Redrick Schuhart is the character of the philosophical and fantastic work of the Strugatsky. The topic of the article is the characterization of the protagonist of the novel “Roadside Picnic”.
Visiting Area
The novel takes place in Harmont. Not far from the city is the so-called Visiting Zone. Were the aliens here? How long have they been? Where did you go after visiting Earth? For employees of the Institute of extraterrestrial cultures, the answers to these questions are not so important as the realization that humanity is not alone in the Universe. Soon new discoveries will be made. The staff of the institute are convinced of this. One of them is Redrick Schuhart. He is also a former stalker.
The Visiting Area is constantly being researched. There are not only scientists, but also stalkers - desperate guys who, at the risk of everything, penetrate into a dangerous area in order to pull out everything that succeeds from there. In 1997, based on the work of the Strugatsky brothers, the film "Stalker" was shot. This word should be understood as a representative of a new profession, which is Redrick Schuhart. A photo of the actor in the role of the main character of the Strugatsky book is presented below.
Kirill Panov
Redrick Schuhart is a laboratory assistant at the Institute for Extraterrestrial Cultures. He is twenty three years old and single. At least this is his age and marital status at the beginning of the novel.
Radrik’s boss is a young Russian scientist, Kirill Panov, who is studying dummies. Researchers find similar details near the Visitation Zone. Redrick in the past, being a stalker, more than once saw such objects. However, they were not empty, but filled with blue fluid. The laboratory assistant tells the scientist about this.
Together they travel to the Visitation Zone to search for "dummies." But after a dangerous journey, Cyril dies from a heart attack, which is the result of touching a strange silver web. Redrick blames himself for the death of the scientist.
Five years later
In the third chapter, the hero of the novel is married and has a daughter. Redrick no longer works at the institute. He again became a stalker. A new character appears in the novel - Vulture Barbridge. In the circle of stalkers has his nickname Redrick Schuhart. Red - that’s what these strange people call him, ready to risk not only their lives, but also the lives of those close to them for the sake of money.
With Barbridge, Redrick sets off on a new expedition. However, along the way, the Vulture injures his legs. Red-headed Shuhart saves him. But not because he promises to reveal to him where the Golden Ball is, fulfilling wishes. But because, despite his unseemly activity, Redrick is not so bad. Greed, greed are not characteristic features of this hero.
Shuhart again goes to the Visitation Zone. But this time he is being arrested and sentenced to several years in prison.
On the loose
Over the years that Redrick spent in prison, his daughter has changed a lot. The girl will die soon. The goal of the next Stalker sortie of Shekhart is to save her daughter. Somewhere in the Visiting Area there is a Golden Ball that will help the hero return it. In the last trip, the stalker risks the life of the son of his former partner. But this risk is not justified. Looking at the Golden Ball, Red realizes with horror that he has no more words or thoughts.
Redrick Schuhart is smart, brave and kind. He has a sense of justice. But what is the cause of the crime that he commits at the end of his journey? It is not a matter of inborn perversity. And in the shortcomings of a society in which there are too many individuals who do not want to live and work honestly. The only person who could influence the fate of Shekhart was Kirill Panov. But the Russian physicist died. After that, Red became even more angry with himself. Another death (the one in which Shekhart was already really guilty) led to the fact that the hero renounced himself, from all the vile things that had been accumulating in his soul for many years.