Vasily Terkin is our modern hero.

Main character Vasily Terkin from the poem by Alexander Tvardovsky, written by him during the Second World War, provided invaluable support to Soviet soldiers in the front-line units of that period.

Because not only people hardened in battles went to defend the Motherland, but also beardless boys who were not at all wise in life, who had only school life behind them and who had not yet known front-line difficulties.

Personality as a creator of history

The characterization of Vasily Terkin given by the author was more of a collective image, as if complementing the already existing personality described by Pyotr Boborkin in the novel Vasily Terkin, published in 1892. The name of this famous man-legend was considered by Tvardovsky during the period of the Soviet-Finnish war, at the turn of 1939-1940, in his published feuilleton in poetic form.

Even then, the author's foresight manifested itself, as we now understand that the Finnish events were harbingers of terrible days for millions of people on the planet who gave their lives to save the modern generation.

simple russian guy

There is no regret in the poem, but the chain of events of the military life of a simple Russian guy who went through the Finnish war and survived in order to give strength and courage to young people, to cheer up already elderly soldiers is preserved. And when Vasily Terkin tells that for him this is not the first war in his lifetime, and everything becomes clear to everyone. Because this is said by a person with experience and experienced, who was captured and left the encirclement, was wounded, but retained the fighting spirit of a real soldier.

Personal immortality

In the chapters “Before the fight”, “Crossing”, “Terkin is wounded”, the hero infects with optimism, and each chapter is riddled with episodes from a life in which there is no place for fiction. Personality in history has always had great importance because his actions leave an indelible mark on the soul of everyone. And in order to understand it, it is not enough to read only one chapter, because the character of Vasily Terkin, his true features and new qualities inherent only to this hero, are revealed in each individual story.

And Vasily Terkin presents an ideal to follow:

• as a person;
• with deep patriotism and love for the Motherland;
• optimism and hope for a beautiful future;
• faith in the immortality of the Soviet soldier.

This is eloquently narrated by the chapters "Duel", "Who fired?", "General", "Fight in the swamp", "Terkin's rest", "Two soldiers" and even in the chapter "Death and the Warrior" the hero is not afraid of death and believes in long life. This is the whole point of the work, that the warriors left on the battlefield and even those who are destined to stay alive will be immortal in the hearts of people and the memory of them will live for centuries, and each of them will become a legend: “Holy and sinful / Russian miracle man ... ".

