Introduction
The theme of patriotism in the novel "War and Peace" is one of the central ones. It is no coincidence that almost two volumes of the famous epic are dedicated to her.
Patriotism of the people in the work
What is patriotism according to Tolstoy? This is a natural movement of the soul, which makes a person not think about himself "with the consciousness of a common misfortune." The war of 1812, which affected everyone, showed how much Russians love their Fatherland. Reading the text of the work, we find many examples of this.
So, Smolensk residents burn houses and bread so that the French do not get it. The merchant Ferapontov gives all the goods to the soldiers and sets fire to his property with his own hands. "Get it all, guys! Don't get the devils!" he shouts.
The residents of Moscow are also deeply patriotic. The episode when Napoleon on Poklonnaya Hill is waiting for a deputation with the keys to the city is indicative. But, most of the inhabitants left Moscow. Artisans and merchants left. The nobles also left the city, for whom, before the enemy arrived on Russian soil, French was their native language.
Patriotism in the novel sometimes wakes up even in those from whom it was difficult to expect. So, Princess Katish, who, together with Vasily, is participating in the hunt for the will of Count Bezukhov, declares to Pierre: “Whatever I am, I can’t live under Bonaparte power.” Even the cutesy gossip Julie Karagina leaves with everyone with the words: “I am not Joan of Arc and not an Amazon.” Moscow. It was impossible to be under the control of the French."
Natasha and Pierre during the war
The writer's favorite characters cannot stay away from the common trouble. Pierre decides to stay in the capital in order to shoot the French emperor "in order to either perish or end the misfortune of all Europe." He saves an unfamiliar girl from a burning garden, pounces with his fists on a French soldier who is trying to remove a necklace from a woman. Pierre finds himself on the battlefield and captured, he was nearly shot by the French and rescued by Russian partisans. It is the war that makes Pierre look at himself and others with different eyes, feel his closeness to the common people.
The feeling of "the need for sacrifice and suffering" during the general misfortune makes Natasha Rostova scream at her mother, who does not want to give her wagons to the wounded. At that moment, Natasha does not think that she can be a dowry. She thinks only that the wounded cannot be left to the French.
True patriots on the battlefield
It is impossible, speaking about the theme of patriotism in "War and Peace", not to mention the direct participants in the battles, generals and ordinary soldiers.
First of all, the reader is attracted by the image of Kutuzov. Like many of Tolstoy's favorite heroes, Kutuzov has a completely unattractive appearance “in a long frock coat on a huge thick body”, “with a stooped back”, “with a leaky, white eye on a swollen face” - this is how the writer of the great commander draws before the battle of Borodino. Tolstoy emphasizes that this man combined physical weakness and spiritual power. It was she, this inner strength, that allowed him to make an unpopular decision - to leave Moscow in order to save the army. It was thanks to her that he had the strength to liberate the Fatherland from the French.
Images of other heroes also appear before us. These are real historical figures: generals Raevsky, Yermolov Dokhturov, Bagration. And fictional brave men, including Prince Andrei, Timokhin, Nikolai Rostov and many others whose names are unknown.
The true patriots of the fatherland are shown by the writer and participants in the partisan war. They did not participate in great battles, but destroyed the enemy in the ways available to them. Tikhon Shcherbaty, elder Vasilisa, Denis Davydov. It is their exploits that delight the young Petya Rostov, who joins the partisan detachment.
False patriots in the novel
Tolstoy contrasts true patriots with false patriots, who do not care about the common misfortune, and who are trying to extract their own benefit from it.
So, visitors to the Scherer salon live a normal life. She arranges a reception even on the day of the Battle of Borodino. The patriotism of the mistress of a fashionable salon is manifested only in the fact that she gently scolds those who visit the French theater.
"False patriots" are among the staff officers. Among them is Boris Drubetskoy, who, thanks to his cunning, "managed to stay at the main apartment." Berg, who in a pathetic tone makes a fiery speech in front of Count Rostov, and then begins to bargain with him for a "chiffonier" and a toilet "with an English secret." And, of course, Count Rostopchin, who, with his calls and empty activities, doomed thousands of people to death, and then, having given the son of the merchant Vereshchagin to be torn to pieces by an angry crowd, he flees from Moscow.
