The people in the work of war and peace. An essay on the theme The image of the common people in the novel “War and Peace. The fragility of the boundaries between estates

The narrator in the novel War and Peace writes about the people that they “calmly waited for their fate, feeling within themselves the strength in the most difficult moment to find what had to be done. And as soon as the enemy approached, the richest elements of the population left, leaving their property; the poorest remained and burned and destroyed what was left. " This was the idea of ​​what a "people's war" is. There was no room here for self-interest, for thinking about one's own property, for thinking about tomorrow: there will be no tomorrow while today the enemy tramples on his native land. Here, for a very short time, the unity of the entire people takes place: from the poor peasants who set fire to the abandoned property that should not be given to the enemy, to the Emperor Alexander I, who resolutely and categorically rejects peace negotiations while Napoleon is within Russia. In the people, Tolstoy sees simplicity, sincerity, awareness of their own dignity and duty to the Motherland. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy wrote: "It is more interesting for me to know how and under the influence of what feeling one soldier killed another than the disposition of troops at the Austerlitz or Borodino battle."

We have the opportunity to judge the war of 1812 from the standpoint of the 21st century, and we see what dedication the Russian soldiers possessed, engaging in battle with the Napoleonic army, which had managed to conquer almost the whole world before. After all, every wound in that war could be fatal: the soldiers were not protected by anything, medical assistance was very limited. Even if the wound was minor, the soldier could soon die from blood poisoning. In the novel "War and Peace" the soldiers themselves think little about death: they simply fulfill their patriotic duty, without complicating their feat with meditation. In this simplicity lies, according to Tolstoy, the greatness of the people's feat.

Prince Andrew looks at the bathing soldiers and realizes that they are cannon fodder. He is one of the few who thinks about their doom and understands the power of their heroism. Therefore, for the soldiers, he is “our prince”.

In the first two volumes we see how the threat is approaching Russia, how it is growing. In the third and fourth volumes of the novel "War and Peace", the picture of the people's feat that saved Russia from Napoleonic conquest is broadly developed.

One of Tolstoy's great writers' discoveries is his description of crowd psychology. The description of the people not only consists of individual portraits of heroes from the people, but is also presented as a collective image of the people. We see the people in the scene of the prayer service before the battle, on the Moscow square before the burning of Moscow, before the surrender of Moscow to Napoleon's troops, we hear the roll call of voices. Such a collective image in Russian "graceful literature" first appeared in Tolstoy. In addition, the magnificent beginning of the novel - an evening with Anna Pavlovna Scherer - is also, in fact, a description of the crowd, only the "high society crowd."

Readers-contemporaries paid special attention to the revolt of the Bogucharov peasants. Bogucharovo was Bolkonsky's so-called “out-of-the-way estate”. Already from this naming it is clear that Bogucharovo did not come across him often. In general, there were not many landowners in the vicinity of this estate. The landowners, among other things, were also news transmitters (which, by the way, sometimes they did not use in real life quite conscientiously: the peasants did not subscribe to newspapers, and there were no other "mass media" yet). Therefore, it is understandable that among the Bogucharovites "there were always some vague rumors, either about the enumeration of all of them as Cossacks, then about a new faith, into which they would be converted, then about some tsarist leaves ...".

The old prince Bolkonsky did not like the Bogucharovites "for their savagery." According to his own rule, Prince Andrey made life easier for the Bogucharovites. During the short time that he lived there, Andrei Bolkonsky reduced the rent for the peasants. With this, landlord "reforms" usually began and ended, but the prince went further, built hospitals and schools. However, the peasants were not very happy about this. After the Napoleonic invasion, they decided to stay in Bogucharovo, hoping, with the help of the French, to free themselves from the landowners, from the "fortress." However, Napoleon had no plans to free the Russian peasants: their "control" through the landowners who spoke French well suited him. The conflict between the peasants and Princess Marya began unexpectedly for her. However, it was enough for the brave officer Nikolai Rostov to appear, give orders loudly, and the peasants themselves tied up the instigators of this failed revolt. In the denouement of this unexpectedly begun and just as unexpectedly ended incident, the attitude of the writer himself to the peasant uprisings of the early 19th century was evident: they were simply impossible, according to Tolstoy. That is why his hero must become a Decembrist, a member of a secret society trying to free the peasants "from above" through the long-awaited constitution.