Terkin Vasily Ivanovich- the protagonist of the poem, an ordinary infantryman (then an officer) from Smolensk peasants (“Just a guy by himself / He is ordinary”); T. embodies the best features of the Russian soldier and the people as a whole. As a name for the character, Tvardovsky used the name of the protagonist of P. Boborykin's novel "Vasily Terkin" (1892). A hero named Vasily Terkin appears in the poetic feuilletons of the Tvardov period of the Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940); cf. the words of the hero of the poem: "I am the second, brother, war / I am fighting forever." The poem is built as a chain of episodes from the military life of the protagonist, which do not always have a direct event connection with each other. In the chapter "On a halt" T. with humor tells young soldiers about the everyday life of the war; says that he has been fighting since the very beginning of the war, he was surrounded three times, was wounded. In the chapter "Before the battle" it is about how in the first months of the war in a group of ten fighters leaving the encirclement, T. was "like a political instructor", repeating one "political conversation": "Do not lose heart." In the chapter "Crossing" T., in order to restore contact with the advancing units that are on the opposite bank of the river, crosses it twice in icy water. In the chapter “Terkin is wounded”, the hero, while laying a telephone line during the battle, occupies a German dugout alone, but falls under fire from his own artillery in it; T. is wounded, but the advancing tankers save him, taking him to the medical battalion. In the chapter “On the Reward”, T. comically talks about how he would behave if he returned from the war to his native village; says that for representativeness he absolutely needs a medal. In the chapter "Accordion" T. returns from the hospital after being wounded; on the way he meets the tankers who saved him, plays the accordion that belonged to their killed commander, and they give the accordion to him in parting. In the chapter “Two Soldiers”, T., on the way to the front, finds himself in the house of old peasants, helps them with the housework, talks with the old owner, who fought in the first world war, and in parting to his question: “Will we beat the German / Or maybe we won’t beat him?” - replies: "We'll beat you, father." In the chapter “On the Loss”, T. tells the soldier who lost the pouch how, brought by tankmen to the sanitary battalion, he discovered the loss of his hat and a young nurse gave him hers; he hopes to meet her and return the hat. T. gives his pouch to the fighter in exchange for the lost one. In the chapter "Duel" T. enters into hand-to-hand combat with the German and, with difficulty overcoming, takes him prisoner. In the chapter "Who shot?" T. from a rifle unexpectedly shoots down a German attack aircraft; Sergeant T., who is envious of him, reassures him: “Don’t worry, the German has this / Not the last plane.” In the chapter "The General" T. is summoned to the general, who awards him an order and a week's leave, but it turns out that the hero cannot use him, since his native village is still occupied by the Germans. In the chapter “Fight in the swamp”, T. jokes with the fighters who are fighting a hard fight for a place called “the settlement of Borki”, from which “one black place” remains. In the chapter "On Love" it turns out that the hero does not have a girl who would accompany him to the war and write him letters to the front; the author jokingly calls: "Pay a gentle look, / Girls, to the infantry." In the chapter "Terkin's Rest", normal living conditions are presented to the hero as "paradise"; having lost the habit of sleeping in bed, he cannot sleep until he is advised to put a hat on his head to imitate field conditions. In the chapter "On the offensive" T., when the platoon commander is killed, takes command and breaks into the village first; however, the hero is again seriously wounded. In the chapter “Death and the Warrior”, T., lying wounded in a field, talks with Death, who persuades him not to cling to life; he is eventually discovered by members of the funeral squad and tells them: "Take that woman away, / I am a soldier still alive"; they deliver him to the sanitary battalion. The chapter “Terkin writes” is a letter from T. from the hospital to fellow soldiers: he promises to return to them without fail. In the chapter "Terkin - Terkin" the hero meets a namesake - Ivan Terkin; they argue which of them is the "true" Terkin (this name has already become legendary), but they cannot determine, because they are very similar to each other. The dispute is resolved by the foreman, who explains that "According to the charter, each company / Terkin will be given his own." Further, in the chapter "From the author", the process of "mythologization" of the character is depicted; T. is called "the holy and sinful Russian miracle man." In the chapter "Grandfather and Baba" again in question about the old peasants from the chapter "Two Soldiers"; having spent two years in occupation, they await the advance of the Red Army; in one of the scouts, the old man recognizes T., who became an officer. In the chapter "On the Dnieper" it is said that T., together with the advancing army, is getting closer to his native places; troops cross the Dnieper, and, looking at the liberated land, the hero cries. In the chapter "On the road to Berlin" T. meets a peasant woman who was once driven away to Germany - she returns home on foot; together with the soldiers, T. gives her trophies: a horse with a team, a cow, a sheep, household utensils and a bicycle. In the chapter “In the bathhouse” of a soldier, on whose tunic “Orders, medals in a row / Burn with a hot flame”, admiring fighters are compared with Terkin: the hero’s name has already become a household name.

The protagonist of the poem is a collective, generalized image, embodying the entire warring people. Almost nothing is said about the specific personality of Vasily Terkin. It is only known that he is over twenty - closer to thirty, and that he, like the author, comes from the Smolensk region, that "he fought in Karelian - across the Sestra River."

Terkin is a great lover of life, "a hunter to live up to ninety years old", got into service from the reserve, serves in the infantry, in the troops, "the closest to the earth, to cold, to fire and death." For him, war regular work, which must be done correctly, skillfully, not for the sake of glory, but "for the sake of life on earth."

Terkin - who is he?
Let's be frank:
Just a guy himself
He is an ordinary...
Not tall, not that small
But a hero is a hero...

Through commonness, averageness Tvardovsky shows. the typicality of Terkin, because he is the embodiment of the mass of soldiers who endured all the hardships of the war. However, the image of Terkin is devoid of schematism. This is a cheerful, full-blooded hero, with his own special character.

He is a merry fellow, a joker on a halt, a lover of a hearty meal, he is not averse to amusing his comrades by playing the accordion (“Accordion”), helping the old men (“Two Soldiers”), chopping firewood for a soldier (“Before the battle”).

This is a life-loving, good-natured, broad Russian nature, having a generous heart, combining such primordially Russian qualities as soulfulness and nobility, sharpness and wisdom, determination and courage.

Vasily Terkin is a heroic image. He, without hesitation, crosses to the other side by swimming in November to report that the crossing platoon has entrenched itself on the other side (“Crossing”), occupies an enemy bunker and holds it until its own troops arrive (“Terkin is wounded”), shoots down an enemy aircraft (“Who fired?”), taking the place of the killed lieutenant, raises the fighters to attack and breaks into the village first (“On the offensive”), cheers and inspires the exhausted soldiers during the battle for the unknown “settlement of Borki”, “Where the war paved the way , / / ​​Where the water was for the infantry / Knee-deep, mud - pile-deep ("Fight in the swamp").

