People's thought in war and peace. The thought of the people in the epic novel "War and Peace

Before you is a magnificent essay on Russian literature on the topic “THOUGHT OF THE PEOPLE” in the novel by L. N. Tolstoy “WAR AND PEACE”. The essay is designed for students in grade 10, but it can also be used by students of other classes in preparation for the lessons of the Russian language and literature.

"THE PEOPLE'S THOUGHT" in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "WAR AND PEACE"

Tolstoy is one of the greatest Russian writers. He lived during peasant unrest, and therefore he was captured by all the most important questions of the era: about the development of Russia, about the fate of the people and their role in history, about the relationship between the people and the nobility. Tolstoy decided to look for answers to all these questions in the study of the events of the early 19th century.

According to Tolstoy, the main reason for the Russian victory in 1812 was this " folk thought ”, this is the unity of the people in the struggle against the conqueror, his huge unshakable strength that has risen, dormant for a time in the souls of people, which, with its bulk, overturned the enemy and forced him to flee. The reason for the victory was also in the justice of the war against the conquerors, in the readiness of every Russian to stand up for the defense of the Motherland, in the people's love for their fatherland. Historical figures and inconspicuous participants in the war, the best people of Russia and money-grubbers, careerists pass through the pages of the novel " War and Peace". It has more than five hundred actors. Tolstoy created many unique characters and showed us a lot of people. But these hundred people Tolstoy does not imagine as a faceless mass. All this huge material is connected by a single thought, which Tolstoy defined as “ folk thought «.

The Rostov and Bolkonsky families differ from each other in their class position and in the atmosphere that reigned in their homes. But these families are united by a common love for Russia. Let us recall the death of the old Prince Bolkonsky. His last words were about Russia: Russia is dead! Ruined!". He worried about the fate of Russia and the fate of all Russian people. All his life he served only Russia, and when his death came, all his thoughts, of course, were turned to the Motherland.

Consider Petya's patriotism. Petya went to war very young and did not spare his life for the fatherland. Let's remember Natasha, who is ready to give up all valuables only because she wants to help the wounded. In the same scene, Natasha's aspirations are contrasted with those of the careerist Berg. Only the best people of Russia could perform feats during the war. Neither Helen, nor Anna Pavlovna Sherer, nor Boris, nor Berg could perform feats. These people were not patriotic. All their motives were selfish. During the war, following the fashion, they stopped speaking French. But does this prove their love for Russia?

The Battle of Borodino is the culminating moment in Tolstoy's work. Tolstoy confronts almost all the heroes of the novel at the Battle of Borodino. Even if the characters are not on the Borodino field, their fates completely depend on the course of the war of 1812. The battle is shown through the eyes of a non-military man - Pierre. Bezukhov considers it his duty to be on the battlefield. Through his eyes we see the rallying of the troops. He is convinced of the correctness of the words of the old soldier: “ All the people want to pile on ". Unlike the battle of Austerlitz, the participants in the battle of Borodino understood the goals of the war of 1812. The writer believes that the coincidence of millions of reasons helps to win. Thanks to the desires of ordinary soldiers, commanders, militias and all other participants in the battle, the moral victory of the Russian people became possible.

Tolstoy's favorite heroes - Pierre and Andrei - are also participants in the Battle of Borodino. Bezukhov deeply feels the popular character of the war of 1812. The patriotism of the hero is cast in very concrete deeds: equipping the regiment, monetary donations. The turning point in Pierre's life is his stay in captivity and acquaintance with Platon Karataev. Communication with an old soldier leads Pierre to " agree with oneself “, simplicity and integrity.

The war of 1812 is the most important milestone in the life of Andrei Bolkonsky. Andrei abandons his military career and becomes the commander of a jaeger regiment. Deeply understands Andrei Kutuzov, a commander who sought to avoid unnecessary sacrifices. During the Battle of Borodino, Prince Andrei takes care of his soldiers and tries to get them out of the shelling. Andrey's dying thoughts are imbued with a sense of humility:

“Love your neighbors, love your enemies. Love everything, love God in all manifestations.

