Doctor Zhivago Part 7: On the Way Summary

Part 7, Chapter 1

• Zhivago does not support the idea of leaving Moscow for Varykino. He doesn't even bother to help with the packing.
• Tonya tells Zhivago that they only have to go until the new government figures things out and life gets back to normal. In the meantime, they're going to go stay on Tonya's grandfather's old estate.

Part 7, Chapter 2

• When he goes to the train station looking for tickets, Zhivago finds out that it's almost impossible to get a train out of Moscow these days. The porter not so subtly says that something can be done, though, if Zhivago bribes him.

Part 7, Chapter 3

• In a stroke of good luck, both Zhivago and his father-in-law Alexander are asked to perform special work for the government. As payment, they get special sacks full of food. The two of them are overjoyed as they drag the stuff home.

Part 7, Chapter 4

• Zhivago's wife Tonya walks around the house wondering what to take with her to Varykino, since she'll have to travel lightly.

Part 7, Chapter 5

• Everything in the Zhivago house is packed at this point. They push all of their chairs and tables up against the walls and basically board the house up as if they're abandoning it. They have no clue what'll happen to the place while they're gone.

Part 7, Chapter 6

• The Zhivago family leaves for the train station early in the morning. They basically sneak out of the house so that their neighbors won't make a big deal out of their going.

Part 7, Chapter 7

• At the station, Tonya waits in a long line. Zhivago has got himself a special train reservation, but he hasn't been able to get one for Tonya and his father-in-law. They have to work hard to make sure they all get on the same train.
• Zhivago shows his wife the special pass he's got, and all the passengers around Tonya discuss how important the pass is.
• Farther up the train line, the Zhivagos see a huge group of men. A passenger tells them that these men have been drafted for forced labor by the Soviet government. They've been pulled out of their homes and will now have to work (basically as slaves) digging ditches in the remotest parts of Russia.

Part 7, Chapter 8

• The Zhivagos ride on a freight car, which makes Tonya feel like they're being treated like a bunch of cattle. She's going to have to get used to that, though, with the new government in place.
• There are people from many different social classes wedged into the same train cars, which almost stands as a symbol for how things are going to work in the Soviet system. In this new system, there aren't supposed to be social classes anymore.

Part 7, Chapter 9

• Whenever the Zhivagos' train stops, peasants from the countryside run up to the windows trying to sell food. Tonya trades a towel for half a cooked rabbit, thinking she's getting a great deal.
• Meanwhile, an old woman accuses a young man of eating her food and refusing to pay for it.

Part 7, Chapter 10

• We get a quick rundown of three men who have been rounded up for the Soviet labor army. Each of them comes from a very different background.
• One of the laborers, named Pritulyev, has two women travelling with him. Both of the women are smitten with him and are fighting each other for him. No one knows why, though, since Pritulyev isn't much to look at and not all that charming of a guy.

Part 7, Chapter 11

• Of the three men we learned about in the last chapter, one is a young man named Vasya. Vasya himself wasn't summoned to the labor camps; his uncle was. But his uncle tricked Vasya into boarding the train in his place and then abandoned the poor kid.

Part 7, Chapter 12

• One of the labor conscripts, a guy named Kostoed, argues with Zhivago about the success of the Russian Revolution. He argues that instead of going Communist, the country might actually turn anarchist, with no central government at all. In his mind, the peasants in the countryside should be free to live any way they want.
• Meanwhile, one of Pitulyev's female admirers comforts the young Vasya and tells him that everything is going to be okay.
• The truth is that everything probably won't be okay.

Part 7, Chapter 13

• One evening, the engineer driving the Zhivagos' train decides that he's had enough work and stops the train. He jumps out and runs down the tracks, refusing to drive any further. A bunch of sailors riding on the train chase him down and try to force him back to work.
• Eventually, a large Ukrainian sailor convinces the engineer to start the train back up.

Part 7, Chapter 14

• During one of the train's scheduled stops, people realize that the train station it's stopping at has been completely burned to the ground. Rumors circulate that this town tried to disobey the Soviet government. So the government burned down the entire town.
• Apparently, the name of the commander who burned down the town was Strelnikov. The guy has a reputation for being a total cutthroat.
• To make things words, the train has been stopped by a massive snowdrift. The passengers all have to get off and shovel the tracks off for the next several miles.

