Bunchuk and Anna love at war. Essay on Anna Pogudko in the novel The Quiet Don, image and characterization
The novel “Quiet Don” by Sholokhov is a monumental work of Russian literature of the twentieth century. The book depicts the life of the Don Cossacks during the First World War, the 1917 Revolution and the Russian Civil War. The events of the novel cover the period from May 1912 to March 1922.
Sholokhov wrote “Quiet Don” for 15 years: the first three volumes of the work were created and published in 1925-1932, the fourth in 1940. In the work, the author depicted a huge number of characters - 699, a quarter of which are genuine historical characters.
"Quiet Don" belongs to the literary movement of socialist realism. The work is one of the best examples of the embodiment of the genres of the epic novel and battle novel in Russian literature.
You can read an online summary of “The Quiet Don” chapter by chapter and part on our website.
Main characters
Grigory Melekhov- a hot-tempered, independent Cossack, the youngest son of Panteley Melekhov, the central character of the novel with a “beastly” look “in the slightly slanting slits of the bluish almonds of hot eyes.” In the image of Gregory, the author embodied the power of the national spirit; this is a composite image of the Don Cossacks of the early 20th century.
Petr Melekhov- eldest son of Panteley Melekhov (6 years older than Grigory). The man “resembled his mother: small, snub-nosed, with wild, wheat-colored hair, brown eyes.”
Panteley Prokofievich Melekhov- senior officer, son of Prokofy Melekhov and a captured Turkish woman, father of Peter and Gregory.
Stepan Astakhov- neighbor of the Melekhovs, Aksinya’s husband.
Aksinya Astakhova- Stepan’s wife, Gregory’s beloved.
Natalya Korshunova (Melekhova)- daughter of Miron Grigorievich Korshunov, official wife of Grigory.
Mitka Korshunov- son of Miron Grigorievich Korshunov, Natalya’s older brother.
Other characters
Vasilisa Ilyinichna Melekhova- wife of Panteley Melekhov, mother of Peter, Gregory and Dunyashka.
Dunyashka Melekhova- daughter of Vasilisa and Pantelei Melekhov, younger sister of Peter and Gregory.
Daria Melekhova- wife of Peter Melekhov.
Miron Grigorievich Korshunov- a rich Cossack, father of Natalya and Mitka.
Sergey Platonovich Mokhov- a wealthy merchant, owner of a mill and a store in the Tatar farm, was married twice.
Elizaveta and Vladimir Mokhov- Mokhov’s children from his first wife.
Nikolai Alekseevich Listnitsky- Cossack general, owner of the Yagodnoye estate, widower.
Evgeny Listnitsky- son of Nikolai Listnitsky, caring for Aksinya.
Shtokman Joseph Davydovich- a mechanic, a member of the RSDLP, was exiled to the Tatar farm to work.
Jack- resident of the Tatar farm, worker at the Mokhov mill, and then a soldier.
Mikhail Koshevoy- a poor Cossack, the same age as Gregory, was at first his friend, and then became his enemy.
Chrysanthos Tokin (Christonia)- Cossack of the Ataman Regiment.
Ilya Bunchuk- Bolshevik, Cossack from Novocherkassk, machine gunner.
Ivan Alekseevich Sinilin (Brech)- an old Cossack, served in the Ataman regiment.
Book one
Part one
Chapter 1
In the penultimate Turkish company, the Cossack Melekhov Prokofy returned to the Tatar farm with his Turkish wife, who gave birth to a boy, Pantelei. From them came the family of Melekhovs, nicknamed “Turks.”
When Panteley Melekhov grew up, he married his neighbor’s daughter, Cossack Vasilisa. Pantelei and Vasilisa had two sons - Petro and Grigory and a daughter Dunyashka.
Chapter 2
After fishing, on the way back, Panteley spoke with his son Grigory about Aksinya Astakhova, the wife of their neighbor Stepan Astakhov. There were rumors in the village that Gregory was courting a woman. The father threatened his son to “close down all the games from now on.”
Grigory and his friend Mitka Korshunov go to the merchant Mokhov to sell the caught carp. At the merchant's, Mitka meets Mokhov's daughter, Elizaveta.
Chapters 3-4
Despite his father's words, Grigory continues to care for Aksinya.
Stepan and Peter went to the Cossack camps in May, for regular training camps for those who were on preferential reserves.
Chapters 5-6
Peter and Stepan go to the camp meeting place - the Setrakova farm with other farmers. On the way, the men stopped to spend the night at the mound. Around the fire, Cossack Khristonya told a story about how he and his father once dug up a mound in search of treasure.
Chapter 7
Aksinya was married to Stepan at the age of 17. A year before the wedding, the girl was raped by her father. Having learned about what had happened, Aksinya's brothers and mother beat Aksinya's father to death.
After the wedding with Stepan, the entire household of the Astakhovs fell on the shoulders of the daughter-in-law. Stepan could not forgive the “insult” (the girl did not save her honor until marriage) and brutally beat his wife and went to see other women. A year and a half later, the mother-in-law died, and then, before reaching the age of a year, Aksinya’s first-born son also died.
Soon Grigory began to flirt with Aksinya and “with horror she saw that she was drawn to the black, affectionate guy.” The woman “was frightened by this new feeling that filled her whole.”
Chapter 8
The centurion Listnitsky showed off his horse, and he and Mitka argued about who would outrun whom. In front of everyone, Mitka overtook Listnitsky.
Chapters 9-10
The Melekhovs and Aksinya went out to mow the meadow. In the evening, when everyone was resting, Astakhova herself approached Grigory, and they spent the whole night together. Soon the whole village learned about what had happened. Panteley Prokofich personally went to Aksinya and forbade her to appear in their house, to which Aksinya said that she didn’t care: “My Grishka! My! My! I own it and will own it!..” Angry, Panteley went home and, having beaten his son, said that he would marry him tomorrow.
Chapters 11-13
Stepan is brought the news that Aksinya is cheating on him. The man thinks about revenge on his wife and Gregory, and begins to shun Peter (Gregory’s brother).
There was a week and a half left before the Cossacks arrived from the camps, but Aksinya and Grigory saw each other more and more often. In the village they were avoided and discussed.
Chapter 14
Stepan returned to the farm. The man did not speak to his wife at first, and then suddenly hit her on the head. The woman ran out of the house, but her husband caught up with her and began beating her in the middle of the street. Gregory and Petro saw Stepan. The Melekhovs attacked Astakhov and beat them until they were separated by Christonya, who happened to be nearby.
Chapter 15
The Melekhovs went to woo the wealthy Korshunovs in order to marry Grigory to their daughter Natalya. The Korshunovs did not immediately answer, saying that they would think about it.
Chapter 16
Stepan realized that he loved Aksinya very much only after he learned about his wife’s betrayal. The man beat the woman every night and could not forgive her for what happened.
Aksinya still loved Gregory and hoped that he would do something for the sake of their love. However, at the meeting, Gregory said that he wanted to end their relationship forever.
Chapter 17
Peter and Gregory went to mow. Peter in the conversation mentioned the relationship between Gregory and Aksinya. Gregory became enraged and hit his brother in the side with a pitchfork.
Chapter 18-19
The Korshunovs were one of the richest on the farm, so Panteley Prokofievich was afraid that Miron Grigorievich would refuse the matchmakers, wanting a wealthier husband for his daughter. However, Natalya fell in love with Gregory and they decided to arrange the wedding as a matter of urgency.
Chapter 20
Aksinya could not forget Gregory. The woman was thinking about how to “take Grishka away from the happy Natalya Korshunova, who has never seen the grief or joy of love.”
Chapters 21-22
Wedding of Natalia and Gregory. Grigory draws attention to the girl’s flaws in appearance, and the wedding rituals anger him.
Part two
Chapter 1
The author tells in short the history of the Mokhov family - their family descended from Nikishka Mokhov, who came from Voronezh, who was the grandfather of Sergei Mokhov. The grandfather lost all his property, so the man “started a business with a chipped ruble,” began trading in various agricultural goods, and built a mill. From his first wife he had two children - Lisa, who looked very much like his mother, and Vladimir. “In the evenings, the farm intelligentsia gathered at Sergei Platonovich’s place.”
Chapter 2
At the end of August, Mitka invited Lisa Mokhova to go fishing. While fishing, the guy and the girl, feeling mutual attraction, indulged in passion. Rumors about what had happened quickly spread throughout the village. Mitka decided to marry Lisa. Sergei Platonovich, having learned about Mitka’s intention, became very angry, refused the guy and set the dogs on him.
Chapter 3
Natalya was loved in the Melekhov family, but Grigory still could not forget Aksinya. The neighbors were still quarreling with Stepan and did not speak.
Chapters 4-5
Locksmith Joseph Shtokman settled in the farmstead. One day he manages to stop a fierce fight at the mill between the Cossacks and the Tavrichans, during which Mitka Korshunov beat Sergei Mokhov.
Grigory admitted to Natalya that he did not love her.
Chapter 6
A couple of weeks after the fight at the mill, an investigator and a police officer arrived at the farm. Joseph Shtokman was summoned for questioning. As it turned out, he had a previous conviction.
Chapter 7-8
Panteley Prokofievich returned home after dividing the brushwood. Vasilisa Ilyinichna complains of poor health and shares her suspicions with her husband that Natalya and Grigory have a breakdown in their relationship.
The men of the Melekhov family went out to work, and on the way they met Stepan, who was leading unharnessed oxen to the farm, leaving behind a broken sleigh, which was guarded by Aksinya. Grigory waited until everyone had left to be alone with the woman. Aksinya admitted that she “wouldn’t be able to live without him.”
Chapter 9
In the evenings, Cossacks and workers gathered at Shtokman's - Hristonya, Valet, Kotlyarov Ivan Alekseevich, Filka-Chebotar, Mishka Koshevoy. Shtokman read Nekrasov and “A Brief History of the Don Cossacks” aloud to them, and everyone discussed what they had read. Joseph “sharpened, like a worm, wood, simple concepts and skills, instilled disgust and hatred towards the existing system”
Chapter 10
Gregory and Mitka took the oath, becoming real Cossacks.
Returning home, Grigory learned that Natalya was about to leave him. The man replied that he would not hold the woman by force. Having gotten drunk, Grigory went to spend the night with Mikhail Koshevoy, and in the morning he met with Aksinya. The woman was ready to give up everything and start living with Gregory, but she could not tell him that she was pregnant.
Chapter 11
In the morning, Grigory went to Mokhov, where he met Listnitsky. Listnitsky took Grigory to work as a coachman, promising to arrange Aksinya as a “black cook.”
