Evgraf Zhivago

Character Analysis

Evgraf is the half-brother of Yuri Zhivago, the son that Yuri's father had with a European woman who was apparently some sort of royalty.

Evgraf is almost impossible to pin down. He first shows up after tracking Zhivago down. He is a big fan of Zhivago's writing, even though he himself is a devout Communist whose ideas are a lot different from Zhivago's. Whenever Zhivago tries to pin him down on something, though, Evgraf "dodges, evades, not one direct answer, smiles, wonders, riddles" (9.9.3).

Somehow, Evgraf grows up to have a lot of power in Russia's Communist party, and he becomes a sort of protector for Zhivago and his family. But Zhivago still can't help but wonder, "Where does [Evgraf] come from? Where does his power come from? What is he engaged in? Before his disappearance, he promised to lighten our farmwork […] [and] he did not deceive us. There are signs that the conditions of our life will indeed change" (9.9.4).

By the end of the book, Evgraf has risen all the way to the post of general in Russia's Red Army. While occupying this post, he gives Zhivago's long-lost daughter Tanya a piece of advice, saying that "[n]ever, in any circumstances, must you despair. To hope and to act is our duty in misfortune. Inactive despair is a forgetting and failure of duty" (15.14.21).

At the end of the day, we're no closer to knowing what Evgraf really thinks. He seems to buy into Communist ideas, but he's also interested in helping out his family no matter how unpopular they are with the Communist party. And that's about where it ends. All we know is that Evgraf steps in whenever Zhivago gets in deep water and almost magically frees him. He's almost like a supernatural protector—Zhivago's version of a fairy godmother (see our analysis of "Coincidence" in the "Symbols" section for more on this idea).