In the chapter "Duel", which is the culmination of the entire poem, Terkin enters into hand-to-hand combat with a physically stronger German:

Tervin knew that in this fight
He is weaker: not those grubs.

But Terkin's morale and confidence in victory are stronger, so he emerges victorious:

And then,
Anger and pain taking into a fist,
unloaded grenade

Terkin German - on the left - shmyak!
The German groaned and went limp...

This chapter echoes the epic epic, and the fight itself grows to a symbolic generalization of "Man-People". Terkin, symbolizing Russia, confronts a strong and formidable enemy, symbolizing Nazi Germany:

Like an ancient battlefield

Chest to chest, that shield to shield, -
Instead of thousands, two fight
As if a fight would solve everything.

But it should be noted that the image of Terkin is deliberately devoid of a romantic halo by the author. as if even lowered. This is achieved through the introduction of colloquial vocabulary, vernacular (“snapped a German between the eyes”, “put it in a sled”, “gave a bream”, Terkin of a German on the left - “shmyak”, etc.)

Thus, the author seeks to emphasize that the main character is not only a generalized image-symbol, but also a personality, individuality, that for him war is work, hard, dirty, but necessary, inevitable, not for glory, not for orders and medals, not for promotion.
And only in the final stanza does the author allow himself to rise to a large-scale, solemn sounding generalization:

A terrible battle is going on, bloody,
Mortal combat is not for glory,
For life on earth.

In a dispute between two forces, goodness, love and life itself won. These lines are repeatedly heard in the poem, they are a kind of refrain, emphasizing main theme works: an unprecedented feat of a Russian soldier.

We meet the same method of generalization and individualization in the chapter "Terkin - Terkin". Vasily meets with his namesake Ivan. Ivan differs from Vasily only in hair color (he is red), a front-line profession (armor-piercer), but otherwise both heroes are similar. The dispute between them is decided by the foreman:

What you don't understand here
Don't understand each other?
According to the charter of each company
Terkin will be given his own.

Tvardovsky's poem is often called an encyclopedia of military reality of the era of the Great Patriotic War"(by analogy with Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin"). Indeed, the book about a fighter is written exclusively truthfully. The truth of war, no matter how bitter, hits right into the soul.

The poet does not embellish the events, does not depict the exploits of his hero as light and funny, on the contrary, in the poem the strongest chapters are the chapters painted with tragic pathos: "Crossing", "Fight in the swamp", "Death and the warrior", "About the orphaned soldier ".

Brief description of Vasily Terkin

1. http://www.litra.ru/characters/get/ccid/00710301300050394105/
   The image of the main character Vasily Terkin, a simple Russian soldier, is an example human dignity, courage, love for the Motherland, honesty and selflessness. All these qualities of the hero are revealed in each chapter of the work.
   Since the work was written during the war, it goes without saying that the main qualities of the hero, which the author focuses on, are selfless courage, heroism, a sense of duty and responsibility.
   He symbolic image, man-people, collective Russian type. It is no coincidence that nothing is said about his personal biography. He is "a great hunter to live up to ninety years", a peaceful, civil man, a soldier by necessity. His usual life on the collective farm was interrupted by the war. War for him is a natural disaster, hot work. The whole poem is permeated with the dream of a peaceful life.
   Already at the first mention, the surname Terkin outlines the boundaries of character: Terkin means an experienced, grated person, "grated kalach", or, as it is said in the poem, "a grated person".
   From the first days of the bitter year,
   The world heard through a terrible thunder,
   Vasily Terkin repeated:
   Let's endure. Let's grind…
   The author emphasizes the ordinariness, realism of the hero, and this is expressed in the author's description:

   Terkin, who is he?
   Let's be frank:
   Just a guy himself
   He is ordinary.
   The image of Terkin is a generalized image, for all its realism and ordinariness. Tvardovsky endows his hero with an "all-Russian" appearance, avoiding portrait signs.
   ("Beauty endowed / He was not excellent. / Not tall, not that small, / But a hero-hero.") Terkin and a bright, unique personality, and at the same time he includes the features of many people, he seems to repeated many times in others.
   It is important that Terkin belongs to the most massive branch of the infantry troops. Infantry hero. "It contains the pathos of the infantry, the troops closest to the earth, to cold, to fire and death," Tvardovsky wrote at the very beginning of his plan. Terkin is one of the laborers of the war, on whom the country rests, who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders.