As a result of the search for the meaning of life, Andrei was able to overcome his selfishness and vanity. Spiritual searches lead the hero to moral enlightenment, to natural simplicity, to the ability to love and forgive.

Leo Tolstoy draws the heroes of the partisan war with love and respect. And Tolstoy showed one of them in a closer view. This man is Tikhon Shcherbaty, a typical Russian peasant, as a symbol of the avenging people fighting for their homeland. He was " the most helpful and brave man "in the detachment of Denisov," his weapons were a blunderbuss, a pike and an ax, which he owned as a wolf owns teeth ". In the joy of Denisov, Tikhon occupied an exceptional place, " when it was necessary to do something especially difficult and impossible - to turn a wagon out of the mud with a shoulder, to pull a horse out of the swamp by the tail, saddle it and climb into the very middle of the French, walk fifty miles a day - everyone pointed, chuckling, at Tikhon ". Tikhon feels a strong hatred for the French, so strong that he can be very cruel. But we understand his feelings and sympathize with this hero. He is always busy, always in action, his speech is unusually fast, even his comrades speak of him with affectionate irony: “ Well, slick », « eka beast ". The image of Tikhon Shcherbaty is close to Tolstoy, who loves this hero, loves all the people, highly appreciates "people's thought" . In the novel "War and Peace" Tolstoy showed us the Russian people in all its strength and beauty.

Question 25. People's thought in Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace. The problem of the role of the people and the individual in history.

L. N. Tolstoy

1. Genre originality of Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace".

2. The image of the people in the novel is Tolstoy's ideal of "simplicity, goodness and truth."

3. Two Russias.

4. "Cudgel of the people's war."

5. "People's Thought".

6. Kutuzov is an exponent of the patriotic spirit of the people.

7. The people are the savior of Russia.

1. The novel by L. N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" in terms of genre is an epic novel, since it reflects historical events that cover a large period of time, from 1805 to 1821; over 200 persons act in the novel, there are real historical figures (Kutuzov, Napoleon, Alexander I, Speransky, Rostopchin, Bagration, etc.), all social strata of Russia of that time are shown: the high society, the noble aristocracy, the provincial nobility, the army, the peasantry, merchants.

2. In the epic novel, the various elements of which are united by the “folk thought”, the image of the people occupies a special place. Tolstoy's ideal of "simplicity, goodness and truth" is embodied in this image. An individual person is valuable only when he is an integral part of the great whole, his people. “War and Peace” is “a picture of morals built on a historical event,” wrote Leo Tolstoy. The theme of the feat of the Russian people in the war of 1812 became the main theme in the novel. During this war, the nation unified: regardless of class, gender and age, everyone was embraced by a single patriotic feeling, which Tolstoy called "the hidden warmth of patriotism", which manifested itself not in loud words, but in actions, often unconscious, spontaneous, but bringing victory closer. . This unity on the basis of a moral feeling is deeply hidden in the soul of every person and manifests itself in a difficult time for the motherland.

3. In the fire of a people's war, people are being tested, and we clearly see two Russias: Russia of the people, united by common feelings and aspirations, the Russia of Kutuzov, Prince Andrei, Timokhin - and the Russia of "military and court drones" who are at war with each other, absorbed in their careers and indifferent to the fate of the motherland. These people have lost contact with the people, they only portray patriotic feelings. Their false patriotism is manifested in grandiloquent phrases about love for the motherland and insignificant deeds. People's Russia is represented by those heroes who, one way or another, connected their fate with the fate of the nation. Tolstoy speaks of the fate of the people and the fate of individual people, of the people's feeling as a measure of a person's morality. All of Tolstoy's favorite heroes are a part of the human sea that makes up the people, and each of them is spiritually close to the people in its own way. But this unity does not appear immediately. Pierre and Prince Andrei go on difficult roads in search of the popular ideal of "simplicity, good and evil." And only on the Borodino field, each of them understands that the truth is where "they", that is, ordinary soldiers. The Rostov family, with its strong moral foundations of life, with a simple and kind perception of the world and people, experienced the same patriotic feelings as the whole people. They leave all their property in Moscow and give all the carts to the wounded.