Conclusion
In conclusion of the essay on the topic of patriotism in the novel "War and Peace" it must be said that Tolstoy was able to show the reader how a real patriot of his Motherland should behave in the hour of danger threatening her.
Artwork test
- 200.73 KbMOU Lovetska secondary school
Essay
on literature.
Topic: "The idea of patriotism in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace"
Completed by: 11th grade student Anna Davydova.
Head: Simakova L.G.
Reviewer: Krotova E.N.
2007
Plan:
1. Introduction.
2. True and false patriotism in the novel.
3. The significance of Kutuzov as the leader of the Russian army.
4. Genuine heroes of 1812.
5. Conclusion.
Introduction.
The novel "War and Peace" was created from 1863 to 1869. It has over 600 characters. The fate of the heroes can be traced for 15 years in peaceful conditions and in war conditions.
There are not many books in the entire world literature that, in terms of richness of content and artistic power, could be compared with Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. Historical events of tremendous significance, the deepest foundations of the national life of Russia, its nature, the fate of its best people, the mass of the people set in motion by the course of history, the richness of our beautiful language - all this was embodied on the pages of a great epic. Tolstoy himself said: “Without false modesty, this is like the Iliad, that is, he compared his book with the greatest creation of the ancient Greek epic.
"War and Peace" is one of the most captivating and gripping novels in world literature. Its action takes place either in the glow of a Moscow fire, flooding innumerable crowds of people with a tragic light, or by wax candles in high society salons, in the living rooms and offices of the Rostovs, Bezukhovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, or by the light of a torch in a peasant hut, or by the reflections of a partisan fire in winter forest, then by the light of the sun, illuminating the village huts and mansions, battlefields and crop fields, cities, forests, villages, roads of Russia.
The horizon of a huge book is boundless, where peace and life overcome death and war, where the history of the human soul is traced with such depth, with such insight - that "mysterious Russian soul" with its passions and delusions, with a frantic thirst for justice and patient faith in goodness, oh which was written so much all over the world both before Tolstoy and after him, but after - already with references to him, with quotations from the book. "War and Peace" is an extremely emotional book, hot, full of ridicule, controversy and love. It was created by the “mind of the heart”, which Tolstoy so highly valued in people and in art. In this regard, "War and Peace" is fundamentally different from the "objective" historical prose and represents an unprecedented phenomenon in the genre of the historical novel.
This is a great book of life, where the story about individual people, about the deepest movements of their souls hidden from the outside view, is connected, “conjugated” with the story and reflection on the fate of generations, peoples, the whole world. Tolstoy strove for a holistic display of history and life, for himself he considered the truth to be the only goal, for "one low truth is dearer to us than the darkness of uplifting deceptions." Sholokhov once said that it is not easy to write the truth, but that is not the only purpose of a writer, it is more difficult to write the truth. The truth is in the deep comprehension of the national character.
Tolstoy wrote the war without embellishment, and in the same way, in his characteristic manner, he described popular patriotism. It was love for the Motherland, the ability to sacrifice all the most valuable for it, including life, that the author so vividly revealed in his novel. In "War and Peace" we can see real heroes, true defenders of the Russian land.
Many heroes of the novel "War and Peace" can be called role models, and this is especially important right now, when the younger generation simply needs new moral ideals. At one time, the Soviet ideology with its spiritual values was broken, and a new one, unfortunately, was never created.
Deprived of moral guidelines, young people have taken a different path of development and now they have other values, such as: money, influence, prestige. Many do not even think about patriotism now. If before serving the Fatherland was the sacred duty of every citizen, today the guys go to the army only if they fail to “slop down”.
Yes, today's teenagers' views on patriotism are fundamentally different from those in Soviet times. But this can and should be changed! And there is no better assistant in this matter than classical Russian literature. At all times, literary works have had a great influence on the minds of young people, and I believe that this is the most effective way to "get through" to teenagers. It is time-tested books that help us form our own system of values, introduce the first ideas about good and evil, and instill moral and spiritual ideals.
