fate of man" main characters

The story of Mikhail Sholokhov "The Fate of a Man" tells about the life of a soldier of the Great Patriotic War, Andrei Sokolov. The ensuing war took everything away from the man: family, home, faith in a brighter future. Strong-willed character and firmness of spirit did not allow Andrei to break. The meeting with the orphaned boy Vanyushka brought new meaning to Sokolov's life.

This story is included in the 9th grade literature curriculum. Before you get acquainted with the full version of the work, you can read the online summary of Sholokhov's "The Fate of a Man", which will introduce the reader to the most important episodes of the "Fate of a Man".

Main characters

Andrey Sokolov- the main character of the story. He worked as a driver in wartime until the Fritz took him prisoner, where he spent 2 years. In captivity was listed under the number 331.

Anatoly- the son of Andrei and Irina, who went to the front during the war. Becomes a battery commander. Anatoly died on Victory Day, he was killed by a German sniper.

Vanyushka- an orphan, adopted son of Andrei.

Other characters

Irina- Andrew's wife

Kryzhnev- traitor

Ivan Timofeevich- Andrew's neighbor

Nastenka and Olushka- Sokolov's daughters

On the Upper Don came the first spring after the war. The scorching sun touched the ice on the river and a flood began, turning the roads into a blurry slurry that was not passable.

The author of the story at this time of off-road had to get to the Bukanovskaya station, which was about 60 km away. He reached the crossing over the Elanka River and, together with the driver accompanying him, swam across in a boat full of holes from old age to the other side. The driver swam away again, and the narrator remained waiting for him. Since the driver promised to return only after 2 hours, the narrator decided to take a smoke break. He took out cigarettes that got wet during the crossing and laid them out to dry in the sun. The narrator sat down on the wattle fence and became thoughtful.

Soon, he was distracted from his thoughts by a man with a boy, who were moving towards the crossing. The man approached the narrator, greeted him and asked if it would be long to wait for the boat. We decided to smoke together. The narrator wanted to ask the interlocutor where he was heading with his little son in such impassability. But the man was ahead of him and started talking about the past war.
So the narrator got acquainted with a brief retelling of the life story of a man whose name was Andrey Sokolov.

Life before the war

Andrey had a hard time even before the war. As a young boy, he went to the Kuban to work for kulaks (wealthy peasants). It was a harsh period for the country: it was 1922, the time of famine. So Andrei's mother, father and sister died of starvation. He was left all alone. He returned to his homeland only a year later, sold his parents' house and married the orphan Irina. Andrei got a good wife, obedient and not grouchy. Irina loved and respected her husband.

Soon the young couple had children: first, the son Anatoly, and then the daughters Olyushka and Nastenka. The family settled down well: they lived in abundance, they rebuilt their house. If earlier Sokolov drank with friends after work, now he hurried home to his beloved wife and children. In the 29th, Andrei left the factory and began working as a driver. Another 10 years flew by for Andrei unnoticed.

The war came unexpectedly. Andrei Sokolov received a summons from the military registration and enlistment office, and he leaves for the front.

War time

Sokolov was escorted to the front with the whole family. A bad premonition tormented Irina: as if for the last time she was seeing her husband.

During the distribution, Andrei received a military truck and went to the front for his steering wheel. But he did not have to fight for a long time. During the German offensive, Sokolov was given the task of supplying ammunition to soldiers in a hot spot. But it was not possible to bring the shells to their own - the Nazis blew up the truck.

When Andrei, who had miraculously survived, woke up, he saw an overturned truck and detonated ammunition. And the battle was already going somewhere behind. Andrey then realized that he was right in the encirclement of the Germans. The Nazis immediately noticed the Russian soldier, but they did not kill him - labor was needed. So Sokolov ended up in captivity along with fellow soldiers.

The captives were herded into a local church to spend the night. Among those arrested was a military doctor who made his way in the dark and questioned each soldier about the presence of injuries. Sokolov was very worried about his arm, dislocated during the explosion, when he was thrown out of the truck. The doctor adjusted Andrey's limb, for which the soldier was very grateful to him.

The night was restless. Soon one of the prisoners began to ask the Germans to release him to relieve himself. But the senior escort forbade anyone to let out of the church. The prisoner could not stand it and wept: “I can’t,” he says, “desecrate the holy temple! I'm a believer, I'm a Christian!" . The Germans shot the annoying pilgrimage and several other prisoners.

