Article - My Impressions of Nodar Dumbadze’s Story “Hellados”, Authoress - Abdukahhorova Gulhayo (Uzbekistan)

My Impressions of Nodar Dumbadze’s Story “Hellados”

The story “Hellados” is a very rare and deeply affecting work written by the beloved Georgian writer Nodar Dumbadze. The main character of the story is a boy named Yanguli, and the narrative depicts his unique life and fate.

Yanguli is the son of a Sukhumi Greek named Christa Aleksandrid. He is a fourteen-year-old boy—skinny as a stick, with bony shoulders, a sharp nose, jet-black eyes as clear as obsidian, and arms so long they reach down to his knees. For the boys around him, he was like the Angel of Death himself. Yanguli lived with his father on Venetian Street, near the banks of the Chalbash River. He does not remember his mother—he became an orphan in infancy. All that father and son owned was a small piece of land, a single cow, and a donkey. They survived by selling yogurt, milk, and dairy products.

Yanguli never went to school. He lost his mother as a baby, and his father was always preoccupied with daily worries and earning a living. At first glance, Yanguli was a street boy. “Taking the sickle of those passing by and the hoe of those leaving” had almost become his occupation.

Although the protagonist Yanguli had never seen a school or teachers and had not fully experienced parental affection, he was by nature sensitive, thoughtful, and intelligent. In the story, Jamol knew that Yanguli had no mother, yet under Kokane’s pressure he could not stop himself from insulting him by mentioning his mother. Yanguli, however, upon hearing that Jamol’s mother had died, immediately embraced his rival and prepared to apologize. Even when Yanguli is forced by his father to leave his homeland, he thinks of lifting Jamol’s spirits in that difficult moment: “Jamol ego, agapo imána su! Jamol, I love your mother!”

One should not be quick to blame Yanguli’s father for his son’s tragedy. He too must be understood. He did not love Yanguli any less. It is just that his homeland was elsewhere—Greece, Hellada.

The story teaches us that the place where a person discovers their identity, gains loyal friends, cherishes every inch of land as something sacred, and experiences their purest emotions—this is what creates the feeling we call Homeland. For this reason, every person should strive to live in their own homeland.

Abdukahhorova Gulhayo

Uzbekistan University of Business and Science

2nd-year student, Uzbek Philology