I’ve come to understand Dr. Zhivago as a story of perseverance despite the effects of revolution and war and their drastic political shifts.  It’s also a story about the sweeping passage of time and how beauty can be found even in the midst of war and it's cruel separations.  Further, the characters’ epic journeys across Russia remind us that this is, finally, a story of Russia and of her resilient people plagued by hardship.