Protagonist

Character Role Analysis

Yuri Zhivago

The first clue to knowing that Yuri Zhivago is the protagonist of this book is the fact that his name is the title. The second clue is that he's the first person we ever meet in the book—remember? Way, way back when he's a little boy at his mother's funeral? Yep, that was him.

Now, apart from all that basic stuff, Zhivago is also the thematic center of this book: it's all about him, in one way or another. His struggle to live the life he wants in a culture that insists on total conformity from everyone is basically the book's central conflict.

Along the way, Zhivago totally cheats on his wife and abandons his family (twice). But despite his faults as an individual, the important thing is that he makes his mistakes as an individual, refusing to spew out all the Soviet ideology that his friends keep on on talking about all day long. Zhivago may make mistakes, but they are his own mistakes; he's not going to live like a Soviet robot his whole life.

In the end, it's Zhivago's unwillingness to play along with the Soviet government that gets him into big trouble. We might expect a glorious showdown or something, but as Pasternak reminds us, there wasn't much room for glory in the Soviet Union. Instead, Zhivago dies like any other old person, having a heart attack on his way to work. It's a sad but fitting end to the life of our protagonist.