Traditional values ​​of the Don Cossacks in the novel “Quiet Don”

Traditional values ​​of the Don Cossacks in the novel “Quiet Don”

Epic novel by M.A. Sholokhov’s “Quiet Don” is undoubtedly his most significant and serious work. Here the author surprisingly well managed to show the life of the Don Cossacks, convey their very spirit and connect all this with specific historical events.

The epic covers a period of great upheaval in Russia. These upheavals greatly affected the fate of the Don Cossacks described in the novel. Eternal values ​​determine the life of the Cossacks as clearly as possible in that difficult historical period that Sholokhov reflected in the novel. Love for the native land, respect for the older generation, love for a woman, the need for freedom - these are the basic values ​​without which a free Cossack cannot imagine himself.

The life of the Cossacks is defined by two concepts - they are warriors and grain growers at the same time. It must be said that historically the Cossacks developed on the borders of Russia, where enemy raids were frequent, so the Cossacks were forced to take up arms in defense of their land, which was particularly fertile and rewarded the labor invested in it a hundredfold. Later, already under the rule of the Russian Tsar, the Cossacks existed as a privileged military class, which largely determined the preservation of ancient customs and traditions among the Cossacks. Sholokhov shows the Cossacks as very traditional. For example, from an early age they get used to a horse, which for them is not just a tool of production, but a faithful friend in battle and a comrade in work (the description of the crying hero Christoni after Voronok, taken away by the Reds, touches the heart). All Cossacks are brought up with respect for their elders and unquestioning submission to them (Panteley Prokofievich could punish Grigory even when the latter had hundreds and thousands of people under his command). The Cossacks are governed by an ataman, elected by the military Cossack Circle, where Sholokhov’s Panteley Prokofievich is heading.

But it should be noted that among the Cossacks traditions of a different kind are strong. Historically, the bulk of the Cossacks were peasants who fled from the landowners in Russia in search of free land. Therefore, the Cossacks are primarily farmers. The vast expanses of the steppes on the Don made it possible, with a certain amount of hard work, to obtain good harvests. Sholokhov shows them as good and strong owners. Cossacks treat land not just as a means of production. She is something more to them. Being in a foreign land, the Cossack’s heart reaches out to his native kuren, to the land, to work on the farm. Grigory, already a commander, more than once leaves home from the front to see loved ones and walk along the furrow, holding the plow. It is the love of the land and the craving for home that forces the Cossacks to abandon the front and not conduct an offensive beyond the borders of the district.

Sholokhov's Cossacks are very freedom-loving. It was the love of freedom, of the opportunity to dispose of the products of their labor themselves that pushed the Cossacks to revolt, in addition to hostility towards the peasants (in their understanding, lazy people and klutzes) and love for their own land, which the Reds had to hand over in an arbitrary way. The love of freedom of the Cossacks is to some extent explained by their traditional autonomy within Russia. Historically, people flocked to the Don in search of freedom. And they found it here and became Cossacks.

In general, freedom for the Cossacks is not an empty phrase. Brought up in complete freedom, the Cossacks negatively perceived attempts to encroach on their freedom by the Bolsheviks. While fighting against the Bolsheviks, the Cossacks do not seek to completely destroy their power. The Cossacks only want to liberate their land. If we talk about the innate sense of freedom among the Cossacks, then we should remember Gregory’s experiences due to responsibility before the Soviet authorities for his participation in the uprising. How worried Gregory is about thoughts of prison! Why? After all, Gregory is not a coward. The fact is that Gregory is afraid of the very thought of limiting his freedom. He failed to experience any coercion. Gregory can be compared to a wild goose, which was knocked out of its native flock by a bullet and thrown to the ground at the feet of the shooter.

Despite the fact that in the family there is a strict power of the head, here too in Sholokhov, to a certain extent, there is a theme of freedom. The Cossack woman in Sholokhov’s portrayal appears to us not as a faceless and unresponsive slave, but as a person endowed with certain ideas about freedom. This is exactly what Daria and Dunyasha are like in the novel. The first is always cheerful and carefree, even allowing herself to make jokes towards the head of the family, talking to him as an equal. Dunyasha behaves more respectfully towards her parents. Her desire for freedom spills out after the death of her father in a conversation with her mother about marriage.

