The Great Patriotic War is the most difficult of all the trials that have ever befallen our people. Responsibility for the fate of the Motherland, the bitterness of the first defeats, hatred of the enemy, perseverance, loyalty to the fatherland, faith in victory - all this is under the pen different artists molded into unique prose works.
Vitaly Zakrutkin’s book “Mother of Man,” written almost immediately after the end of the Great Patriotic War, is dedicated to the theme of our people’s war against the fascist invaders. Patriotic War. In his book, the author recreated the image of a simple Russian woman who overcame terrible blows of fate.
In September 1941, Hitler's troops advanced far into Soviet territory. Many regions of Ukraine and Belarus were occupied. What remained on the territory occupied by the Germans was a farm lost in the steppes, where a young woman Maria, her husband Ivan and their son Vasyatka lived happily. But the war spares no one. Having captured previously peaceful and abundant land, the Nazis destroyed everything, burned the farm, drove people to Germany, and hanged Ivan and Vasyatka. Only Maria managed to escape. Alone, she had to fight for her life and for the life of her unborn child.
Terrible trials did not break this woman. Further events of the story reveal the greatness of the soul of Mary, who truly became the Mother of man. Hungry, exhausted, she does not think about herself at all, saving the girl Sanya, mortally wounded by the Nazis. Sanya replaced the deceased Vasyatka and became a part of Maria’s life, which was trampled upon fascist invaders. When the girl dies, Maria almost goes crazy, not seeing the meaning of her further existence. And yet she finds the strength to live. Overcoming grief with great difficulty.
Experiencing a burning hatred for the Nazis, Maria, having met a wounded young German, frantically rushes at him with a pitchfork, wanting to avenge her son and husband. But the German, defenseless boy shouted: “Mom! Mother!" And the Russian woman’s heart trembled. The great humanism of the simple Russian soul is extremely simply and clearly shown by the author in this scene.
Maria felt her duty to the people deported to Germany, so she began to harvest from the collective farm fields not only for herself, but also for those who might return home. A sense of fulfilled duty supported her in difficult and lonely days. Soon she had a large farm, because all living things flocked to Mary’s plundered and burned farmstead. Maria became, as it were, the mother of the entire land surrounding her, the mother who buried her husband, Vasyatka, Sanya, Werner Bracht and a complete stranger to her, political instructor Slava, who was killed on the front line. And although she suffered the death of dear and beloved people, her heart did not harden, and Maria was able to take under her roof seven Leningrad orphans, who, by the will of fate, were brought to her farm.
This is how this courageous woman met Soviet troops with kids. And when the first people entered the burned farm soviet soldiers, It seemed to Mary that she had given birth not only to her son, but to all the war-dispossessed children of the world...
V. Zakrutkin’s book sounds like a hymn to the Russian woman, a wonderful symbol of humanism, life and immortality of the human race.
Civil and private, the joy of victory and the bitterness of irreparable losses, social-pathetic and intimate-lyrical intonations are inseparably intertwined in these works. And all of them are a confession about the trials of the soul in war with blood and death, losses and the need to kill; all of them are literary monuments to the unknown soldier.
Zakrutkin wrote the story “Mother of Man” in 1969. The work is the clearest example of prose about the heroism of women during the Great Patriotic War in Russian literature.
Main characters
Maria- a Komsomol member, a former milkmaid, was left alone in a burnt out farm.
Sanya Zimenkova– 15 years old, Komsomol member.
Werner Bracht– 17-year-old German soldier.
Narrator- a former military man, recalls the story of Maria.
Walking through the ancient Carpathian city, the narrator saw a statue of a “Madonna with Child in Her Arms” in a stone niche. He remembered the woman with whom he accidentally crossed paths during the war.
September night, shelling. Hidden in the corn, pregnant Mary lay pressed to the ground. The Germans burned her farm, and the surviving farmers were gathered into a column and driven away. On the way, Sanya Zimenkova began to be indignant, and the German fired a burst of machine gun fire at her. When everything calmed down, Maria crawled to the wounded woman. The girl turned out to be alive. The woman took her to the corn field, but at dawn Sanya died. Having dug out the grave with her hands, Maria buried the girl.
