Real life in the understanding of Tolstoy
Real life is life without fetters and restrictions. This is the supremacy of feelings and mind over secular etiquette.
Tolstoy contrasts "false life" and "real life". All of Tolstoy's favorite characters live "Real Life". Tolstoy in the first chapters of his work shows us only "false life" through the inhabitants of secular society: Anna Scherrer, Vasily Kuragin, his daughter and many others. A sharp contrast to this society is the Rostov family. They live only by feelings and may not observe general decency. So, for example, Natasha Rostova, who ran out into the hall on her name day and loudly asked what kind of dessert would be served. This, according to Tolstoy, is real life.
The best time to understand the insignificance of all problems is war. In 1812, everyone rushed to fight Napoleon. In the war, everyone forgot about their quarrels and disputes. Everyone thought only about victory and the enemy. Indeed, even Pierre Bezukhov forgot about his differences with Dolokhov. War eliminates everything that is not real, false in people's lives, gives a person the opportunity to open up to the end, feeling the need for it, as Nikolai Rostov and the hussars of his squadron feel it, they feel it at the moment when it was impossible not to launch an attack. Heroes who do not specifically seek to be useful to the general course of events, but live their normal lives, are the most useful participants in it. The criterion of real life is real, sincere feelings.
But Tolstoy has heroes who live according to the laws of reason. These are the Bolkonsky family, except, perhaps, Marya. But Tolstoy also refers to these heroes as "real". Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is a very intelligent person. He lives according to the laws of reason and does not obey feelings. He rarely obeyed etiquette. He could easily walk away if he wasn't interested. Prince Andrei wanted to live "not for himself alone." He always tried to be helpful.
Tolstoy also shows us Pierre Bezukhov, who was looked at disapprovingly in Anna Pavlovna's living room. He, unlike the others, did not greet the "useless aunt." He did not do it out of disrespect, but only because he did not consider it necessary. In the image of Pierre, two benefactors are connected: intelligence and simplicity. By "simplicity" I mean that he can freely express his feelings and emotions. Pierre was looking for his destiny for a long time and did not know what to do. A simple Russian peasant, Platon Karataev, helped him figure it out. He explained to him that there is nothing better than freedom. Karataev became for Pierre the personification of simplicity and clarity of the basic laws of life.
Real life in the understanding of Tolstoy
Real life is life without fetters and restrictions. This is the supremacy of feelings and mind over secular etiquette.
Tolstoy contrasts "false life" and "real life". All of Tolstoy's favorite characters live "Real Life". Tolstoy in the first chapters of his work shows us only "false life" through the inhabitants of secular society: Anna Scherrer, Vasily Kuragin, his daughter and many others. A sharp contrast to this society is the Rostov family. They live only by feelings and may not observe general decency. So, for example, Natasha Rostova, who ran out into the hall on her name day and loudly asked what kind of dessert would be served. This, according to Tolstoy, is real life.
The best time to understand the insignificance of all problems is war. In 1812, everyone rushed to fight Napoleon. In the war, everyone forgot about their quarrels and disputes. Everyone thought only about victory and the enemy. Indeed, even Pierre Bezukhov forgot about his differences with Dolokhov. War eliminates everything that is not real, false in people's lives, gives a person the opportunity to open up to the end, feeling the need for it, as Nikolai Rostov and the hussars of his squadron feel it, they feel it at the moment when it was impossible not to launch an attack. Heroes who do not specifically seek to be useful to the general course of events, but live their normal lives, are the most useful participants in it. The criterion of real life is real, sincere feelings.
But Tolstoy has heroes who live according to the laws of reason. These are the Bolkonsky family, except, perhaps, Marya. But Tolstoy also refers to these heroes as "real". Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is a very intelligent person. He lives according to the laws of reason and does not obey feelings. He rarely obeyed etiquette. He could easily walk away if he wasn't interested. Prince Andrei wanted to live "not for himself alone." He always tried to be helpful.
Tolstoy also shows us Pierre Bezukhov, who was looked at disapprovingly in Anna Pavlovna's living room. He, unlike the others, did not greet the "useless aunt." He did not do it out of disrespect, but only because he did not consider it necessary. In the image of Pierre, two benefactors are connected: intelligence and simplicity. By "simplicity" I mean that he can freely express his feelings and emotions. Pierre was looking for his destiny for a long time and did not know what to do. A simple Russian peasant, Platon Karataev, helped him figure it out. He explained to him that there is nothing better than freedom. Karataev became for Pierre the personification of simplicity and clarity of the basic laws of life.
In the works of L. Tolstoy, much is built on oppositions. One of the main ones is the opposition between “real life” and “false life”. At the same time, the heroes of "War and Peace" can be divided into those who live "a fake life" (these are, as a rule, secular people,
Petersburg society: the maid of honor Sherer, Prince Vasily Kuragin, Helen Kuragina, Governor-General Rostopchin), and those whose lives are full of real meaning.