Part 7, Chapter 15

• It takes three days for the train passengers to clear the snow off the tracks and get the train going again. The activity actually makes it the most enjoyable part of the Zhivagos' trip.
• At the end of all the work, the passengers are brought freshly baked bread, which puts all of them in a good mood.

Part 7, Chapter 16

• When the train is finally ready to go, the Zhivagos return to it. Before they do though, they explore the burnt-out train station.
• When the shovelers finally look up from their work at each other, they're all surprised at how many of them there are.

Part 7, Chapter 17

• Just when the train is about to leave, Zhivago and Tonya look at the cleared train line one more time. While they're doing this, they hear an argument between the two women who are fighting for the heart of the passenger named Pitulyev. They keep calling one another all kinds of unflattering names.
• Eventually, the fight turns physical. Tonya asks Zhivago to get away from the unpleasant scene as quickly as possible. They leave the women to fight it out.

Part 7, Chapter 18

• As the train continues on its journey, the weather starts to warm up, which puts people in a good mood. The change in weather makes Zhivago very sleepy. There's not really much going on.

Part 7, Chapter 19

• The spring thaw continues as the train moves across Russia. The whole world outside the train starts coming to life, and Zhivago leans his elbow on the windowsill to listen.

Part 7, Chapter 20

• As they approach the mining regions of Russia, the towns become more populated. The Zhivagos see more people as they pass by.
• From the talk that goes through the train, Zhivago learns that the "Whites" have gained the upper hand in the North of Russia. The "Whites" are the people who support the Russian tsar and the old regime. These are the people who are fighting the "Reds" or Communist Bolsheviks who are trying to seize control of the country.
• It turns out that the dude who is commanding the White forces in the north is none other than Galiullin, the guy who was in the medical hospital next to Zhivago back in WWI.

Part 7, Chapter 21

• Zhivago wakes up in the middle of the night feeling really happy for some reason. He listens to the sound of people moving around outside the train, and he can tell that there's a waterfall somewhere nearby.
• While Zhivago drifts back to sleep, he can hear two men talking about some trouble they've been having with local grain dealers. They talk about how they executed a few of the dealers to teach the others a lesson. These men are obviously soldiers who are trying to get the local people under their control.
• The men also talk about how they took forty thousand bushels of grain from the local people as payment for the trouble they'd been caused.
• The sounds of another train fill the air. The soldiers mention that it must be Strelnikov's personal armored train, and they talk briefly about how fierce and deadly he is.

Part 7, Chapter 22

• Zhivago wakes up again feeling awesome. He can smell the scent of spring in the air, and it fills him with hope.

Part 7, Chapter 23

• Tonya wakes Zhivago up to tell him that two of the labor conscripts, Pritulyev and Vasya, have run off during the night. The two women competing for Pritulyev have also disappeared, and it's suspected that one murdered the other.
• The train has been stopped, and it probably won't start again until the deserters are found. But the engineer says that he has a bunch of war reserves that he needs to get to the war front, so there's no way he's staying.

Part 7, Chapter 24

• We look in on Vasya, who has run away from the military train with one of Pritulyev's admirers. He tells her that they need to get to a nearby village and find someone who will hide them.
• We also find out that this woman did indeed murder her romantic rival by pushing her off the train while it was moving.

Part 7, Chapter 25

• Now we're back with Zhivago, whose train has stopped to take on fuel. Everyone is supposed to get out and help except the soldiers traveling to battle. They are ordered to stay on the train.

Part 7, Chapter 26

• Zhivago and his father-in-law Alexander get out of the train to saw some wood to help fuel and heat the train. Alexander tries to go too fast, but Zhivago gets him to slow down.
• Alexander reminds Zhivago that he wanted to talk to him about something. Zhivago takes this opportunity to admit that he doesn't know what will be waiting for them when they finally reach their destination.
• Zhivago knows that they're entering a very politically sensitive world, and he wants to make sure that he, Alexander, and Tonya are all on the same page. They need to say and do the right things if they're going to get along without running into trouble.
• The family also talks about whether they'll have a long enough season to plant a vegetable garden.
• The family knows that they might also run into problems by returning to their old family estate. People in the town might think that they have come to reclaim their family property, which wouldn't be very welcome in the new Soviet world. People will no doubt treat them with suspicion because they come from a wealthy background.