It was this people, who so easily abandoned their plans, as soon as an unknown officer shouted, turned out to be the glorious winner of Napoleon. It was national resistance, the "cudgel of the people's war."

Source (abridged): B.A. Lanin Russian language and literature. Literature: Grade 10 / B.A. Lanin, L.Yu. Ustinova, V.M. Shamchikova. - M .: Ventana-Graf, 2016

The author of "War and Peace" pays a lot of attention to the depiction of the common people. The peasantry appears before us in the person of serfs, corvée and household servants, and in the person of soldiers who retain their peasant features, and in the person of partisans. As Tolstoy's worldview changes, he is interested in different aspects of the external and internal life of the peasants, but he always draws them with unusually truthful and vivid colors. Mass scenes with their variety of behavior and relationships of individual characters are amazing in their skill; speech characteristics are striking in their life truth.

When describing the 1805 campaign in Austria, Russian peasants appear as living people, dressed in soldier's greatcoats, but who have not lost their special peasant appearance. They go to fight without knowing exactly what, with whom and where. During the campaign, people show their usual endurance, simplicity, good nature, cheerfulness - a sign of great physical and moral strength. Making a tedious transition, they are thrown among themselves in separate phrases. At the command of the captain, the songwriters ran ahead, sang a song, and then a soldier ran forward and began to dance. But here the soldiers are shown in battle, in action, in hard work in a time of mortal danger hanging over Russia, and a new feature of the national character is immediately felt - fortitude and courage.

During the heroic battle at Schöngraben, the uncovered “battery continued to fire and was not taken by the French. In the course of an hour, seventeen of the forty servants were killed, "but the soldiers, led by their officer, continued to courageously fight against the superior forces of the enemy. Over the course of several years of work on War and Peace, Tolstoy's interest in the peasantry increased and the character of his depiction changed somewhat. The plight of the people is emerging more and more clearly. In the estates of Bezukhov and after his "reforms" "the peasants continue to give with work and money everything that they give from others, that is, everything that they can date.

The old prince Bolkonsky orders to give his courtyard to the soldiers for the fact that he mistakenly served coffee first to the prince's daughter, and not to the Frenchwoman, who was currently enjoying the old man's favor. Such manifestations of lordly tyranny were not isolated phenomena, as this is evident from the conversation between Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre during their trip to Lysye Gory. Describing the Rostovs' hunting, Tolstoy introduces a new, episodic person - the landowner Ilagin, the owner of a wonderful hunting dog, for which the "respectable courteous gentleman" "gave his neighbor three courtyard families a year ago."
The discontent of the peasants manifests itself in War and Peace more than once. The peasants' dissatisfaction with their position, the consciousness of the injustice of the existing system, underlines such a small episode. When the wounded Prince Andrey was brought to the dressing station and the doctor ordered him to be carried to the tent immediately, “a murmur arose in the crowd of awaiting wounded.

"It is seen. and in the next world to live alone for the masters. - said one. " The closeness of the French shook the lordly power. and the men begin to talk openly about that. that they have long been painful. The hatred of the peasants for the landlords was so great. as “the last stay of Prince Andrey in Bogucharovo. hospitals with its innovations. schools and the relief of quitrent. - did not soften their morals, but. against. strengthened those character traits in them. which the old prince called savagery. " They did not inspire confidence in them and Princess Marya's promises to give bread and take care of new places. where she invited them to move.

However, the nobles do not feel at ease either. The meaning of this concern is clearly expressed by Pierre. speaking in the epilogue to Nikolai Rostov. that it is necessary to prevent a possible Pugachevism. But. despite their plight. the peasants do not want to surrender their homeland to the rule of the French invaders, and at the same time show boundless courage and resilience. The mobilized peasants, the militia, put on clean shirts before the Battle of Borodino: they prepared for death. but not to retreat. Expression of this simple and sincere. alien to any imagination and theatricality of love for their homeland is unshakable fortitude. courage of Russian soldiers. The valiant Russian warriors have nothing ostentatious. They stand in their places and that the French do not dare to attack more. " This incomprehensible strength of the Russian army was the strength of the Russian people. who fought for his homeland. And Tolstoy again leads the reader to the source of this strength of the Russian army - ordinary Russian people. peasants. dressed in soldier's greatcoats.