2. Terkin Vasily Ivanovich a soldier (later an officer) from Smolensk peasants: a guy by himself He is ordinary.
   T. embodies the best features of the Russian soldier and the Russian people. T. has been fighting since the very beginning of the war, he was surrounded three times,

   was injured. Motto T .: Do not be discouraged, despite any difficulties. So, hero, to reconnect with the fighters,

   located on the other side of the river, crosses it twice in icy water. Or to hold a phone call during a fight

   line, T. alone occupies a German dugout, in which he comes under fire. One day T. engages in hand-to-hand combat

   with a German and, with great difficulty, but still takes the enemy prisoner. The hero perceives all these feats as ordinary actions.

   at war. He does not brag about them, does not demand a reward for them. And only jokingly says that for representativeness he simply

   a medal is required. Even in the harsh conditions of war, T. retains all human qualities

Name symbolism. The real, non-feuilleton Terkin, the hero of The Book of a Fighter, appeared in the first two chapters of Tvardovsky's book in September 1942. The front-line "biography" of Terkin is as follows: he begins to fight during the Finnish campaign, re-enters service in June 1941, retreats with the entire army, is surrounded several times, then goes on the offensive and ends his journey in the depths of Germany.

Vasily Terkin is a multifaceted image. He is a symbolic image, a man-people, a collective Russian type. It is no coincidence that nothing is said about his personal biography: they are, as it were, average. He is "a great hunter to live up to ninety years", a peaceful, civil man, a soldier by necessity. His usual life on the collective farm was interrupted by the war. War for him is a natural disaster, hot work. The whole poem is permeated with the dream of a peaceful life.

Already at the first mention, the surname Terkin clearly outlines the boundaries of character: Terkin means an experienced, grated person, "grated kalach", or, as the poem says, "a grated person with life." Compare, for example, with the Russian proverb: "Patience and work will grind everything," etc. This is the core of the name, the core of the image varies many times, is played out in the poem:

The image of Terkin is a generalized image, for all its realism and ordinariness. Tvardovsky endows his hero with a "general Russian" appearance, avoids portrait signs (this would make him overly individualized): "He was endowed with beauty / He was not excellent. / Not tall, not that small, / But a hero-hero." Terkin is a bright, unique personality, and at the same time he includes the features of many people, he seems to be repeated many times in others 1 . See, for example, the chapter "Terkin - Terkin": it turns out that there are two Terkins in the book. This is the hero of the book Vasily Ivanovich and his namesake Ivan. Duality emphasizes the generalizing nature of the protagonist. But their duality is not absolute: the second Terkin turns out to be red-haired, does not smoke, and his front-line profession is an armor-piercer. The situation is resolved by a "strict foreman":

Tvardovsky selects the most general, typical episodes of the war, rarely uses specific geographical names and exact chronological designations (the place and time of his book is a field, forest, river, swamp, village, road, winter, spring, summer, autumn). The same applies to Terkin's military profession: in different situations, he turns out to be either a signalman, or a shooter, or a scout. It is important that Terkin belongs to the most massive branch of the military - the infantry. The hero is an infantryman. "In it - the pathos of the infantry, the troops closest to the earth, to the cold, to fire and death," Tvardovsky wrote at the very beginning of his plan. Terkin is one of the laborers of the war, on whom the country rests, who bore the brunt of the war on their shoulders. The hero of Tvardovsky's poem is the hero of a specific war with the Germans, and at the same time there is something in him that brings him closer to the Russian soldier of all times. Tvardovsky himself always liked this idea about the deep national roots of his hero, and there are lines in the handwritten versions of the poem:

Tvardovsky draws the life of the war as a whole, but overall picture war is made up of individual, very vivid and accurate details of the war. The concreteness and tangibility of the pictures drawn by Tvardovsky are extremely enhanced by the numerous and precise details of front-line life: in the parking lot, "water with ice rattled from a bucket from a smoky tank"; the telephone operator "blew into the receiver for order"; soldiers write letters "on a halt, by fire, on each other's backs, removing gloves with their teeth, in the wind in any frost," etc. The pictures of the war in the poem are always dynamic, alive, visually perceptible.

The system of rhymes used in relation to the name and surname of the hero also contributes to the achievement of generalization of the image of the protagonist. Tvardovsky uses rhymes that characterize the life of the army and the mood of the hero ("Terkin" - "bitter", "shag", "sayings", "in the tunic", "in the supply room", etc.). The most responsible in the poem is the rhyme "Vasily - Russia", repeated several times in the text, that is, it is emphasized that the hero is the embodiment of the heroism of the Russian people, representing all of Russia, all the people.