Part 7, Chapter 27

• On a very hot day, Zhivago wakes up from a nap and goes outside the train for fresh air. He can hear long-range cannons firing nearby.
• As he is walking, Zhivago is accosted by a guard with a rifle. The man demands to know where he's going, and Zhivago asks him what train station they've stopped at. The man demands to see Zhivago's pass.
• Zhivago offers to show him his papers, but the soldier won't hear of it. He seems to think that Zhivago is somebody else, and rather than argue with him, Zhivago turns and starts walking in the opposite direction...
• When Zhivago gets close to a river, another guard demands to know who gave him permission to go walking around. Again, Zhivago asks him what river he's looking at. At this point, the first guard from earlier comes up behind him, and the two escort him to a special train car. They want to shoot him on the spot, but they have orders to take whoever they think he is to their boss.
• Before leaving, though, a nearby local guy advises Zhivago to demand to be taken to "the chief." So that's what he does.
• Zhivago realizes that the man he's being taken to is the ruthless Strelnikov, who is leading the current government in the area. He's technically not part of the Red Army, but he's pretty much on the same side.

Part 7, Chapter 28

• When he enters the special train car, Zhivago can hear laughter dying down. After seeing several mid-ranking military guys, he realizes that all of them are being coldly casual, considering that a bunch of people are getting blown up in the nearby fighting.

Part 7, Chapter 29

• As he's led deeper into the special military train car, Zhivago realizes that he's only a few miles from Yuriatin, where Lara is living. He is happy at the thought of being so close to her.
• While he's waiting, he sees a young boy being led by two Red Army officers. They are barely keeping the kid on his feet. His head is bandaged and he keeps trying to put his hat on over it.
• Shifting his gaze, Zhivago realizes that he's standing in the same room as the famous Strelnikov.
• Right away, he can tell that Strelnikov is a very impressive man.
• After barking some orders at his underlings, Strelnikov takes one look at Zhivago and knows that he's not the man the soldiers thought he was. He says the resemblance isn't even close. He tells Zhivago he's free to go.
• Giving back his traveling papers, Strelnikov sneaks a glance and sees that he is Yuri Zhivago from Moscow. After seeing this, he invites Zhivago to join him in private for a moment.

Part 7, Chapter 30

• Zhivago wonders how Strelnikov could possibly hold the kind of power he does without being a member of the Communist Party. Further, he finds out that Strelnikov was raised in the household of the famous Moscow revolutionary, Tiverzin.
• But wait a second. Don't we know who this person is, if he was raised in Tiverzin's house? Can we remember that far back?
• Another clue: it turns out that Strelnikov was also a prisoner of war during WWI.
• Strelnikov has made a name for himself by ruthlessly crushing any resistance to the Russian Revolution. He has even been given the nickname "The Executioner."
• Strelnikov has spent his life aiming for the highest perfection in both people and things. But finding out that this perfection was impossible, he became bitter and started doing whatever it took to make the world into what he thought it should be.

Part 7, Chapter 31

• Strelnikov grows suspicious at the fact that Zhivago, a doctor coming from a rich family, would move from Moscow to the peasant countryside. The man wonders what Zhivago is running away from.
• Zhivago admits that his wife Tonya's family comes from the area and used to own a large estate there. Strelnikov assumes that Zhivago thinks he's going to get all of the family's property, but informs him he is too late, and that the area has become totally Communist.
• Worse yet, Strelnikov suspects that Zhivago has sympathy for the tsar-supporting "Whites," which would make him Strelnikov's mortal enemy.
• Strelnikov only lets Zhivago go because he has already told him he's free, and he doesn't want to go back on his word. But in truth, Strelnikov would do away with him then and there if he could do it all over again.
• It's clear now that Zhivago's rich past is enough to get him condemned to death as a White sympathizer.
• Strelnikov looks out the train window after Zhivago has gone. He knows that his wife and child live in the nearby town of Yuriatin, where he used to live. But he knows he can't go back to them just yet. He has more work to do. Besides, he feels at this point that his family belongs to a different part of his life.
• Again, there's something really familiar about this Strelnikov guy…