Chapters 12-13
One evening, Mishka Koshevoy’s sister came running to Aksinya and told the woman to quickly pack her things and quickly go to them. Stepan returned when his wife was no longer there. Finding a forgotten blouse, he furiously chopped it into pieces.
Natalya returned to her parents.
Chapter 14
Evgeny Listnitsky served in the Life Guards of the Ataman Regiment, but after an injury at the races he came to Yagodnoye to visit his father. From the first days of Aksinya’s appearance in Yagodnoye, Evgeniy began to show an active interest in her.
Chapters 15-16
One evening at Shtokman’s, on Holy Thursday, they started talking about how a war would soon begin “between Germany and France for the grape fields,” “the struggle of capitalist states for markets and colonies.” Shtokman said that their farm would also end up in a war zone.
“On the night of Easter,” when people gathered at the church, an excited Mitka drove up to the crowd, and, finding his father, said that “Natalya is dying!”
Chapter 17-19
Natalya, missing her husband greatly, decided to write a letter to Gregory secretly from her parents to find out if the man was going to return. In response, my husband sent a few words: “Live alone. Melekhov Grigory".
On the eve of Easter, Natalya, trying to control herself and not burst into tears, got ready and went to the church. On the way, she heard the guys say that Grigory left her because she “got mixed up with her father-in-law, the lame Pantelei.” Unable to bear it, Natalya went to the barn and “cut [herself] in the throat with a point.”
While hunting, Stepan, who came from nowhere, helps Grigory and old Listnitsky catch a seasoned wolf. Stepan promised Gregory that “sooner or later” he would kill him.
Chapter 20
Aksinya admitted to Grigory that she was pregnant, saying that it was his child. While mowing, Aksinya went into labor. Grigory, putting her on the cart, thought that he would have time to take her to the estate, but his wife gave birth on the cart.
Chapter 21
Aksinya gave birth to a girl. In December, Grigory was given a notice by the village administration that after Christmas he would need to report to the assembly station. Unexpectedly, Panteley Prokofievich arrived in Yagodnoye to accompany his son to Cossack service. The man didn’t even speak to Aksinya.
Gregory was assigned to an army regiment.
Part three
Chapter 1
Natalya survived the suicide attempt. Relatives began to treat the woman coldly, and Natalya began to live in her father-in-law's house. Wanting to reconcile Natalya and Grigory, Panteley asked his son in letters where he was going to live after the service. Gregory replied that he would return to Aksinya.
Dunyasha Melekhova grew up and began going to games. The girl tells Natalya about her relationship with Mishka Koshev.
Shtokman was arrested and taken away from the farm under escort - it turned out that Joseph was a member of the RSDLP (Russian Social Democratic Labor Party), and books that were prohibited by law were found in his possession.
Chapter 2
Gregory's regiment is located on the Radzivillovo estate. The Warlords mocked the Cossacks, but Gregory fought back as best he could. The entire platoon of Cossacks raped the maid Franya. Grigory tried to stop them, but they tied him up and threatened to kill him if he told anyone about what had happened.
Chapters 3-5
Military mobilization began in the village. “Four days later, red trains took the Cossacks with regiments and batteries to the Russian-Austrian border.”
Grigory learns that there will be war, his regiment moves to the border. During the battle at Verba station, Grigory killed an Austrian; during the battle the man experienced mixed feelings - “disgustingness and bewilderment crumpled his soul.”
Chapters 6-7
Cossacks of the second conscription on the way to the army (among them Petro and Stepan) spend the night on the Yeya farm, stopping with their grandfather, a participant in the Russian-Turkish war. The old man advised them: in order to get through the war and survive, it is important not to take what belongs to others, not to offend women, and to read prayers.
Mitka ended up in the 3rd Don Cossack Regiment named after Ermak Timofeevich.
Chapters 8-9
Stepan Astakhov was appointed head of the post. While examining the territory, the Cossack saw Germans approaching on horseback. During the battle with the enemy, Stepan killed an officer and the Germans, left without a commander, took flight.
The merits of Stepan and other Cossacks during the battle with the Germans went unnoticed - the award and all the glory went to Kryuchkov, the favorite of the commander of the hundred. “And it was like this: people collided on the field of death, who had not yet had time to break their hands in exterminating their own kind, in the animal horror that overwhelmed them, they stumbled, knocked down, dealt blind blows, mutilated themselves and their horses and fled, frightened by the shot that killed a person, they dispersed, morally crippled. They called it a feat."
Chapter 10
After his first battle, Gregory “hardly broke through the tedious internal pain,” remembering the constantly killed Austrian.
At the end of August, reinforcements arrived from the Don to Gregory’s regiment, which was located near Leszniow. Among those who arrived were many farmers and Petro. After talking with his brother, Grigory learned that Natalya lives in their house and misses her husband. On the way, the brothers met Stepan, who made it clear to Gregory that he had not forgiven him for the insult and would take revenge.
Chapter 11
Pages from a notebook - the diary of the Cossack Timofey, which Grigory found next to the murdered man. Timofey describes his affair with Elizaveta Mokhova. The girl insulted Timofey and demanded significant expenses from him. When Elizabeth left the man, he went to war.
Chapter 12
At the front, Grigory met the cruel, “blood-loving” Chubaty (Alexey Uryupin), who began to teach Melekhov the Baklanov sword strike, instructing him to be cruel to the enemy and people: “in battle, killing an enemy is a holy thing.”
Chapter 13
In one of the battles, Gregory killed a Hungarian officer, but then someone hit him in the head from behind, and the man lost consciousness.
Chapters 14-15
Evgeny Listnitsky, wanting to accomplish a feat in the name of the Russian monarchy, decided to transfer to a Cossack army regiment. He was assigned to headquarters in Bereznyaga. Evgeniy became friends with volunteer Ilya Bunchuk and helped him in his appointment to a machine-gun brigade.
Chapters 16-17
The Melekhovs receive news of the death of Grigory. The family grieved greatly for Gregory, and held a wake, inviting priest Vissarion. However, a letter soon arrived from Peter with the message that Gregory was in fact alive, awarded the Cross of St. George and appointed a junior constable.
Chapter 18
Natalya missed Gregory very much and hoped that upon his return from the war he would return to her. The woman, realizing that she is committing a stupid act, decides to go to Aksinya and ask her rival to return her husband to her.
While Peter was at war, Daria changed a lot. She went to games and accepted the advances of the young men remaining on the farm.
Chapter 19
Aksinya received infrequent letters from Gregory about how he was living in the war.
On Sunday Natalya came to Aksinya. Aksinya felt like a winner and spoke mockingly to Natalya, humiliating the woman. Natalya was especially struck by the fact that her rival’s daughter looked like Gregory. “Sobbing and rocking,” Natalya left.
Chapters 20-21
When Gregory woke up from his wound, he slowly walked east, picking up a wounded officer along the way. Soon the Cossacks noticed them and took them to the dressing point. For saving the life of officer Georgy, he was awarded the St. George Cross, 4th degree.
As soon as Melekhov returned to the regiment, machine-gun bombing from an airplane began. During the shelling, Grigory was wounded in the eye, and the front-line doctor sent the man for treatment to Moscow - to the eye hospital of Dr. Snegirev.
Chapter 22
During the shelling by the Austrians, centurion Listnitsky was wounded in the head and leg. The wounded Evgeniy was sent to a Warsaw hospital.
In Yagodnoye, Aksinya’s daughter fell ill with scarlet fever and soon died. Evgeniy came to the estate on vacation after treatment. The man again began to court Aksinya, and the woman, “burdened with despair,” could not refuse him.
Chapter 23
In Snegirev’s hospital, Grigory met the Ukrainian Andriy Garanzha, who quite harshly criticized the government, war and everything that he did not like. “With horror, Grigory realized that the smart and evil Ukrainian was gradually, steadily destroying all his previous concepts about the king, his homeland, about his Cossack military duty.”
At the end of October, Gregory was sent to a hospital in Tver to heal a wound on his head. When he, as a hero, was introduced to a “person of the imperial family” who had arrived at the hospital, the man deliberately behaved disrespectfully, for which he was deprived of food for three days and then sent home.
Chapter 24
Returning to Yagodnoye, Grigory learned from the Listnitsky groom, Sashka’s grandfather, about Aksinya’s betrayal with Evgeniy. Melekhov, pretending that he knew nothing, offered Evgeny a ride on a carriage and, moving away from the house, whipped his opponent with a whip and kicked him. Returning to the estate, Grigory hit Aksinya in the face with a whip and hurried away to his parents' house. The man stayed to live with Natalya.
Book two
Part four
Chapter 1
1916, October. Listnitsky, Bunchuk and other officers discuss the possibility of mutinies at the front. Bunchuk admits that he is a member of the RSDLP (Russian Social Democratic Labor Party) and speaks out about the inevitability of revolution,
which will lead to the establishment of a civilian dictatorship. Evgeniy hastened to inform the military leadership about this conversation, but that same night Bunchuk deserted.
Chapter 2
In the morning, Bolshevik leaflets appeared in the trenches with calls: “Workers of all countries, unite!.. Down with autocracy! Down with the imperialist war! Long live the indestructible unity of the working people of the whole world!” . The officers conducted a thorough search, trying to find the distributor among the Cossacks, but found nothing. At this time, Bunchuk contacts “his” people and they help him obtain false documents.
Chapter 3
With the headquarters of the 80th division, a Cossack hundred, consisting of third-rank fighters from the Tatar farm, also moved to the place of close combat. During a search of dugouts in one village, Valet encounters an Austrian soldier and lets him go, having learned that the enemy, like him, is a Social Democrat.
Chapter 4
While at home, Grigory, surrounded by the love of his family, still could not forget Aksinya. Returning to the front, Melekhov “seized an opportunity to show selfless courage, took risks, acted extravagantly.” “The heart became coarsened, hardened, like a salt marsh in a drought, and just as a salt marsh does not absorb water, so Gregory’s heart did not absorb pity. With cold contempt he played with someone else’s and his own life.” For his exploits, Gregory received four St. George's crosses and four medals.
During one of the enemy attacks, Gregory was again seriously wounded.
Melekhov became friends with Chubaty, who promoted the denial of war.
Chapters 5-6
It was difficult for Panteley to live without the help of his sons, but he managed the household as best he could. The old man’s joy was Natalya, who helped her father-in-laws with all her might, and soon gave birth to a boy and a girl from Gregory.
Daria continued to cheat on Peter, rumors reached her husband that the woman even went out with Stepan. Judging by the conversations, Astakhov died at the front, so Melekhov thought only about revenge on his wife - he wanted to knock out her eye. Unable to bear the rumors of people, Panteley flogged his daughter-in-law with a belt.