The very same prince Andrei, who once spoke with Pierre from his aristocratic positions so contemptuously about the peasants, as he came into close contact with the soldiers and peasants in the common cause of defending the homeland, he was imbued with deep respect for them. Not only the part of the people who had been mobilized into the army took part in the struggle against the invaders. After the Battle of Borodino, the French “did not have fodder for horses and cattle. Nothing could help this disaster, because the surrounding peasants burned their hay and did not give it to the French. " The peasantry played a huge role in the final destruction of the enemy and by organizing partisan detachments that fearlessly exterminated Napoleon's "great" army.

Peasants, including soldiers, appear in "War and Peace" vividly, vividly, convincingly truthfully, thanks to a huge number of individual bright sketches, sometimes small strokes, characterizing the general appearance of the masses. From time to time, individual artistically completed images appear from the general mass for a more or less long period. Each of them has its own striking features. So, for example, Platon Karataev, who played such an important role in the life of Pierre Bezukhov, differs sharply from the head of Drona. Complete indifference to deprivation, "swarm principle", simplicity, gentleness - all this struck Pierre as a sharp contrast to the need for luxury, careerism, rude selfishness and arrogance of "high society", the Kuragin society, Scherer and the like, so weighed him down. The humanity and compassion of this Russian peasant helped Pierre re-enter the world of human relations after the terrible spectacle of the execution of innocent people in Moscow occupied by the enemy.

Peering into the simple activities of Karataev, his attitude towards people and life in general, Pierre, as it seemed to him at that time, found a solution to the dissatisfaction that tormented him. Reconciliation with all the sufferings and hardships that befell him, confidence in the expediency of everything that was happening seemed to Pierre at that time the greatest wisdom of life. Karataev's life, “as he himself looked at it, did not make sense as a separate life. It made sense only as a part of the whole that he constantly felt. " The positive qualities of Karataev in Pierre's eyes did not diminish either his thief or lack of special affections: "Platon Karataev remained forever in Pierre's soul the most powerful and dear memory and the personification of everything Russian, kind and round." The image of Karataev is not given by Tolstoy directly from himself, but only through the perception of Pierre, and in a special state of mind, and this leaves a special imprint on him. Particular importance to this image is given by a kind of speech, which contains very little of the actual Karataev language, but in which the centuries-old folk wisdom sounds. But these sayings by no means always reflect his personal feelings and life rules. Along with the speech characteristic, the image of Karataev is revealed through his labor activity and attitude towards the people around him. Tolstoy is touched by the patience, humility, good-naturedness, compassion and diligence of Karataev. The author adorned his speech with wise sayings borrowed from the centuries-old life experience of a number of generations, but by no means showed him the embodiment of the best features of the people, although the fatalism of Karataev is to some extent consonant with the views of the author. Showing in the person of Karataev infinite patience and all-embracing kindness and benevolence, Tolstoy obscures the acuteness of class contradictions between landlords and peasants. A different type is given in the image of the partisan Tikhon Shcherbaty. At a time when the chiefs of large detachments still did not dare to think of an invasion of the very center of the French army, "the Cossacks and peasants who climbed between the French believed that now everything is possible."

Among these men, for whom "everything is possible", Tikhon Shcherbatyi stands out for his extraordinary prowess. First, he caught the "miraders", living in his village Pokrovskoe near Gzhatya, and then joined Denisov's partisan detachment. He did all sorts of hard economic work there, and then, when he showed his fearlessness and dexterity, he was enrolled in the Cossacks. Tikhon was the most useful and brave man in the detachment. Nobody else discovered cases of French attacks. Tikhon was not proud of his exploits, but once he was wounded and since then did not take prisoners: apparently, the wound hardened him. One of the manifestations of Shcherbaty's inner strength is his ability to depict, in a humorous way, even the most dangerous situations in which he fell. Along with love for the homeland, steadfastness, simplicity and selfless courage, along with a close comradely bond and a sense of collectivity, Tolstoy shows a special feature of the Russian people - humanity. After the enemy was defeated, in the soul of the people "the feeling of insult and revenge" replaced the axis with "contempt and pity."

