"How steel was tempered": a brief summary. "How the Steel Was Tempered" by Ostrovsky

In 1934, Ostrovsky finished writing his novel, which brought him great fame. Let us consider its brief content. "How steel was tempered" - an autobiographical novel, divided into 2 parts. Each of them contains 9 chapters, which depict successively childhood, adolescence, maturity and disease. We will describe only the main events that make up the summary.

"How steel was tempered": the beginning of the events of the novel

Pavel Korchagin, the cook's son, for the unworthy act (the boy poured into the priest's dough mahry) is expelled from the school, as a result of which he gets "into people." The boy looked into the depths of life, was at the bottom of it. When the news that the tsar was overthrown, broke into a whirlwind in his small town, Pavel had no time to think about studying. He began to work hard. The boy, in spite of the prohibition of the bosses of the nameless, who surged suddenly, hides weapons without thinking. When an avalanche of gangs of Petliurists floods the province, he sees numerous Jewish pogroms that end in brutal murders.

Conversations with Juhrah

Outrage and anger embrace this young daredevil from the book How the Steel Was Tempered. The boy can not refuse to help Zhuhra, a sailor who was a friend of his brother Artem, who served in the depot. More than once the sailor spoke kindly to Pavel. He told him that the boy has all the data to become a good fighter for the work of the workers, but he is still very young, so he has a weak idea of the class struggle. Zhuhrai tells him that a fire has started all over the Earth. The slaves rebelled and should let the old life go to the bottom. However, we need a brave brother, a strong breed of people, and not mama's sons.

Salvage Zhukhray, Korchagin hiding from Tony

The following events continue to be brief. "How steel was tempered" - a novel in which the main character Pavka Korchagin, muscular and strong, who knows how to fight, rescues Zhuhrai from the convoy. For this he is caught by the Petlyuraites on denunciation. Pavka fear of a man who protects his belongings, was not familiar, because he had nothing. However, he was seized by the "icy hand" of ordinary human fear, especially when the boy heard from the escort that he was about to be shot. Pavka was frightened. However, he manages to escape, and the boy hides in Tony - a familiar girl, in which he is in love. Unfortunately, Tonya from the "rich class", an intellectual, daughter of a forester.

Relations with Tonya

Paul from the novel "How the Steel Was Tempered", having passed the first baptism of fire during the Civil War, returns to the city. The Komsomol organization was created here. Paul becomes an active member of it. His attempt to bring Tonya to this organization fails. The girl is ready to obey Pavel, but not in everything. She comes too far-flung to the first meeting of the Komsomol, and the main character is hard to look at her among the faded blouses and gymnasts. Pavel becomes intolerable to the cheap individualism of this girl. The need for a break is becoming clear to both of them.

Work in the Cheka

The irreconcilability of the protagonist leads him to the Cheka. She is headed in the province of Zhuhrai. But the Chekist work is very destructive to the nerves of the protagonist. He often faints, painful concussions increase, and Pavel goes after a short respite in his native city to Kiev, where he also ends up in the Special Department, which is headed by Segal.

The new love of Paul

We turn to the account of the events of the second part of the novel, which Ostrovsky created. "How steel was tempered" continues with the description of the trip of the main character with Rita Ustinovich to the gubernia conference. Korchagin appoint this girl to bodyguards and assistants. Lent the leather jacket from Rita, Pavel pushes into the car, then drags a young woman through the window. Rita was inviolable to him. This is his political instructor, his friend and comrade, however, she was still a woman. Paul first felt it at the bridge, and therefore he is excited by her embrace. Pavel Korchagin, unable to cope with his feelings, refuses to meet with this girl who teaches him the political teaching.

Construction of narrow-gauge railway, disease

In the minds of the young man thoughts of the personal are further removed when he participates in the construction of a narrow-gauge railway. The hard season is winter. The Komsomols work in four shifts. They do not have time to rest. Bandit raids delay work. There is nothing to feed the Komsomol members, there is also a lack of shoes and clothes.

A serious illness ends the work for Paul. He is battled with typhus. Ustinovich and Zhuhrai, his closest friends, think that he died without information about Paul.

Paul returns to service

The main hero, who created Ostrovsky ("How the steel was tempered"), recovering from illness, again finds himself in the ranks. He returned as a worker to the workshops, where he worked hard and put things in order, forcing the bosses to be bewildered and clean the shop of Komsomol members. Throughout Ukraine, as in the town, the class struggle continues. The enemies of the revolution are caught by the Chekists, they suppress the raids of bandits. Korchagin performs many good deeds, defends his comrades in meetings of cells, and girlfriends by party in dark streets.

Advocacy work

Pavka, killing himself and witnessing numerous deaths, learned to appreciate every day he lived. The protagonist took statutory orders and party orders as responsible directives of his own being. As a propagandist, he participates in defeating the workers' opposition, calling the behavior of his brother "petty-bourgeois." He also participates in verbal attacks on the Trotskyites, who dared to oppose the ruling party. They do not want to listen to him, but Lenin said that we should bet on the young people.

Meeting with Rita Ustinovich

After the death of this leader, thousands of workers in Shepetivka became Bolsheviks. Pavel's advance greatly advanced the respect of the party members, which must be mentioned without fail, by making a brief summary.

"How the Steel Was Tempered" by Ostrovsky is a work that tells about the meeting of the protagonist with his beloved a few years later. Once he was next to Rita Ustinovich, a member of the Central Committee, at the Bolshoi Theater. The girl found out with surprise that Paul was alive. He says that he loved her. However, Rita has a friend and a little daughter.

Paul's disease

The main character is sick, and he is carefully examined in the sanatorium of the Central Committee. But the serious illness that led to immobility progresses. The protagonist is not able to save any hospitals and sanatoria. Korchagin, wishing to "remain in the ranks," begins to write.

Describing the summary of the chapters ("How steel was tempered"), it should be noted that good kind women during illness are next to the main character: Dora Rodkin, Taya Kyutsam. Paul thinks about whether he lived well for 24 years. Like an impartial judge, the protagonist tested his life. He decided with deep satisfaction that she had not lived so badly.

This concludes the summary. "How steel was tempered" - the product is voluminous, and all the details of the plot in one article do not cover. In the original of the novel you will find many interesting details revealing the psychology of heroes and the philosophical thought of Ostrovsky.

Now you know what "How steel was tempered". The writer died two years after the publication of the work, in 1936, from a serious illness. This novel, as already noted, is autobiographical.