4. Deeply, with all their hearts, Russian people understand the meaning of what is happening. The people's consciousness as a military force comes into action when the enemy approaches Smolensk. The "club of the people's war" begins to rise. Circles, partisan detachments of Denisov, Dolokhov, spontaneous partisan detachments led by the elder Vasilisa or some unnamed deacon, who destroyed Napoleon's great army with axes and pitchforks, were created. The merchant Ferapontov in Smolensk urged soldiers to rob his own shop so that the enemy would not get anything. Preparing for the battle of Borodino, the soldiers look at it as a public cause. “They want to pile on all the people,” the soldier explains to Pierre. The militias put on clean shirts, the soldiers do not drink vodka - "not such a day." For them, it was a sacred moment.

5. "People's Thought" is embodied by Tolstoy in many individualized images. Timokhin with his company so unexpectedly attacked the enemy, “with such insane and drunken determination, with one skewer, he ran into the enemy that the French, without having time to come to their senses, threw down their weapons and ran.”

Those human, moral and military qualities that Tolstoy always considered the inalienable dignity of the Russian soldier and the entire Russian people - heroism, willpower, simplicity and modesty - are embodied in the image of Captain Tushin, which is a living expression of the national spirit, "people's thought". Under the unattractive appearance of this hero lies an inner beauty, moral greatness. - Tikhon Shcherbaty - a man of war, the most useful fighter in Denisov's detachment. The spirit of disobedience and the feeling of love for his land, all that rebellious, bold that the writer found in a serf, he brought together and embodied in the image of Tikhon. Platon Karataev brings peace to the souls of the people around him. He is completely devoid of egoism: he does not grumble about anything, he does not blame anyone, he is meek, kind to every person.

The high patriotic spirit and strength of the Russian army brought her a moral victory, and a turning point in the war came.

6. M. I. Kutuzov showed himself to be an exponent of the patriotic spirit and a true commander of the people's war. His wisdom lies in the fact that he understood the law about the impossibility of one person to control the course of history. His main concern is not to interfere with events to develop naturally, armed with patience, obey the need. "Patience and time" - this is the motto of Kutuzov. He feels the mood of the masses and the course of historical events. Prince Andrei before the battle of Borodino says about him: “He will not have anything of his own. He will not invent anything, will not undertake anything, but he will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, will not interfere with anything useful and will not allow anything harmful. He understands that there is something more significant than will ... And most importantly, why you believe him is that he is Russian ... "

7. Having told the truth about the war and showing a person in this war, Tolstoy opened the heroism of war, showing it as a test of all the mental strength of a person. In his novel, the carriers of true heroism were ordinary people, such as Captain Tushin or Timokhin, the "sinner" Natasha, who achieved a supply for the wounded, General Dokhturov and Kutuzov, who never spoke about his exploits - it is precisely the people who, forgetting about themselves , saved Russia in a time of difficult trials.

Two small essays - on the same topic. A bit ironic-compiled, on the "C grade", but quite seriously))). One - half a page on the Unified State Examination, the second - a page - for adults, up to 15 years old - do not read at the risk of filling your head with porridge ...

Option 1.

The main theme of the novel "War and Peace" is "people's thought". L. N. Tolstoy shows not only the panorama of people's life, but also the soul of the people, its depth and grandeur. The writer contrasts the cold prudent secular life with the simple, natural life of the peasants, truly righteous and happy.People from the people deeply absorbed the wisdom of the Creator and the wisdom of nature. There is nothing ugly in nature, everything is beautiful in it, and everything has its place. The heroes of the novel are tested by this folk wisdom, which is personified in the work by Platon Karataev.

Tolstoy's favorite heroine, Natasha, turns out to be truly popular. One has only to remember how she danced to the uncle's guitar, and, "raised by a French emigrant" in "silk and velvet", was able to understand everything "that was in every Russian person." In communication with Russian soldiers, Pierre Bezukhov also finds the meaning and purpose of life, realizing the falsity of his previous attitudes. Forever he remains grateful to Platon Karataev, whom he met in captivity from the French, a Russian soldier who preaches kindness and love of life.

