How the Steel Was Tempered is a socialist realist novel written by Nikolai Ostrovsky during Stalins era. Pavel Korchagin is the central character.

　　Pavel Korchagin The novels protagonist. He is fighting on the Bolsheviks side in the Civil War . He is a quintessential positive hero of socialist realism.

　　Tonia Toumanova Pavels teenage love. Tonia and Pavel became good friends after their first encounter, which later develops into an intimate relationship. Though born of a wealthy and influential family, Tonia treated everyone equally unlike her friends, who only interact with other children of well-reputed families. However, this changed as she grew up, as she became more aware of her appearance and social status of others.