Research Paper on:
Destiny and Boris Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
Italy in 1957. The novel is commonly perceived as a political novel. Given that it was written during the turbulent times of the Russian Revolution and given that  the Russian government exerted control over Pasternak even to the point of forcing him to renounce the Nobel Prize for the novel, even refused allowing the novel to be published  in Russia until 1987, this perception is partially correct. Even more important than the political overtones of the novel, however, is the human drama which it reveals. In  "Dr. Zhivago" Pasternak manages to incorporate many critical aspects of culture, of conflict, and of the overriding importance of the individual and human interrelationships. It is a story of  friendship, of interpersonal relationships and a story of destiny. Pasternaks "Dr. Zhivago" is also a story, however, which provides an interesting basis for the question of whether an individual  is responsible for their own destiny. Dr. Zhivago is a complex tale of the lives of numerous characters and situations, over  sixty primary characters in fact! Each undergoes tremendous trials and tribulations of both a personal and political nature. The character that stands out in the novel as the  most meaningful, however, is the poet, philosopher, physician, and political prisoner Yurii Zhivago. Through him the real intent of Pasternaks story comes to light. That intent is to  reveal the fact that history is made up of the interrelatedness of individuals and that it is the associations of those individuals that history is given meaning. The underlying  message of Dr. Zhivago is that it is not politics or nations, only Christ and individuals that determine the facts of life and history.