The Russian Jewish writer Isaac Emmanuilovich Babel fought in the first World War, later becoming a journalist. In many of his stories, the narrator appears as a semi-autobiographical apparition of Babel himself. Throughout his tales, the identity of a soldier and the grasp on the horrors of battles and war are shown with great, gory detail and shock the reader into attention. Set near the town of Brody, “The Death of Dolgushov” tells of the Russian Invasion into Polish territory. In the story, a man in the army makes the decision to flee after witnessing the horrors of war. The narrator’s grasp to the value of a human life is shown through many aspects of the tale and is a constant reminder of the humanity of war regardless of the moral or ethical reasons for any of the actions. Constant environmental cues pop up in the actions of the superiors and the actions of fellow soldiers as they lay on the border of battle. In memories and interactions of the men are the threads of their thoughts on what the price of a life is and if it is worth expending.
In a particular scene, Vytyagaichenko, the regimental commander who is rumored to be fired, has an interaction with his wounded men. The men are spoken for under one delegate who says that they are not able to fight anymore. Under normal circumstances in the Russian Army, they would kill the wounded who refused to fight and die honorably. “’Don’t whine.’ Said Vytygaichenko, turning to face him. ‘Don’t worry – we won’t leave you behind.’ And he gave the order to move off.” A true show of how men of war regard the death and life of their brothers perhaps. These wounded men were about to meet their maker on the battlefield if their injuries did not succeed in killing them first. Afonka, a comrade in arms, has a response that surprises the narrator with his blunt statement: “If he’s really been fired, we’re done for. Yes, soap the rope and kick away the stool…” Vytyagaichenko does not bother with the lives of his men when he has nothing to go back to after the war. If the rumors are true, he would return disgraced. Afonka, knowing this, continues into the fight with the high probability of being wounded or killed. The tears in his eyes symbolize his farewell to life as he “soaps the rope and kicks away the stool.”
The environment of death seems to sweep closer to them, it is apparent in the beginning as “the veils of battle swept towards the town,” and Babel describes how the bullets whined and burrowed into the ground. This boils down to Afonka’s frustration with the commander’s decision to march into death as he says: “’The enemy are all of three miles away. How are we going to slash them down if our horses are winded? There’ll be time enough – God damn it – to meet our Maker!” This attention to God and the afterlife seems to almost pair with the upcoming scene of the narrator and another man, Grishchuk, as they come upon Polish soldiers that pop up behind graves like zombies. The decision for Vytyagaichenko to march on is made clear through these passages. His regard to the human life of those under his command does not matter as long as his position in the regiment is in danger. Near the end of the story, there is a moment where the narrator moves away from this environment to save his own life which he valued so dearly. “I rode off at a walk, not turning round; in my back I felt the cold of death.” He rides away at the same pace that Vytyagaichenko sets for the riders to go into their demise. Behind him is the ruin of a line of men to never return to their families or have children and Afonka who returns to battle.
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