Chapter 7
Mokhov is given the news that the autocracy has been overthrown. Soon people in the village will learn about this. The Cossacks, excited by the news, come to Sergei Platonovich for advice on how to live now, to which the man replied: “They will compare you with the peasants, deprive you of privileges, and even remember old grievances. Hard times are coming." Mokhov thinks that he worked in vain all his life, making capital. The man worries about the children, although he understands that they are like strangers to him - the daughter in the letter has little interest in his life, but only asks her father for money.
Mokhov goes to Yagodnoye, Evgeny tells him that “the soldiers have turned into gangs of criminals, unbridled and wild.”
Chapters 8-9
The army announced the overthrow of Nicholas II. The Cossacks were forced to swear allegiance to the Provisional Government. People were tired of the war, everyone understood that if at least one goes on the run, then many will desert after him.
Daria came to the front to visit Peter. The man was so happy with his wife that he even forgot about his intention to take revenge.
Chapter 10
Evgeny Listnitsky was transferred to the 14th regiment, in which most of the Cossacks adhered to the ideas of restoring the dynasty.
Chapter 11
General Kornilov was appointed commander-in-chief of the Southwestern Front. Listnitsky is trying to convince the officers to support Kornilov - to begin holding political conversations among the Cossacks in order to get them out of Bolshevik influence.
Chapters 12-14
Listnitsky's plans did not bear fruit - the Cossacks did not want to support the monarchy.
Evgeniy meets with familiar officers in Petrograd. Listnitsky learns from them that Kornilov is going to seize power, establishing his dictatorship in Russia, and also turn the Cossacks into the main force of the counter-revolution.
The Bolsheviks are planning the arrest of Kornilov.
Chapter 15
The officers send echelons of Cossacks to reinforce Kornilov's forces. The ideas of Kerensky (the Minister-Chairman of the Provisional Government) are spreading among the Cossacks, but people do not like dual power; they believe that the authorities are “hanging a noose” on them.
Ivan Alekseevich Sinilin, an old Cossack, is firmly convinced that he will speak for the power that will come - for the Bolsheviks. The Cossack organizes a coup in his regiment and refuses to lead people to Petrograd to help Kornilov.
Chapters 16-17
Kornilov understands that the failure of his plans cannot be avoided, but asks for help from Kaledin (a figure in the White movement). At one of the stations, Bunchuk joins the Cossacks riding to help the commander-in-chief. A man talks about the situation in Petrograd, propagating to people the idea of the need to resist Kornilov’s power.
The next day a rally was held among the Cossacks. The officers tried to stop Bunchuk, but could not resist the Cossacks. When officer Kalmykov began to persuade the Cossacks to go to Petrograd to fight for Kornilov, Bunchuk shot him.
Chapter 18
The Provisional Government appointed General Alekseev to the post of Commander-in-Chief instead of Kornilov. Kornilov was soon arrested.
Chapter 19
Listnitsky is preparing Cossack troops to fight in support of Kornilov. After the order to prepare for battle, most of the Cossacks went over to the side of the “reds”.
Chapter 20
While in prison in Bykhovo, Kornilov learns about the October Revolution. At this time, Kornilov’s accomplice Kaledin was gathering forces on the Don, uniting the Terek, Kuban and Don troops. Since Kornilov was only guarded conditionally, at the right moment the prisoner freely left the place of detention.
Chapter 21
After the October Revolution, a large number of Cossacks deserted. Koshevoy, having caught three deserters, released them, realizing: “Well, it’s me... I’m against the war, but I’m holding people - what rights do I have?” .
Part five
Chapter 1
During the war, many Cossacks of the Tatar farm died, and Petro Melekhov returned among the survivors. He said that Gregory went over to the side of the Bolsheviks.
Chapter 2
Having become the commander of hundreds of Red Guards, Grigory meets the Cossack Izvarin, who preached the idea of autonomy for the Cossacks - an independent Don state led by the Cossack Circle. Izvarin believed that after the victory of the revolution, the Bolsheviks would seize the Cossack possessions.
In November 1917, Gregory met the commander of the revolutionary Cossacks, Fyodor Podtelkov, who promoted the idea that the Cossacks needed people's power.
Chapter 3
Russian generals and soldiers who fled the Bolshevik revolution came to Novocherkassk. Control over the situation in the city fell on Kaledin's shoulders.
Chapters 4-5
Bunchuk travels to Rostov, where the party leadership gives him the task of organizing a machine gun team. 16 people were assigned to the man as disciples, among whom was a young woman, Jewish Anna Pogudko. While teaching people how to use a machine gun, the man paid special attention to Anna, gradually falling in love with the woman.
Chapter 6
At the end of November, the White Guards began their offensive against Rostov; machine gunners were to meet them first. Bunchuk's team managed to provide cover for the counterattack.
Chapter 7
The fighting continued for 6 days with varying success. It was hard for Anna to kill people, and Bunchuk tried to support the woman whenever possible.
Bunchuk fell ill with typhus and was getting worse.
Chapters 8-9
The Bolsheviks decided to hold a Cossack congress in the village of Kamenskaya in order to win over the Cossacks to their side. Ivan Alekseevich and Khristonya invited people from their farm, Pyotr Melekhov and Mitka Korshunov immediately refused.
After the congress, power in the village was transferred to the Military Revolutionary Committee (Military Revolutionary Committee), of which Podtelkov was elected chairman, and Krivoshlykov as secretary. The Military Revolutionary Committee sent a delegation to Novocherkassk.
Chapters 10-11
In Novocherkassk, the delegation of the Military Revolutionary Committee was met with very hostility and was taken under escort to the regional government hall, where Kaledin himself arrived. After a lengthy discussion about the transfer of power to the Military Revolutionary Committee, the Don White government refused to comply with the committee’s demands.
At this time, White Guard troops under the command of Chernetsov captured the village of Kamenskaya, displacing the Red Guards.
Chapter 12
While in Kamenskaya Stanitsa, Grigory learns that Evgeny Listnitsky is also staying here. Melekhov understands that his feelings for Aksinya have not disappeared, and therefore cannot forgive his opponent.
Gregory and the Red Guards depart from Kamenka to Glubokaya. In the morning, the White Guards entered Glubokaya, the Cossacks began to scatter randomly. However, thanks to the active resistance of the “Reds”, among whom were Grigory Melekhov and the machine gunner Anna, the Bolsheviks won. The battle ended with the bloody massacre of the captured White Guards by the Reds on the orders of Podtelkov, this greatly shocked Grigory.
Chapter 13
During the battle near Glubokaya, Grigory was wounded in the leg. He spent a week in the infirmary, and then his father took him home. Panteley was dissatisfied with his son, since he went over to the side of the Bolsheviks. Grigory tried to defend his innocence, but deep down he was tormented by doubts - the man could not forgive the Red Army soldiers for reprisals against prisoners.
Gregory was welcomed home by the whole family. The Cossack noticed that Natasha “bloomed and became prettier,” and for the first time he held grown-up children in his arms.
Chapters 14-15
The Red Guard strengthened its position after the workers' uprising in Taganrog. Kaledin, having learned that the Volunteer Army had retreated to the Kuban, transferred power to the city duma, resigned and shot himself.
Chapters 16-17
Bunchuk, suffering from typhus, was unconscious for three weeks; he was transported to Tsaritsyn. Anna was with the man all the time. When Bunchuk recovered a little, they moved to Voronezh, where they had to separate. Anna was sent to conduct propaganda work in Lugansk, and Bunchuk was to serve on the Southern Front.
Chapter 18
In the south, power passed into the hands of General Nazarov. Mobilization was announced, which the Cossacks refused to obey. Thanks to active Bolshevik agitation, some Cossack regiments went over to the enemy.
On February 9, Captain Chernov’s detachment entered Rostov. Evgeny Listnitsky was also in one of his regiments. He missed Yagodny very much and remembered his father and Aksinya.
Chapter 19
Bunchuk with the Red Guards is at the Krivlyanskaya station. The Bolsheviks arrest the head of the Cossack Circle, Nazarov.
Bunchuk is transferred to Sivers' headquarters in Rostov, where he meets Anna. The woman invites him to live with her, since her relatives live in the city.
Chapter 20
In March, Bunchuk was transferred to serve in the Revolutionary Tribunal. The man had to command the execution of “enemies of the revolution” every night. This greatly exhausted Bunchuk, and Anna tried to persuade him to leave his position, but the man assured her: “I am strong... Don’t think that there are people made of iron. We are all made of the same material... There are no people in life who are not afraid in war, and no one who, while killing people, would not wear... would not be morally scarred.” Soon, murders and robberies began in the city, and Bunchuk, at his own request, was returned to the Revolutionary Committee.
Chapter 21
A detachment of Red Guards stopped in the Setrakov farm. After getting drunk, the Bolsheviks began to commit outrages. Hastily gathering an army, the Cossacks defeated the rowdy “Reds”.
At the end of April, unrest began in the upper villages of the Donetsk district - the villages broke away, forming the Verkhnedonsky district, led by General Alferov.
Chapters 22-23
Some of the Bolsheviks (including Koshevoy and Valet), having learned about the ongoing defeats of the “Reds”, decided to leave the Tatar farm. Grigory, Khristonya and Ivan Alekseevich stayed - each had their own reasons.
In connection with the “Reds” raids on the Setrakovskaya village, a Cossack meeting was held on the Maidan. To protect the Cossack farms in the village, they decided to form a detachment of front-line soldiers, restoring Cossack self-government. People chose Miron Korshunov as ataman, and Pyotr Melekhov as commander of the detachment. Cossacks enlist in the regiment, thinking that there will be no war.
Chapters 24-25
The Red Army was retreating from Rostov. Bunchuk and Anna were waiting for the Cossacks on the outskirts of one of the villages. Seeing the approaching enemy, the woman led the soldiers behind her, despite the fact that Bunchuk tried to stop her. During the shelling of the Cossacks, Anna receives a fatal bullet and dies in the arms of Bunchuk.
Chapter 26
For Bunchuk, Anna’s death became a tragedy - “he lived as if in typhoid delirium,” “his feelings temporarily atrophied: he didn’t want anything, didn’t think about anything.”
In the south, under the pressure of the German occupiers, the “Reds” had to retreat through the Don region.
Chapter 27
The closer the Red Guards moved to the Don stations, the more hostile and wary the local population greeted them. The soldiers noticed the Cossack patrol and began to prepare for the attack.
Chapters 28-29
The surrounded Red Guards under the command of Podtelkov had to surrender. The soldiers were disarmed and locked in a barn in the neighboring village of Ponomarev. The Cossacks decided to execute the prisoners.
