Family thought in the novel “War and Peace” (School essays). Family thought in the epic novel “War and Peace” by Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy Tolstoy war and peace family thought

Family. How much this word means to each of us. Family is that circle of people where you will always be supported and understood. For Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, family meant no less. The family is the beginning of everything for him. That is why his main work, “War and Peace,” is based on the story of the “growing up” of three families: the Kuragins, Bolkonskys and Rostovs. Using the example of his heroes, Lev Nikolaevich clearly showed the variety of models of family relationships, the positive and negative aspects of each of them. Lev Nikolaevich portrayed conventional types of families so plausibly that even in our time we can meet the selfish Kuragins, rational Bolkonskys and hospitable Rostovs.

The Kuragin family unites people who do not know the rules of morality.

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Their relationships are dominated by selfishness and pride. They constantly act either as the instigators of scandals, or at the center of intrigue and gossip. Consider the role of Prince Vasily in the story of the “mosaic briefcase” or Anatole’s participation in the disruption of the wedding of Prince Andrei and Natasha Rostova. The Kuragin family is a high-society family. Their whole life is oriented towards the ideals of high society. Prince Vasily arranges the fate of his children, strengthening their financial position, and Helen enjoys the realization of her unspoken title of “the first beauty of St. Petersburg.”

The antipode of the Kuragin family is the Bolkonsky family. If for the head of the Bolkonsky family, Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky, there are only two virtues - “activity and intelligence,” which he instills in his children: Princess Marya and Prince Andrei, then the head of the Kuragin family, Prince Vasily, has no life guidelines, no moral standards, and he conveyed his vision of the world to Helen and Anatole. Marya and Prince Andrey differ from all other noble children by their ideals, which their father instilled in them. In their family we will not see manifestations of the kind of love that the Rostovs have, but it is not absent, like the Kuragins. It is different, if in the Rostovs it is expressed in words, then in the Bolkonskys it is unemotional, expressed in attitudes and actions. So old Prince Bolkonsky teaches Princess Marya sciences, wanting her not to become a toy in the wrong hands. Their relationship is not as warm as the Rostovs, but they are strong, like links in one chain.

Of course, the type of family that is close to most of us is the Rostov family. They are radically different from the two previous families. If all the actions of the Bolkonsky family are subordinated to the rules and concepts of honor, then in the Rostov family everything is subordinated to emotions and feelings. They are frank with each other, they have no secrets, they do not judge each other even in the most critical situations (such a situation was a major loss at cards to Nikolai Dolokhov). Their family happiness extends to everyone who can enter their hospitable Moscow home - mother and son Drubetsky, colleague Nikolai Denisov, Pierre Bezukhov.

Thus, Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, presenting the reader with different models of family relationships, expresses his view on the future of the members of these families. The future belongs to the Bolkonskys and Rostovs, not to the Kuragins. After all, it was in the family of the latter that after the war of 1812 only the old Prince Vasily remained alive, and the children, when they died, did not leave offspring. And in the epilogue of the novel we see two new families. This is the Bezukhov family, ideal according to Tolstoy, because this family is based on complete mutual understanding, trust and spiritual kinship between Natasha and Pierre, and the Rostov family, based on mutual respect between Nikolai Rostov and Marya Bolkonskaya. Princess Marya introduced high spiritual and moral values ​​into Nikolai’s worldview, which he lacked, and Nikolai preserved the family comfort and sincerity of the Rostovs, something that Marya lacked all her life.

Updated: 2019-02-21

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Lesson No. 18

“Family Thought” in L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace”

Goals:

educational:

upbringingstable moral and ethical standards of relationships in the family;

creating conditions for strengthening the prestige of the family, forming a value system of moral guidelines and ideals;

educational:

generalization and systematization of knowledge obtained during the study of the epic novel by L.N. Tolstoy “War and Peace” on the topic of the lesson;

creating conditions for defining the “Tolstoy” ideal of family;

developing:

improving skills in working with text, the ability to analyze what you read;

developing the ability to search for information in sources of various types;

forming your own position on the issues discussed.

Lesson type: a lesson in the integrated application of knowledge.

Lesson type: workshop lesson.

Methodical techniques: conversation on questions, retelling the text, expressive reading of the text, watching episodes from a feature film, student reports.

Predicted result:

knowartistic text; definition of “Tolstoy’s” understanding of family;

be able toindependently find material on the topic and systematize it.