The life of the Rostov family is very vividly depicted in the novel. Rostovs are primarily people of feelings, sensations, reflection is unusual for them. Each member of this family perceives life in its own way, especially, but at the same time, they all have something in common that unites them, making them truly a family. And we know what significance Tolstoy attached to this concept.
An indispensable condition for real life, according to Tolstoy, is the emancipation of a person who understands conventions and neglects them, building his behavior in society not on secular requirements of decency, but on other grounds. At the birthday dinner taking place in the Rostovs' house, Natasha decides to be bold: she loudly, in front of all the guests, asks her mother what kind of ice cream will be served. And although the countess pretended that she was displeased and outraged by her daughter's bad manners, Natasha felt that her insolence was favorably received by the guests precisely because of her naturalness and naturalness. Anna Pavlovna Scherer is frightened by Pierre Bezukhov, who appeared in her living room, because he is distinguished by his spontaneity and simplicity of behavior and lack of understanding of secular etiquette, which requires people to indispensably greet “unnecessary aunt” only in the name of observing some kind of ritual. Very colorful Tolstoy draws the immediacy of behavior in the Russian dance scene of the old Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov and Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova. Natasha, beaming with delight, points to her father to the guests. Tolstoy conveys the feeling of joy that gripped the count himself, Natasha, Nikolai, Sonya, the guests ... This, in the understanding of the writer, is real life.
Also an expressive example of the manifestation of real life is the famous hunting scene. It was decided to go hunting the next day, but the morning was such that Nikolai Rostov felt, as Tolstoy writes, that "it is impossible not to go." Regardless of him, Natasha, Petya, the old count and the hunter Danila experience this feeling. During the hunt, all conventions are discarded and forgotten, and Danila can be rude to the count and even call him rudely, and the count understands this, understands that in a different situation the hunter would never allow himself this, but the situation of hunting liberates Danila in every sense of the word, and the count is no longer his master, but he himself is the master of the situation, the owner of power over all. Participants in the hunt experience the same sensations, although each shows it differently. When the hunters drove the hare, Natasha squeals enthusiastically and loudly, everyone understands her feelings, the delight that seized her. After such emancipation, Natasha's dance becomes possible.
The war of 1812 becomes the culmination of Tolstoy's epic. It filters out everything fake, false in people's lives, gives a person the opportunity to open up to the end, feeling the need for it, as Nikolai Rostov and the hussars of his squadron feel it at the moment when it is impossible not to launch an attack. The Smolensk merchant Ferapontov, who burns his property and distributes it to the soldiers, feels the same need. Heroes who do not strive to be useful to the general course of events, but live their normal lives, are the most useful participants in it. So, real, sincere feelings are the unmistakable criterion of real life.
But the heroes, who rather live according to the laws of reason, are also capable of real life. An example of this is the Bolkonsky family. None of them, except, perhaps, Princess Marya, is not characterized by an open manifestation of their feelings. But Prince Andrei and his sister have their own path to real life. And Prince Andrei will go through the streaks of delusion, but an unerring moral instinct will help him overthrow the false idols he worshipped. So Napoleon and Speransky will be debunked in his mind, love for Natasha will enter his life, so unlike all the beauties of St. Petersburg. Natasha will become the personification of real life, opposing the falsehood of light. That is why Andrei will so painfully endure her betrayal - after all, this will be tantamount to the collapse of the ideal.
But even here the war will put everything in its place. After the break with Natasha, Andrey will go to war, driven no longer by ambitious dreams, but by an inner sense of belonging to the people's cause, the cause of defending Russia. Wounded, he forgives Natasha before his death, because a true understanding of life comes to him.
Tolstoy's real life can be expressed in the feelings of some heroes and in the thoughts of others. This is personified in the novel by Pierre Bezukhov, in whose image both these principles are combined, for he has both the ability for direct feeling, like the Rostovs, and a sharp analytical mind, like his older friend Bolkonsky. He, too, is looking for the meaning of life and is mistaken in his search, sometimes he loses all guidelines, but feeling and thought lead him to new discoveries, and this path leads him to an understanding of the people's soul. This is also manifested during his communication with the soldiers on the Borodino field on the day of the battle and in captivity, when he closely converges with Platon Karataev. Plato becomes for him the personification of simplicity and clarity of the basic laws of life, the answer to all reflections. The feeling of the immensity of true life covers Pierre when he looks at the starry sky and is imbued with a sense of his unity with the whole universe. We can say that he sees the same sky that Prince Andrei saw on the field of Austerlitz. And Pierre laughs at the mere thought that he, that is, the whole universe, the soldier can lock up and not let him go anywhere. Inner freedom is a characteristic feature of true life.
Tolstoy's favorite heroes converge in their reverence for life, unconscious, like Natasha's, or, conversely, clearly conscious, like Prince Andrei's. The commander Kutuzov, who understands the inevitability of what must happen, is opposed to Napoleon, who imagines that he controls the course of events, as if the course of thought can be controlled. Real life is always simple and natural, no matter how it develops and manifests itself.