Tolstoy draws images of the emperors Napoleon and Alexander, the Moscow governor Count Rostopchin. In their attitude towards the people, these people strive to rise above it, to become higher, they strive to control the people's element, therefore their actions are doomed. Kutuzov, on the contrary, feels himself a participant in the life of the people, he does not lead the movement of the masses, but only tries not to interfere with the completion of a truly historical event. This, according to Tolstoy, is the true greatness of the individual.

Tolstoy sang the winner of the war - the Russian people. A people with great moral strength, carrying with them simple harmony, simple kindness, simple love. Carrying the truth. And you need to live with him in unity in order to heal your soul and create a new happy world.

Option 2.

The thought of the people in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy War and Peace

The main theme of the novel "War and Peace" is "people's thought". The people are not a faceless crowd, but a completely reasonable unity of people, the engine of history. But these changes are not made consciously, but under the influence of some unknown, but powerful "swarm force". According to Tolstoy, an individual person can also influence history, but on condition that he merges with the general mass, without contradicting it, “naturally”.

Tolstoy presents a metaphor for the world of people - a ball that Pierre sees in a dream - “a living oscillating ball that has no dimensions. The entire surface of the sphere consisted of drops tightly compressed together. And these drops all moved, moved, and then merged from several into one, then from one they were divided into many. Each drop tried to spill out, to capture the greatest space, but others, striving for the same, squeezed it, sometimes destroyed it, sometimes merged with it.

The composition of the novel is built in such a way that each of the characters is tested for compatibility with this ball, for the ability to “merge”. So, Prince Andrei - turns out to be unviable, "too good." He shudders at the mere thought of swimming in a dirty pond with the soldiers of his regiment, and he dies from the fact that he cannot afford to fall to the ground in front of a spinning grenade in front of the soldiers standing under fire ... this is “shameful”, But on the other hand, Pierre can in horror to run, fall and crawl across the Borodino field, and after the battle, eat the “rubble” with a spoon licked by a soldier ... It is he, fat Pierre, who is able to master the spherical “wisdom” given to him by the “round” Platon Karataev, remains unharmed - everywhere - and in a duel, and in the heat of the battle of Borodino, and in a fight with the armed French, and in captivity ... And it is he who is viable.

The most sincere episodic characters are the merchant Ferapontov, who burns his house so that the enemy does not get it, and the Moscow residents who leave the capital simply because it is impossible to live in it under Bonaparte, and the peasants Karp and Vlas, who do not give hay to the French, and that the Moscow lady, who left Moscow with her black-tailed pugs and pugs back in June from the consideration that “she is not Bonaparte’s servant”, all of them, according to Tolstoy, are active participants in the people’s, “swarm” life, and act in this way not out of their own moral choice, but in order to to do their part of the common "swarm" business, sometimes without even realizing their participation in it.

And the popular principle of “naturalness” is also interesting - the healthy flees from the sick, happiness - from misfortune. Natasha quite "naturally" cannot wait for her beloved Prince Andrei "a whole year!", And falls in love with Anatole; the captive Pierre absolutely “naturally” cannot help the weakened Karataev and leaves him, because, of course, Pierre “was too scared for himself. He acted as if he hadn't seen his eyes." And he sees in a dream: “Here is life,” the old teacher said ... “God is in the middle, and each drop seeks to expand in order to reflect Him in the largest size. And it grows, merges, and shrinks on the surface, goes into the depths and emerges again ... - said the teacher. “Here he is, Karataev, here he spilled and disappeared.”

Tolstoy's ideal - Platon Karataev - loves everyone equally, with humility accepts all life's hardships and even death itself. Platon Karataev brings to Pierre folk wisdom, absorbed with mother's milk, which is at the subconscious level of understanding. "Every word of his and every action was a manifestation of an activity unknown to him, which was his life. It made sense only as a particle of the whole, which he constantly felt ... He could not understand the value and meaning of a single action or word ". Approaching this ideal - and Kutuzov, whose task is not to interfere with the action of the "swarm".