Equipment: notebooks, literary text, computer, multimedia, presentation, feature film.

During the classes

I. Organizational stage.

II. Motivation for learning activities. Goal setting.

The teacher's word.

The grain grows in the FAMILY,

A person grows up in a FAMILY.

And everything that then acquires

It does not come to him from outside.

Family is the basis of a person’s entire life, his happiness, peace of mind, peace of mind. Ideally, a family is held together and brightened by love and understanding. To confirm this, I’ll tell you a legend: “In ancient times, there lived an amazing family. The family was huge - a hundred people, and peace, love, and harmony reigned in it. Word of this reached the supreme ruler himself. And he decided to visit this family. When the ruler was convinced that this was true, he asked the Elder, the head of the family: “How do you manage to live without ever quarreling or offending each other?” Then the Elder took the paper, wrote 100 words on it and gave it to the ruler. He quickly read it and was surprised: one word was written on the sheet 100 times - understanding.”

Discussion of the topic and objectives of the lesson.

III . Improving knowledge, skills and abilities.

The teacher's word.

“All happy families are similar to each other, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” with these words L.N. Tolstoy begins his novel “Anna Karenina,” in which, as he himself said, he embodied “the thought of family.” In the novel “War and Peace,” the writer also assigned a very important role to family, family foundations, and traditions.

UEvery person has his own source. This source is the home, family, its traditions, way of life. Today we get to know the family nests of the main characters: the Rostovs; Bezukhov, Kuragin, Bolkonsky, we will visit these families to understand the main question: “What kind of family life does Tolstoy consider real?”

The Rostov family.

Where does the first part of the second volume begin?

The war did not end, but it paused. After the victory at Austerlitz, Napoleon concluded a beneficial peace with Austria and went to Paris, and the Russian troops returned to their homeland, and many officers received leave, including Nikolai Rostov.

What kind of desire is Nikolai Rostov gripped by, what feelings does he experience when approaching his parents’ house?

He’s going on vacation to Moscow, he’s already arrived and thinks: “Soon, soon? Oh, these unbearable streets, shops, rolls, lanterns, cab drivers!” Nikolai Rostov is overwhelmed with an impatient desire to quickly drive up to his home.

Reading the episode “Meeting Family.”

We are so familiar with the feeling that Nikolai experienced a few minutes after his arrival: “Rostov was very happy with the love that was shown to him: but the first minute of his meeting was so blissful that his current happiness seemed not enough to him, and he was still waiting for something again, and again, and again"

Now conclude what does his parents’ home mean to him?

In his parents’ house, he - an officer, an adult man - with natural ease re-entered his childhood world, he understood “burning his hand with a ruler to show love”, and Natasha’s chatter, and the fact that she tried to put on his boots with spurs, and Sonya , circling around the room - all this, it seemed, had been in him for all the long months under cannonballs and bullets, and now here, in his parents’ house, it came to life and blossomed.

Student message. The Rostovs are parents. Presentation.

Tolstoy considers the mother to be the moral core of the family, and the highest virtue of a woman is the sacred duty of motherhood: “The Countess was a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about 45 years old, apparently exhausted by children, of whom she had 12 people. The slowness of her movements and speech, resulting from weakness of strength, gave her a significant appearance that inspired respect.” The author emphasizes the closeness of mother and daughter with one name - Natalya.

Tolstoy also describes the Count with tenderness. Count Rostov greeted all the guests equally warmly, without the slightest shade, both above and below him, to the people standing above him, he laughs with a “sonorous and bassy laugh,” he is “kindness itself.”

The hospitable and generous house of the Rostovs cannot but charm the reader. Both in St. Petersburg and in Moscow, a variety of people came to dinner with them: neighbors in Otradnoye, poor old landowners, Pierre Bezukhov. There is a feeling of selfless cordiality.

The life of the Rostovs in the village is patriarchal in nature - the serfs dress up at Christmas time and have fun with the masters.

Retelling of the "Christmastide" episode.

Watch the episode "After the Hunt."

What is the relationship between parents and children in the Rostov family?

The relationship between parents and children in the Rostov family is built on sincerity of feelings, love, understanding, respect, and trust in each other. The spirit of equality and selflessness dominates in this family. Here they openly rejoice, cry and worry together. The Rostovs are ready to accept and treat anyone: in the family, in addition to their four children, Sonya and Boris Drubetskoy are being raised. Their home is comfortable for both friends and strangers.