Real life is life without fetters and restrictions. This is the supremacy of feelings and mind over secular etiquette.
Tolstoy contrasts "false life" and "real life". All of Tolstoy's favorite characters live "Real Life". Tolstoy in the first chapters of his work shows us only "false life" through the inhabitants of secular society: Anna Scherrer, Vasily Kuragin, his daughter and many others. A sharp contrast to this society is the Rostov family. They live only by feelings and may not observe general decency. So, for example, Natasha Rostova, who ran out into the hall on her name day and loudly asked what kind of dessert would be served. This, according to Tolstoy, is real life.
The best time to understand the insignificance of all problems is war. In 1812, everyone rushed to fight Napoleon. In the war, everyone forgot about their quarrels and disputes. Everyone thought only about victory and the enemy. Indeed, even Pierre Bezukhov forgot about his differences with Dolokhov. War eliminates everything that is not real, false in people's lives, gives a person the opportunity to open up to the end, feeling the need for it, as Nikolai Rostov and the hussars of his squadron feel it, they feel it at the moment when it was impossible not to launch an attack. Heroes who do not specifically seek to be useful to the general course of events, but live their normal lives, are the most useful participants in it. The criterion of real life is real, sincere feelings.
But Tolstoy has heroes who live according to the laws of reason. These are the Bolkonsky family, except, perhaps, Marya. But Tolstoy also refers to these heroes as "real". Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is a very intelligent person. He lives according to the laws of reason and does not obey feelings. He rarely obeyed etiquette. He could easily walk away if he wasn't interested. Prince Andrei wanted to live "not for himself alone." He always tried to be helpful.
Tolstoy also shows us Pierre Bezukhov, who was looked at disapprovingly in Anna Pavlovna's living room. He, unlike the others, did not greet the "useless aunt." He did not do it out of disrespect, but only because he did not consider it necessary. In the image of Pierre, two benefactors are connected: intelligence and simplicity. By "simplicity" I mean that he can freely express his feelings and emotions. Pierre was looking for his destiny for a long time and did not know what to do. A simple Russian peasant, Platon Karataev, helped him figure it out. He explained to him that there is nothing better than freedom. Karataev became for Pierre the personification of simplicity and clarity of the basic laws of life.
All of Tolstoy's favorite characters love life in all its manifestations. Real life is always natural. Tolstoy loves the depicted life and the characters living it.
You cannot live for yourself alone - this is spiritual death. “Life is only when you live for others,” wrote Tolstoy. In the novel, this principle of real life is central. Karataev considered real life only that which does not make sense as a separate life. It only makes sense as part of the whole.
Prince Andrei cannot be such a particle. He is a man of action, he got out of the rhythm of society and life in general. Bolkonsky does not go with the flow, but rather is ready to subjugate life to himself, but in this he is mistaken. Life is given to us by God
He controls us, and therefore life cannot be subjugated to itself.
At the same time, Pierre, always going with the flow, understood for himself the essence of life: “Life is everything. Life is God. Everything moves, moves, and this movement is God. And as long as there is life, there is the enjoyment of the self-consciousness of the deity. To love life is to love God." He realized the worthlessness of his life, with its revelry and revelry, but he continues to revel and walk. Although when Pierre understands that one must live for others, he tries to build schools, make life easier for the peasants, but, as we see, he does not succeed, because Pierre did not make any efforts, but succumbed to a sudden
Impulse, the ardor of which soon cooled. Tolstoy wrote: "Do not make an effort, live with the flow - and you do not live." Bezukhov knew what real life was, but did nothing to live it.
Prince Bolkonsky, on the contrary, builds schools, reduces dues, releases serfs, that is, he does everything that Pierre did not complete, however, he does not live a real life, because his principle is: "you must live for yourself." However, life for oneself is spiritual death.
In War and Peace, Tolstoy reveals what real life is, showing this on the example of Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. He showed that it is impossible to live like Prince Andrei for oneself alone, that it is impossible, like Pierre, to go with the flow without making any effort, but, like Andrei, one must “torn, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and quit and again start and quit again, and forever struggle and lose. And the calmness in which Bolkonsky was in Bogucharovo or Pierre in St. Petersburg is spiritual meanness. But, like Pierre, one must love life "in its countless, never exhausted manifestations." We must live, we must love, we must believe.
“A living person is the one,” Tolstoy wrote, “who goes forward, where it is lit ... in front of him by a moving lantern, and who never reaches the lit place, and the lit place goes ahead of him. And that's life. And there is no other." A person must seek and not find peace, must strive to achieve his goal. Happy is the person who achieves his plan all his life, devoting his whole life to something.
But still, real life is the common life of people, "bringing personal interest into harmony with the common interests of all people." Real life is the world. Wars, on the other hand, contradict human essence, wars are an evil generated by people themselves. Ozhegov wrote that life is the activity of man and society, that is, the interconnected activity of that whole and its particles, about which L. N. Tolstoy wrote in the novel.
We must live, we must love, we must believe.