The novel "War and Peace" is ideal for these purposes. Against the backdrop of the current immorality and lack of spirituality, this book remains a real monument of popular patriotism.
True and false patriotism in the novel.
The Patriotic War of 1812 on the part of Russia was liberation, Russia defended its independence, the Russian people defended their Fatherland. Naturally, therefore, the author touches upon the problem of patriotism in his novel, but considers it ambiguously.
The writer depicts true patriotism and false patriotism. True patriotism is, first of all, a sacred duty, a feat in the name of the Fatherland, the ability to rise above the personal at a decisive moment for the Motherland, imbued with a sense of responsibility for the fate of the people.
False patriotism is a feeling that repels with its falseness, selfishness and hypocrisy. In "War and Peace" it is superbly shown how empty and insignificant both the intellectual and moral life of the Kuragins and Karagins is. Secular nobles behave very playfully at a dinner in honor of Bagration: when reading poems about the war, "everyone stood up, feeling that dinner was more important than poetry."
A pseudo-patriotic atmosphere reigns in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen Bezukhova and in other Petersburg salons; “...calm, luxurious, preoccupied only with ghosts, reflections of life, life in St. Petersburg went on as before! ; and because of the course of this life, great efforts had to be made to realize the danger and the difficult situation in which the Russian people found themselves. There were the same exits, balls, the same French theater, the same interests of the courts, the same interests of service and intrigue. Only in the highest circles were efforts made to remind the difficulty of the present situation. Indeed, the aforementioned characters were far from understanding the all-Russian problems, from understanding the great misfortune of their people.
False patriotism is also shown by Count Rostopchin, who puts up stupid "posters" around Moscow, urges the inhabitants of the city not to leave the capital, and then, fleeing the people's wrath, deliberately sends the innocent son of the merchant Vereshchagin to death. Meanness and betrayal are combined with self-conceit, pouting: “It not only seemed to him that he controlled the external actions of the inhabitants of Moscow, but it seemed to him that he was directing their mood through his appeals and posters, written in the dark language, which in its midst despises the people and which he does not understand when he hears it from above.
Such a false patriot is Berg in the novel, who, in a moment of general confusion, is looking for an opportunity to profit and is preoccupied with buying a wardrobe and a toilet "with an English secret." It doesn’t even occur to him that now it’s a shame to think about wardrobes. Such, finally, is Drubetskoy, who, like other staff officers, thinks about awards and promotions, wants to "arrange for himself the best position, especially the position of adjutant with an important person, which seemed to him especially tempting in the army."
On the eve of the Battle of Borodino, Pierre noticed animation on the faces of the officers. He understood that “the reason for the excitement expressed on some of these faces lay more in matters of personal success, and he could not get out of his head that other expression of excitement that he saw on other faces and which spoke of questions not personal, but general , matters of life and death. »
They are all false patriots. While ordinary soldiers gave their lives defending Russia, the Moscow elite ate Russian cabbage soup instead of French dishes and stopped using French words in conversation. Is it possible to compare these "victims" with the victims of soldiers? I think the answer is obvious.
S.P. Bychkov wrote: “According to Tolstoy, the closer the nobles are to the people, the sharper and brighter their patriotic feelings, the richer and more meaningful their spiritual life. And, on the contrary, the farther they are from the people, the drier and more callous their souls the more unattractive their moral principles."
The value of Kutuzov as the leader of the Russian army.
Kutuzov in "War and Peace" was a real historical and artistic discovery of Tolstoy. It was he, and not Alexander I, who played an important role in the victory over the French. The Russian emperor is presented in the novel as a weak, conceited man who trusted the Austrians more than Kutuzov, and interfered with him a lot with his orders.
