The protagonist of How Steel Was Tempered, Pavel Kochagin, was a youth inspirational novel written by Nikolay Ostrovsky. It mainly talked about the growth of Kochagin from an ordinary soldier to a leader of steel workers. Kochagin met a steelworker named Alexander Heracles in the factory and the two gradually became good friends. Heracles 'outstanding performance in the factory was appreciated by his superiors and promoted to class monitor. Kochagin also gradually became an excellent steelworker through his own efforts. In addition, there are many other important characters in the novel, including Zhukov, the student leader of the Ukraine Iron and Steel Institute, Kochagin's alma mater, and Bubka, Kochagin's classmate and good friend. Through their own struggles and hard work, they became the representatives of the Soviet steel industry and represented the fighting spirit and pursuit of the youth of that era.