Chapter 30
In the morning, a detachment of Pyotr Melekhov arrived at the farm. Peter is offered to select shooters for execution. Melekhov refuses, but Mitka Korshunov himself volunteers to participate in the execution.
During the execution, Grigory, squeezing through the crowd, finds himself near Podtelkov. The words of the “Red” commander: “What, are you shooting your brothers? Turned around?.. What are you like... Do you serve both ours and yours? Who will give more? touched Melekhov to the quick. The man recalled to Podtelkov how he himself ordered the execution of prisoners.
Podtelkov was the last to be executed. Before the hanging, the commander said that “Soviet power will be established throughout Russia.” The man could not be hanged right away - his feet reached the ground, so he had to be hanged twice.
Chapter 31
Valet and Mishka Koshevoy left the village of Karginskaya, but the Cossacks caught them near the Nizhne-Yablonovsky farm. Valet was killed on the spot, and Koshevoy, since he was a Cossack, was publicly flogged with rods, but left alive. The next day they “sent Mishka to the front.” Two days later, Valet was buried. “Soon an old man came from a nearby farm, dug a hole at the head of the grave, and erected a chapel on a freshly planed oak abutment. Under its triangular canopy, the mournful face of the Mother of God glowed in the darkness.”
Book three
Part six
Chapter 1
“In April 1918, the great division on the Don ended”: most of the Cossacks from the northern district went over to the side of the Red Army, the “Nizovtsy” “drove them and pushed them to the borders of the region.” At the end of April, the Don was completely liberated from the Red Army, the Cossacks decided to re-create the Circle. The delegates from the Tatar Farm were Panteley Melekhov and Bogatyrev.
The Upper Don Cossacks were expecting a German attack. Soon the enemy appeared - first the Germans met Miron Korshunov (they tried to take the horses from the Cossack, but he fought back), and then Panteley Melekhov. The German gave Pantelei instructions on how to choose power: “remember that you need reasonable power. Choose a president, a tsar, or anyone, only on the condition that this person is not devoid of state intelligence and is able to pursue a policy that is loyal to our state.”
General Krasnov was elected ataman.
Chapters 2-3
The Germans began to behave like masters on the Don - “red trains of wagons rolled from the Don through Ukraine, taking wheat flour, eggs, butter, and bulls to Germany.” “And on the border with Ukraine, young Cossacks fought with the Petliurists.”
The Cossack hundred under the command of Pyotr Melekhov was included in the 22nd regiment and, by order of the superiors, the Cossacks advanced behind the retreating Reds. On the way, Peter talked to Gregory about whether, if something happened, he would go over to the side of the communists. The younger brother replied that he was not sure. Peter replied: “Look how the people have been divided, you bastards! It was as if we were driving with a plow: one - in one direction, the other - in the other, as if under a ploughshare. Damn life, and terrible times!” .
Koshevoy returned to Veshenskaya and became an “atarschik” (groom).
Chapter 4
An opposition appeared on the Don under the leadership of General Denikin, who did not like the actions of Krasnov, who allowed the Germans to enter the Don.
A “white” Eastern Front begins to form in Russia, aimed at defeating the Bolsheviks and Germans.
Chapter 5
During the retreat of the Kornilovites from Rostov to the Kuban, Yevgeny Listnitsky, who was among the White Guards, was wounded twice. To improve his health, the man stayed with Gorchakov’s friend in Novocherkassk and fell in love with Gorchakov’s wife, Olga Nikolaevna.
Listnitsky and Gorchakov go to the front. Evgeny's friend receives a mortal wound and asks Listnitsky not to leave Olga alone, to marry her. In the next battle, Evgenia’s arm was crushed by a shell and then had to be amputated. Listnitsky understands that the time has come to leave military service. Olga herself comes to Evgeniy in the hospital. Soon they got married and went to live in Yagodnoye.
Chapter 6
Koshevoy was sent on a business trip to the capital for his excellent service. On the way, Mishka met Stepan Astakhov, who had changed beyond recognition, and who was considered dead in the farmstead. Stepan said that after being wounded he ended up with the Germans, was cured and settled in a foreign country, but then he began to miss his homeland and decided to return.
Chapter 7
Returning to the Tatar farm, Stepan stayed with his wife Anikushka. Astakhov learns about Aksinya’s life and persuades her to return home. The woman at first refuses, but having received payment from the Listnitskys, she herself comes to Stepan.
Chapters 8-9
Grigory leads his hundred beyond the Don. After the battles, the Cossacks robbed and looted. Gregory forbade stealing from the vanquished. The authorities found out about this and, suspecting Melekhov to be an accomplice of the Bolsheviks, deprived the man of hundreds, appointing him as a platoon commander.
Panteley and Daria come to Grigory’s regiment. As it turned out, they had already visited Peter, where they received a decent share of the stolen goods and expected the same “gifts” from their youngest son. Having learned about this, Gregory became angry and quarreled with his father. Panteley was very upset when he learned that his son had been demoted to platoon commander.
Chapter 10
The Cossacks begin to retreat. Gregory voluntarily leaves the regiment and goes home.
Chapters 11-12
Tension in the Cossack units grew: people began to become increasingly hostile towards each other. Pyotr Melekhov understands that if he does not “ingratiate himself” into the trust of ordinary Cossacks, he may be shot like other officers.
Red agitators freely penetrated the Cossack environment, but their propaganda remained incomprehensible to many Cossacks. Unable to bear the tension, Petro went home to the farm.
Chapter 13
Returning home, Peter told his family about the critical situation on the Northern Front and the inevitability of the Cossacks’ retreat. After discussing their situation, the Melekhovs decide to stay in Tatarskoye.
Chapter 14
General Krasnov loses his position, and then the respect of the Cossacks.
Chapters 15-16
Red Army soldiers entered the farm, five of them stayed with the Melekhovs for the night. One of the guests behaved unworthily - he shot the owners’ dog, and then quarreled with Grigory. The Red commissar took the soldier away, promising to try him for “behavior unworthy of a Red Army soldier.” In the morning, the commander apologized to the Melekhovs for the soldiers and paid for the stay.
Chapter 17
The Red Army regiments continued to march through the farmstead. To prevent the Bolsheviks from taking the horses away, Panteley deliberately injured their legs. Once the Reds organized a party at Anikushka’s place and invited the Cossacks. Having recognized Gregory as a white officer, the Reds decided to shoot him, but the man was warned in time, and he fled across the Don.
Chapter 18
Bolshevik rule was established in the Tatar farm. Ivan Alekseevich was elected Red Ataman, and Koshevoy was elected his deputy. The Cossacks were forced to surrender their weapons.
Chapter 19
Rumors appeared that Red tribunals were traveling around the Don region, committing brutal reprisals against the Cossacks. The Melekhovs surrendered their weapons, but Panteley still hid rifles and a machine gun.
Panteley falls ill with typhus.
Chapters 20-21
Returning to the farm, Grigory went to see Ivan Alekseevich. The men begin to argue about the meaning of Bolshevik power. Grigory believes that this government is bad, because the communists have not yet given anything to the Cossacks, but they have deprived many of their lives; he does not believe in possible equality. Melekhov could not be convinced, and Ivan Alekseevich and Koshevoy became very angry with the Cossack.
Chapter 22
Security officers arrived in the Tatar farm and began to carry out reprisals against the “enemies of the revolution” - to shoot the Cossacks.
Chapter 23
The Reds shot Miron Korshunov. Peter, at Lukinichny’s request, found Miron’s body at night with another Cossack and took him to the Korshunovs for farewell.
Chapter 24
Management of the Revolutionary Committee passed into the hands of Shtokman. On May 4, Ivan Alekseevich gathered Cossacks on the Maidan to talk about the Bolshevik government - the farmers believed that the people were executed in vain, they were sure that the communists wanted to destroy them. Shtokman read out a list with the names of “enemies of the revolution,” including the Melekhovs.
Chapter 25
Upon learning of Grigory's return, Shtokman ordered the arrest of the man and a search of the Melekhovs to find hidden weapons. Gregory was not at home. Shtokman and Koshev tried to find Melekhov in Singin, but to no avail.
Chapter 26
Pantelei, who had recovered from typhus, was arrested by the communists. Peter told Gregory about what had happened, advising his brother to go to the Fish Farm to visit his relatives, promising to tell everyone that Gregory was with his aunt in Singin.
Chapter 27
Cossack uprisings break out in the villages. Koshevoy, frightened by the unrest, leaves Veshenskaya for the Tatar farm. However, on the way, Antip Brekhovich saw Mishka, severely wounded him with a pitchfork and left him to die. Having woken up, Koshevoy hid with Astakhov, and the next day, on the advice of his mother, he left the farm.
Chapter 28
Having learned about the Cossack uprising, Grigory returns to the farm to scout out the situation. The man firmly decided to fight for the Cossacks: “People have always fought for a piece of bread, for a plot of land, for the right to life and will continue to fight as long as the sun shines on them, while warm blood oozes through their veins.”
Chapter 29
Koshevoy reached the Big Farm, which was still under Bolshevik rule. Mishka was detained, but Shtokman, who was in the farmstead, explained to the Reds that he belonged to them.
Chapters 30-31
Two hundred Cossacks formed in Tatarskoe. Peter was appointed commander of the cavalry hundred. Grigory led some of the Cossacks on reconnaissance, and during one of the skirmishes with the Bolsheviks, the rebels captured the Red Army commander Likhachev. Likhachev did not want to agree to the rebels’ conditions and was killed.
Chapter 32
Cossack uprisings spread throughout the Don, battles were fought almost near Tatarskoe itself.
Chapters 33-34
In one of the battles, the Reds made their way to the rear of the rebels. Peter's Cossacks hid from the enemies in a ditch. Koshevoy promised to release the rebels if they surrender. However, when the rebels came out of hiding, Koshevoy shot Peter, and the rest were hacked to pieces by the Reds with sabers.
Chapter 35
Gregory was appointed commander of the Veshensky regiment. At the beginning of March, Melekhov led the people on the offensive and the Reds gave up their positions. The rebel regiment expanded. Grigory avenged his brother, brutally dealing with captured Red Guards.
Chapters 36-37
Grigory received instructions from headquarters not to kill the prisoners, but to send them for interrogation. However, Melekhov ignored the recommendations, believing that he knew better how to act. Gregory led people into the attack himself, many times proving his military skill in practice. Gradually, Melekhov began to get tired of being responsible for the Cossacks, and pity for the prisoners suddenly awoke in him.
Chapter 38
By order of Kudinov, Grigory comes to Veshenskaya. After a military council with Kudinov, Grigory understands that the supposedly free rebels are led by the same white generals: “The learned people have confused us... The Lord has been confused! They have hobbled life and carry out their affairs with our hands. Even if it’s a trifle, you can’t trust anyone...”
