Hadji Murad and Cossaks, a Tale of the Caucasus - Book Report/Review Example

? World Literature "Cossaks, a tale of the Caucasus" and "Hadji Murad" Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 The Cossacks: A tale of the Caucasus in 1852 3 Hadji Murad 5 Bibliography 8 The Cossacks: A tale of the Caucasus in 1852 The novel “The Cossacks” written by Leo Tolstoy is believed to be an autobiography of the writer based on his past experiences in the Caucasus during the Caucasian war. The story is about the experiences of a young Russian aristocrat Olenin, who leaves Moscow and joins the army as a cadet with a hope to start a new life in the Caucasus. Olenin, being a new man in the Caucasus, wanted to be a part of the local culture, so he became friends with an old man. The story opens on a morning when Olenin decides to move out and feel the surroundings alone and search happiness, without taking the old man along with him. Olenin slowly becomes enamored by the surroundings in Stanista and despises his previous experiences. Olenin arrives to a Cossack village on the Caucasian border where he met a young Cossack soldier Lukashka, a young woman Maryanka whom Lukashka plans to marry, and Eroshka with whom he planned to go for hunting and became friends with him. During this time Lukashka kills a Chechen who was trying to come across the river towards the village to scout the Cossacks. The whole story mainly is found to revolve around the village, the life of the Cossacks defending the border against the Muslim Chechens, and the role played by the three main protagonists of the story. In the meanwhile, Olenin falls in love with Maryanka despite being aware of her wedding with Lukashka. So as to stop his emotions and bring in simplicity, he plans to convince himself that he loves both Maryanka and Lukashka, and that happiness comes to a man who tries to give happiness to others with no thought of self-gratification. Olenin gives Lukashka one of his own horses when he finds that he owns none. Therefore, Olenin preferred to be in the company of Eroshka who guides him to hunt in the woods along the Terek River. As time passes by, Olenin gains the respect of the local villagers; a Russian named Beletsky who is attached to ways of Moscow and through his actions tries to corrupt the ideals and convinces of Olenin, and encourages Olenin to win the love of Maryanka. Due to the duties of Lukashka in guarding the border, the wedding of Maryanka and Lukashka gets delayed. Lukashka soon comes to know about the love of Olenin for Maryanka and refuses to invite Olenin at the betrothal party. Olenin gets depressed and decides not to lose hope and continue his attempt of expressing his feelings to Maryanka. When Lukashka expresses Maryanka his feelings for her and his desire to marry her, Maryanka promises to consider his proposal. The end part of the story depicts a military encounter; Olenin joins the group of Cossacks with Lukashka so as to fight against a group of Chechen raiders to protect the village. Lukashka gets severely wounded when his group of Cossacks moves to tackle a group of Chechens who were trying to attack the village. Though the Cossacks were able to gain victory in the battle, the brother of the Chechen whom Lukashka killed previously, shoots Lukashka. Lukashka gets severely injured and dies. At the time of death Lukashka is seen to receive great compassion and care from the villagers of Caucasus. At this point Olenin approaches Maryanka for her approval to marry Olenin. Maryanka, being in a deeply mournful state, angrily refuses the proposal of Olenin. Olenin looses his hope and confidence, and all his ideals fail; he decides to leave the Caucasus. Eroshka was the only villager present at the time of departure of Olenin. Olenin bids goodbye to Eroshka who appears to be very sad on Olenin’s departure. But after a moment, when Olenin looks back to find Eroshka, he finds that Eroshka has apparently moved out from his state of emotion and has already returned back to his normal life. Thus, the story depicts the journey of a man in search of happiness and peace. The ruling factor in the life of a man is the wave of time. Everything is not always the way it looks to be. Happiness is gifted; one can search for it, try to obtain it but cannot attain more than as destined. Changes occur, so a man has to adjust with this changing environment and survive with a battle with the destined life. Hadji Murad In Hadji Murad written by Leo Tolstoy, the writer prefaces