Doctor Zhivago

As winter draws to a close, the Zhivagos busy themselves for their journey. Yuri remains skeptical and secretly hopes that their plans will fall through. He doubts that they will be safer in Varykino, pointing out that the family property has all been seized and they cannot necessarily count on the help of the former manager Mikulitsyn, but the urgency of leaving Moscow and its famine conditions overrules his concerns. Yuri and Alexander Alexandrovich ingratiate themselves with the authorities to procure supplies and official permission to relocate. Zhivagos give away the possessions they cannot bring with them, and early in the morning leave for the train station. Markel, drunk and still resentful, attempts to help them and takes offense when they refuse.

The scene at the train station is chaotic: various uncoordinated lines form for tickets and boarding, arguments break out, and trains stop far down the tracks from the platforms. The crowd becomes enraged as one group of passengers is given special preference to board, until they realize that they are labor conscripts being sent to the front. On the train, the Zhivagos share a bunk in a large, mixed cabin toward the back—the train is divided into sections for the military, the labor conscripts, and a diverse selection of the general population. These divisions are loose, however, and a few labor conscripts are seated with the family too. At each stop the platforms are full of peasants illegally selling food to the travelers, a practice tolerated by the soldiers because they partake in it themselves.

The Zhivagos’ labor conscript companions include the cashier Pritulyev, the elderly revolutionary Kostoed-Amursky, and the teenage Vasya Brykin. Pritulyev is joined by his two competing mistresses, Pelageya Tyagunova and Ogryzkova, though the latter rides in another car. Vasya is a wholly innocent victim—his own uncle turned him in to the authorities in order to have Vasya conscripted in his place. The guard Voroniuk sympathizes with Vasya but is unwilling to bend the rules for any individual, no matter how innocent. Kostoed, for his part, is friendly with the guards and the Zhivagos, considering them all his comrades and equals.

Kostoed and Yuri debate the situation in the countryside. Kostoed argues that the station markets are misleading and that farther from the railways, the peasants are in open rebellion against both the Whites and the Reds. Voroniuk and the other conscripts discuss their nearby hometowns. Moving further east, the train begins to travel through active combat zones and is frequently stopped and inspected by the Red Army. They pass through a completely destroyed village, whose station master explains was attacked by commander Strelnikov’s armored train in retaliation for the peasants’ refusal to submit to Soviet power and supply the Red Army with horses and recruits.

The train is forced to stop in the village, as a blizzard has buried tracks ahead. Working together in shifts, the passengers clear the snow, a task Yuri finds surprisingly rewarding and refreshing. Moving ahead, the train leaves the snow-covered plains behind and enters the heavily forested foothills of the Urals. Spring arrives, and the landscape begins to bloom even before the snow is fully melted. The towns and villages along the railway become larger and busier, and rumors spread that the White Army, commanded in this region by none other than Galliulin, is about to conquer Yuriatin. The sights and sounds continue to impress him, from the chatter of trackside merchants to the sound of waterfalls during overnight stops.

After one night of particularly vivid dreams, Yuri wakes up to the news that Pritulyev, Vasya Brykin, Tyagunova, Ogryzkova, and Voroniuk have all escaped together, though the details of their escape are unclear—only Kostoed remains on board the train. Meanwhile, deep in the forest, Vasya and Tyagunova stop to rest by a waterfall. Vasya comforts her, assuring her that she did not kill Ogryzkova when she pushed her off of the train and that they had no choice but to escape after that. The next day, all of the remaining passengers are once again mobilized for collective labor, this time cutting logs for firewood. The soldiers mill about and joke with the civilians, trying not to think about the battle ahead.

Yuri , unable to sleep, gets off of the train as it waits at a major junction. Making out the sound of distant artillery, he realizes they have reached the frontlines. Walking along the train, a sentry stops Yuri and angrily orders him to turn around. Yuri does so but continues onward down to a riverbank at the end of the tracks, where a second sentry stops him—and the first sentry, who has been following Yuri. Convinced that Yuri is a White spy, they detain him. A nearby fisherman interjects and explains that the doctor has reached the suburbs of Yuriatin, and he is being taken to see Strelnikov himself.

The sentries take Yuri inside Strelnikov’s train-car headquarters and make him wait in the dispatch room. Yuri is surprised to see Strelnikov’s orderlies engaged in what is by all appearances routine office work, even as the battle rages a few miles away. Looking out the window, Yuri observes the hilly skyline of the city, lined with billboards and factories near the station. He’s watching soldiers escort two prisoners when Strelnikov enters, immediately impressing Yuri with his determined, deliberate bearing. Strelnikov informs the room that the White Army is in retreat, though he has mixed feelings about their victory—Strelnikov  is childhood acquaintances with the White Army commander, who is in fact more of a genuine proletarian than he is.

Strelnikov turns to Yuri and apologizes for his mistaken arrest. Still, he wants to interrogate Yuri briefly. Strelnikov himself is a mystery: he’s a former prisoner of war recommended to his position by Tiverzin, who is now an important Bolshevik. Strelnikov quickly built himself a reputation for ruthless and determined leadership and has become an invaluable commander for the Red Army in the Urals. He is unbothered by the fear he inspires, as his mission and position of power within the revolution has given him meaning he was never capable of finding in his civilian life.

Yuri explains why he left Moscow for Varykino, and Strelnikov expresses his suspicions that the Zhivagos are White sympathizers. Yuri denies this but concedes that his letters of recommendation as a loyal Soviet citizen are exaggerated. He refuses to justify himself, and he instead asks Strelnikov to let him go if he is not guilty of any crime. Strelnikov agrees to release him but warns Yuri that they will meet again. After Yuri departs, Strelnikov looks out over the city and thinks about his family, wondering if his wife and daughter are still there waiting for him. One day he will return to them, he tells himself—but not now.