An essay on the theme The Image of the Common People in the novel “War and Peace. An essay on the theme The Image of the Common People in the Novel "War and Peace. The Image of the Common People in War and Peace

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 the enemy should not get, 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 the dedication 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 a crowd, only a "high society crowd."

Readers-contemporaries paid special attention to the revolt of the Bogucharov peasants. Bogucharovo was the so-called “out-of-the-way estate” of Bolkonsky. 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 news transmitters (which, by the way, was sometimes not used quite conscientiously in real life: 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 enumerating them all as Cossacks, now about a new faith, into which they would be converted, now 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

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is the most widely known Russian writer, first of all, a folk writer. Let's consider the theme of the people in, perhaps, his greatest work - the novel "War and Peace".

What are people for Tolstoy? These are not only peasants, not only nobles, not even just Russians. The people are people connected to each other, united by a common thought, a common feeling, a common deed.

We can also trace the connection of the main characters with the people. Natasha Rostova herself, it is not clear when and from where, absorbed the Russian spirit, was able to understand everything that was in every Russian person. And in the future, she only proves her connection with the people, freeing carts for the wounded, instead of saving the family's property. Or Andrei Bolkonsky, who felt the people in his soldiers, led them along and did not abandon them in favor of a more prestigious appointment.

We also see representatives of the people among the secondary heroes.

This, of course, is Platon Karataev, met by Pierre, who opened the way for him to happiness, this is Kutuzov, who, like no one else, feels the spirit of the Russian army, the merchant Ferapontov and others who are ready to burn their property so that the French do not get it, these are many, many people, who are not indifferent to the fate of their country, their homeland.

In the novel, Tolstoy repeatedly notes that, despite what is usually said about historical figures, especially prominent people, rulers and commanders, it is the people who are the main protagonist of history. And the Patriotic War of one thousand eight hundred and twelve years showed this to the whole world. Because it was not won by the commanders and not the rulers - it was won by the Russian people. The people who did not allow themselves to be captured, who resisted with all their might - organized partisan detachments, deprived the French of booty and simply, openly, fought with them.

It is not for nothing that the theme of the people is Tolstov's favorite, and it sounds in full force in this novel.

The people in the novel "War and Peace"

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 before her. At such moments, people show their true colors with amazing clarity, and in War and Peace, Tolstoy shows the difference between the common people, who are 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 put forward", 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, which 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 at all idealize the Russian people, in the episode where the Bogucharov's 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 Lev Nikolaevich Tolstov's attitude 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 ..."

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1867 year. L. M. Tolstoy finished work on the epoch-making novel of his work "War and Peace". The author noted that in War and Peace he “loved popular thought,” poeticizing the simplicity, kindness and morality of a Russian person. L. Tolstoy reveals this "popular thought" by depicting the events of the Patriotic War of 1812. It is no coincidence that L. Tolstoy describes the war of 1812 only on the territory of Russia. The historian and realist artist L. Tolstoy showed that the Patriotic War of 1812 was a just war. In defense, the Russians raised "the stick of the people's war, which punished the French until the invasion was stopped." The war radically changed the life of the entire Russian people.

The author introduces into the novel many images of men, Soldiers, whose thoughts and considerations together make up the people's worldview. The irresistible strength of the Russian people is fully felt in the heroism and patriotism of the inhabitants of Moscow, forced to abandon their hometown, their treasure, but not conquered in their souls; the peasants refuse to sell food and hay to the enemies, and form partisan detachments. L. Tolstoy portrayed Tushin and Timokhin as real heroes, steadfast and firm in fulfilling their military duties. More expressively, the theme of the elements of the people is revealed in the depiction of partisan war. Tolstoy creates a vivid image of the partisan Tikhon Shcherbatov, who voluntarily joined Denisov's detachment and was "the most useful person in the detachment." Platon Karataev is a generalized image of the Russian peasant. In the novel, he appears on those pages where Pierre's being held captive is depicted. A meeting with Karataev changes a lot in Pierre's attitude to life. Deep folk wisdom seems to be concentrated in the image of Plato. This wisdom is calm, sane, without tricks and cruelty. From her, Pierre changes, begins to feel life in a new way, renews his soul.

Hatred of the enemy was equally felt by representatives of all strata of Russian society, and patriotism and closeness to the people are most inherent in Tolstoy's favorite heroes - Pierre Bezukhov, Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha Rostova. The simple Russian woman Vasilisa, the merchant Feropontov, and the family of Count Rostov feel united in their desire to help the country. The spiritual strength that the Russian people displayed in the Patriotic War of 1812 is the very strength that supported Kutuzov's activities as a talented Russian and military leader. He was elected commander-in-chief "against the will of the sovereign and in accordance with the will of the people." That is why, according to Tolstoy, Kutuzov was able to fulfill his great historical mission, since each person is worth something not by himself, but only when he is a part of his people. Thanks to unity, high patriotic enthusiasm and moral strength, the Russian people won the war.

"People's Thought" is the main idea of ​​the novel "War and Peace". Tolstoy knew that the simple life of people, with its "personal" destinies, vicissitudes, joy, constituted the fate and history of the country. “I tried to write the history of the people,” said Tolstoy, the people in the broadest sense of the word. Therefore, "people's thought" plays a huge role for the author, asserts the place of the people as a decisive force in history.

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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 ahead 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 - steadfastness 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 grew and the character of his depiction changed somewhat. The plight of the people is emerging more and more clearly. On 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 French woman, who at the 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 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 to carry him to the tent immediately, “a murmur arose in the crowd of waiting 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 the promises of Princess Marya to give bread and take care of new places. where she invited them to move.

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