Retell the episode “Natasha’s Name Day” (volume 1, part 1, chapters 7-11, 14-17).

What does this picture add to the characteristics of the Rostov “breed”?

Simplicity and cordiality, natural behavior, cordiality and mutual love in the family, nobility and sensitivity, closeness in language and customs to the people.

What is the Rostov family code?

a) generous hospitality;

b) respect for each individual;

c) sincerity and mutual understanding between parents and children;

d) openness of soul;

d) all feelings come out;

e) a sense of patriotism.

Bolkonsky family.

The teacher's word.

And now we’ll stay a little with the Bolkonskys, in Bald Mountains. Nothing can change the calm, active and measured life of the old princely house in Bald Mountains. “The same hours, and walks along the alleys.” And as always, early in the morning, a majestic little old man in a “velvet fur coat with a sable collar and a matching hat” goes out for a walk in the fresh snow. He is old, Prince Bolkonsky, he deserves peace. But this old man did not dream of peace.

What was Nikolai Andreevich thinking about when reading his son’s daily letters?

He probably longed with all his heart to go there, to the Austrian fields, remembered the great Suvorov, dreamed of his Toulon - he is old, but he is alive and full of spiritual strength. Mental, but not physical. You have to come to terms with the fact that you cannot easily, as before, jump on a horse and ride under bullets across the enemy. You have to come to terms with the fact that thought does not work as quickly as before, and your strength diminishes, and there is no place for you where before it seemed impossible without you. That's why he's difficult, this old man, because he can't come to terms with his helplessness. But, as much as he has the strength, he will be useful to Russia, his son, his daughter.

Student message. Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky. Presentation.

Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky attracts both Tolstoy and modern readers with his originality. “An old man with keen, intelligent eyes,” “with the brilliance of smart and young eyes,” “inspiring a feeling of respect and even fear,” “he was harsh and invariably demanding.” A friend of Kutuzov, he received general-in-chief in his youth. Nikolai Andreevich, honoring only two human virtues: “activity and intelligence,” “was constantly busy either writing his memoirs, or calculations from higher mathematics, or turning snuff boxes on a machine, or working in the garden and observing buildings.”

Proud and adamant, the prince asks his son to hand over the notes to the sovereign after his death. And for the Academy he prepared a prize for the one who would write the history of the “Suvorov wars.”

What did Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky want to give to his children?

Long ago, when he was young, strong and active, among the many joys that filled his life were children - Prince Andrei and Princess Marya, whom he loved very much. He was involved in their upbringing and training himself, without trusting or entrusting this to anyone. He wanted to raise his son smart, noble, happy, and his daughter - not like the stupid young ladies of society - but a beautiful woman.

What was his soul aching about?

The son grew up handsome, smart and honest, but this did not make him happy. He went into an incomprehensible life with an unpleasant woman - what remains for the father? Trying to understand my son and take care of his wife: but this is not how I once dreamed of it all.

His girl also grew up and became a rich bride; he taught her geometry, raised her to be kind and noble, but this will only make life more difficult for her. What does she know about people, what does she understand in life? The daughter looks ugly! But he, like no one else, understands how rich his daughter’s spiritual world is; he knows how beautiful she can be in moments of great excitement. That is why the arrival and matchmaking of the Kuragins, “this stupid, heartless breed,” is so painful for him. They are not looking for his daughter, but for his wealth, his noble family! And Princess Marya is waiting, worried! He, with his desire to make children truthful and honest, he himself raised Andrei unarmed against Princess Lisa, and Marya against Prince Vasily. Today he is alive and saved his daughter, but tomorrow?

Which episode shows the relationship between father and son in the Bolkonsky family?

Prince Andrei's departure to war.

With what feeling does the father send Andrei to war?

With joy that my son is fulfilling his duty and service.

How does the elder Bolkonsky understand the service?

To serve, not to be served. But to serve not like Ippolit, for whom his father procured the post of ambassador in Vienna, and not as an adjutant under some, albeit important, but insignificant person, like Berg, Boris Drubetskoy, but under Kutuzov himself. Although, being an adjutant to anyone is not in the Bolkonsky traditions.

What struggle takes place in the soul of the old prince at the moment of farewell?

