A Family Man

                                                                                  Mikhail Sholokhov

Bring out the pathos in the story of Mikishara

A Family Man is a heart-rending story written by Mikhail Sholokhov who is a great  Russian novelist and short story writer.  The sudden disappearance of kingship led to Civil War in Russia in the year 1918. The war was between Bolsheviks known as “the Reds” and the anti-Bolshevik forces “the Whites”. They opposed the policies of Lenin. The members of Mikishara’s family happened to be in opposing camps. Mikishara’s two sons joined the Bolshevik forces while Mikishara and his seven daughters were in the anti-Bolshevik forces. Mikishara and his family lived on the river Don. Now Mikishara is a ferryman and he is narrating his pathetic story to the author.

2.  Mikishara had nine children. They were two sons and seven daughters. Ivan was the eldest son. He was married and had a child. The second was also a son named Danila.  His wife died long ago. So he had to look after the entire family.  Then came the Civil War and his two sons joined Bolshevik party. Mikishara served the Whites because in his village almost all the people were in the Whites and he had seven hungry mouths to feed. They were mere children. Mikishara were given frontline duty in the White forces. The fighting was going on just below his farm. On Easter Eve, nine prisoners of war were brought to Mikishara. One of them was Danila, Mikishara’s dearest son. The sergeant asked Mikishara to kill Danila. He was beaten to pulp by others and he was bleeding.  Mikishara knew that if he refused to kill Danila, the Whites soldiers would kill Mikishara and his seven daughters would be starved to death. So Mikishara killed his own son with his bayonet.  So his commander appreciated his work and Mikishara was promoted as Senior Sergeant.

3.  Mikishara’s White army occupied a certain village and his eldest son Ivan was arrested and brought to Mikishara’s Commander. Commander asked Mikishara to take his son to headquarters. Mikishara took his son Ivan to the headquarters, which was about nine kilometers away. They walked together. Ivan begged his father to let him escape now otherwise he would be killed at the headquarters. Mikishara told his son that he could run away when they reached the gullies. He advised him to run away and Mikishara would pretend to shoot him twice. Ivan believed his father. Ivan embraced his father and began to run.  Then Mikishara fired at his son. Mikishara ran after his son. Ivan was lying on the road. He was bleeding. He begged his father that he had a wife and child and give him life. But Mikishara told him that he had to take care of seven young daughters. Ivan died in the hands of Mikishara.

4.  Mikishara suffered so much grief for the sake of his children. But when his seven daughters grew up, they were angry with Mikishara. They told him on his face that he murdered his two sons. His seventeen year old Natasha told him that she could not sit at the same table with her father and every time when she looked at his hands, she remembered that with those hands he murdered her two brothers and she hated him for that. Mikishara the family man is still working hard to earn his daily bread and butter. He is ferrying people across the river Don. While ferrying the author across the river, Mikishara narrates his pathetic story.

Questions:

1.      The events that led to the promotion of Mikishara as Senior Sergeant  --2^nd paragraph.

2.      The murder of Ivans        ---                         ---                      ---                3^rd paragraph

3.      How far does the description of Nature, help in the development of the theme in this story?

Answer:

The story of Mikhail Sholokhov, The Family Man begins on the shore of the Don river. The narrator of the story is Mikishara, the ferry- man. Time is late afternoon. Sholokhov says that the sun looked like swollen and purple with strain and dropped down behind the village cemetery. Dusk is compared to blue wreaths to be placed on the dead bodies in the cemetery. The sound of the oars is compared to groaning of a dying man. While the ferry was moving, the Don river took it to a flooded grove of willows just opposite to the shore. Finally the boat got stuck in the grove. The oars broke off. Water entered the boat. So both Mikishara and the author moved onto a nearby willow tree to spend the night. Sitting on a branch of the tree, the ferryman Mikishara narrated his pathetic story to the author. Thus the description Nature is very suitable in the development of the theme in this story.