After that, the arrested fell silent for a while. Then conversations began in a whisper: they began to ask each other who came from where and how they were captured.

Sokolov heard a quiet conversation next to him: one of the soldiers threatened the platoon leader that he would tell the Germans that he was not a simple private, but a communist. The man who threatened, as it turned out, was called Kryzhnev. The platoon commander begged Kryzhnev not to extradite him to the Germans, but he stood his ground, arguing that "his own shirt is closer to the body."

After hearing Andrey shook with rage. He decided to help the platoon leader and kill the vile party member. For the first time in his life, Sokolov killed a man, and it became so disgusting to him, as if he "strangled some creeping reptile."

camp work

In the morning, the Nazis began to find out which of the prisoners belonged to the Communists, commissars and Jews, in order to shoot them on the spot. But there were none, as well as traitors who could betray.

When the arrested were driven to the camp, Sokolov began to think how he could escape to his own. Once such a case presented itself to the prisoner, he managed to escape and break away from the camp for 40 km. Only in the footsteps of Andrei were dogs, and soon he was caught. The incited dogs tore all his clothes on him and bit him into blood. Sokolov was placed in a punishment cell for a month. After the punishment cell, 2 years of hard work, hunger, and bullying followed.

Sokolov got to work in a stone quarry, where the prisoners "manually hammered, cut, crushed German stone." More than half of the workers died from hard work. Andrei somehow could not stand it, and uttered reckless words in the direction of the cruel Germans: “They need four cubic meters of production, and one cubic meter through the eyes is enough for the grave of each of us.”

There was a traitor among his own, and reported this to the Fritz. The next day, Sokolov was asked to visit the German authorities. But before leading the soldier to be shot, the commandant of the block Muller offered him a drink and a snack for the victory of the Germans.

Almost looking into the eyes of death, the brave fighter refused such an offer. Muller only smiled and ordered Andrei to drink for his death. The prisoner had nothing to lose, and he drank to get rid of his torment. Despite the fact that the fighter was very hungry, he never touched the appetizer of the Nazis. The Germans poured a second glass to the arrested man and again offered him a bite to eat, to which Andrey replied to the German: “Sorry, Herr Commandant, I’m not used to having a bite even after the second glass.” The Nazis laughed, poured Sokolov a third glass and decided not to kill him, because he showed himself to be a real soldier loyal to his homeland. He was released to the camp, and for his courage they were given a loaf of bread and a piece of lard. The block divided the provisions equally.

The escape

Soon Andrei gets to work at the mines in the Ruhr region. It was 1944, Germany began to surrender its positions.

By chance, the Germans learn that Sokolov is a former driver, and he enters the service of the German office "Todte". There he becomes the personal driver of a fat Fritz, an army major. After some time, the German major was sent to the front line, and Andrei along with him.

Again, the prisoner began to visit thoughts of escaping to his own. Once Sokolov noticed a drunken non-commissioned officer, led him around the corner and took off all his uniforms. Andrei hid the uniform under the seat in the car, and also hid the weight and telephone wire. Everything was ready to carry out the plan.

One morning, Major Andrei orders to take him outside the city, where he supervised the construction. On the way, the German dozed off, and as soon as they left the city, Sokolov took out a weight and stunned the German. After that, the hero took out a hidden uniform, quickly changed clothes and drove at full speed towards the front.

This time, the brave soldier managed to get to his own with the German "present". We met him as a real hero and promised to present him for a state award.
They gave the fighter a month off: to get medical treatment, to rest, to see his relatives.

For starters, Sokolov was sent to the hospital, from where he immediately wrote a letter to his wife. 2 weeks have passed. An answer comes from the motherland, but not from Irina. The letter was written by their neighbor, Ivan Timofeevich. This message was not joyful: Andrei's wife and daughters died back in 1942. The Germans blew up the house where they lived. Only a deep hole remained from their hut. Only the eldest son, Anatoly, survived, who, after the death of his relatives, asked to go to the front.

Andrei arrived in Voronezh, looked at the place where his house used to stand, and now a pit filled with rusty water, and on the same day went back to the division.