All the fullness and richness of personal feelings and aspirations, no matter how sublime and ideal they are for a person in Tolstoy's world, leads only to one thing - to merging with the "general" folk, whether during life or after death. This is how Natasha Rostova dissolves in motherhood, in the elements of the family as such.

The element of the people acts as the only possible force in the war. "The cudgel of the people's war rose with all its formidable and majestic strength and, without asking anyone's tastes and rules, with stupid simplicity, but with expediency, without understanding anything, rose, fell and nailed the French until the whole invasion perished.» .

Tolstoy deserved to be called the "Red Count". The "club" he poetized soon with the same "stupid simplicity", "without asking anyone's tastes and rules" defeated the "landlords and nobles", and "merged" all the remaining workers and peasants into a single "crystal ball" ... into a single swarm)

This is really a prophet...

To love a people means to see with complete clarity both its virtues and its shortcomings, its greatness and its smallness, its ups and downs. To write for the people means to help them understand their strengths and weaknesses.
F.A.Abramov

In terms of genre, "War and Peace" is an epic of modern times, that is, it combines the features of a classical epic, the model of which is Homer's Iliad, and the achievements of the European novel of the 18th-19th centuries. The subject of the depiction in the epic is the national character, in other words, the people with their everyday life, outlook on the world and man, assessment of good and bad, prejudices and delusions, with their behavior in critical situations.

The people, according to Tolstoy, are not only peasants and soldiers who act in the novel, but also nobles who have a people's view of the world and spiritual values. Thus, the people are people united by one history, language, culture, living in the same territory. In the novel The Captain's Daughter, Pushkin noted: the common people and the nobility are so divided in the process of the historical development of Russia that they cannot understand each other's aspirations. In the epic novel "War and Peace", Tolstoy argues that at the most important historical moments, the people and the best nobles do not oppose each other, but act in concert: during the Patriotic War, the aristocrats Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, Rostov feel the same "warmth of patriotism" in themselves as ordinary men and soldiers. Moreover, the very meaning of the development of the individual, according to Tolstoy, lies in the search for a natural fusion of the individual with the people. The best nobles and people are together opposed to the ruling bureaucratic and military circles, who are not capable of high sacrifices and feats for the sake of the fatherland, but in all actions are guided by selfish considerations.

War and Peace presents a broad picture of people's life both in peacetime and in wartime. The most important event-test of the national character is the Patriotic War of 1812, when the Russian people most fully demonstrated their steadfastness, unostentatious (internal) patriotism and generosity. However, the description of folk scenes and individual heroes from the people appears already in the first two volumes, that is, one might say, in a huge exposition to the main historical events of the novel.

Mass scenes of the first and second volumes make a sad impression. The writer depicts Russian soldiers on foreign campaigns, when the Russian army is fulfilling its allied duty. For ordinary soldiers, this duty is completely incomprehensible: they are fighting for foreign interests on foreign soil. Therefore, the army is more like a faceless, submissive crowd, which, at the slightest danger, turns into a stampede. This is confirmed by the scene at Austerlitz: “... a naively frightened voice (...) shouted: “Well, brothers, the Sabbath!”. And as if this voice was a command. At this voice, everything rushed to run. Mixed, ever-increasing crowds fled back to the place where five minutes ago they passed by the emperors ”(1, 3, XVI).

Complete confusion reigns in the allied forces. The Russian army is actually starving, as the Austrians do not deliver the promised food. Hussars of Vasily Denisov pull out some edible roots from the ground and eat them, which makes everyone's stomach hurt. As an honest officer, Denisov could not calmly look at this disgrace and decided on an malfeasance: he forcibly recaptured part of the provisions from another regiment (1, 2, XV, XVI). This act had a bad effect on his military career: Denisov was put on trial for arbitrariness (2, 2, XX). Russian troops constantly find themselves in difficult situations due to the stupidity or betrayal of the Austrians. So, for example, near Shengraben, General Nostitz with his corps left the position, believing the talk of peace, and left Bagration's four thousandth detachment without cover, which now stood face to face with Murat's hundred thousandth French army (1, 2, XIV). But under Shengraben, Russian soldiers do not flee, but fight calmly, skillfully, because they know that they are covering the retreat of the Russian army.

