Liberius Mikulitsyn

Character Analysis

Of all the characters who cross paths with Doctor Zhivago in this book, Liberius Mikulitsyn annoys him more than anyone.

Don't get us wrong, Liberius is a brave and intelligent young man: "Libka faked the date on his birth certificate and, at the age of fifteen, ran off to the front as a volunteer" (8.6.2). Joining the army to fight at fifteen is a pretty intense thing to do, especially when you have to break the law just to get into the army. So the guy has that going for him.

Liberius is a man of action. In fact, he has very little patience for any kind of philosophizing that doesn't translate directly into action. While attending a Communist Party meeting, for example, "Liberius listened, listened, and finally could not bear it. All this seemed like dilettantish nonsense to him, with no relation to reality" (10.6.29). Older people find him disrespectful, but in reality, all he wants is for people to get out of their chairs and actually do something about the problems in the world instead of just talking about them.

For all his valor, though, Liberius is also someone who completely buys into Communist ideals without ever questioning them. And his desire to constantly talk about these ideals is something that eventually starts to grate on Zhivago's nerves: "The partisan chief Liberius Mikulitsyn was indulgent towards him, had him sleep in his tent, liked his company. Yuri Andreevich was burdened by this imposed closeness" (11.1.4). As an individualist, Zhivago is a man who likes his privacy. For Liberius, privacy is a bad thing because it encourages selfishness.

For Zhivago, Liberius is a motivated man. But his motivation is exactly what makes him so dangerous. He seems to be made of energy when it comes to fighting for the Communist cause. He might also be getting a lot of that energy from his cocaine addiction, which Zhivago calls him out on at one point: "Besides that, I draw your attention to the cocaine that you have again been sniffing without restraint. You willfully appropriated it from the stock I'm in charge of" (11.5.11).

We wonder if Liberius needs to coke himself out because he suspects deep down that there's something wrong with the cause he's fighting so hard for. Or is he just irresponsible? Do you think the Russians want coke addicts in charge of their armies? Either way, there are a few things about Liberius Mikulitsyn that make him a tough guy to read.

As with all his characters, Pasternak shows us that there is both a good and bad side to Liberius, and it's up to us to judge how much we agree with him versus how much we agree with Zhivago. Or maybe we don't agree with either…