When Kutuzov on November 5, on the first day of the Krasnensky battle, rode with his "huge retinue of generals who were dissatisfied with him, whispering behind him," he saw French prisoners disfigured by sores and tearing raw meat with their hands. The same good-natured attitude towards prisoners is manifested in the descriptions of the subsequent stages of the expulsion of the French army from Russia. Russian soldiers are lifting and carrying the weakened Rambal to the officer's hut. Thus, in the great work of Tolstoy, peasant Russia appears in all its diversity, with all its contradictions, with its strength and weakness.

The folk theme is the main theme of War and Peace. It should be noted that the image of Karataev is in contradiction with the general image of the Russian people - the fearless defender of their homeland. Less attention than the peasantry in "War and Peace" is given to the urban lower classes, but they are portrayed with great artistic force and truth.

In Smolensk, the population sets fire to their houses so that the French do not get anything. The petty trader Ferapontov in despair shouts that the soldiers take everything and that he himself will set fire to his house. These abandoned people do not believe in the possibility of leaving Moscow and, reading the Rostopchin posters, they go to Count Rostopchin for instructions on how and where to take part in the defense of their hometown. But Rostopchin, with his ostentatious, false patriotism, does not know the common Russian people and is afraid of him. Having provoked the murder of Vereshchagin, he leaves Moscow from the back porch, reflecting in French that “the crowd of people is terrible, disgusting. They are like wolves: nothing can satisfy them except meat. " And these "wolves", the crowd that Rostopchin had pushed to murder, began to hastily move around the lying bloody corpse. These people then took upon themselves the whole brunt of the life of the city occupied by a non-friend, up to the executions for arson, in which they were not guilty. Thus, before us passes the Russian peasantry (and partly the urban lower classes) in all its diversity, with its selfless love for the homeland, with its fearlessness, endurance, diligence, with its deep humanity - features that have developed in the conditions of working life. It was in this class, despite its weaknesses and shadowy sides, noticed by the keen gaze of a genius realist writer, that the strength of Russia was at that time.

It is believed that wars are won and lost by commanders and emperors, but in any war, a commander without an army is like a needle without a thread. After all, it is the soldiers, officers, generals - people serving in the army and taking part in battles and battles - that become the very thread with which history is embroidered. If you try to sew with only one needle, the fabric will pierce, perhaps even traces will remain, but there will be no result of the work. So a commander without his regiments is just a lonely needle, which is easily lost in the haystacks formed by time, if there is no thread of his troops behind him. It is not the sovereigns who are fighting, the people are fighting. Sovereigns and generals are only needles. Tolstoy shows that the theme of the people in the novel War and Peace is the main theme of the entire work. The people of Russia are people of different classes, both the upper society and those who make up the middle class, and ordinary people. They all love their homeland and are ready to give their lives for it.

The image of the people in the novel

The two main plot lines of the novel reveal to the readers how the characters are formed and the destinies of two families - the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys - take shape.
Using these examples, Tolstoy shows how the intelligentsia developed in Russia, some of its representatives came to the events of December 1825, when the Decembrist uprising took place.

The Russian people in War and Peace are represented by different characters. Tolstoy seemed to have collected the features inherent in ordinary people and created several collective images, embodying them in specific characters.

Platon Karataev, met by Pierre in captivity, embodied the characteristic features of serfs. Kind, calm, hard-working Plato, talking about life, but not thinking about it: “He, apparently, never thought about what he said and what he would say ...”. In the novel, Plato is the embodiment of a part of the Russian people of that time, wise, submissive to fate and the tsar, loving their homeland, but going to fight for it only because they were caught and "sent to the soldiers." His natural kindness and wisdom revive the "master" Pierre, who is constantly looking for the meaning of life and cannot find and comprehend it in any way.

But at the same time, "When Pierre, sometimes struck by the meaning of his speech, asked to repeat what he said, Plato could not remember what he said a minute ago." All these searches and throwing are alien and incomprehensible to Karataev, he knows how to accept life as it is at this very moment, and he accepts death humbly and without grumbling.

The merchant Ferapontov, an acquaintance of Alpatych, is a typical representative of the merchant class, on the one hand stingy and cunning, but at the same time he burns his goods so that it does not go to the enemy. And he does not want to believe that Smolensk will be surrendered, and he even beats his wife for her requests to leave the city.