On the pages of the first two volumes, Tolstoy creates separate images of soldiers: Lavrushka, Denisov's rogue batman (2, 2, XVI); the cheerful soldier Sidorov, who deftly imitates French speech (1,2, XV); Transfiguration Lazarev, who received the Order of the Legion of Honor from Napoleon in the scene of the Peace of Tilsit (2, 2, XXI). However, much more heroes from the people are shown in a peaceful setting. Tolstoy does not depict the hardships of serfdom, although he, being an honest artist, could not completely bypass this topic. The writer says that Pierre, going around his estates, decided to make life easier for the serfs, but nothing came of it, because the chief manager easily deceived the naive Count Bezukhov (2, 1, X). Or another example: the old Bolkonsky sent Philip the bartender to the soldiers because he forgot the order of the prince and, according to an old habit, served coffee first to Princess Marya, and then to her companion Bourienne (2, 5, II).

The author skillfully, with just a few strokes, draws heroes from the people, their peaceful life, their work, worries, and all these heroes receive vividly individual portraits, like the characters from the nobility. The arrival of Counts Rostovs Danila takes part in the hunt for a wolf. He selflessly surrenders to hunting and understands this fun no less than his masters. Therefore, without thinking about anything else but the wolf, he angrily scolded the old Count Rostov, who decided to "snack" during the rut (2,4, IV). Anisya Fyodorovna, a stout, ruddy, beautiful housekeeper, lives with Uncle Rostovs. The writer notes her cordial hospitality and homeliness (how many treats were on the tray that she herself brought to the guests!), Her kind attention to Natasha (2,4, VII). The image of Tikhon, the devoted valet of the old Bolkonsky, is remarkable: the servant without words understands his paralyzed master (3, 2, VIII). The Bogucharov elder Dron, a strong, cruel man, “whom the peasants feared more than the master” (3, 2, IX), has an amazing character. Some vague ideas, dark dreams, roam in his soul, incomprehensible neither to himself nor to his enlightened masters - the Bolkonsky princes. In peacetime, the best nobles and their serfs live a common life, understand each other, Tolstoy does not find insoluble contradictions between them.

But now the Patriotic War begins, and the Russian nation faces a serious danger of losing its state independence. The writer shows how different characters, familiar to the reader from the first two volumes or appearing only in the third volume, are united by one common feeling, which Pierre will call "the inner warmth of patriotism" (3, 2, XXV). This feature becomes not individual, but national, that is, inherent in many Russian people - peasants and aristocrats, soldiers and generals, merchants and urban philistines. The events of 1812 show the sacrifice of the Russians, incomprehensible to the French, and the determination of the Russians, against which the invaders can do nothing.

During the Patriotic War, the Russian army behaves in a completely different way than in the Napoleonic Wars of 1805-1807. Russians do not play war, this is especially noticeable when describing the Battle of Borodino. In the first volume, Princess Mary, in a letter to her friend Julie Karagina, tells about seeing off recruits for the war of 1805: mothers, wives, children, recruits themselves are crying (1,1, XXII). And on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, Pierre observes a different mood of the Russian soldiers: “The cavalrymen go to battle and meet the wounded, and do not think for a minute about what awaits them, but walk past and wink at the wounded” (3, 2, XX). Russian "people are calmly and as if thoughtlessly preparing for death" (3, 2, XXV), since tomorrow they will "fight for the Russian land" (ibid.). The feeling of the troops is expressed by Prince Andrei in his last conversation with Pierre: “For me, this is what tomorrow is: a hundred thousandth Russian and a hundred thousandth French troops have come together to fight, and whoever fights angrier and feels less sorry for himself will win” (3,2, XXV). Timokhin and other junior officers agree with their colonel: “Here, Your Excellency, the truth, the truth is true. Why feel sorry for yourself now! (ibid.). The words of Prince Andrei came true. Towards the evening of the battle of Borodino, an adjutant came to Napoleon and said that, on the orders of the emperor, two hundred guns were firing tirelessly at Russian positions, but that the Russians did not flinch, did not run, but “everyone is still standing, as at the beginning of the battle” (3, 2, XXXVIII).