Chapters 39-40
End of March. A balance of power was established at the front, which suspended hostilities for a couple of months. “After escaping from Tatarskoye, Shtokman, Koshevoy, Ivan Alekseevich joined the 4th Zaamursky Regiment,” and then through Ust-Khoperskaya they headed with other Reds to the Krutovsky farm.
Chapters 41-42
The village of Karginskaya is a stronghold of the rebels, defended under the leadership of Gregory. According to Melekhov's plan, the Cossacks managed to defeat the Reds.
The rebels had a lot of vodka in their reserves, so the days of the Cossacks were spent in constant revelry, relaxing the army. Gregory begins to be tormented by unkind thoughts, he felt satiated with life, and wanted to die. He also starts drinking and visiting women. Once during a drinking session, the Cossack Medvedev invited Grigory to take Kudinov’s place, but Melekhov refused.
Chapter 43
The Cossacks were exhausted by the war, fearlessly went into battle, and mocked the prisoners. Kudinov conducted propaganda among the rebels that they needed to forget about the approaching spring work in the fields and continue to fight.
Chapter 44
Melekhov almost lost the battle of Klimovka: he turned the Cossacks in time and attacked the red machine gunners. However, after the battle, Gregory lost his nerves and “for the first time in his life he suffered a severe fit,” and the Cossacks had to tie him up.
Chapter 45
Grigory arrived in Veshenskaya, where the Cossacks told him that the new rebel government was bullying people more than the communists. The Cossacks even imprison women and old people for being related to those who sided with the communists. Angry, Gregory released all the prisoners from prison.
Chapter 46
The Cossacks began to desert, leave the front, as the sowing season began. Grigory came to the farm to sow his land and his mother-in-law’s land. During Melekhov’s conversation with grandfather Grishaka, the old man reads the Bible to the man, claiming that the Cossacks themselves do not understand why they are fighting, because “all power is from God,” so there is no need to resist it.
Natalya reproaches her husband about drunkenness and wild life at the front; the woman was especially angered by Daria’s comic advances towards Gregory. Husband and wife are quarreling.
Chapter 47
The former Red Commissar Voronovsky (now an officer in the tsarist army, commander of the Serdobsky regiment, which includes Shtokman, Koshevoy and Ivan Alekseevich) goes over to the side of the Cossacks. Kudinov receives the regiment, instructing the Serdob soldiers to hand over the communists, and then send the prisoners to Veshenskoye, where the locals will commit lynching against them. In case of disorder, the soldiers who trusted were ordered to be killed.
Chapter 48
“On April 12, the 1st Moscow Regiment was brutally battered in a battle with the rebels near the Antoyov farm of the Elan village. Not knowing the area well, the Red Army chains fought into the village.” During the battle, Ivan Alekseevich was wounded in the leg.
Shtokman notices that the people of Serdob do not want to fight the Cossacks and, suspecting that Voronovsky is agitating fighters against the communists, sends Koshevoy with a report to the political department.
Chapter 49
In the morning, Serdob residents held a rally. When Shtokman began to call on people to fight the whites, he was shot. Ivan Alekseevich and other communists were arrested.
Chapter 50
Grigory did not stay long on the farm - five days later he was informed about the uprising of the Serdobsky regiment. Melekhov was going to go to his Cossacks in Karginskaya, but near the river he met Aksinya. The man decides to postpone leaving. Panteley, who saw them, was very angry, but could no longer reproach his son for anything, because now Gregory was a general.
In the evening, Aksinya, having bribed Daria with a ring, asked the woman to call Gregory to her. At night Melekhov came to Astakhova.
Chapter 51
Returning home the next day, Grigory lied to Natalya that he had communicated with Kudinov at night.
Melekhov left the farm. In Karginskaya, Grigory is given command of the 1st division. Melekhov receives a letter from Kudinov, with the message that the Serdobsky regiment has gone over to the side of the Cossacks, and the communists have also been captured. Grigory decides to free Koshevoy and Ivan Alekseevich in order to find out who killed Peter.
Chapters 52-53
Bogatyrev flies to the Singin farm on an airplane with the news that soon the Don Army, having broken through the front, will join the Cossacks.
Chapter 54
The Red prisoners, who were handed over by Serdob soldiers, were taken under escort for trial to Veshenskaya. Among them was Ivan Alekseevich. On the way, the prisoners were brutally beaten by angry villagers.
Chapter 55
The high command of the rebel forces decided to ask for help from the Don government. The authorities agreed to cooperate and began sending people and weapons.
Chapter 56
The beaten captured Red Guards were brought to Tatarsky, where they were surrounded by farmers. Seeing Ivan Alekseevich among the communists, Daria, avenging her husband, shot the man with a rifle. Grigory was late for the reprisal. Having learned about the death of Ivan Alekseevich, and also that Koshevoy and Shtokman were not among the prisoners, Melekhov went to the front.
Chapters 57-58
In May, the Reds began an active offensive against the rebels. Gregory was summoned to Veshenskaya for a meeting. Kudinov ordered Melekhov to break through the front on his own. Grigory wrote a letter to Aksinya asking her to go with him.
Chapter 59
“On May 22, the retreat of the rebel troops began along the entire right bank. The units retreated in battle, stopping at each line. The population of the farmsteads of the steppe strip rushed to the Don in panic.”
Chapter 60
Farmer Prokhor Zykov gives Aksinya a note from Grigory. The Cossacks report that the Reds are occupying farmsteads and burning the huts of the rich.
Chapter 61
Having learned that military units and refugees had been transported, Melekhov ordered the army to retreat. Having crossed with his Cossacks to the other bank, Gregory gave the order to build fortifications and take positions.
Chapter 62
After the crossing, Aksinya settled in Veshenskaya with her aunt. On the instructions of Grigory, Prokhor Zykov found the woman and brought her to Melekhov. “They lived for two days as if in a dream, confusing days and nights, forgetting about their surroundings.”
Chapter 63
Grigory visits his relatives in Tatarskoye. Panteley told his son that Natalya fell ill with typhus, so she and Ilyinichna did not move with other farmers. The elder Melekhov was angry with his son: Grigory, instead of taking care of his children and wife, was back with Aksinya.
Chapter 64
Kudinov informs Melekhov that the White Guards have sent ammunition and are already on their way to help the rebels.
Chapter 65
Koshevoy, in the ranks of the 33rd Kuban Division, followed the retreating Cossacks of Melekhov. Once in Tatarskoye, Mishka found no one at home. Koshevoy goes to the Korshunovs, but meets only grandfather Grishaka there. The old man began to scold Mishka for going over to the communists. Angry, Mishka shot the old man and burned him along with the hut.
Having met Ilyinichna, Koshevoy said that he would woo Dunyashka, and if the girl was given away to someone else, he would take revenge. Mishka burned several more huts and went to the front again.
Book Four
Part seven
Chapter 1
After the Verkhnedonsky uprising, the Reds liberated the Southern Front, which allowed the command of the Don Army to regroup its forces and create a “powerful strike group of regiments” near Kamenskaya and Ust-Belocalitvenskaya villages.
The Cossacks from the Tatar Hundred lived quietly. Only Stepan was worried - “whether he learned from the farm Cossacks or his heart told him that Aksinya was meeting with Gregory in Veshenskaya.” At Astakhov’s request, Aksinya came to the hundred, but they were awkward together, so the woman left a day later.
Chapter 2
At night, near the village of Maly Gromchonok, the Reds crossed the Don and attacked the heavily drunk Cossacks. The pressure of the Bolsheviks was restrained only by the fact that they did not know the area and it was dark. Melekhov, seeing that the Cossacks were scattering, began to return the people with a handful of those remaining, he managed to restore the front and defeat the Reds.
Chapter 3
The Red prisoners were first kept in the stables, and then taken under escort to the village for execution. Only one Bolshevik managed to escape - the man pretended to be crazy, and the Cossacks left him with the old woman. The woman noticed the soldier’s deception and released him to her own people in the morning.
Chapter 4
Gradually Natalya recovered from typhus. The Red Army soldiers, pursued by the Cossacks, quickly left the farmstead. Soon the rebels began to return to Tatarsky, and Panteley Prokofievich also arrived.
Chapter 5
On June 10, the cavalry of the Don Army “broke through the front near the village of Ust-Belocalitvenskaya and moved towards the village of Kazanskaya.” Near the Don, the Cossacks met with the 9th Don Regiment and at first were delighted with the allies. However, having fallen under the command of white officers who directed them at their own discretion, the rebels were disappointed: “And horseradish is not sweeter!” .
Chapter 6
Grigory arrives in the dilapidated, plundered Yagodnoye. From the cook Lukerya, who is hiding in the estate, Melekhov learns about the death of the groom Sashka and buries the old man near his daughter’s grave.
Chapter 7
General Sekretarev and white officers arrived in Veshenskaya. They were greeted with a magnificent banquet. Having gotten drunk, the whites began to reproach the Cossacks for disobedience; Kudinov vowed to serve the white army forever. Grigory, listening to this, understood that soon the whites would begin to “step on the throats of the Cossacks,” “[the Cossacks] had lost the habit of trumping and reaching out to their nobility.”
After leaving the banquet, Melekhov went to see Aksinya, whose guest was Stepan. Astakhov invited Grigory to sit down, and the three of them silently drank moonshine: “there was dead silence in the upper room.”
Chapter 8
Prokhor comes to the Astakhovs for Grigory - Sekretov urgently wants to see the Cossack. However, Melekhov first visits his relatives.
Grigory strictly forbade Dunyashka to communicate with Koshev, who killed Peter. Melekhov, having said goodbye to his wife and children, “tormented by vague forebodings, oppressive anxiety and melancholy,” left the farm.
Chapters 9-10
Melekhov is summoned to General Fitzhelaur. On the way to headquarters, Grigory, in a conversation with Kopylov, says that the white officers are too arrogant, which causes hostility among the Cossacks. Kopylov believes that the attitude of the whites towards the rebels is fair, while Grigory’s views are very similar to the Bolsheviks. “Half-jokingly, half-seriously,” Melekhov replies that when he goes to the Reds, they will value him more.
Fitzhelaur informed the Cossacks that their army was joining the Don Army. The general tried to impose his tactics on Melekhov, the men quarreled. Grigory, reserving the right to obey only Kudinov, left.
Chapter 11
Contrary to Fitzhelaur's orders, Melekhov refused to lead men against the Red Army holding Ust-Medveditskaya. Gregory did not like the policy of the Whites, and the war with the Reds itself, in his opinion, lost its meaning. However, he did not intend to go over to the side of the Bolsheviks.