The Germans hanged the woman's husband Ivan and little son Vasya. Together with her husband, Maria worked in the third brigade of the Lenin collective farm. On the very first day of the war, Ivan was called to the military registration and enlistment office and sent to the front. A few months later he returned with an amputated arm.
Exhausted from hunger, Maria crawled to the vegetable gardens, where the farm’s milked cows and a dog were wandering around. The woman milked the cows, after which the animals began to follow her. The next morning, Maria went to the farm: everything was burned and destroyed. Approaching her house, the woman remembered the cellar, where she could hide from the cold, bullets, and even live. Opening the cellar, Maria saw a very young German soldier sitting there, looking at her with horror. “Hate and hot, blind malice overwhelmed Maria,” she wanted to avenge the deaths of her relatives. But when the woman had already raised her pitchfork, the soldier quietly shouted: “Mom!” . Maria let go of the pitchfork and fainted. The soldier's name was Werner Bracht, and he was wounded - a shrapnel stuck in his chest. Maria immediately realized that he would not survive, but she looked after him. When Werner Bracht died, the woman was again “left alone, surrounded by the dead.”
Soon another dog strayed to Maria, and the pigeons of one of the dead farmers flew in. The woman arranged the cellar so that she could easily spend the winter here. To prevent the unharvested crop from going to waste, the woman decided to collect it herself, hoping that people from the collective farm would come to the farm. Soon the chickens returned to the farm, sheep and three red horses strayed.
Maria had already lived without people for four months. One frosty December day, she went to a remote brigade site. Hearing voices and children crying, the woman discovered seven children hiding in a haystack. They were from orphanage from Leningrad - when they were being transported by train, they were attacked by the Germans. The teachers and other children died, but they managed to escape. Maria took the children to her place, bathed them, and fed them. Soon the children began calling her mom and helping her in the fields.
April has arrived. One day at dawn contractions began. Having asked the children to leave, Maria gave birth to a son and named him Vasya. It seemed to her that “she gave birth not only to a son and those seven boys and girls,<…>but, shuddering from excruciating pain and happiness, she gave birth to all the children of the tormented earth, demanding from her, the mother, protection and affection.”
At the end of April, scouts from the Guards Cavalry Regiment arrived at the farm. The narrator served in the same regiment. When they were heading through the village as a whole regiment, their commander approached Maria, knelt down in front of her and pressed his cheek to her hand.
Looking at the statue of the Madonna, the narrator thought that the time would come when “wars will disappear on earth, there will be no murders, robberies, lies, treachery, slander” and grateful people will erect a monument to the “woman-toiler of the earth” - the Mother of Man.
Conclusion
In the novel “Mother of Man,” Vitaly Zakrutkin depicts the fate of an ordinary Russian woman, who could not be broken by the loss of loved ones and her home. Even in the ashes, Mary manages to revive life, despite the fact that there is a war going on around her. The author compares the main character with Madonna, raising the image of a simple woman to the heights of the Mother of God.
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In September 1941, Hitler's troops advanced far into Soviet territory. Many regions of Ukraine and Belarus were occupied. What remained on the territory occupied by the Germans was a farm lost in the steppes, where a young woman Maria, her husband Ivan and their son Vasyatka lived happily. Having captured previously peaceful and abundant land, the Nazis destroyed everything, burned the farm, drove people to Germany, and hanged Ivan and Vasyatka. Only Maria managed to escape. Alone, she had to fight for her life and for the life of her unborn child.
Further events of the story reveal the greatness of the soul of Mary, who truly became the Mother of man. Hungry, exhausted, she does not think about herself at all, saving the girl Sanya, mortally wounded by the Nazis. Sanya replaced the deceased Vasyatka and became a part of Maria’s life, which was trampled by the fascist invaders. When the girl dies, Maria almost goes crazy, not seeing the meaning of her further existence. And yet she finds the strength to live.
Experiencing a burning hatred for the Nazis, Maria, having met a wounded young German, frantically rushes at him with a pitchfork, wanting to avenge her son and husband. But the German, a defenseless boy, shouted: “Mom! Mother!" And the Russian woman’s heart trembled. The great humanism of the simple Russian soul is extremely simply and clearly shown by the author in this scene.