Tolstoy does not idealize the people and paints scenes showing the inconsistency and spontaneity of peasant sentiments. First of all, this is the Bogucharov rebellion (3, 2, XI), when the peasants refused to give Princess Mary carts for her property and did not want to let even her out of the estate, because French leaflets (!) urged not to leave. Obviously, the Bogucharov peasants were seduced by French money (false, as it turned out later) for hay and food. The peasants display the same selfishness as noble staff officers (like Berg and Boris Drubetskoy), who see war as a means to make a career, achieve material well-being and even home comfort. However, having made a decision at the meeting not to leave Bogucharov, for some reason the peasants immediately went to a tavern and got drunk. And then the entire peasant gathering obeyed one decisive gentleman - Nikolai Rostov, who shouted at the crowd in a wild voice and ordered to knit the instigators, which the peasants obediently complied with.

Starting from Smolensk, some kind of difficult-to-define feeling, from the point of view of the French, wakes up in the Russians: “The people waited with carelessness for the enemy ... And as soon as the enemy approached, all the rich left, leaving their property, while the poor remained and set fire to and destroyed what what was left” (3, 3, V). An illustration of this reasoning is the scene in Smolensk, when the merchant Ferapontov himself set fire to his shop and flour barn (3,2, IV). Tolstoy notes the difference in the behavior of "enlightened" Europeans and Russians. Austrians and Germans, conquered by Napoleon a few years ago, dance with the invaders at balls and are completely enamored with French gallantry. They seem to forget that the French are enemies, but the Russians do not forget this. For Muscovites, “there could be no question whether it would be good or bad under the control of the French in Moscow. It was impossible to be under the control of the French: it was the worst of all” (3, 3, V).

In the irreconcilable struggle against the aggressor, the Russians retained high human qualities, which testifies to the mental health of the people. The greatness of a nation, according to Tolstoy, is not in the fact that it conquers all neighboring peoples by force of arms, but in the fact that a nation, even in the most cruel wars, knows how to preserve a sense of justice and humanity in relation to the enemy. The scene that reveals the generosity of the Russians is the rescue of the boastful captain Rambal and his batman Morel. The first time Rambal appears on the pages of the novel, when the French troops enter Moscow after Borodin. He gets to stay in the house of the widow of the freemason Joseph Alekseevich Bazdeev, where Pierre has lived for several days, and Pierre saves the Frenchman from the bullet of the crazy old man Makar Alekseevich Bazdeev. In gratitude, the Frenchman invites Pierre to dine together, they are quite peacefully talking over a bottle of wine, which the valiant captain, by right of the winner, has already taken in some Moscow house. The talkative Frenchman praises the courage of Russian soldiers on the Borodino field, but the French, in his opinion, are still the bravest warriors, and Napoleon is “the greatest man of the past and future centuries” (3, 3, XXIX). The second time Captain Rambal appears in the fourth volume, when he and his batman, hungry, frostbitten, abandoned by their beloved emperor to their fate, came out of the forest to a soldier's fire near the village of Red. The Russians fed both of them, and then Rambal was taken to the officer's hut to warm himself. Both Frenchmen were touched by such an attitude of ordinary soldiers, and the captain, barely alive, kept repeating: “Here are the people! O my good friends!” (4, 4, IX).

In the fourth volume, two heroes appear who, according to Tolstoy, demonstrate opposite and interconnected sides of the Russian national character. These are Platon Karataev, a dreamy, benevolent soldier, meekly submitting to fate, and Tikhon Shcherbaty, an active, skillful, determined and courageous peasant who does not resign himself to fate, but actively intervenes in life. Tikhon came to Denisov's detachment not on the orders of the landowner or military commander, but on his own initiative. He killed the French most of all in Denisov's detachment and brought "tongues". In the Patriotic War, as follows from the content of the novel, the “Shcherbatovsky” active character of the Russians manifested itself more, although the “Karataev’s” wise long-suffering-humility in the face of adversity also played a role. The self-sacrifice of the people, the courage and steadfastness of the army, the self-initiated partisan movement - this is what determined the victory of Russia over France, and not the mistakes of Napoleon, the cold winter, the genius of Alexander.

