Doctor Zhivago Part 8: Arrival Summary

Part 8, Chapter 1

The moment Zhivago and his family reach their destination, they realize that the community they're entering is very close knit. These people also seem to have special ways of getting around the laws recently put down by the Red Army. As the narrator tells us, Zhivago and family won't take long to figure out how the local people do this.

While Zhivago returns to his train car with the armed guard, the guard makes small talk with him about the local weather and about what crops are good to plant at this time of year.
The guy also complains about what the wars between the Reds and the Whites are doing to the country. He wishes he were home doing a regular job instead of fighting all the time.

While Zhivago is unloading his stuff from the train, people keep reaching out to help him, but he declines their offers.
Tonya is happy that nothing bad happened to Zhivago while he was missing. It turns out that the guards on the train told her everything about Zhivago being taken to meet Strelnikov.
Tonya introduces Zhivago to a man named Anfim Efimovich, who knew Tonya's grandfather and has heard of Zhivago and his father. Apparently, this man is a hardcore Communist.
The Zhivagos find out that the town of Yuriatin won't be able to take them in because there are fires popping up everywhere, and the only bridge into town is shut down.
They'll have to switch trains a few times in order to get to their final destination at Varykino.

The Zhivagos' train keeps connecting and disconnecting endlessly on the train tracks. It seems like they'll never get where they're going.
While they move around, a guy named Samdevyatov points toward the nearby town and tells Zhivago about everything that's burning.
For a moment, the two of them talk about Marxism and how silly it is that Marxism thinks of itself as a science. For Zhivago, Marxism only sees what it wants to see in the world, which means it could never be a science.
Samdevyatov thinks that Zhivago is silly but doesn't argue with him.
While the train passes a switchyard, a female rail worker outside sticks her tongue out at the passengers, since she's so sick of seeing them go past. Samdevyatov sees this and starts thinking deeply about stuff.

Zhivago asks Samdevyatov about what he does. Sammy says he's a lawyer and that he's been working in the nearby area for decades, so he knows it inside and out. Zhivago is surprised that there's still a need for lawyers, considering that all forms of property have been abolished in Russia.
Zhivago asks how he'll be treated by the people his family is going to see, the Mikulitsyns.
Samdevyatov says that the dad will probably try to drive them away, and with good reason. Being from rich families, Zhivago and his wife Tonya aren't going to be all that popular with the local Communists. Samdevyatov says he wouldn't be surprised even if Mikulitsyn killed Zhivago and his whole family.
Samdevyatov says that it might not be comfortable, but the world has to go through this bloody process. Otherwise, it would never cleanse itself of all the parasites and evil people who have always profited from capitalism.
Samdevyatov ends the convo by saying that even though Mikulitsyn can be a loud, angry guy, he's also very nice at heart, and he'll probably end up helping the Zhivagos.

We learn a little bit about the Mikulitsyn guy whose house the Zhivagos are heading toward for refuge. It turns out Mikulitsyn used to work for one of Tonya's old relatives. He married the eldest of four sisters and had a son named Liberius with her. This son faked the date on his birth certificate so that he could join the Russian army in WWI as a volunteer.
When the war ended, Liberius came home all decorated in medals. It turns out that war was something he was really good at.
It turns out that this Liberius is now the leader of an army called the Forest Brotherhood, which isn't exactly part of the Red Army but is basically fighting for the same cause of Communism.
Anfim Efimovich gets off the train after telling Zhivago a little more about the daughters in the Mikulitsyn family.
Before arriving at their stop, Zhivago tells his wife that he's not encouraged by the fact that so many people seem to recognize her resemblance to her rich old grandfather.

The Zhivagos finally disembark at their stop. They're all surprised by how silent and deserted the place is. They're used to seeing people crowd around trains, looking for a spot to jump on.
Deep down, Tonya has always assumed that she and her family would be arrested the moment they got off their train. Now that she sees they're free, though, she starts crying with happiness.
The Zhivagos meet a stationmaster who is nice to them and helps them with their things. Apparently, Anfim told him to give the Zhivagos all the help they needed.

The Zhivagos load their few possessions onto a cart and ride with an old man toward their destination of Varykino. They're all feeling happy.
The old man driving the cart occasionally starts singing bits of old folk songs.
The Zhivagos think that the old cart driver is hard of hearing, but he actually hears everything they say about what they pass. Eventually, he pipes up and corrects them on everything they've got wrong. After all, he's the man with the local knowledge.
The Zhivagos hear gunshots as they approach Varykino. Zhivago and Tonya are worried that it's fighting, but the cart driver says it's just Mikulitsyn scaring off wolves.

As we find out, things don't go very well when Zhivago first meets with Mikulitsyn. First of all, the guy's holding a pretty big gun.
Mikulitsyn wants to know why, of all the people in the world, the Zhivagos from Moscow have chosen to come to him. Zhivago doesn't really have a great answer to this, but now that he's arrived, how about giving him some help?
Finally, Mikulitsyn realizes that the Zhivagos have a family connection to the old owner of the land and figures that the Zhivagos think they have some sort of claim on it. But Mikulitsyn is an aggressive Communist who has a deep-seated hatred for anyone who would have been rich before the Revolution.
Mikulitsyn also tells the Zhivagos that they're putting him in a very dangerous situation by trying to stay with him. If the government doesn't like them, then they might get mad at him for helping them.
Finally, the guy relents and invites the Zhivagos into his house. He says he'll try to find a spare corner of his farm for the Zhivagos to stay in.

While things are going on in Mikulitsyn's house, Zhivago steps outside with his father-in-law, Alexander, and talks with him about what they can expect from the house and land Mikulitsyn is going to give them. They both know that things will be difficult. But they probably won't starve.
Zhivago and Alexander talk for a minute about their impressions of Mikulitsyn and his wife, then head back inside.
While walking around Mikulitsyn's house, Zhivago mentions how amazing the view is and how great the place must be for writing.
There's some more small talk about how good Mrs. Mikulitsyn's cookies and tea are, while Zhivago tells Mikulitsyn that he's heard great things about the man's son, Liberius.
As the chapter closes, Mikulitsyn tells a story about a local math teacher named Antipov (yup, the same guy who was married to Lara and lost in WWI). The story is that the bloodthirsty Strelnikov is actually Antipov come back to life; but apparently, that's all just a legend.