Drawing the image of Kutuzov, Tolstoy was not afraid to show his senile weakness. “In a long frock coat on a huge thick body, with a stooped back, with an open white head and with a leaky, white eye on a swollen face” - such was Kutuzov in front of Borodin. Kneeling in front of the icon, he then " tried for a long time and could not get up from heaviness and weakness". This physical weakness of the commander-in-chief, repeatedly emphasized by Tolstoy, only reinforces the impression of spiritual power emanating from him. “Today, before the battle, he kneels before the icon - just like the people whom he will send into battle tomorrow. "This important detail also indicates Kutuzov's closeness to the people, his spirituality with the very" people's feeling ", which Tolstoy so valued.
He is always humble and simple. A winning pose, acting is alien to him. Kutuzov, on the eve of the battle of Borodino, was reading the sentimental French novel by Madame Genlis The Knights of the Swan. He didn't want to be seen as a great man - he was.
Kutuzov is exalted in our minds as a commander who knows how to subordinate all thoughts and actions to the people's feelings.
During the Battle of Borodino, on the outcome of which much depended on the Russians, Kutuzov "did not make any orders, but only agreed or disagreed with what was offered to him." In this seeming passivity, the deep mind of the commander, his wisdom are manifested. What has been said is also confirmed by the insightful judgments of Andrei Bolkonsky: “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 stronger and more significant than his will - this is the inevitable course of events, and he knows how to see them, knows how to understand their significance and, in view of this significance, knows how to renounce participation in these events, from his personal will, directed at something else." Kutuzov knew that “the fate of the battle is decided not by the orders of the commander-in-chief, not by the place on which the troops stand, not by the number of guns and killed people, but by that elusive force called the spirit of the army, and he followed this force and led it, as far as it was in his power." Solidarity with the people, unity with ordinary people make Kutuzov for the writer the ideal of a historical figure and the ideal of a person.
Kutuzov in the novel is an exponent of folk wisdom. His strength lies in the fact that he understands and knows well what worries the people, and acts in accordance with this. He doesn't think about himself. Therefore, at the council in Fili, there is one question for him: “The salvation of Russia in the army. Is it more profitable to risk the loss of the army and Moscow by accepting the battle, or to give Moscow without a fight? "And even knowing that he would be accused of all mortal sins, Kutuzov decided to retreat. The correctness of Kutuzov in his dispute with Bennigsen at the council in Fili is, as it were, reinforced by the fact that the sympathy of the peasant girl Malasha is on the side of "grandfather" Kutuzov.
S.P. Bychkov wrote: "Tolstoy, with his inherent great insight as an artist, correctly guessed and perfectly captured the main character traits of the great Russian commander Kutuzov: his deep patriotic feelings, his love for the Russian people and hatred for the enemy, his closeness to the soldier" . Content
1. Introduction.
2. True and false patriotism in the novel.
3. The significance of Kutuzov as the leader of the Russian army.
4. Genuine heroes of 1812.
5. Conclusion.
The novel "War and Peace" in terms of genre is an epic novel, since Tolstoy shows us historical events that cover a large period of time (the action of the novel begins in 1805 and ends in 1821, in the epilogue), in the novel there are over 200 characters , there are real historical figures (Kutuzov, Napoleon, Alexander I, Speransky, Rostopchin, Bagration and many others), all social strata of Russia of that time are also shown: the high society, the noble aristocracy, the provincial nobility, the army, the peasantry, even the merchant class (remember the merchant Ferapontov, who sets fire to his house so that the enemy does not get it).
The main theme of the novel is the theme of the feat of the Russian people (regardless of social affiliation) in the war of 1812. It was a just people's war of the Russian people against the Napoleonic invasion.
An army of half a million, led by a great commander, attacked the Russian land with all its might, hoping to conquer this country in a short time. The Russian people rose to the defense of their native land. A feeling of patriotism swept over the army, the people and the best part of the nobility.
The people exterminated the French by all legal and illegal means. Circles and partisan detachments were created to exterminate French military formations. In that war, the best qualities of the Russian people were manifested. The whole army, experiencing an extraordinary patriotic upsurge, was full of faith in victory. Preparing for the Battle of Borodino, the soldiers put on clean shirts and did not drink vodka. For them, it was a sacred moment. Historians believe that Napoleon won the Battle of Borodino. But the "battle won" did not bring him the desired results. The people abandoned their property and left the enemy. Food stocks were destroyed so that the enemy would not get it. There were hundreds of partisan detachments.