So, in "War and Peace" folk scenes and characters occupy an important place, as they should be in the epic. According to the philosophy of history, which Tolstoy outlines in the second part of the epilogue, the driving force behind any event is not an individual great person (king or hero), but the people directly involved in the event. The people are at the same time the embodiment of national ideals and the bearer of prejudices; they are the beginning and the end of state life.

This truth was understood by Tolstoy's favorite hero, Prince Andrei. At the beginning of the novel, he believed that a particular person-hero could influence history with orders from the army headquarters or a beautiful feat, so during the foreign campaign of 1805 he sought to serve in Kutuzov's headquarters and looked for his Toulon everywhere. After analyzing the historical events in which he personally participated, Bolkonsky came to the conclusion that history is not made by headquarters orders, but by direct participants in the events. Prince Andrei tells Pierre about this on the eve of the Battle of Borodino: “... if anything depended on the orders of the headquarters, then I would be there and make orders, but instead I have the honor to serve here, in the regiment, with these gentlemen, and I believe that tomorrow will really depend on us, and not on them ... ”(3, 2, XXV).

The people, according to Tolstoy, have the most correct view of the world and man, since the people's view is not formed in one head of some sage, but undergoes “polishing” - a test in the heads of a huge number of people and only after that it is approved as a national (communal) sight. Kindness, simplicity, truth - these are the real truths that have been worked out by the people's consciousness and to which Tolstoy's favorite heroes strive.

A short essay-reasoning on literature for grade 10 on the topic: “War and peace: folk thought”

The tragic war of 1812 brought a lot of troubles, suffering and torment, L.N. Tolstoy did not remain indifferent to the turning point of his people and reflected it in the epic novel "War and Peace", and his "grain", according to L. Tolstoy, is Lermontov's poem "Borodino". The epic is also based on the idea of ​​reflecting the national spirit. The writer admitted that in "War and Peace" he loved "the thought of the people." So, Tolstoy reproduced the "swarm life", proving that history is made not by one person, but by the whole people together.

According to Tolstoy, it is useless to resist the natural course of events, it is useless to try to play the role of arbiter of the fate of mankind. Otherwise, the participant in the war will fail, as it was with Andrei Bolkonsky, who tried to take control of the course of events and conquer Toulon. Or fate will doom him to loneliness, as happened with Napoleon, who fell in love with power too much.

During the Battle of Borodino, on the outcome of which much depended for the Russians, Kutuzov "did not make any orders, but only agreed or disagreed with what was offered to him." In this, it would seem, passivity, the deep mind and wisdom of the commander are manifested. Kutuzov's connection with the people was a victorious feature of his character, this connection made him the bearer of "people's thought".

Tikhon Shcherbaty is also a folk image in the novel and a hero of the Patriotic War, although he is a simple peasant who is not at all connected with military affairs. He himself voluntarily asked to join the detachment of Vasily Denisov, which confirms his dedication and readiness to make sacrifices for the sake of the Fatherland. Tikhon fights off four Frenchmen with only one ax - according to Tolstoy, this is the image of the "club of the people's war."

But the writer does not dwell on the idea of ​​heroism, regardless of rank, he goes further and wider, revealing the unity of all mankind in the war of 1812. In the face of death, all class, social, national boundaries are erased between people. All as one are afraid to kill; all as one do not want to die. Petya Rostov is worried about the fate of the French boy who was taken prisoner: “We are fine, but what about him? Where do you share it? Have you fed him? Were you offended?" And it seems like this is an enemy to a Russian soldier, but at the same time, even in a war, you need to treat your enemies like a human being. French or Russian - we are all people in need of mercy and kindness. In the War of 1812, this thought mattered as never before. Many heroes of War and Peace adhered to it, and, first of all, L.N. Tolstoy.

Thus, the Patriotic War of 1812 entered the history of Russia, its culture and literature as a significant and tragic event for the entire people. It manifested true patriotism, love for the motherland and the national spirit, which did not break under anything, but only got stronger, giving impetus to the great victory, the pride for which we still feel in our hearts.