Chapter 12
Korshunov, serving in a punitive detachment, arrives in Tatarsky. For cruelty and personal execution of Red Army soldiers and deserters, Mitka was appointed an officer. Seeing that his home had burned down, Korshunov went to see the matchmaker, but after staying for a short time, he went to the farm. “Mitka and his companions had not yet had time to return to the Melekhovs, and rumors began to spread throughout the farmstead: “Korshunov arrived with the Kalmyks, Koshevoy’s entire family was slaughtered!” " Having learned about what had happened, Panteley did not let Mitka in again.
The White command arrived in Tatarsky. Pantelei was assigned to bring bread and salt to the officers. Sidorin awarded the farmers who distinguished themselves in the fight against the Bolsheviks: he gave Daria a medal on a St. George’s ribbon for the murder of a Red Army soldier and money for the death of her husband.
Chapter 13
Life in the Melekhov family has changed. Panteley ceased to be the sovereign master, and relations between relatives deteriorated. Melekhov understood that the main reason for what was happening was war. Daria categorically refused to share the money she received for her husband.
Once, after another night of adventures, Daria admitted to Natalya that she had fallen ill with a “bad disease” - syphilis. A woman, afraid of people's rumors, decides to commit suicide.
Chapter 14
Angry at life, Daria decided that she should not suffer alone and told Natalya how she summoned Grigory to Aksinya. Natalya was upset, but understood Daria's motives.
Chapter 15
The Don army confidently pursues the Reds. Thanks to Melekhov’s competent command, it was possible to capture many Reds and recapture machine guns and ammunition wagons.
Grigory is appointed commander of hundreds, despite the fact that the man wanted to transfer to service in the rear. Soon Melekhov receives news that an accident has occurred at home and he is leaving on vacation.
Chapter 16
After the conversation with Daria, Natalya “lived, experiencing a feeling that happens in a dream, when a bad dream weighs heavily and there is no strength to wake up.” The woman goes to Prokhor’s wife to find out about the relationship between Grigory and Aksinya, but without finding out anything, she goes to Astakhova herself. Aksinya confirmed that she had again “taken possession of Gregory” and now she would definitely try “not to let him out of her hands.”
The next day, Natalya told Ilyinichna that Grigory was again with Aksinya, and also that she was pregnant by her husband, but wanted to get rid of this child. That same day, Natalya went to the farm midwife and returned late in the evening, bleeding. The paramedic brought by Panteley said that the woman could not be saved, since her female organs were torn. By lunchtime Natalya died.
Chapter 17
Gregory was three days late for Natalya's funeral. Ilyinichna told the man that Natalya went for an abortion after she found out about his relationship with Aksinya.
Chapter 18
Grigory took the death of his wife very hard. The man considered himself guilty of Natalya’s death, he realized that he loved their children, loved her. Grigory began to spend more time with the children, especially with his son Mishatka.
It was time for Melekhov to return to the army.
Chapter 19
Heading to the front, Melekhov meets the servant Semak. Semak says that the whites encourage looting, robbery and banditry among privates and officers. Many Cossacks, unable to bear it, desert.
Grigory stops to spend the night in a village near Balashova, where he meets a white officer and an Englishman. During the conversation, a drunken Englishman said that he respects the Reds, since they are the people, and “the people cannot be defeated.”
Chapter 20
The Reds began to prepare for a large-scale offensive along the entire front. The Whites managed to break through the front and take Tambov. The Reds began to move towards Khopr and Don, gradually wasting the strength of the offensive breakthrough.
Chapter 21
“A week and a half after Gregory left for the front, Daria drowned herself in the Don.” Ilyinichna learns that Aksinya began to invite Mishatka to visit her, treating her and asking about Grigory. Melekhova got angry and forbade the boy to go to Astakhova. And then, having met Aksinya, she said that she would never become Gregory’s wife.
At the end of August, Panteley and all the able-bodied men of the farm were mobilized. A few days later, Melekhov returned, having fled from the front without permission. A punitive detachment arrived for the man, the Kalmyks arrested the old man and sent him to Karginskaya for trial.
Chapter 22
Since Panteley was the father of Gregory, he was punished only by deprivation of the rank of constable. The Reds were expected to attack, so the Melekhovs left Tatarskoye.
Chapter 23
On September 18, the last Cossack hundred left Veshenskaya under fire from the Reds. News began to come to the Cossacks that the Bolsheviks were not looting or burning kurens, but were generously paying for the food they took from the locals.
Chapter 24
The Melekhovs lived for two and a half weeks in the Latyshev farmstead. Having learned that “the Reds had retreated from the Don,” the family returned home.
Panteley received an exemption from service through a paramedic he knew in the village and set about restoring the farm. The murdered Anikushka and Christonya are brought to the farm, and soon Gregory, who is sick with typhus, is brought to the farm.
Chapter 25
“A month later, Gregory recovered. He first got out of bed on the twentieth of November.” Melekhov suddenly began to be interested in the household, he spent more and more time fiddling with the children, but it was difficult for the man to talk to them about the war, about his mother.
Grigory was summoned “to a medical commission for re-examination” and the man began to prepare with the Cossacks to retreat. Before leaving, Melekhov went to see Aksinya and invited her to leave with him. Astakhova agreed.
Chapter 26
“All the northern villages of the Don were moving south.” At each stop, Gregory tried to find out where his relatives, who joined the retreat later, were now. On the way, Aksinya fell ill with typhus, and Gregory had to leave the weakened woman in the care of one of the villages.
Chapter 27
“The days dragged on, gray and joyless. Having left Aksinya, Grigory immediately lost interest in his surroundings.”
“The war was coming to an end. The denouement came quickly and inevitably. The Donets were broken." Grigory arrives at the Belaya Glina farm, where he learns that Panteley died of typhus the day before. After burying his father, Melekhov falls ill with relapsing fever and Prokhor takes the man to Kuban.
Chapters 28-29
On the way, Grigory and Prokhor met Melekhov’s Cossack friends, who helped take the patient to a doctor in Yekaterinodar. Soon Gregory began to recover.
In Novorossiysk, people were evacuated by ship to Turkey. The first to leave were the families of landowners, White Guard generals, and rich people. Desperate to get on the ship, people committed suicide right on the pier. Gregory understands that he will not be able to leave and calmly awaits the Bolshevik invasion.
Before Melekhov’s eyes, Novorossiysk was occupied by the Reds.
Part Eight
Chapter 1
After recovery, Aksinya returned to Tatarsky. Various rumors circulated in the farmstead about the fate of Gregory, and gradually “anxiety for Gregory’s life seemed to bring closer and related” Astakhova and Ilyinichna. The Melekhovs began to communicate with Aksinya and invite her to visit. They receive news that Stepan has left for Crimea. Soon Prokhor arrived at the farm and said that Melekhov had joined the Red Army.
Chapter 2
Koshevoy returns to Tatarsky. Ilyinichna received Mishka coldly, but Dunyashka stood up for her beloved. Koshevoy began to little by little help the women around the house, and in Ilyinichna’s heart, “aching maternal pity” awoke for him.
Chapter 3
Ilyinichna did not agree for a long time to the wedding of Dunyasha and Mishka, but when the girl threatened that she would leave with her beloved, the woman had to give in. They played a modest, quiet wedding. Koshevoy turned out to be a skillful owner. It was hard for Ilyinichna to accept a stranger; she felt unneeded, living only in anticipation of Grigory’s arrival. Soon the woman became very ill and, without seeing her son, died. Astakhova took Gregory’s children to her place.
Chapter 4
Koshevoy quickly got tired of housework; the man increasingly thought that he had settled on the farm too early. Mishka was not happy that the whites who sided with the reds were not responsible for the crimes committed against the Bolsheviks - according to Koshevoy, they still needed to be dealt with by the Cheka.
Mishka is appointed chairman of the local revolutionary committee.
Chapter 5
Among the villagers, dissatisfaction with the Soviet regime appeared - people lived very poorly. Dunyashka tried to talk to her husband about the new government, but Koshevoy accused the woman of counter-revolutionary conversations. When Dunyashka asked what would happen to Gregory for serving the whites, Mishka replied that he could be shot.
Chapter 6
Gregory returned to Tatarsky. Mishka greeted Melekhov coldly, but the Koshevoys gathered a table and invited Prokhor and Aksinya to celebrate the Cossack's return.
After the guests left, Mishka told Grigory that he considered Melekhov an enemy, since he could again go over to the side of the whites. Koshevoy decided to move into his hut and demanded that Grigory urgently register with the Revolutionary Committee.
Chapter 7
Prokhor tells Grigory that old Listnitsky died of typhus, and Evgeny, having learned about his wife’s betrayal, shot himself. In addition, the Cossack reports an uprising that has broken out nearby and is worried about Melekhov - he may be accused of being the instigator. After hesitating, Grigory decides to go through all the registration levels in the Revolutionary Committee.
Chapters 8-9
“After returning from Veshenskaya, Grigory went to the farm revolutionary committee, showed Koshevoy his military documents marked by the military registration and enlistment office and left without saying goodbye. He moved to Aksinya, took with him his children and some of his property." Melekhov was tormented by uncertainty; he could not live peacefully with his family. One night Dunyashka came running to them with a warning about the impending arrest. Grigory quickly got ready and left.
Chapter 10
In response to the actions of the Soviet government, unrest began among the Cossacks, and Cossack gangs appeared, dissatisfied with the surplus appropriation system. The leader of the uprising near Veshenskaya was Melekhov’s former friend Yakov Fomin.
Chapter 11
Melekhov lived with a Cossack friend and relative of Aksinya for a couple of months, and then went to Yagodnoye. On the way, the man was met by Fomin's people, and he joined Yakov's gang.
Chapter 12
Fomin tried to attract the Cossacks, but the war-weary, hungry people did not agree to support his gang. Seeing the detachment of the people, Fomin began to threaten the farmers.
Chapter 13
Melekhov did not like the fact that Fomin’s people were engaged in looting. Yakov's gang comes under fire from the Reds, after which Melekhov is completely convinced of Fomin's failure as a leader.
Chapter 14
Having settled on a wooded island in the middle of the Don, Fomin’s people are idle, waiting for the start of active action. Yakov's close ally Kaparin suggests that Melekhov kill Fomin and the rest of the gang, and then surrender to the Reds. Grigory did not agree, but just in case he disarmed Kaparin. At night, the Fomintsy, having guessed everything, kill Kaparin in his sleep.
Chapters 15-16
At the end of April, the Fomints crossed the Don. They decide to link up with the famous Maslak gang, and more and more Cossacks join them. Despite the fact that Fomin proved that his people continued to fight for the happiness of the working people, in fact they were only engaged in robbery. Grigory decides to leave the gang and secretly leaves it one night.