Maria felt her duty to the people deported to Germany, so she began to harvest from the collective farm fields not only for herself, but also for those who might return home. A sense of fulfilled duty supported her in difficult and lonely days. Soon she had a large farm, because all living things flocked to Mary’s plundered and burned farmstead. Maria became, as it were, the mother of the entire land surrounding her, the mother who buried her husband, Vasyatka, Sanya, Werner Bracht and a complete stranger to her, political instructor Slava, who was killed on the front line. Maria was able to take under her roof seven Leningrad orphans who, by the will of fate, were brought to her farm.
This is how this courageous woman met the Soviet troops with their children. And when the first Soviet soldiers entered the burnt farm, it seemed to Maria that she had given birth not only to her son, but to all the war-dispossessed children of the world...
Bibliography
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In September 1941, Hitler's troops advanced far into Soviet territory. Many regions of Ukraine and Belarus were occupied. Remained on the territory occupied by the Germans and lost in the steppes, where young people lived happilyThe Soviet writer Vitaly Aleksandrovich Zakrutkin was eager to go to the front from the first days of the Great Patriotic War. But he had a reservation in his hands. He went to the military registration and enlistment office many times and said that he could not “sit at home” while others were fighting. And one day he couldn’t stand it - he burst into the military commissar’s office and tore up the reservation in front of his eyes. He surrendered and sent Zakrutkin as a war correspondent to active army. The writer walked the roads of war from Rostov to Berlin. The war remained forever in the memory and heart of Vitaly Alexandrovich. It is no coincidence that his works about the Second World War, including “Mother of Man,” came to the reader.
Story from history
The basis of V. Zakrutkin’s work “Mother of Man” is real facts. The author recalled that in the fall of 1943 they entered a farmstead that had been burned by the invaders, where nothing was left alive. Already leaving there, they saw a naked boy of about four jump out of some hole, followed by a young woman dressed in rags. Having come to her senses, she said that she hid in the corn when the Nazis came to the farm. She returned when all that was left of it were ruins.
During the break between battles, the writer wrote the story “About the Living and the Dead,” published in 1944. Many years passed, but he could not forget the woman for whom long months of loneliness became a terrible ordeal. “Mother of Man” is a story about grief and tears, difficult trials and suffering that the war brought.
The heroine of the story is a young woman. IN Civil War her father was shot by the White Guards. Then she lost her mother. During the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis hanged a husband and child. Hiding in a corn field, she remained alive. In the burnt farm, she finds no place for herself from grief. The woman wants to die, but she is not alone, another, “separate life” of an unborn child is glowing inside her.
Burnt farm
"Mother of Man" ( summary story) begins with an introduction by the author, in which he tells the reader how much the story of this woman shocked him, that after many years he could not forget meeting her. In September 1941, a large territory of the Soviet country was occupied by Nazi troops. On the land occupied by the Nazis there was also a farmstead, lost in the steppe, where the young woman lived. a happy family. The Nazis plundered and burned the farm. In front of the young woman’s eyes, her husband and son Vasyatka were hanged. Hiding in the corn, she sees how the invaders burn huts and lead the inhabitants to their deaths.
From her hiding place, she looks at the faces of her villagers, sees the frightened eyes of children, mothers distraught with grief, and the gloomy faces of old people. Maria wants to rush to them, but understands that she cannot help. Little girl Sanya shouts that she doesn’t want to go to Germany, it’s better to die here than to live a slave life. Her scream is cut off by machine gun fire.
German soldier
We continue to retell the summary of “Mother of Man.” Soon the crowd disappears behind the hill. Maria, tearing her elbows and knees to blood, crawls to Sanya in the hope that the girl is alive. The child's heart beats barely audible. Maria takes the girl in her arms and runs back into the corn. Early in the morning Sanya dies in her arms. Maria considers it her duty to bury the child. With bloody hands she digs a grave. Strength is given by the memories of her son and the unborn child, whose life glimmers under her heart. At sunset, Maria buries the girl.