with the fact that humans are destructive creatures, and considering his own benefit and purpose, a man can destroy the lives of other living creatures. The writer introduces many characters, but the story revolves round the role of Hadji Murad. Hadji Murad, Shamil’s naib was famous for his exploits and used to ride with his banner and some dozens of muriads who showed off and caracoled before him. The story points out how Hadji Murad joined hands with the Russians to save his family. Hadji Murad had a quarrel with Shamil, the Caucasian separatist’s commander and the anti-Russian Muslim, which announced a proclamation forbidding the inhabitants of Chechnya receive Hadji Murad on pain of death, and if anyone was found acting against it, the inhabitant would have to surrender. Sado, an inhabitant of aoul, allowed Hadji Murad to stay at his house for a night. Though Sado was frightened for his life for keeping such a guest at his house, on the same time he was pleased and satisfied, being able to perform his duty. Sado’s fear turned into reality since his neighbours were aware of the presence of Hadji Murad in his house. So Hadji Murad had to flee. He and his mate were attacked by a group of soldiers in the middle of the road, but they managed to escape. He met his brother in a forest and was satisfied to hear from his lieutenant that the Russians were awaiting their arrival and promised to help him in the best way possible. Hadji Murad had a great faith in his fortune and approached in every field with a firm commitment of success. At a little Caucasian fort at Vozvizhensk lived the Prince Simon Milhailovich Vorontsov, who was an Imperial Aide-de-camp, the Commander of the Kurin Regiment and the son of the Russian Commander-in-Chief, with his wife Marya Vasilevna who was held to be the beauty of Petersburg. Both the prince and his wife were pleasured to realize the arrival of Hadji Murad in the coming day for surrender. On surrendering himself in the hands of the Prince, Hadji Murad convinced him that he wished to serve him long ago but was unable because of Shamil, and this pleased and cheered the Prince. But at this moment an incident occurred, which led to the death of Petrukha Avdeyev. On the other way round the family members Hadji Murad gained the goodwill of the soldiers of Vozvizhensk. In the middle of the story, Hadji Murad was found relating his story to Loris-Melikov, the governer general’s adjutant, where he discloses his life right from his childhood to the reasons for his flee from Shamil. He stated the reasons for his quarrel with Shamil and his refusal to join the call of Shamil so as to take revenge of the death of his brother and the pro-Russian Khans to take control over the Chechens, which made Shamil announce a strict proclamation against Hadji Murad. The Russians were aware of the ability and position of Hadji Murad; therefore, they wanted to use him as a tool for fighting against Shamil. But the plans were distracted when the prince Chernyshov, being jealous of Hadji Murad, reported the emperor that Hadji Murad was a spy of Shamil which led to the forbearance of Hadji Murad. The emperor ordered to attack Chechens, but Hadji Murad had to be in stronghold. At this point, Hadji Murad realized his distressed position that on the one hand, he had lost the trust of the Russians, and on the other hand, he had no way to return to Shamil since he would be killed. So he decided to flee to rescue his family. At this juncture the story takes a pathetic turn. The soldiers return carrying the slashed head of Hadji Murad, and Maria Dimitriyavna, the companion of Hadji Murad, is seen commenting on the cruelty of men at times of war while relating the story of the death of Hadji Murad. Hadji Murad and his lieutenants fired upon the troops so as to save his family. But in no time the lieutenants were killed, and Hadji Murad was wounded. But despite being wounded, Hadji Murad had tried to fight till his last breath and failed to save his family. The Russian soldiers won and beheaded Hadji Murad, the fierce fighter. Thus, this story highlights the cruelty of people towards the fulfillment of their own needs, desires and goals, irrespective of the destruction caused by this approach. Bibliography Tolstoy, Leo. The Cossacks: A tale of the Caucasus in 1852. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington, 1878. “Hadji Murad.” Adelaide. November 16, 2012. http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/t/tolstoy/leo/t65h/. Read More