Looking forward to meeting my son

For a long time Sokolov did not believe his misfortune, he grieved. Andrei lived only with the hope of seeing his son. Correspondence began between them from the front, and the father learns that Anatoly became the division commander and received many awards. Pride overwhelmed Andrei for his son, and in his thoughts he already began to draw how he and his son would live after the war, how he would become a grandfather and nurse his grandchildren, having met a calm old age.

At this time, the Russian troops were rapidly advancing and pushing the Nazis to the German border. Now it was not possible to correspond, and only towards the end of spring did my father receive news from Anatoly. The soldiers came close to the German border - on May 9, the end of the war came.

Excited, happy Andrei was looking forward to meeting his son. But his joy was short-lived: Sokolov was informed that a German sniper shot down the battery commander on May 9, 1945, on Victory Day. Anatoly's father saw him off on his last journey, burying his son on German soil.

post-war period

Soon Sokolov was demobilized, but he did not want to return to Voronezh because of difficult memories. Then he remembered a military friend from Uryupinsk, who invited him to his place. That's where the veteran went.

A friend lived with his wife on the outskirts of the city, they had no children. Andrey's friend hired him to work as a driver. After work, Sokolov often went into the tearoom to have a glass or two. Near the teahouse, Sokolov noticed a homeless boy of 5-6 years old. Andrei found out that the name of the homeless child was Vanyushka. The child was left without parents: the mother died during the bombing, and the father was killed at the front. Andrew decided to adopt a child.

Sokolov brought Vanya to the house where he lived with a married couple. The boy was washed, fed and clothed. The child of his father began to accompany him on every flight and would never agree to stay at home without him.

So the son and his father would have lived for a long time in Uryupinsk, if not for one incident. Once Andrei was driving a truck in bad weather, the car skidded, and he knocked down a cow. The animal remained unharmed, and Sokolov was deprived of his driver's license. Then the man signed off with another colleague from Kashara. He invited him to work with him and promised that he would help him get new rights. So they are now on their way with their son to the Kashar region. Andrei admitted to the narrator that he would not have survived long in Uryupinsk anyway: longing did not allow him to stay in one place.

Everything would be fine, but Andrei's heart began to play pranks, he was afraid he would not stand it, and his little son would be left alone. Every day, the man began to see his deceased relatives as if they were calling him to him: “I talk about everything with Irina and with the kids, but I just want to push the wire apart with my hands - they leave me, as if melting before my eyes ... And this is an amazing thing: during the day I always hold myself tight, you can’t squeeze a “ooh” or a sigh out of me, but at night I wake up, and the whole pillow is wet with tears ... "

A boat appeared. This was the end of the story of Andrei Sokolov. He said goodbye to the author, and they moved towards the boat. With sadness, the narrator looked after these two close, orphaned people. He wanted to believe in the best, in the best future fate of these strangers to him, who became close to him in a couple of hours.

Vanyushka turned and waved goodbye to the narrator.

Conclusion

In the work, Sholokhov raises the problem of humanity, loyalty and betrayal, courage and cowardice in war. The conditions in which Andrei Sokolov's life put him did not break him as a person. And the meeting with Vanya gave him hope and purpose in life.

Having become acquainted with the short story “The Fate of a Man”, we recommend that you read the full version of the work.

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An interesting, fascinating and exciting work is "The Fate of Man". The meaning of the title of the story can be understood by every reader who carefully reads the work and gets to know the main character. This story will not leave indifferent any reader who has become acquainted with The Fate of a Man, because the author was able to convey in his work all the feelings, experiences and emotions of Andrei Sokolov, whose life was rather difficult and to some extent unhappy.

Meeting with Andrey Sokolov

In order to understand what the meaning of the title of the story "The Fate of a Man" is, it is necessary to get acquainted with the summary of Sholokhov's work.

At the very beginning of the work, it becomes clear that the narrator was heading to one of the Don villages, but he had to stay on the shore due to the flood of the river and wait for the boat. At this time, a man with a child approached him and mistook him for a driver, because there was a car next to the narrator. Andrei Sokolov really wanted to talk with his colleague. Previously, the man worked as a driver, but on a truck. The narrator decided not to upset the man and did not say that he was not his colleague.

The meaning of the title of the story “The Fate of a Man” becomes clear to every reader already while reading the work. It is worth saying that the author chose, probably, the most accurate name that reflects the meaning of the whole story.