The struggle of father and citizen, with the victory of the latter. It's better to be hurt than embarrassed. “Pride of thought” prevents both from revealing the full depth of their experiences.

Prove that Andrei Bolkonsky respects his father immensely and has an urgent need to communicate with him?

Admiration for my father's education in political affairs. Please take your son with you in the event of his death. He had probably never received such a compliment in his entire life. This is not just a high assessment of the father’s human qualities, but also the sons’ love for him, expressed, like everything that Andrei does, in a masculine, stern and restrained manner.

What do all the Bolkonskys have in common?

Severity, “dryness,” and pride are the most frequently repeated traits in portraits of father and son. But perhaps the most important thing that unites all the Bolkonskys is the similarity of their eyes, highlighted by Tolstoy: like Princess Marya, the same “beautiful eyes” of Prince Andrei, they also “shone with an intelligent and kind, unusual shine,” intelligent and brilliant eyes Bolkonsky - father. Aristocratism, pride, intelligence and deep work of thought, the depth of the spiritual world hidden from the eyes of outsiders - these are the characteristic features of the Bolkonsky family. At the moment of the birth of the son of Princess Lisa and Prince Andrei in the Bolkonsky house “there was some kind of general concern, a softening of the heart and the consciousness of something great, incomprehensible, taking place at that moment.”

What are the similarities and differences between the parents and children of the Bolkonskys and Rostovs?

The Bolkonskys, like the Rostovs, have the same mutual love of family members, the same deep cordiality (only hidden), the same naturalness of behavior. The Bolkonsky house and the Rostov house are similar, first of all, in their sense of family, spiritual kinship, and patriarchal way of life.

Kuragin family.

Against the background of the characteristics of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys, the relationships in the Kuragin family will sound in contrast.

Student message. Kuragin family.

How does Vasily Kuragin understand his parental duty?

Vasily Kuragin is the father of three children. He, too, probably doesn’t sleep well at night, thinking for his children, how to help, guide, protect. But for him the concept of happiness has a different meaning than for Prince Bolkonsky. All his dreams come down to one thing: to find a more profitable place for them, to get rid of them. How much effort the magnificent wedding of his daughter Helen, the current Countess Bezukhova, cost Prince Vasily! Having abandoned all his affairs, he looked after and guided the “unlucky” Pierre, assigned him to a chamber cadet, settled him in his house, and when Pierre never made an offer, Prince Vasily put everything on his shoulders and decisively blessed Pierre and Helene. Helen is attached. Ippolit, thank God, is in diplomacy, in Austria - out of danger; but the youngest remains, Anatole, with his dissipation, debts, drunkenness; the idea arose to marry him to Princess Bolkonskaya - one could not wish for anything better. All Kuragins easily endure the shame of matchmaking. Their calmness comes from indifference to everyone except themselves. Pierre will brand their spiritual callousness and meanness: “Where you are, there is debauchery and evil.”

What are the relationships in this family?

There is no place for sincerity and decency in this house. The members of the Kuragin family are connected to each other by a terrible mixture of base instincts and impulses! The mother experiences jealousy and envy towards her daughter; the father sincerely welcomes arranged marriages, dirty intrigues and bad connections for his children. It seems that the growth of this nest of sins and vices can only be stopped physically - and all three younger Kuragins remain childless. Nothing will be born from them, because in a family one must be able to give others the warmth of the soul and care.

Conclusion.

Define in one word the main core of the family:

Rostov family (love)

Bolkonsky family (nobility)

Kuragin family (lie)

The teacher's word.

What kind of life does Tolstoy call real?

“The real life of people is life with its own essential interests of health, illness, work, rest, with its own interests of thought, science, poetry, music, love, friendship, hatred, passions.” Each family has its own “beginnings” and understands happiness in its own way. Tolstoy affirms eternal values ​​as the basis of happiness - home, family, love. This is what each of us needs. We all dream of a home where we are loved and welcomed.

Student messages.

Natasha Rostova and Pierre.

Natasha and Prince Andrei.

V . Summarizing.

VI . Reflection.

