“Virgin Soil Upturned” essay


Performing a social order, the Soviet writer Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov wrote simultaneously two novels: “Quiet Don” and “Virgin Soil Upturned.” Today we will talk about the second, which is a description of perestroika in the countryside, the diligent suppression of the old consciousness and way of life in favor of collectivism and communist politics. The writer shows us, the readers, the image of a new man, whose education is built in a completely different social and economic environment.

At first the novel had a different name – “With blood and sweat”. It was a great reflection of what was actually happening at that time in the village. But Stalin insisted on changing and even offered his own – “Virgin Soil Upturned.” Sholokhov could not accept it to the last, nor to the soul it was.

The publication was also delayed, again thanks to the incumbent leader, the book was published in 1932.

The author

put in the basis of the book reliable facts and documents. The main theme of the novel is the demonstration of the process of collectivization. The tragedy of the people becomes the main collision of “Virgin Soil Upturned.” Before us, there are different scenes, they are filled with horror and pain: fitting the first-time seen decent clothes Lyubishkin and his wife, and took her from the dispossessed, the murder of Khoprov Yakov Lukich Ostrovnov and Polovtsev, the famine starvation of his mother, only that she did not betray the secret, because in house are white officers. And there are a lot of such pictures!

It is allocated from the total mass of Grandfather Shchukar. who tries to perceive the situation humorously and encourages the residents of the village Gremyachy Log with their jokes and jokers.

Sholokhov tries to describe the current state of affairs as truthfully as possible, so he shows Communists on the positive side, but at the same time can not find justification for their brutal actions. The heroes of him protest against such ruthless behavior, shouting and tearing at the fact that

there is no more strength to fight with the children. But, as often happens in life, there are those who fully accept this situation, but there can be no repentance and speech. This, of course, full of soul for the revolution Makar Nagulnov.

In the novel of Mikhail Sholokhov, two conflicts lie on the surface: the external one, prompted by the time itself and consisting in confrontation with the communist leadership, and internal, based on the human soul and its psychological characteristics.

In the style plan, “Virgin Soil Upturned” combines many beginnings: tragedy and humor, epic and lyric poetry, documentary journalism and fiction, general and concrete. The beginning and end of the novel define descriptions of nature, filled with elegiac notes. But not only these scenes attract attention. They are created with splendor and skill of the image of meetings with mass participation, female rebellion, swept like an element. The author has revealed before us in its entirety the picture of pre-war village life. And this greatest painting is unrivaled.

The composition of the novel is closely connected with the problems and the plot. In the beginning, as already noted, a sketch of the January landscape. Replaces her scene of the secret arrival of Captain Polovtsev, an ardent fighter for the old ways. And then the action is gaining momentum. And it consists of different scenes: some light, like the description of work on the plowing, love twists and turns, those connected with Shchukar’s grandfather, as well as those dark, filled with pain and suffering: the women’s rebellion, the murder of Khoprov, the dispossession of Lapshinov, a family. By the way, and the end of the novel is sad – the return of Ostrovnova home, marked marked sadness and painful sensations. All these tragic notes are aimed at revealing the main idea of ​​Sholokhov – the conflict of adherents and opponents of collectivization.


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“Virgin Soil Upturned” essay