The image of Andrei Sokolov

The image of Sokolov is shown to the reader through the perception of the narrator. The man has strong, overworked hands and sad eyes filled with mortal anguish. It immediately becomes clear that the meaning of Sokolov's life is his son, who is dressed much better and neater than his father. Andrei does not pay attention to himself at all, and only cares about his beloved son.

It is the work "The Fate of a Man" that will not leave indifferent any reader. The meaning of the title of the story becomes clear to everyone who is imbued with the main character and sympathetically reacted to his difficult fate. It is worth saying that the meaning of the work lies precisely in its title.

Honest and open driver

Further, the reader learns about the fate of Andrei Sokolov from his story about his past life to the narrator. It is worth saying that the main character is quite frank and honest with his interlocutor. Most likely, such openness is due to the fact that Andrey took the narrator for "his own" - a Russian man with a big soul.

The meaning of the title of Sholokhov's story "The Fate of a Man" is interesting to everyone who is going to get acquainted with this work. It is worth noting that the reader will find out the answer to this question already while reading the story. The author conveys all the emotions and experiences of the protagonist so well and clearly that every reader will definitely feel for him and his difficult fate.

The death of Sokolov's parents

Andrey Sokolov shared that his life was the most ordinary, but after the famine, everything changed very much. Then he decided to leave for the Kuban, where he later began to work for the kulaks. It was thanks to this that Sokolov managed to stay alive, unlike his family. Andrei became an orphan because his parents and little sister died of starvation.

It is “The Fate of a Man” that causes a storm of emotions and experiences. The meaning of the title of the story will become clear to every reader, but for this it is necessary to delve into each line and truly feel everything that the protagonist of the work has experienced.

Sokolov's wife and children

A few years later, after a great grief, Andrei still managed not to break. Soon he got married. He spoke only good things about his wife. Sokolov shared with the narrator that his wife was cheerful, compliant and smart. If the husband came home in a bad mood, she never rude him back. Soon Andrei and Irina had a son, and then two daughters.

Sokolov shared with his interlocutor that in 1929 he began to be carried away by cars, after which he became a truck driver. However, the war soon began, which became an obstacle to a good and happy life.

Leaving for the front

Soon Andrei Sokolov was forced to go to the front, where he was escorted by the whole friendly family. It is worth noting that it seemed to Irina that this was the last time that husband and wife were together. Naturally, Andrey was very upset that his wife "buried her husband alive", in connection with which Sokolov went to the front in frustrated feelings.

Undoubtedly, every lover of literature about wartime will like the work “The Fate of a Man”. The meaning of the title of the story will become clear after reading the work.

Meeting the driver with the Nazis

In May 1942, terrible events took place that Andrei will never be able to forget. During the war, Sokolov was also a driver and volunteered to carry ammunition to his artillery battery. However, he could not take them, as the shell fell right next to his car, which turned over from the blast wave. After that, Sokolov lost consciousness, after which he woke up already behind enemy lines. At first, Andrei decided to pretend to be dead, but he raised his head at the moment when several fascists with machine guns were walking right towards him. It is worth saying that the man wanted to die with dignity and stood right in front of the enemy, but was not killed. One fascist was already thinking of shooting when his comrade prevented Sokolov from being killed.

After reading the work, the meaning of the title of the story “The Fate of a Man” immediately becomes clear. It will not be difficult to write an essay on this topic, because the title of the work reflects what it is about.

The escape

After this incident, Andrei was sent barefoot to the west with a column of prisoners.

During the journey to Poznan, Sokolov only thought about how to escape as soon as possible. I must say, the man was lucky, because when the prisoners were digging graves, the guards were distracted. It was then that Andrei managed to escape to the east. But not everything ended the way Sokolov wanted. Already on the fourth day, the Germans with their shepherd dogs caught up with the runaway. As punishment, Andrei was kept in a punishment cell, after which he was sent straight to Germany.

Worthy opponent

Soon Sokolov began working in a stone quarry near Dresden, where he managed to say a phrase that infuriated his superiors. Muller, the commandant of the camp, summoned the driver and said that he would personally shoot him for such words. Sokolov answered him: "Your will."