And the fact that Ferapontov and other merchants themselves set fire to their shops and houses is a manifestation of patriotism and love for Russia, and it becomes clear that Napoleon will not be able to defeat a people who are ready to do anything to save their homeland.

The collective image of the people in the novel "War and Peace" is created by many characters. These are partisans like Tikhon Shcherbaty, who fought the French in their own way, and, as if playfully, destroyed small detachments. These are pilgrims, humble and religious, such as Pelageyushka, who walked to holy places. Militia men, dressed in simple white shirts, "to prepare for death", "with loud talk and laughter" digging trenches on the Borodino field before the battle.

In difficult times, when the country was in danger of being conquered by Napoleon, all these people came to the fore with one main goal - the salvation of Russia. All other matters were petty and unimportant to her. At such moments, people with amazing clarity show their true face, and in "War and Peace" Tolstoy shows the difference between the common people, ready to die for their country and other people, careerists and opportunists.

This is especially evident in the description of preparations for the battle on the Borodino field. A simple soldier with the words: "They want to pile up with all the people ...", some officers, for whom the main thing is that "big awards should be handed out for tomorrow and new people were to be promoted", soldiers praying in front of the icon of the Smolensk Mother of God, Dolokhov, asking for forgiveness from Pierre - all these are strokes of the general picture that appeared in front of Pierre after a conversation with Bolkonsky. “He understood that hidden ... warmth of patriotism that was in all those people whom he saw, and which explained to him why all these people were calmly and as if frivolously preparing for death” - this is how Tolstoy describes the general state of people before the Battle of Borodino.

But the author does not idealize the Russian people at all, in the episode where the Bogucharov peasants, trying to preserve the acquired property, do not let Princess Marya out of Bogucharov, he clearly shows the meanness and baseness of these people. In describing this scene, Tolstoy shows the behavior of the peasants as alien to Russian patriotism.

Conclusion

In my essay on the theme “The Russian people in the novel“ War and Peace ”, I wanted to show the attitude of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstov to the Russian people as a“ whole and single ”organism. And I want to finish the essay with a quote from Tolstov: "... the reason for our celebration was not accidental, but lay in the essence of the character of the Russian people and the army ... this character should have been expressed even more clearly in the era of failures and defeats ..."

The theme of the people in the novel "War and Peace" - an essay about the image of the Russian people |

Let us consider how the people were portrayed in the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy. The author finished work on his work in 1867. Speaking about him, he admitted that he loved "popular thought" in his novel.

The world of the peasantry in the work

The people in the novel "War and Peace" are widely represented. The peasantry is described in detail by the author. In Tolstoy's portrayal, the world of the peasantry is self-sufficient and harmonious. The writer did not think that his representatives needed intellectual influence. The noble heroes do not even think about the need to "develop" the peasants. On the contrary, it is the latter that often turn out to be closer to understanding the meaning of life. Lev Nikolaevich portrays the complex spiritual world of the representatives of the nobility and the artless spirituality of the Russian peasant as different, but at the same time complementary, beginnings of the life of our country. The ability to establish contact with the people is an indicator of the moral health of the nobles in the novel.

The fragility of the boundaries between estates

Tolstoy repeatedly emphasizes the fragility of the boundaries between estates. The human, the general makes them "transparent". The people in the novel "War and Peace" often come close, interact with the upper strata of society. The hunter Danilo, for example, is full of "contempt for everything" and "independence". This hunter allows himself to look "contemptuously" at the master Nikolai Rostov. However, this was not offensive to Nikolai. He understood that this man still belonged to him. All are equal during the hunt, all obey the order once established. Only in the heat of the hunt can Danilo, who missed the wolf, swear at Ilya Andreevich, even swing at him with an arapnik. Such behavior of a serf under normal conditions is impossible in relation to a master.

Let's give another example of how the nobility and the people interact in the novel War and Peace. An important stage in the spiritual life of one of the main characters, Pierre Bezukhov, was the meeting in the barrack for prisoners with Platon Karataev. It was this soldier-peasant who returned his lost faith in life. For Pierre, the main moral criterion in the epilogue of the novel is the possible attitude of Karataev to his activities. And he concludes that he probably would not understand his social activities, but he would certainly approve because he loved "goodness" in everything.