The night seemed painfully long. Thirst and hunger force the young woman to come out of hiding and go to the farm. A dog and several cows followed her along the way. All that was left of the houses were ashes. In Maria's house, only the cellar survived. Opening it, she found a German soldier inside. In the summary of “Mother of Man,” it is difficult to convey how strong the hatred of the occupiers was for the woman who lost her son and husband. Maria frantically rushes at the fascist with a pitchfork. But the German, just a boy, shouts: “Mom! Mother!". And the heart of the woman-mother trembled. A young woman begins to care for the wounded man.
Meaning of life
The young German nevertheless dies, and Maria is left completely alone. She realizes her duty to her fellow villagers who were deported to Germany and collects crops from the fields. Not only for yourself, but also for those who can return home. A sense of duty and hope supported her loneliness. Miraculously surviving horses and sheep come to her home.
In one of winter days Maria finds half-frozen children in a haystack. Their Orphanage They evacuated, but the train was bombed by the Nazis. Seven miraculously surviving children hid from the German soldiers and walked wherever they looked. We will continue the retelling of the summary of “Mother of Man” with the fact that the young woman takes the children to her place. Maria washed the unfortunate children, fed them, and dressed them. They became the meaning of life for her.
New life
Soon, surrounded by care, the kids begin to call Maria mom. The older ones help her harvest. The frosty winter is left behind. In the spring, Maria’s son Vasenka is born. The woman went out into the garden and saw her children coming out of the forest, surrounded by Soviet intelligence officers.
Nature came to life all around. Burnt trees came back to life. And for Mary this was the beginning of a new life. Life without fear, cruelty and violence. The final episode of V. Zakrutkin’s work “Mother of Man” is touching: the Soviet commander knelt down in front of the young woman and pressed his cheek to her hand. Mary accomplished a great feat - the feat of motherhood, the origins of which were in mercy, in faith and in the great maternal heart.
Second World War- the most difficult test that befell our people. Loyalty to the fatherland, hatred of the enemy, faith in victory and perseverance helped to survive in inhuman conditions. Hundreds of writers have dedicated their works, in which the bitterness of defeat and the joy of victory, love and hatred, loyalty and betrayal are inseparably intertwined, military theme. “Mother of Man” sounds like a hymn to a woman - a symbol of life and immortality of the human race.
In September 1941, Hitler's troops advanced far into Soviet territory. Many regions of Ukraine and Belarus were occupied. What remained on the territory occupied by the Germans was a farm lost in the steppes, where a young woman Maria, her husband Ivan and their son Vasyatka lived happily. Having captured previously peaceful and abundant land, the Nazis destroyed everything, burned the farm, drove people to Germany, and hanged Ivan and Vasyatka. Only Maria managed to escape. Alone, she had to fight for her life and for the life of her unborn child.
Further events of the story reveal the greatness of the soul of Mary, who truly became the Mother of man. Hungry, exhausted, she does not think about herself at all, saving the girl Sanya, mortally wounded by the Nazis. Sanya replaced the deceased Vasyatka and became a part of Maria’s life, which was trampled by the fascist invaders. When the girl dies, Maria almost goes crazy, not seeing the meaning of her further existence. And yet she finds the strength to live.
Experiencing a burning hatred for the Nazis, Maria, having met a wounded young German, frantically rushes at him with a pitchfork, wanting to avenge her son and husband. But the German, a defenseless boy, shouted: “Mom! Mother!" And the Russian woman’s heart trembled. The great humanism of the simple Russian soul is extremely simply and clearly shown by the author in this scene.
Maria felt her duty to the people deported to Germany, so she began to harvest from the collective farm fields not only for herself, but also for those who might return home. A sense of fulfilled duty supported her in difficult and lonely days. Soon she had a large farm, because all living things flocked to Mary’s plundered and burned farmstead. Maria became, as it were, the mother of the entire land surrounding her, the mother who buried her husband, Vasyatka, Sanya, Werner Bracht and a complete stranger to her, political instructor Slava, who was killed on the front line. Maria was able to take under her roof seven Leningrad orphans who, by the will of fate, were brought to her farm.
This is how this courageous woman met the Soviet troops with their children. And when the first Soviet soldiers entered the burnt farm, it seemed to Maria that she had given birth not only to her son, but to all the war-dispossessed children of the world...