The commandant thought about something, threw away the pistol and invited Andrey to drink a glass of vodka and eat a piece of bread and a slice of lard for the victory of "German weapons". It is worth noting that Sokolov refused and answered Muller that he was a non-drinker. However, the commandant laughed and replied: "If you do not want to drink to our victory, drink to your death!" Andrei drank the glass to the bottom and replied that after the first glass he did not have a snack. After drinking the second glass, the soldier answered the commandant the same thing. After the third Andrey bit off some bread. Muller decided to leave Sokolov alive, because he respects worthy rivals, and gave the driver a loaf and a piece of lard, which Andrei divided equally among his comrades.

The fact that a simple Russian person is so strong in spirit that he was able to survive the most terrible events that can happen in life, and lies the meaning of the title of Sholokhov's story “The Fate of a Man”. An essay on this topic can be written by absolutely every person who is familiar with the work.

The death of the Sokolov family and the adoption of Vanya

In 1944, Sokolov became the chauffeur of a German engineer major, who treated him more or less well, sometimes even sharing his food with him. Once Andrei stunned him, took the weapon and rushed straight to where the battle was going on. According to the driver, the Germans started shooting at him from behind, and his soldiers in front.

After this incident, Andrei was sent to the hospital, from where he wrote to his wife. Soon an answer came from a neighbor that a shell had hit his house, from which the children and wife of the driver died. At that moment, the son was not at home, so he managed to survive. Sokolov volunteered for the front. After that, Andrei found his son, began to correspond with him, but fate decreed very cruelly. On May 9, 1945, Anatoly died at the hands of a sniper.

The driver did not know where to go, and went to Uryupinsk to his friend, where he met a homeless boy Vanya. Then Andrei told the child that he was his father and adopted the boy, who was very happy to meet his "father".

What is the meaning of the title of the story "The Fate of Man"?

It is worth finding out what the meaning of the title of Sholokhov's work is, after all, because many are interested in this particular question.

The meaning of the title of Sholokhov's story "The Fate of a Man" is that a simple Russian person was able to survive a huge number of negative events, after which he managed to live on, not to break down and forget about all the tragedies. Andrey Sokolov adopted a child and began to live for him, forgetting about all the failures and hardships that haunted him during the last years of his life. Despite the death of his parents, wife and children, the main character managed to survive and live on.

The fact that a Russian person was able to overcome all failures and hardships, survive the loss of loved ones and live on, is the meaning of the title of the story by M. Sholokhov “The Fate of a Man”. The main character was so strong in spirit that he managed to forget about everything that had happened to him before and start a completely new life in which he is a happy person raising a beautiful child. The death of parents, wife and children did not break the spirit of the Russian man, who was able to forget about all the terrible events that took place during the last years of his life, and found the strength to start a new happy life. This is precisely the meaning of the work "The Destiny of Man".

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The sad story of Mikhail Sholokhov "The Fate of a Man" takes to the quick. Written by the author in 1956, it reveals the naked truth about the atrocities of the Great Patriotic War and what Andrei Sokolov, a Soviet soldier, had to endure in German captivity. But first things first.

The main characters of the story:

Andrei Sokolov is a Soviet soldier who had to experience a lot of grief during the Great Patriotic War. But, despite the hardships, even captivity, where the hero suffered brutal abuse from the Nazis, he survived. A ray of light in the darkness of hopelessness, when the hero of the story lost his whole family in the war, the smile of an adopted orphan boy shone.

Andrey's wife Irina: a meek, calm woman, a real wife, loving her husband, who knew how to console and support in difficult times. When Andrei left for the front, she was in great despair. Died along with two children when a shell hit the house.

Meeting at the crossing

Mikhail Sholokhov conducts his work in the first person. It was the first post-war spring, and the narrator had to get to the Bukanovskaya station at all costs, which was sixty kilometers away. Having crossed with the driver of the car to the other side of the river called Epanka, he began to wait for the driver who had been away for two hours.

Suddenly attention was attracted by a man with a small boy moving towards the crossing. They stopped, said hello, and a casual conversation ensued, in which Andrei Sokolov - that was the name of a new acquaintance - told about his bitter life during the war years.

Andrey's difficult fate

What kind of torment a person endures in the terrible years of confrontation between peoples.

The Great Patriotic War crippled, wounded human bodies and souls, especially those who had to be in German captivity and drink the bitter cup of inhuman suffering. Andrey Sokolov was one of them.