Picture of a riot of peasants

The theme of the people in the novel "War and Peace" is diverse. Tolstoy, depicting the revolt of the Bogucharov peasants, expressed his own attitude towards the conservative strata of the patriarchal communal world, which was accustomed to resisting any changes. In Bogucharovo, the spontaneity of people's life is much more noticeable than in other localities, since there were very few landowners, literate and courtyards here. The peasants live here as a small closed community. They are virtually isolated from the rest of the world. The peasants, for no apparent reason, suddenly begin to move in a certain direction, obeying the incomprehensible laws of life. Tolstoy emphasizes that in the life of the peasants from Bogucharovo were stronger and more noticeable than in other localities, the mysterious streams of the life of the Russian people, the meaning and reasons of which are inexplicable for contemporaries. Through the image of rebellion, the theme of the people in the novel "War and Peace" is revealed from a new angle.

The reason for the riot of the peasants

The general mood, the element of rebellion completely subjugates every peasant. Even the headman Dron was captured by a general impulse. An attempt by Princess Marya to distribute the master's bread to the peasants ended in failure. Only Rostov's "unreasonable animal malice", his "unreasonable act" could sober up this indignant crowd. The peasants obeyed brute force unquestioningly, admitting that "out of stupidity" they rebelled. Lev Nikolaevich in his work showed not only the external reasons for the rebellion ("relations with the French" and rumors about "will", which the gentlemen took away). The hidden deep socio-historical reason for this event was the internal "strength" that accumulated gradually and, like lava, burst out of the boiling volcano. That is why the common people revolted in the novel War and Peace.

The image of Tikhon Shcherbaty

The image is an important detail of the fresco on the people's war, which was created by Tolstoy. Tikhon attacked the French, the only one from his entire village. On his own initiative, he joined Denisov's "party" and soon became one of the most necessary people in it, showing great ability and willingness to. Through his image, the common people are also analyzed in the novel "War and Peace".

Tikhon occupied a special place in the partisan detachment. He did all the dirty work, he was the bravest and most useful person. Tikhon, in addition, played the role of a jester and willingly succumbed to this rank himself. In his behavior and appearance, the writer sharpened the features of the holy fool. Gap-toothed had a face pitted with wrinkles and smallpox, with narrow small eyes.

Tikhon's attitude to the murder of the French

Tikhon is a cold-blooded merciless warrior. He obeys, killing the French, only the instinct of exterminating the enemy, and treats them almost like inanimate objects. Tikhon resembles a predator with his cruelty. It is no coincidence that the author compares him to a wolf: Chipped-toothed an ax wielded an ax as a wolf wielded his teeth.

The image of Platon Karataev

One of the key images of the work is He is especially important when revealing the topic: “The people in the novel“ War and Peace. ”It is impossible to write an essay on this topic without mentioning this character. , army), in which his spirituality was manifested especially vividly. The hero lives in harmony with the whole world. He treats all people with love. Plato deeply feels life, directly and vividly perceives people. In the image of Tolstoy Karataev is an example of a "natural" person, emerged from the people, the embodiment of popular morality, in many respects instinctive.

This hero, personifying the Russian people in the novel "War and Peace", is shown in the work mainly through the perception of him by Bezukhov. Pierre notes that the very presence of this man in the barracks created a feeling of comfort for the prisoners. Bezukhov was interested in how Plato took off his shoes and settled in his corner, because something "round", "soothing" and "pleasant" was felt even in this.

Karataev looked very youthful, although he was over 50 years old. He seemed healthy and physically fit. Especially striking was the "young" Plato, which had the appearance of "youth" and "innocence." All the time Karataev was doing something that, probably, became a habit of this hero. Once captured, he did not seem to feel what illness and fatigue were, he felt in the barracks just like at home.

Return of Karataev to peasant life in unusual conditions

Outside of the usual conditions, outside of everything that pressed on him, Karataev naturally and imperceptibly returned to the serf lifestyle. He threw away everything alien, which was imposed on him by force from the outside. For Plato, who represents the people in Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, peasant life is especially attractive: dear memories, as well as ideas of goodness, are associated with it. Therefore, he spoke mainly about the events of "Christian" life, as he called it.

Plato died naturally, feeling tenderness and "quiet delight" before the mystery of death. He did not perceive it as torment or punishment, so there was no suffering on his face: it was illuminated by the expression of "quiet solemnity."