They were big and small, peasant and landowner. One detachment, led by a deacon, captured several hundred Frenchmen in a month. There was an elder, Vasilisa, who killed hundreds of Frenchmen. There was a poet-hussar Denis Davydov - the commander of a large, active partisan detachment. M.I. proved himself to be a true commander of the people's war. Kutuzov. He is the spokesman of the national spirit. All Kutuzov's behavior indicates that his attempts to understand the events were active, correctly calculated, deeply thought out. Kutuzov knew that the Russian people would win, because he perfectly understood the superiority of the Russian army over the French. Creating his novel "War and Peace", Leo Tolstoy could not ignore the theme of Russian patriotism.
Tolstoy portrayed the heroic past of Russia with exceptional truthfulness, showed the people and their decisive role in the Patriotic War of 1812. For the first time in the history of Russian literature, the Russian commander Kutuzov is truly depicted. Tolstoy began his narrative with the first clashes between the Russian army and the French in 1805, describing the battle of Shengraben and the battle of Austerlitz, where the Russian troops were defeated. But even in the lost battles, Tolstoy shows real heroes, steadfast and firm in the performance of their military duty. We meet here heroic Russian soldiers and courageous commanders. With great sympathy, Tolstoy talks about Bagration, under whose leadership the detachment made a heroic transition to the village of Shengraben. And here is another inconspicuous hero - Captain Tushin. This is a simple and modest man who lives the same life with the soldiers. He is completely incapable of observing the ceremonial military regulations, which caused dissatisfaction with his superiors. But in battle, it is Tushin, this small, inconspicuous man, who sets an example of valor, courage and heroism. He, with a handful of soldiers, not knowing fear, held the battery and did not leave his positions under the onslaught of the enemy, who did not expect "the audacity of firing four cannons that were not protected by anyone." Outwardly unsightly, but internally collected and organized, the company commander Timokhin appears in the novel, whose company "one kept in order." Seeing no point in a war on foreign territory, the soldiers do not feel hatred for the enemy. Yes, and the officers are disunited and cannot convey to the soldiers the need to fight for foreign land. Depicting the war of 1805, Tolstoy draws various pictures of military operations and various types of its participants. But this war was fought outside of Russia, its meaning and goals were incomprehensible and alien to the Russian people. Another thing is the war of 1812. Tolstoy draws it differently. He portrays this war as a people's war, just, which was waged against enemies who encroached on the independence of the country.
After the entry of the Napoleonic army into the territory of Russia, the whole country rose up against the enemy. Everyone stood up to support the army: peasants, merchants, craftsmen, nobles. "From Smolensk to Moscow in all the towns and villages of the Russian land" everything and everyone rose up against the enemy. Peasants and merchants refused to supply the French army. Their motto is: "It is better to destroy, but not to give to the enemy."
Let us remember the merchant Ferapontov. In a tragic moment for Russia, the merchant forgets about the purpose of his daily life, about wealth, about hoarding. And the general patriotic feeling makes the merchant related to ordinary people: "Bring everything, guys ... I'll set it on fire myself." The actions of the merchant Ferapontov echo the patriotic act of Natasha Rostova on the eve of the surrender of Moscow.
She forces the family property to be dropped from the cart and the wounded to be taken. It was a new relationship between people in the face of a national danger.
An interesting metaphor is used by Tolstoy to depict the actions of two armies, Russian and French. First, two armies, like two swordsmen, fight according to certain rules (although what rules can there be in a war), then one of the sides, feeling that it is retreating, loses, suddenly throws away its sword, grabs a club and begins to "bludgeon", "nail" the enemy . Tolstoy calls a game not by the rules a guerrilla war, when the whole people rose up against the enemy and defeated him. Tolstoy ascribes the main role in the victory to the people, to those Karpas and Vlass who "did not carry hay to Moscow for the good money that they were offered, but burned it," to Tikhon Shcherbaty from the village of Prokhorovsky, who in Davydov's partisan detachment "was the most useful and brave man." The army and the people, united by their love for their native country and hatred for the invader enemies, won a decisive victory over the army, which inspired terror throughout Europe, and over its commander, recognized by the world as a genius.