The life of Andrei Sokolov before the Great Patriotic War

Fierce misfortunes befell the guy from his youth: parents and sister who died of starvation, loneliness, the war in the Red Army. But at that difficult time, a clever wife, meek, quiet and affectionate, became a joy for Andrei.

Yes, and life seemed to be getting better: work as a driver, good earnings, three smart children with excellent students (the eldest, Anatolia, was even written in the newspaper). And finally, a cozy two-room house, which they put up with the accumulated money just before the war ... It suddenly collapsed on Soviet soil and turned out to be much worse than the previous, civilian one. And the happiness of Andrei Sokolov, achieved with such difficulty, was shattered into small pieces.

We suggest that you familiarize yourself with, whose works are a reflection of the historical upheavals that the whole country was then experiencing.

Farewell to family

Andrei went to the front. His wife Irina and three children saw him off in tears. The wife was especially hurt: "My dear ... Andryusha ... we will not see each other ... we are with you ... more ... in this ... world."
“Until my death,” Andrei recalls, “I won’t forgive myself for pushing her away then.” He remembers everything, although he wants to forget: and the white lips of the desperate Irina, who whispered something when they got on the train; and the kids, who, no matter how hard they tried, could not smile through their tears ... And the train carried Andrei farther and farther, towards military everyday life and bad weather.

First years at the front

At the front, Andrei worked as a driver. Two light wounds could not be compared with what he had to endure later, when, seriously wounded, he was captured by the Nazis.

In captivity

What kind of bullying did not happen to endure from the Germans on the way: they beat them on the head with a rifle butt, and in front of Andrey they shot the wounded, and then they drove everyone to the church to spend the night. The protagonist would have suffered even more if a military doctor had not been among the prisoners, who offered his help and put his dislocated arm in place. There was immediate relief.

Betrayal Prevention

Among the prisoners was a man who conceived the next morning, when the question is raised whether there are commissars, Jews and communists among the prisoners, to hand over his platoon leader to the Germans. He was deeply afraid for his life. Andrei, having heard a conversation about this, was not at a loss and strangled the traitor. And later he did not regret it a bit.

The escape

Since the time of captivity, Andrey was more and more visited by the thought of escaping. And now a real opportunity presented itself to accomplish what was planned. The prisoners were digging graves for their own dead and, seeing that the guards were distracted, Andrei quietly fled. Unfortunately, the attempt turned out to be unsuccessful: after four days of searching, they returned him, let the dogs out, mocked him for a long time, put him in a punishment cell for a month, and finally sent him to Germany.

in a foreign land

To say that life in Germany was terrible is an understatement. Andrei, who was listed as a prisoner under number 331, was constantly beaten, fed very poorly, and forced to work hard at the Stone Quarry. And once, for reckless words about the Germans, uttered inadvertently in the barracks, they called to the Herr Lagerführer. However, Andrei was not afraid: he confirmed what was said earlier: “four cubic meters of production is a lot ...” They wanted to shoot him first, and they would have carried out the sentence, but, seeing the courage of a Russian soldier who was not afraid of death, the commandant respected him, changed his mind and let him go to a hut, even while supplying food.

Release from captivity

Working as a chauffeur for the Nazis (he drove a German major), Andrei Sokolov began to think about a second escape, which could be more successful than the previous one. And so it happened.
On the way in the direction of Trosnitsa, having changed into a German uniform, Andrei stopped the car with the major sleeping in the back seat and stunned the German. And then he turned to where the Russians are fighting.

Among their

Finally, being on the territory among the Soviet soldiers, Andrei was able to breathe calmly. He missed his native land so much that he clung to it and kissed it. At first, they did not recognize him, but then they realized that it was not the Fritz who got lost at all, but his own, dear, Voronezh resident escaped from captivity, and he also brought important documents with him. They fed him, bathed him in the bathhouse, gave him uniforms, but the colonel refused his request to take him to the rifle unit: it was necessary to receive medical treatment.

Terrible news

So Andrew ended up in the hospital. He was well fed, provided with care, and after the German captivity, life could have seemed almost good, if not for one "but". The soul of the soldier yearned for his wife and children, wrote a letter home, waited for news from them, but still no answer. And suddenly - terrible news from a neighbor, a carpenter, Ivan Timofeevich. He writes that neither Irina nor her younger daughter and son are alive. A heavy shell hit their hut ... And the elder Anatoly after that volunteered for the front. The heart sank from the burning pain. After being discharged from the hospital, Andrei decided to go himself to the place where his home once stood. The spectacle turned out to be so depressing - a deep funnel and waist-deep weeds - that the ex-husband and father of the family could not stay there for a minute. Asked to return to the division.