“Tolstoy’s novel differs from an ordinary family novel in that it is, so to speak, an open family, with an open door - it is ready to spread, the path to the family is the path to people,” N. Berkovsky writes about the novel “War and Peace.”
In the novel "War and Peace" L.N. Tolstoy talks about different families - these include the Bolkonskys, who preserve aristocratic traditions; and representatives of the Moscow nobility Rostov; the Kuragin family, deprived of mutual respect, sincerity and connections; the Berg family, which begins its existence by laying the “material foundation”. And in the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy presents to the readers two new families - Pierre and Natasha, Nikolai and Marya - families based on sincere and deep feelings.
Let's try to rank the families presented in the novel according to their proximity to Tolstoy's idea of ​​an ideal family.
Bergi.
Berg himself has much in common with Griboyedov’s Molchalin (moderation, diligence and accuracy). According to Tolstoy, Berg is not only a philistine in himself, but also a part of the universal philistinism (acquisitive mania takes over in any situation, drowning out the manifestation of normal feelings - the episode with the purchase of furniture during the evacuation of most residents from Moscow). Berg “exploits” the war of 1812, “squeezing” the maximum benefit out of it for himself. The Bergs try with all their might to resemble the models accepted in society: the evening that the Bergs throw is an exact copy of many other evenings with candles and tea. Vera (although she belongs to the Rostov family by birth) even as a girl, despite her pleasant appearance and development, good manners and “correctness” of judgment, pushes people away with her indifference to others and extreme selfishness.
Such a family, according to Tolstoy, cannot become the basis of society because... The “foundation” underlying it is material acquisitions, which are more likely to devastate the soul and contribute to the destruction of human relationships rather than unification.
Kuragins- Prince Vasily, Hippolyte, Anatole, Helen.
Family members are connected only by external relations. Prince Vasily does not have a fatherly feeling for children, all Kuragins are disunited. And in independent life, the children of Prince Vasily are doomed to loneliness: Helen and Pierre have no family, despite their official marriage; Anatole, being married to a Polish woman, enters into new relationships and is looking for a rich wife. Kuragins organically fit into the society of the regulars of Anna Pavlovna Scherer's salon with its falsehood, artificiality, false patriotism, and intrigue. The true face of Prince Vasily is revealed in the episode of dividing the inheritance of Kirila Bezukhov, which he does not intend to refuse under any circumstances. He actually sells his daughter, marrying her to Pierre. The animal and immoral principle inherent in Anatol Kuragin is especially clearly manifested when his father brings him to the Bolkonskys’ house in order to marry Princess Marya to him (episode with Mademoiselle Burien). And his attitude towards Natasha Rostova is so low and immoral that it does not need any comments. Helene completes the family gallery with dignity - she is a predatory woman, ready to marry for money and position in society for the sake of convenience, and then treat her husband cruelly.
The lack of connections and spiritual closeness makes this family formal, that is, people living in it are related only by blood, but there is no spiritual kinship or human closeness in this house, and therefore, it can be assumed that such a family cannot cultivate a moral attitude to life.
Bolkonsky.
The head of the family, the old Prince Bolkonsky, establishes a meaningful life in Bald Mountains. He is all in the past - he is a true aristocrat, and he carefully preserves all the traditions of the aristocracy.
It should be noted that real life is also in the old prince’s field of attention - his awareness of modern events surprises even his son. An ironic attitude towards religion and sentimentality brings father and son closer together. The death of the prince, according to Tolstoy, is retribution for his despotism. Bolkonsky lives “by the mind”; an intellectual atmosphere reigns in the house. The old prince even teaches his daughter the exact and historical sciences. But, despite a number of the prince’s eccentricities, his children - Prince Andrei and Princess Marya - love and respect their father, forgiving him some tactlessness and harshness. Perhaps this is the phenomenon of the Bolkonsky family - unconditional respect and acceptance of all senior family members, unaccountable, sincere, in some ways even sacrificial love of family members for each other (Princess Marya decided for herself that she would not think about personal happiness , so as not to leave the father alone).
The relationships that have developed in this family, according to Tolstoy, contribute to the education of such feelings as respect, devotion, human dignity, and patriotism.
Rostov.
Using the example of the Rostov family, Tolstoy presents his ideal of family life, good relations between all family members. The Rostovs live the “life of the heart,” without demanding special intelligence from each other, treating life’s troubles with ease and ease. They are characterized by a truly Russian desire for breadth and scope. All members of the Rostov family are characterized by liveliness and spontaneity. The turning point in the life of the family is leaving. Moscow in 1812, the decision to give up the carts intended for the removal of property for the transport of the wounded, which actually resulted in the ruin of the Rostovs. Old man Rostov dies with a feeling of guilt for ruining his children, but with a sense of fulfilled patriotic duty. Children in the Rostov family inherit the best qualities from their parents - sincerity, openness, selflessness, the desire to love the whole world and all humanity.
And yet, it is probably no coincidence that in the epilogue of the novel Tolstoy talks about two young families.
Nikolai Rostov and Marya Bolkonskaya.
The love of these people arises at the moment of trouble hanging over the fatherland. Nikolai and Marya are characterized by a commonality in the perception of people. This is a union in which husband and wife mutually enrich themselves spiritually. Nikolai makes Marya happy, and she brings kindness and tenderness into the family.
Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov.
The purpose of their love is marriage, family and children. Here Tolstoy describes an idyll - an intuitive understanding of a loved one. The charm of Natasha the girl is clear to everyone, the charm of Natasha the woman is clear only to her husband. Each of them finds in love and family exactly what he has been striving for all his life - the meaning of his life, which, according to Tolstoy, for a woman consists of motherhood, and for a man - in the awareness of himself as a support for a weaker person, his necessity.
To sum up the discussion, it can be noted that the theme of family, its significance in the development of a person’s character for Tolstoy in the novel “War and Peace” is one of the most important. The author tries to explain many of the features and patterns in the lives of his characters by their belonging to one or another family. At the same time, he emphasizes the great importance of the family in the formation of both a young person and his character, and an adult. Only in the family does a person receive everything that subsequently determines his character, habits, worldview and attitude.

