The purpose of the article is to identify the mechanisms of formation of socio-cultural values and mental characteristics of students through the images of literary heroes. Content analysis of literary sources according to the selected parameters: positive and negative qualities of the hero, attitude to study, labor, family, Motherland, ideas about good and evil, values and priorities, norms of behavior in society and collective was chosen as the research method. The selected criteria allowed us to structure the content of texts according to the subject areas that make up the worldview: the idea of oneself and one's role in the world; ethical and ideological ideas; norms and patterns of behavior; values. The selection of sources was made along two lines: firstly, literary works that were most often declared at the “Loud Readings” in the labor reserve schools of the Sverdlovsk region, and secondly, the most popular works according to the statistical data of libraries of labor reserve schools and colleges, as well as towns and villages. The analysis of reports of colleges and schools, the results of the survey of visitors to libraries in Moscow and rural areas made it possible to identify the most popular works of fiction of that time and to present the factors that had a direct impact on the formation of students' worldview, their value system and mentality, to compile cult images of literary heroes.