The motive of love is presented very widely in the novel. In general, the theme of love occupies a special place in the novel; the author pays a lot of attention to it here. In addition to Dunyasha and Koshevoy, the novel shows the love story of the protagonist Grigory Melekhov for Aksinya, who is undoubtedly one of Sholokhov’s most beloved heroines. The love of Gregory and Aksinya runs through the entire novel, weakening at times, but flaring up again with renewed vigor. The influence of this love on the events in the novel is very great and manifests itself at a variety of levels, “from family and everyday life to the fate of the entire region.” Because of love, Aksinya leaves her husband.

The very essence of the Cossacks and all their actions is entirely dedicated to the earth, freedom and love - the eternal laws of human existence. They live because they love, they fight because they are freedom-loving and are attached to the earth with all their souls, but they are forced to die or break under the pressure of the Reds because of their disorganization and lack of conviction, the lack of an idea for which they can sacrifice all their property and life .

Thus, in the novel M.A. Sholokhov’s “Quiet Flows the Flow”, the eternal laws of human existence, according to which the free Cossacks live, are widely presented. Moreover, the plot of the epic novel is based on them.

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• Author: M. A. Sholokhov
• Composition: Quiet Don
• This essay has been copied 117,494 times

M. Sholokhov’s novel “Quiet Don” is dedicated to depicting the life of the Don Cossacks in the most turbulent historical times of the 10-20s of the 20th century. The main life values ​​of this class have always been family, morality, and land. But the political changes taking place in Russia at that time are trying to break the foundations of life of the Cossacks, when brother kills brother, when many moral commandments are violated.

From the first pages of the work, the reader gets acquainted with the way of life of the Cossacks and family traditions. At the center of the novel are the Melekhovs. Sholokhov expertly shows how life works in this family state. The last word here belongs to the parents, who cannot be disobeyed. Everyone in the family has their own responsibilities, no one sits without work. “Glorious Cossacks Melekhovs,” Grishak’s grandfather says about them.

It is impossible to imagine the Don villagers without their labor. The entire farm, dressed in festive style, comes out to the haymaking. After praying, they begin to mow and work together until dark. And in the evening they gather around the fire to eat some simple stew. And our heroes are happy, because work is not a burden to them, but a joy.

Another duty of the Cossacks was military service, for which they came with their horse and “right”. And Panteley Prokofich “collects” ammunition for Grigory in advance. From childhood, the sons of the Cossacks are familiar with the saber, they know what military duty and discipline are. This distinguished them from the peasants, who were looked down upon. The Cossacks placed themselves on a higher level in relation to these simple workers, although work in the fields and fishing on the Don are the same sources of life for them as for the peasants.

The novel also shows how the Cossacks know how to have fun during a wedding. Jokes, jokes, and sayings pour out as if from a cornucopia, the ceremony takes place according to all the rules, just like in the old days.

The attitude towards a woman and mother is the moral standard of the Cossacks. The bright female heroines in the novel Aksinya and Natalya are so different, but their fate is so similar: immense love for Gregory, the death of children, their death. They are a vivid embodiment of the image of Cossack women, for whom the main thing is family, children, and love. Such is the hero’s mother, Vasilisa Ilyinichna, who dedicated her life to preserving the family and raising children. She warms different people with her warmth; there is no place in her heart for hatred towards either whites or reds. She is against the senseless carnage that is happening before her eyes.

The beginning and end of Sholokhov’s work are connected with the description of the Melekhovs’ house. Only at the beginning of the novel “to the base” are Pantelei’s fussy voices heard, everything breathes life, at the end – Grigory hugs his son at the gate of the house, so empty, but still dear. Life goes on, the Cossack is not broken, because he loves this land, his home, values ​​​​work and freedom.

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