"War and Peace" is called an epic because it covers the historical events that took place from 1805 to 1821. Thus, the action of the novel takes a long period of time. Moreover, more than 200 characters participate in it, including world-famous generals. The author depicts Napoleon, and Kutuzov, and Bagration, and Raevsky, and even Tsar Alexander I against the backdrop of the Patriotic War of 1812. Any social strata of Russia are also involved here: peasants, nobles, close associates of the tsar, provincials, merchants. It is not surprising that this novel made an indelible impression on the world community.
The main theme of Tolstoy's epic work was the theme of the heroism of the Russian people during the war with Napoleon. Regardless of their social status, people defended their country and fought unitedly against the enemy invasion. One of the most worthy commanders, whom the author shows in all its glory, was, of course, Kutuzov. But what about ordinary people? How did they behave in difficult times for the whole nation? In the novel "War and Peace" we see that social division occurs not on a class basis, but on the level of humanity and morality.
The novel "War and Peace" is a great work of Russian and world literature, a grandiose epic, the hero of which is the Russian people, who showed unprecedented heroism and patriotism in the struggle for the freedom and independence of their homeland in the war of 1812.
The huge life material of this novel is united by a single idea, "I tried to write the history of the people," says Tolstoy. The people, according to Tolstoy, are not only peasants, but also nobles, those people who are worried about the fate of the country, who are in the whirlpool of great events. A colossal wave of anger rose among the people after the French attack. All Russian people, with the exception of a small handful of court aristocrats, could not imagine how they could live under the rule of the French. Every Russian acted as he found it possible for himself. Who attacked the active army, who went to partisan detachments. People like Pierre Bezukhov gave part of their money to equip the militias. Many, like the Smolensk merchant Ferapontov, burned shops and their property so that nothing was left for the enemies. And many simply gathered and left their native places, destroying everything after themselves.
Tolstoy notes in the Russian people a simple, sometimes incomprehensible feeling of patriotism, which was expressed not in loud phrases about love for the fatherland, but in decisive actions. Residents of Moscow left the ancient capital without any call. Tolstoy emphasizes that for Muscovites there could be no question of what would be good or bad under French rule in Moscow. It was simply impossible to live like this, as it was the worst of all.
The same thing happens in other cities and villages of the Russian land. On the territory where the enemy had already entered, he saw the hatred and genuine indignation of the people. The peasants refused to sell food and hay to the French. A partisan movement sprang up spontaneously, without any order from above. According to Tolstoy's figurative expression, "the partisans picked up fallen leaves that fell from the common tree of the French army, and sometimes shook this tree."
Not only the common people, but also the advanced layers of the nobility and intelligentsia were imbued with bitterness towards the enemy. No wonder Prince Andrei says that they smashed his house, and now they are going to ruin Moscow, insulting it every second ”And therefore, according to his concepts, they are not only enemies, but also criminals. Prince Andrei honestly fulfills his duty by joining the army at the very beginning of the war, although before that he had decided that he would never be a military man again. He did not stay at the headquarters, as he was offered, but goes to the forefront of events. The heroism and genuine love of Russians for their homeland was especially clearly manifested in the battle of Borodino. On the eve of the battles, Andrei Bolkonsky says: “The battle will be won by the one who firmly decided to win it ... and who will fight harder ... Tomorrow, no matter what, we will win the battle.”
Defending their home, their family, their homeland, the right to life, the Russian people showed amazing fortitude and self-sacrifice, showed miracles of courage. They aroused surprise in Napoleon, who had been invincible so far, and then fear. It is impossible not to be proud of the Russian people. And there is no doubt that such a people has a great future.
