Sasha Christ by Isaac Babel. Short summary

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Sashka Christ is a kind, sympathetic and simple-minded young man. His dream is to work as a shepherd. However, the war makes its own changes in Sashka’s life.

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Sashka was nicknamed Christ «for his meekness.» He was a shepherd in the village. His stepfather Tarakanych went to work in town, and then he called Sashka with him.

Saturday came. Sashka and his stepfather sat down to drink tea. There was a knock on the window. It was a beater. Cockroach let her in the house. After this incident, the old and the young got syphilis.

In spring Sashka and his stepfather decided to go home. All the way, Sashka asked Tarakanych to be a shepherd. The boy said that «all the saints came out of shepherds.» At home they learned of a new grief: the death of Sashka’s brother and sister from typhoid fever.

Sashka persuaded his stepfather and became a shepherd again. Everyone loved the boy for his simple-mindedness. He was a shepherd until the draft.

Sashka was in the war for four years, and came back when the Whites were there. He was in Budyonny’s detachment. Sashka Christ defended Tsaritsyn and Voronezh. In the Polish campaign he was a cartman because he was seriously wounded.