Chapter 17
Grigory arrives in his native village and, having quietly made his way to Aksinya, offers to go with him to Kuban. The woman agreed, and the children were temporarily left with Dunyashka. On the way, near Chir, they came across an outpost. Melekhov ordered the woman to go back. Shots were heard and Aksinya was mortally wounded. The man took her to the forest, where the woman, without regaining consciousness, died in his arms.
Chapter 18
“Like a steppe scorched by fires, Gregory’s life became black. He lost everything that was dear to his heart." After wandering aimlessly across the steppe for several days, Melekhov joined the deserters. Gregory constantly dreamed of children, Aksinya, and relatives.
At the beginning of spring, the man, unable to bear it, returns to the farm, where he learns that his daughter has died of scarlet fever. Gregory “stood at the gates of his home, holding his son in his arms... This was all that was left in his life, what still connected him with the earth and with this whole huge world shining under the cold sun.”
Conclusion
In “Quiet Flows the Flow”, Sholokhov portrays to the reader a comprehensive picture of the world, covering the fates of people from various walks of life. In the work, the author reveals the problem of personality formation at a turning point in history, touches on issues of love and betrayal, family happiness, friendship, relations between fathers and children, and covers the topic of war, morality and duty.
The brilliant novel was translated into many languages, and in 1965 Sholokhov was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for “Quiet Don”.
A brief retelling of “The Quiet Don” will be of interest to both schoolchildren and students, as well as all connoisseurs of Russian literature who want to quickly remember the main plot lines of the work.
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XX In March, Bunchuk was sent to work at the Revolutionary Tribunal under the Don Revolutionary Committee. Tall, dull-eyed, exhausted from work and sleepless nights, the chairman took him to the window of his room and said, stroking his wristwatch (he was in a hurry to the meeting): - Since what year in the party? Yeah, smart. So, you will be our commandant. Last night we sent our commandant to Dukhonin's headquarters... for a bribe. He was a complete sadist, a disgrace, a bastard - we don’t need people like that. This work is dirty, but in it you also need to maintain an intact consciousness of your responsibility to the party, and just understand me, you need to... - he pressed on this phrase - preserve humanity. We, of necessity, physically destroy counter-revolutionaries, but we cannot make a circus out of this. You understand me? Well, that's good. Go get things done. That same night, Bunchuk with a team of sixteen Red Guards shot at midnight outside the city, on the third verst, five who were sentenced to death. Of these, two were Cossacks from the Gnilovskaya village, the rest were residents of Rostov. Almost every day at midnight, the condemned were taken out of the city in a truck and hastily dug holes for them, and both death row prisoners and some Red Guards took part in the work. Bunchuk lined up the Red Guards, dropped cast-iron-muffled words: “For the enemies of the revolution...” and waved his revolver, “Prison!” In a week he dried up and turned black, as if covered with earth. The eyes gaped like gaps, the nervously blinking eyelids did not cover their melancholy shine. Anna saw him only at night. She worked in the Revolutionary Committee, came home late, but always waited for him to announce his arrival with a familiar abrupt knock on the window. One day Bunchuk returned, as always, after midnight. Anna opened the door for him and asked: “Are you going to have dinner?” Bunchuk did not answer: staggering drunkenly, he walked into his room and, as he was in his overcoat, boots and hat, fell onto the bed... Anna went up to him, looked into his face: his eyes were clammyly closed, saliva sparkled on his bared dense teeth, sparse hair, fallen out from typhus, lay on his forehead in a wet strand. She sat down next to him. Pity and pain clawed at her heart. She asked in a whisper: “Is it hard for you, Ilya?” He squeezed her hand, gritted his teeth, and turned to the wall. So he fell asleep without saying a word, and in his sleep he muttered something indistinctly and plaintively, and tried to jump up. She noticed with horror and shuddered with unaccountable fear: he slept with his eyes half-closed, turned upward, from under the eyelids the yellowness of the convex whites shone inflamed. - Get out of there! - I asked him the next morning. - Better go to the front! You are like nothing else, Ilya! You will die at this job. “Shut up!” he shouted, blinking his eyes white with rage. - Do not scream. I hurt your feelings? Bunchuk somehow went out immediately, as if with a cry he had thrown out the rage that had accumulated in his chest. Tiredly examining his palms, he said: “Exterminating human filth is a dirty business.” Shooting, you see, is harmful to health and soul... Look... - for the first time in the presence of Anna, he cursed ugly. - Either fools and animals, or fanatics, go to dirty work. So, what? Everyone wants to walk in a blooming garden, but damn them! - before planting flowers and trees, you need to clean off the dirt! Need to fertilize! You need to get your hands dirty! - he raised his voice, despite the fact that Anna, turning away, was silent. “The dirt must be destroyed, but they disdain this matter!..” Bunchuk was already shouting, slamming his fist on the table, often blinking his bloodshot eyes. Anna’s mother looked into the room, and he, coming to his senses, spoke more quietly: “I won’t leave this job!” Here I see and tangibly feel that I am making a difference! I'm raking up the evil spirits! I fertilize the earth so that it becomes fatter! Be fruitful! Someday happy people will walk along it... Maybe my son will walk, no matter what... - He laughed creakingly and sadly. - How many of these reptiles... ticks have I shot... A tick is an insect that eats into the body... I killed a dozen with these hands... - Bunchuk stretched forward his clenched, black-haired, clawed hands like a kite; dropping them to his knees, he said in a whisper: “And to hell with it!” Burn so that sparks fly, but there’s nothing to smoke... Only I’m really tired... A little more and I’ll go to the front... you’re right... Anna, who was silently listening to him, quietly said: “Go to the front.” or to another job... Leave, Ilya, otherwise you... will go crazy. Bunchuk turned his back to her and drummed on the window. - No, I’m strong... Don’t think that there are people made of iron. We are all made of the same material... There are no people in life who are not afraid in war, and no one who, while killing people, would not wear... would not be morally scarred. But it’s not about those with shoulder straps that my heart hurts... Those are conscious people, just like you and me. But yesterday, among nine, I had to shoot three Cossacks... workers... He began to untie one... - Bunchuk’s voice became muffled, more indistinct, as if he was moving further and further: - I touched his hand, and it was like a sole. .. callous... Sprouted with continuous calluses... Black palm, frayed... all in abrasions... in lumps... Well, I’ll go, - he abruptly stopped the story and, unnoticed by Anna, rubbed his throat, which was tight like a hair lasso, severe spasm. He put on his shoes, drank a glass of milk, and left. Anna caught up with him in the corridor. She held his heavy hand in hers for a long time, then pressed it to her burning cheek and ran out into the yard. It was getting warmer. Spring was knocking on the arm of the Don from Azov. At the end of March, Ukrainian Red Guard detachments, pressed by the Haidamaks and Germans, began to arrive in Rostov. Murders, robberies, and riotous requisitions began throughout the city. The Revolutionary Committee had to disarm some completely disintegrated detachments. The matter did not happen without clashes and shootings. The Cossacks were stirring near Novocherkassk. In March, like buds on poplars, contradictions between Cossacks and nonresidents swelled in the villages, uprisings rumbled here and there, and counter-revolutionary conspiracies were discovered. But Rostov lived a fast, full-blooded life; in the evenings crowds of soldiers, sailors, and workers walked along Bolshaya Sadovaya. They held rallies, shelled sunflower seeds, spat in streams flowing along the sidewalks, and had fun with the women. Just as before, they worked, ate, drank, slept, died, gave birth, loved, hated, breathed the salty breeze from the sea, lived, overcome by great passions and small passions. Days littered with thunderstorms were approaching Rostov. It smelled of melted black soil and the blood of nearby battles. On one of these sunny, beautiful days, Bunchuk returned home earlier than usual and was surprised to find Anna at home. - After all, you always come late, but why is that so today? - I'm not entirely healthy. She followed him into his room. Bunchuk undressed and said with a trembling, joyful smile: “Anya, from today I don’t work at the tribunal.” - What are you talking about? Where are you going? - In the Revolutionary Committee. I spoke with Krivoshlykov today. He promises to send me somewhere in the district. They had dinner together. Bunchuk went to bed. Excited, he could not sleep for a long time, smoked, tossed and turned on the hard mattress, and sighed joyfully. He left the tribunal with great satisfaction, because he felt that a little more - and he would not be able to stand it, he would break. He was finishing his fourth cigarette when he heard a slight creak of the door. Raising his head, he saw Anna. Barefoot, wearing only a shirt, she slipped through the threshold and quietly approached his bed. Through a gap in the shutter, the twilight green light of the moon fell onto the bare oval of her shoulder. She bent down and placed a warm palm on Bunchuk’s lips. - Move over. Be silent... She lay down next to her, impatiently pulled away a strand of hair as heavy as a bunch of grapes from her forehead, flashed a smoky bluish light in her eyes, and whispered roughly, tormentedly: “Today or tomorrow I can lose you.” .. I want to love you with all my might! - and shuddered from her own determination: - Well, hurry up! Bunchuk kissed her and with horror, with great shame that overwhelmed his entire consciousness, he felt that he was powerless. His head was shaking, his cheeks were burning painfully. Having freed herself, Anna angrily pushed him away, asked with disgust and disgust, choked in a contemptuous whisper: “Are you... are you powerless?” Or are you... sick?.. Oh-oh, how disgusting!.. Leave me! Bunchuk squeezed her fingers so that they faintly crunched, fixed his gaze into her widened, vaguely blackened, hostile eyes, and asked, stuttering, jerking his head paralyzed: “For what?” Why are you judging? Yes, I’m burned out!.. I’m not even capable of this now... I’m not sick... understand, understand! I'm devastated... A-a-a-a... He muttered dully, jumped out of the bed, and lit a cigarette. For a long time, as if beaten, he slouched at the window. Anna stood up, silently hugged him and calmly, like a mother, kissed him on the forehead. And a week later, Anna, hiding her face, lit with a fiery blush, under his hand, admitted: - ... I thought I was used up earlier ... I didn’t know that work had drained you to the bottom. And after that, Bunchuk felt for a long time not only the affection of his beloved, but also her warm, flush-to-the-edge maternal care. He was not sent to the province. At Podtelkov's insistence, he remained in Rostov. At this time, the Don Revolutionary Committee was boiling over in its work, preparing for the regional Congress of Soviets, for the battle with the counter-revolution that had revived beyond the Don.The episode reveals the destructive impact of war on people. Bunchuk was sent to work in the revolutionary tribunal under the Don Revolutionary Committee. The chairman told him: “This work is dirty, but in it you also need to maintain an intact consciousness of your responsibility to the party, and just understand me how it is necessary... to preserve humanity.” Every night Bunchuk commanded the execution (“dropped iron-deaf words”). Bunchuk was exhausted by this work (“In a week he dried up and turned black. His eyes gaped like holes, his nervously blinking eyelids did not cover their hungry and melancholy shine”). Anna noticed these changes in him, felt sorry for him, and persuaded him to leave this position. But Bunchuk refused. He understood that this work was breaking him (“harmful to his health and soul”), but still decided to stay, considering it his duty.