First joy, then sorrow

Amid the impenetrable darkness of despair, a ray of hope flashed - the eldest son of Andrei Sokolov - Anatoly - sent a letter from the front. It turns out that he graduated from the artillery school - and has already received the rank of captain, "commands the battery" forty-five, has six orders and medals ... "
How delighted the father was by this unexpected news! How many dreams awakened in him: his son would return from the front, he would marry and his grandfather would nurse the long-awaited grandchildren. Alas, this short-term happiness was shattered: on May 9, just on Victory Day, Anatoly was killed by a German sniper. And it was terrible, unbearably painful for my father to see him dead, in a coffin!

Sokolov's new son is a boy named Vanya

As if something broke inside Andrew. And he would not have lived at all, but simply existed, if he had not then adopted a little six-year-old boy, whose mother and father died in the war.
In Uryupinsk (because of the misfortunes that befell him, the protagonist of the story did not want to return to Voronezh), a childless couple took in Andrey. He worked as a driver on a truck, sometimes he carried bread. Several times, stopping by the teahouse for a bite, Sokolov saw a hungry orphan boy - and his heart became attached to the child. Decided to take it for myself. "Hey, Vanyushka! Get in the car, I'll drive it to the elevator, and from there we'll come back here and have lunch, ”Andrey called the baby.
- Do you know who I am? - he asked, having learned from the boy that he was an orphan.
- Who? Vanya asked.
- I am your father!
At that moment, such joy seized both the newly found son and Sokolov himself, such bright feelings that the former soldier understood: he did the right thing. And he can no longer live without Vanya. Since then, they have not parted - neither day nor night. Andrey's petrified heart became softer with the arrival of this mischievous kid in his life.
Only here in Uryupinsk did not have to stay long - another friend invited the hero to the Kashirsky district. So now they are walking with their son on Russian soil, because Andrei is not used to sitting in one place.

Time quickly pushes back into history important milestones in the life of countries and peoples. The last volleys have long since died down. Time ruthlessly takes the living witnesses of the heroic time into immortality. Books, films, memories return descendants to the past. The exciting work The Fate of Man, authored by Mikhail Sholokhov, takes us back to those difficult years.

In contact with

The title suggests 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;
• the son of the protagonist - Anatoly;
• wife Irina;
• daughters of the protagonist - Nastya and Olyushka.

Andrey Sokolov

Meeting with Andrey Sokolov

The first post-war war turned out to be “assertive”, the Upper Don quickly melted, the paths were lucky. It was at this time that the narrator had to get to the village of Bukanovskaya. On the way, they crossed the flooded river Elanka, sailed for an hour in a dilapidated boat. While waiting for the second flight, he met his father and son, a boy of 5-6 years old. The author noted a deep longing in the eyes of a man, they are as if sprinkled with ashes. The careless clothes of his father suggested that he lives without female care, but the boy was dressed warmly and neatly. Everything became clear when the narrator learned a sad story new acquaintance.

The life of the protagonist before the war

The hero of Voronezh himself. At first, everything in life was normal. Born in 1900, passed, fought in the Kikvidze division. He survived the famine of 1922, working for the Kuban kulaks, but his parents and sister died of starvation that year in the Voronezh province.

All alone was left. Having sold the hut, he left for Voronezh, where started a family. He married an orphan, for him there was no one more beautiful and desirable than his Irina. Children were born, a son Anatoly and two daughters, Nastenka and Olyushka.

He worked as a carpenter, a factory worker, a locksmith, but really "lured" the car. Ten years flew by in labor and worries imperceptibly. The wife bought two goats, the wife and hostess Irina was excellent. Children are well-fed, shod, pleased with excellent study. Andrei earned well, they saved up some money. They built a house near the aircraft factory, which the protagonist later regretted. In another place, the house could have survived the bombing, and life could have turned out quite differently. Everything that was created over the years collapsed in an instant - the war began.

War

They called Andrey with a summons on the second day, they saw off the whole family to the war. Saying goodbye was hard. Wife Irina seemed to feel that they would not see each other again, day and night her eyes did not dry up from tears.