The image of Platon Karataev is the image of a righteous peasant who not only lived with people and with the whole world in harmony, admiring the manifestations of life, but was also able to resurrect Pierre Bezukhov, who had entered a spiritual dead end. For Pierre, he forever remained the personification of "simplicity and truth."

"Thought of the people" in the novel

"People's Thought" is the main idea of ​​the work "War and Peace". Lev Nikolayevich knew that the simple life of the Russian people, with its "private" interests, destinies, joys, proceeds independently of meetings with Alexander Napoleon, Speransky's state plans, or the diplomatic game. Only those events in history that set the masses in motion, relate to national destinies, are capable of changing, always beneficially, albeit dramatically, an individual person. It was the patriotism of the people (in the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy also describes his patriotic feelings) that led to the victory of the Russians over the French.

The author of "War and Peace" pays a lot of attention to the depiction of the common people. The peasantry appears before us in the person of serfs, corvée and household servants, and in the person of soldiers who retain their peasant features, and in the person of partisans.
As Tolstoy's worldview changes, he is interested in different aspects of the external and internal life of the peasants, but he always draws them with unusually truthful and vivid colors. Mass scenes with their variety of behavior and relationships of individual characters are amazing in their skill; speech characteristics are striking in their life truth.
When describing the 1805 campaign in Austria, Russian peasants appear as living people, dressed in soldier's greatcoats, but who have not lost their special peasant appearance. They go to fight without knowing exactly what, with whom and where. On a hike, people show their usual endurance, simplicity, good nature, cheerfulness - a sign of great physical and moral strength. Making a tedious transition, they are thrown among themselves in separate phrases. At the command of the captain, the songwriters ran ahead, sang a song, and then a soldier ran forward and began to dance. But here the soldiers are shown in battle, in action, in hard work in a time of mortal danger hanging over Russia, and one immediately senses a new feature of the national character - fortitude and courage.

During the heroic battle at Schöngraben, the uncovered “battery continued to fire and was not taken by the French. In the course of an hour, seventeen of the forty servants were killed, "but the soldiers, led by their officer, continued to courageously fight against the superior forces of the enemy. Over the course of several years of work on War and Peace, Tolstoy's interest in the peasantry increased and the character of his depiction changed somewhat. The plight of the people is emerging more and more clearly. In the estates of Bezukhov and after his "reforms" "the peasants continue to give with work and money everything that they give from others, that is, everything that they can date.

The old prince Bolkonsky orders the soldiers to give up his courtyard for the fact that he mistakenly served coffee first to the prince's daughter, and not to the Frenchwoman, who at that time was in the old man's favor. Such manifestations of lordly arbitrariness were not isolated
phenomena, as this is evident from the conversation between Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre during their trip to Bald Mountains. Describing the Rostovs' hunt, Tolstoy introduces a new, episodic face - the landowner Ilagin, the owner of a wonderful hunting dog, for which the "respectable courteous master" "a year ago gave his neighbor three courtyard families."
The discontent of the peasants manifests itself in War and Peace more than once. The peasants' dissatisfaction with their position, the consciousness of the injustice of the existing system, underlines such a small episode. When the wounded Prince Andrei was brought to the dressing station and the doctor ordered him to be carried to the tent immediately, “a murmur arose in the crowd of awaiting wounded.

"It is seen. and in the next world to live alone for the masters. - said one. "

The closeness of the French shook the lordly power. and the men begin to talk openly about that. that they have long been painful. The hatred of the peasants for the landlords was so great. as “the last stay of Prince Andrey in Bogucharovo. hospitals with its innovations. schools and ease of quitrent. - did not soften their morals, but. against. strengthened those character traits in them. which the old prince called savagery. "

They did not inspire confidence in them and Princess Marya's promises to give bread and take care of new places. where she invited them to move.

However, the nobles do not feel at ease either. The meaning of this concern is clearly expressed by Pierre. speaking in the epilogue to Nikolai Rostov. that it is necessary to prevent the possible Pugachevism. But. despite their plight. the peasants do not want to surrender their homeland to the rule of the French invaders, and at the same time show boundless courage and resilience. Mobilized men
Before the battle of Borodino, the militia put on clean shirts: they prepared for death. but not to retreat.
Expression of this simple and sincere. alien ...