He will be the person who will cleanse the “dirt” so that a “blooming garden” will arise in the future. He saw benefit in his business. And he believed that he was obliged to do this for the sake of a happy life for people in the future. Then he assures the worried Anna: “No, I’m strong... Don’t think that there are people made of iron. We are all cast from the same material... There are no people in life who are not afraid in war, and no people who killing people, he didn’t wear... he wasn’t morally scarred.” Then he remembers how yesterday he ordered the Cossacks, the workers, to be shot. I touched one by the hand, untying it, and felt a calloused palm. An ordinary person, a worker. And he shoots him. It hurt him to remember this; his throat tightened with a tight spasm. Perhaps at this moment he doubted the correctness of his principles: was this really dirt? Is this really the enemy that is hindering the happiness of mankind?
In the spring, murders and robberies began in the city, and Bunchuk returned to the Revolutionary Committee. He said "with a trembling smile of joy" that he was no longer working at the tribunal. He left with satisfaction, because he felt that he couldn’t stand it any longer and would break. Anna came to him at night, wanting to “love him with all her might,” because she understood that she could soon lose him. And I realized that he was powerless. Disgust and disgust overwhelmed her. And Bunchuk, stuttering, jerking his head in paralysis, said: “For what? Why are you judging? Yes, I burned out!... I’m devastated...” He jumped out of the bed and lit a cigarette. “For a long time, as if beaten, he slouched at the window.” Anna understood him, hugged him and calmly, like a mother, kissed him on the forehead. After this incident, Bunchuk continued to feel for a long time “a warm, flush-to-the-edge maternal care.”
There are a lot of descriptions in this episode that allow you to see the characters and understand their feelings. The impression of heaviness, brokenness and burning pain is created. This kind of work exhausted people, and something inside them “blackened.” And no one could ever be the same again. The execution process is described, how both suicide bombers and some of the Red Guards participated in the work (digging holes). One can feel the idea that people were equal, but by coincidence they found themselves on different sides.
The episode is divided into two parts (an antithesis technique): in the first, Bunchuk’s pain and torment, his “burning” work, occurs; in the second - Bunchuk’s decision to leave work and a description of the disastrous consequences of this time, and Anna’s reaction to this. “Warmer,” as if the cold in Bunchuk’s soul began to warm up. The soul began to thaw after the destructive influence of work.
Bunchuk is an ordinary person who was forced to perform inhuman tasks. For this work, it was necessary to “lose” my heart so as not to feel all the pain and pity, not to experience doubts and fears about the injustice of decisions. It was a dirty job, which was done either by fools and animals, or by fanatics. But Bunchuk was different and therefore felt so keenly all the bitterness of this “mission” - the destruction of dirt, as he called it.
Sholokhov showed with this episode how revolution influences a person when he has to go against his own people. Killing Cossacks, whose life is work and family life, is tradition and strength of spirit. But because of the revolution, they had to abandon their measured way of life, and for unknown reasons. Which turns into a tragedy for all people. War corrupts the soul, kills everything human in people.
Updated: 2018-03-06
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One of the convinced ideological fighters against the old regime is Ilya Bunchuk. He is devoted to his work until his last breath, and this is reflected even in his appearance, which seems to contain the signs of many of his predecessors - the “iron commissars”: “curved jaws... eyes that break the oncoming gaze” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8-mi vol. - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 483.. The author conveys the dullness, everyday life of the hero: “... everything was usual in him” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8- mi t. - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 483., distinguishes him from others only by stubbornness and some kind of anger. And further, as the plot unfolds, some touches are given that complement his portrait: a cruel look, a gloomy appearance, an earthy complexion, temples with bulging veins, “in civilian clothes I felt insecure and uncomfortable” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: B 8 - mi t. - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 533.. So, with small strokes, the artist creates a bright type of revolutionary worker, unaccustomed to peaceful life, for whom everything is focused on the class struggle. Knowing Bunchuk’s ideological steadfastness, they assign him the most dangerous and difficult tasks: agitation among the seething masses of soldiers, combat training of militias at the front, and finally, he is appointed commandant of the Revolutionary Tribunal, carrying out executions of “class enemies.” In the name of the triumph of the revolutionary idea, he was ready to do anything. Bunchuk’s hatred of the old regime is not groundless. This is how Ilya recalls a meeting in Petrograd with the thirteen-year-old daughter of his friend who was killed in the war: “In the evening I am walking along the boulevard. She - this angular, frail teenager - was sitting on the end bench, her slender legs spread out in a cheerful manner, smoking. On her faded face there are tired eyes, bitterness in the corners of her painted lips, elongated by premature maturity. “Don’t you recognize me, uncle?” - she asked hoarsely, smiling with professional memorization, and stood up, quite childishly helplessly and cried bitterly, hunched over, pressing her head against Bunchuk’s elbow.
He almost suffocated from the poisonous, gas-like hatred that poured into him, turning pale, gritting his teeth and groaning.” Sholokhov M.A. Collected Works: In 8 volumes - Vol. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 500.. Bunchuk believes that the Soviet government will bring a future to his land, on which “...maybe my son will walk, who does not exist” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - Vol. 2 - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 635., that’s why he defends it with such fanaticism.
Patiently, the hero endures all the insults showered upon him by the arrested officer, the Kornilovite Kalmykov:
“- Scoundrel!...
Bunchuk, dodging the spit with a wave, raised his eyebrows and for a long time squeezed his right hand with his left hand, which was trying to slide into his pocket.
- - Go... - he said forcefully...
- - You are a traitor! Traitor! You will pay for this! - he shouted, often stopping, stepping on Bunchuk.
- - Go! Please... - he persuaded each time.”
But as soon as Kalmykov begins to discredit Lenin’s name, the hero cannot stand it and, “stammering protractedly,” shouts: “Stand against the wall!” With merciless rage and a blackened face, he shoots at the officer. “The bullet entered his mouth. Behind the water pump, climbing to a stepped height, a hoarse echo rose up. Stumbling on the second step, Kalmykov grabbed his head with his left hand and fell. He arched, spat on his chest, teeth black with blood, and sweetly smacked his tongue. As soon as his back straightened and touched the wet rubble, Bunchuk fired again. Kalmykov twitched, turning on his side, like a falling asleep bird, turned his head under his shoulder, sobbed briefly.” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - Vol. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 505 .. How scary this picture is! Death is always unsightly for Sholokhov, no matter who dies. And if it is a violent death, then the naturalism of its description always contains a silent reproach to the killer.
Then explaining his causeless cruelty, the ardent revolutionary says: “They are us or we are them!... There is no middle ground. For blood - blood. Who wins... Got it? People like Kalmykov must be destroyed, crushed like vipers! Be evil!” Sholokhov M.A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 506. And then, watching how two Red Army soldiers shoot a captured officer, the hero says “... a little defiantly : - That’s wise! We must kill them, exterminate them without mercy!... Rake this evil spirits from the earth! And in general - without sentimentality, since we are talking about the fate of the revolution" Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 553.. For Bunchuk it cannot there is no middle ground, no separate people, the main thing for him is the end result. After these evil words come the author’s words: “...On the third day he fell ill” Sholokhov M.A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 553.. As if The hero fell ill not from typhus, but from the rage, hatred that had accumulated in him, and as if as punishment.
Anna Pogedko, whom Ilya met in the machine-gun team, takes care of him during his illness. Love arises between them; it is based not only on mutual sympathy, but also on their common desire for the victory of Soviet power. Involvement in the cause of the revolution imposes a certain responsibility on them, they restrain their feelings. So, for example, having talked with Anna for the first time, Ilya thinks of her only as “a smart girl, a good comrade” Sholokhov M.A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - Vol. 2. - M.: Pravda , 1975. - P. 545., having met after a long separation, they begin to talk not about how they missed each other, but about business: “Oh, we rocked things there! They put together a whole detachment of two hundred and eleven bayonets. Conducted organizational and political work..." Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 603. In Soviet criticism, the opinion was established that the feeling that arose between heroes, “there is a lack of that complete image with which... the relationships of Grigory and Aksinya, Grigory and Natalia are written out...” Yakimenko L.G. “Quiet Flows the Don” by M. Sholokhov. - M.: Soviet writer, 1958. - P. 297. Indeed, there is little sensuality and impetuosity between lovers.
Having recovered, Bunchuk returns “to duty” again, and the party, showing full confidence in him, appoints him to a new position - commandant at the tribunal of the Don Revolutionary Committee. The chairman warns him: “The work is dirty, but you need to preserve in it a whole consciousness... humanity...” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 632.. It is difficult for “in one piece” to maintain consciousness during this work, and “within a week Bunchuk dried up and turned black, as if covered with earth. The eyes gaped like gaps, the uneven blinking eyelids did not cover their melancholy shine.” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 633.
Anna asks Ilya: “Get out of there! You will die doing this work." Sholokhov M.A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 635.. In the conversation that follows this, all of Bunchuk’s fanaticism is revealed: “ Exterminating human filth is a dirty business. Shooting, you see, is harmful to health and soul... Either fools and animals, or fanatics do dirty work. So, what? Everyone wants to walk in a blooming garden, but damn them! - before planting flowers and trees, you need to clean the dirt! You need to get your hands dirty!” Sholokhov M.A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 635. In this monologue, said, in fact, for himself, he tries to justify his actions. But, exterminating “human filth”, destroying “ticks, reptiles”, the hero experiences remorse: “...yesterday I had to shoot three Cossacks... among nine workers... I began to untie one... I touched his hand, and it... sprouted with continuous calluses...” Sholokhov M.A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 635. Bunchuk realizes that his work is not completely right, and that what he is doing - terrible sin. With “great satisfaction” he leaves the revolutionary tribunal, as he feels that a little more and he will break. But the revolution had already devastated and crushed it. The death of Anna Pogudko becomes the last straw; after this misfortune, the hero cannot find the strength to live on. Death becomes a happy occasion for him to get rid of suffering: “Thoughts about death frightened him the least. He did not feel, as he used to, the inarticulate trembling of the spinal column, the sucking melancholy at the thought that his life would be taken away from him... the fatigue is so great, the body is so aching that nothing can worry him anymore.” Sholokhov M. A. Collected works: In 8 volumes - T. 2. - M.: Pravda, 1975. - P. 645.