Choosing a life path in the novel E. S. Chizhova "Terracotta old women"

The article reveals the choice of the life path of the heroine of the novel by the modern writer Elena Chizhova "Terracotta woman". At the beginning of the explanation of the symbolic title of the work through the grotesque image of the statues of the Hellenistic period. Describes the semantics of the two epigraphs, which refer the reader to the Russian classics: F.M. Dostoevsky and L. N. Tolstoy. The author reveals the image of Tatiana-a teacher of Russian language and literature, a person educated on high spiritual values of Russian literature, aware of the importance of the word and its impact on people. Historical and living conditions have repeatedly put her in front of a choice: to become a winner or loser, to lose conscience or save. There is a change in the gender roles of the main character. But every time a moral choice was made by the heroes of the Russian classics: Pushkin and Dostoevsky.