The formation took place in Ukraine, near the White Church. Dali ZIS-5, on it and went to the front. 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 retreated on all fronts. Andrey condemned those "bitches in their pants who complain, seek sympathy, salivate, but they don’t want to understand that these unfortunate women and kids didn’t have a better time in the rear."

In May 1942, near Lozovenki, the main character fell into Nazi captivity. The day before, he volunteered to deliver shells to the gunners. The battery was less than a kilometer away when a long-range shell exploded near the car. He woke up, and the battle behind him was going on. It was not by choice that he was taken prisoner. German submachine gunners took off his boots, but did not shoot him, but drove Russian prisoners in a column to work in 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 - he helped the wounded soldiers. One of the prisoners asked to go out in need. Holy faith in God does not allow a Christian to desecrate the temple, the Germans slashed at the door with machine gun fire, injuring 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 heard a conversation from which he realized that the big-faced guy was planning to hand over the 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 event full of drama in the church shows the behavior of different people in inhuman circumstances.

Important! It is not easy for the protagonist to commit murder, but he sees salvation in the unity of people. In the story "The Fate of a Man" this episode is full of drama.

An unsuccessful escape from the Poznan camp, when graves for prisoners were being dug, almost cost Andrey Sokolov his life. When caught, beaten, poisoned by dogs, the skin with meat and clothes flew to shreds. They brought him to the camp naked, covered in blood. He spent a month in a punishment cell, miraculously survived. Two years of captivity traveled half of Germany: he worked at a silicate plant in Saxony, in a mine in the Ruhr region, in Bavaria, Thuringia. The prisoners were severely beaten and shot. Here they forgot their name, remembered the number, Sokolov was known as 331. They fed him half-and-half bread with sawdust, liquid soup from rutabaga. The list of inhuman tests in captivity does not end there.

Survive and endure Nazi captivity helped. The fortitude of the Russian soldier was appreciated by Lagerführer Müller. In the evening, in the barracks, Sokolov was indignant at the four cubic meters of production, bitterly joking at the same time that a cubic meter would be enough for the grave of each prisoner.

The next day, the commandant of the camp, Sokolov, was summoned by a denunciation of some scoundrel. The description of the duel between a Russian soldier and Muller is fascinating. Refusal to drink for the victory of German arms could cost Sokolov his life. Muller did not shoot, he said that he respects a worthy opponent. As a reward, he gave a loaf of bread and a piece of bacon, the captives divided the products with a harsh thread for everyone.

Sokolov did not leave the thought of escaping. He drove an engineer for the construction of defensive structures with the rank of major. In the front line managed to escape the captive driver, taking a stunned engineer with important documents. For this they promised to present to the award.

They sent him to the hospital for treatment, Andrey Sokolov immediately wrote a letter to Irina. Are relatives alive or not? I waited a long time for an answer from my wife, but received a letter from a neighbor, Ivan Timofeevich. During the bombing of the aircraft factory, nothing remained 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 left for the station and returned to the division. Soon his son found him, received a letter from Anatoly and dreamed of meeting. 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 the son of Andrei Sokolov lived to see the victory, but could not enjoy life in peacetime. The protagonist 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. Andrew remembered that friend invited to Uryupinsk. Came and began to work as a driver. Here fate brought two lonely people together. The boy Vanya is a gift of fate. A war-wounded man has hope for happiness.

Sholokhov's story ends with the fact that father and son go "in marching order" to Kashary, where a colleague will arrange his father in a carpentry artel, and then they will give out a driver's book. He lost his former document by an unfortunate accident. On a muddy road, the car skidded and he knocked the cow down. Everything worked out, the cow got up and went, but the book had to be laid out.

Important! Any true story or story about the fate of a person who miraculously survived in Nazi captivity is interesting. This story is special, it is about the Russian character unbroken by the war. The author with the utmost clarity expressed 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 for a short story to become 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 captivates. Mikhail Sholokhov heard the tragic story of a Russian soldier in 1946. Then ten long years of silence. The year of writing a short story "The Fate of a Man" is considered late 1956. The work was later 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, go about their business. In the central part, Andrey Sokolov opened his soul to a new acquaintance. He heard the hero's story about pre-war life, years at the front, return to civilian life.