Paul grew up in hardship. His father died in his early years. His mother did laundry and cooking for others, and his brother was a worker. When Paul was 12 years old, his mother sent him to the station canteen as a handyman. He worked in the canteen for two years and suffered all kinds of humiliation.
After the outbreak of the October Revolution, Paul's hometown of Sebetovka, Ukraine, like other places in the Soviet Union, was trampled by foreign armed interventionists and domestic reactionaries. The Red Army liberated the town of Sebetovka, but quickly withdrew, leaving only the old Bolshevik Zhukhlai doing underground work in the town. Zhukhlai stayed at Paul's house for a few days and told Paul many truths about the revolution, the working class and class struggle: "Now the whole world is on fire, the slaves have revolted, and they want to overthrow the old world, but , For this, what is needed is a group of brave brothers who can fight resolutely." Zhuhelai's inspiration and education played a decisive role in Paul's ideological growth.
Suddenly, Zhuhelai was captured by the gangsters. Paul asked around anxiously. One day, when the bandit soldiers were escorting Zhuhelai, Paul swooped over unexpectedly, beat the bandit soldiers into the trench, and escaped with Zhuhelai. However, Paul was thrown into prison due to a report by Victor, the son of the Polish nobleman Liszhenski. After being released from prison, Paul ran as fast as he could. He was afraid of falling into the clutches of the devil again and did not dare to go home, so he unconsciously came to Tonya's garden door. He jumped into the garden. Tonya likes Paul's "enthusiastic and stubborn" character, and Paul also feels that Tonya is "different from other rich girls." Later, they met several more times and slowly fell in love. In order to take refuge, Paul agreed to Tonya's request and stayed. A few days later, Tonya found Paul's brother Arqing, and he sent his brother to Katchading to join the Red Army.
In a fierce battle, Paul was seriously injured on the head. But he defeated death with amazing tenacity. After being discharged from the hospital, it was no longer suitable for him to return to the front line, so he participated in the work of restoring and building the country. Here he also takes the attitude of a working-class master and devotes himself nervously to all kinds of hard work. He did regiment work, counter-revolutionary work, and directly participated in hard physical labor. In the construction of the narrow-gauge railway, Paul showed a high degree of political enthusiasm and selfless labor spirit.
Paul has only seen her twice since bidding farewell to Tonya at her house. The first time was after he was discharged from the hospital after recovering from his injury, and the last time was at the railway construction site. Paul found that as the revolution deepened, the ideological gap between them became wider and wider, and they no longer spoke the same language at all. , so they parted ways.
At the end of the road construction project, Paul got typhoid fever. After recovering from his illness, he returned to work. He participated in industrial construction and border defense struggles, and joined the party. However, because Paul suffered many serious and hidden injuries in the war, and later suffered several serious illnesses, coupled with his selfless work and labor, he did not take care of his body, and his health became worse and worse. In 1927, he became almost completely paralyzed and subsequently blinded. The serious illness finally bound this young man full of revolutionary enthusiasm to the hospital bed. But Paul rediscovered the strength to "return to the team" despite enduring unimaginable pain both physically and mentally. He set himself two tasks: on the one hand, he was determined to help his wife Daya make progress; on the other hand, he decided to start literary creation. In this way, "Paul picked up a new weapon and started a new life."
The events described in "How Steel Was Tempered" took place from 1915 to the early 1930s. period. Paul Korchagin is the central character that the author focuses on shaping, and he is also the most successful image of a communist fighter in the book. He went from spontaneous to conscious under the influence of the old Bolshevik Zhukhlai. He understood the social roots of unequal life and understood that in order to overthrow the old world, he must become a "brave and strong class brother" and a "steel warrior who fights resolutely." While actively participating in the great struggle to defend the Soviet power, he realized that only when a person is connected with the motherland can he create miracles. He once said: "I agree with revolutionaries who believe that personal matters cannot be compared with the collective cause."
Paul always puts the interests of the party and the motherland first. In that era of blood and fire, Paul and his father and brothers galloped on the battlefield together, fighting indomitably against foreign armed interventionists and white bandits to defend the Soviet regime. In those years when he was healing the wounds of war and restoring the national economy, Paul devoted all his enthusiasm to peaceful labor. His hard-working and desperate spirit showed the noble qualities of the first generation of builders. During the construction of the railway, Paul's Pankratov team "walked desperately ahead" and worked at a "crazy speed".
Paul never surrendered. He is always ready to bear the heaviest blow to himself. He has withstood all tests, and he has also withstood the test in dealing with issues such as friendship, love and family, showing lofty communist moral principles.
After Paul became paralyzed and blind, he was very distressed and could not extricate himself. He had suicidal thoughts, and the plot of the story reached a very tense level.
Suicide is tantamount to betraying the revolution - because of this, the muzzle of the pistol "glared contemptuously into Paul's eyes", so he condemned himself with a ruthless and stern attitude: "Brother, what do you usually say? A heroic career turns out to be all about words! ...Have you ever tried to overcome this kind of life! ...Have you tried your best to break out of this iron ring? Even when life is really unbearable? Find a way to survive. There is nothing more terrible than falling behind. "For a blind young Communist, all he needs in life is to continue to work for the party. He overcame the blow of tragic fate with strong perseverance and began his struggle to return to the team. Paul also used his whole life to practice his life principles: "The most precious thing for a person is life, and everyone has only one life. A person's life should be spent like this: when he looks back on the past, he will not be disappointed because of wasted years. Regret, and not be ashamed of inaction; in this way, when he is dying, he can say: 'My whole life and all my energy have been dedicated to the most magnificent cause in the world - the struggle for the liberation of mankind. '" This is a true portrayal of Paul's fighting life and a profound summary of his revolutionary optimism.
When explaining the title of this work, Ostrovsky said: "Steel is made by burning in fire and being highly cooled, so it is very strong. Our generation is also in He is trained in struggles and hard trials, and has learned to never lose heart in life." When creating the image of Paul, the author uses inner monologues, letters, and aphorisms to reveal the whole heart of this image. Complexity and the process of growth. Paul's image is the most glorious and typical representative of the young generation of socialism. This is the fundamental reason why the name Paul Korchagin can be heard in all continents of the world, and "How Steel Was Tempered" can become a life textbook for young people. At the same time, both in terms of ideological content and artistic form, this novel can be called one of the best works of Soviet literature in the 1930s, and in terms of the power and depth of its impact on readers, it is in the history of world literature Also unique.
The famous book "How Steel Was Tempered" was translated into Chinese by Mei Yi as early as 1942. Paul's image still shines with the indelible brilliance of thought to this day.