Honor Is in the Heart, Freedom Is of the Mind
Christie Brew-Hagan
3/30/16
Modern Russia
Honor is in the Heart, Freedom is of the Mind
Through the Novel, “and Quietly Flows the Don” we are cultured on a period of life of the Malenkov’s a Cossack family who reside in the village of Tatarsk in the Don River region of czarist Russia. The freedom to live as they want without intrusion from outside forces is their most cherished Cossack sovereignty. This account of Cossacks living in Post Czar Russia show us that, their way of life must be preserved by any cost.
Honor applies on various levels in the novel, ranging from the individuals and the family, to the village and the Cossack people as a whole. The duty of honor is the absence of shame. To not bring shame upon ones family, and village are the truest validation of an Honorable Cossack; who portrays honor at home, and abroad.
The love triangle which takes place among main characters Gregor, Aksinia, and Natalya enhances the general narrative, and helps to explain the culture of the Don Cossacks. Their character validates their culture which confirms the qualities of freedom and honor. Gregor Melekov has an affair with Aksinia Astakhov the wife of Stephen Astakov, who is away serving in the army. However, his family arrange for him to marry Natalia Korshunov in order to preserve the reputation of Gregor’s family; being that the institution of marriage is greatly valued whereas immorality is frowned upon in Don Cossack Society. We find the importance of such institutions with the matter of the dowry that Pantaleimon must pay to Grigoryvich (Natalia’s father) (Sholokhov 69) Pantaleimon declared, “There has to be a gift …That’s our Cossack custom. That’s how it was of old, and we stick to the old ways”.
Due to his stubborn emotions, Gregor recklessly abandons his wife and family and runs away with his mistress bringing shame to his family. His father even whips him .Yet when his child with Aksinia is born Gregor’s father comes to visit; meeting his grandchild and seeing his son off to war. This action justifies the perseverance of the family bond in this Cossack village. Unyielding loyalty is expressed once more when Natalia tries to commit suicide as she feels abandoned and hopeless without her husband (Sholokhov 167). Graciously, she is met with love by Gregor’s family, who take her in, proving their solid commitment to moral custom. On his leave from the army he comes back home to Aksinia only to find that she has been unfaithful with Eugene Listnitsky after the death of his daughter, and there is a turn of events.
As a testament to the Don Cossack unanimity Gregor is taken off the path of moral indirection and comes back to his Cossack senses. He fights with Eugene and Aksinia (Sholokhov 278), and returns back to his family and village and his rightful lover Natalia. Thus restoring honor. In his affair, Gregor exercises his freedom of choice and masculinity. However circumstances cause him to change his state of mind about his relationship with Aksinia, thus taking a new frame of mind, and different freedom.
Being a traitor is one who does not act in ways that preserve the Cossack Honor. Cossacks are collective in thought. Thus, these earlier events in the novel foreshadows later events in the novel where Gregor fights against, instead of with the Bolsheviks and Revolutionaries as a testament to honor.
In Don Cossack culture going against the grain is not only dishonorable to your family and village, but detrimental to your wellbeing. At the very end of the novel during the ever so bloody Civil War the Don Cossacks savagely kill and execute all the revolutionary forces, filling the trenches with bodies (Sholokhov 551). However not only did they kill men of Russian and Soviet descent. They punished their own men, (who happened to be Bolshevik sympathizers) to a higher degree, in order to demonstrate the terrible fate of those who did not adhere to Don Cossack “codes”. Adding to the woes, the court had two forms of punishment: shooting and the birch” (Sholokhov 552). Unfortunately, punishments were public for all the community to see (Sholokhov 552).
The Cross of St. George is a symbol of honor which is merited to brave men in the army brigades. Gregor, Piotr as well as other well respected Cossacks were highly esteemed for having this badge, becoming the pride of their village (Sholokhov 244). It’s also interesting how possessing this badge of honor concealed the dishonor of being in the Red Army at many points of the novel. Another badge of honor we find in this novel, which Don Cossacks processed is a certain physical attribute; their dark eyes. In the novel we know the significance of their features when we meet respected and reputable Cossack nationalists like Izvarin, whose black eyes set him apart from the rest of the officers in the regimen (Sholokhov 408). A trend in the novel, which I found interesting is; to make comments on distinctive Cossack features is to point out that not only is this person of great importance but above all, he or she is a Cossack.