The theme of family and its role in human life concerned L.N. Tolstoy throughout his life. A whole series of bright and different families passes before us in the novel “War and Peace”.

The novel begins with how Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is burdened by family life and the company of his young wife. Family ties interfere with his ambitious plans, and his pretty, flirtatious wife annoys him. “Never, never get married!” - he warmly advises Pierre Bezukhov.

At the same time, how respectful Bolkonsky is to his father, despite all his despotic ways and how difficult his sister Maria lives with his father. A difficult, tense atmosphere reigns in this family, but old man Bolkonsky sincerely loves his children, worries about them and unmistakably determines his son’s feelings for his wife. The children respond to him with mutual love.

The Kuragin family is one of the most significant families in the world and one of the most negatively represented in the novel. Prince Vasily, unlike the old man Bolkonsky, considers his children a burden, the Kuragins’ mother envies the youth and beauty of her daughter, Anatole and Helen are depraved and selfish people.

Pierre Bezukhov initially marries Helen Kuragina because he is struck by her beauty and falls into the cleverly placed networks of this family. And only after some time, when the scales fell from Pierre’s eyes, he saw how stupid and insignificant his beautiful wife was. Probably Pierre would have made much fewer mistakes if he had loving, understanding parents next to him.

The most memorable and harmonious family in the novel is, of course, the Rostovs. Starting from the sweet scenes of Natasha’s name day, when the head of the family, Count Rostov, famously dances in honor of his favorite, delighting everyone, to leaving Moscow, when Natasha passionately convinces her parents to give carts not for things, but for the wounded (and they agree! ), we see how great mutual love, friendship and understanding are in this family.

At the end of the novel, another family appears - Natasha and Pierre. And we understand that it is difficult to find more suitable people for each other. Deep, sensitive and understanding of each other and those around them, boundlessly loving their children, Natasha and Pierre, of course, will live a full, happy family life together. The sorrows and losses they experienced taught them to better appreciate each other, and quiet, true family happiness will heal the mental wounds of these worthy people.

Option 2

“War and Peace” is perhaps a real encyclopedia of Russian life in prose. Throughout the action of the novel, the life of three families over 15 years is described. The work is impressive, colossal. Throughout the novel we see family traditions, customs and treasures of several generations of the Rostov, Kuragin and Bolkonsky families. So we can safely say that “family thought” is one of the dominant thoughts of the epic novel.

The Rostov family is presented by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy as exemplary and imitative. It is in the Rostov house that the novel begins with the scene of the celebration of the name day of the senior Countess Natalya Rostova and the youngest of the Count’s daughters, also Natalya. The Rostov estate is an abode of love, mutual understanding and support, goodwill, and hospitality. Each of the members of the Rostov family loves not only their neighbors, they are all, as one, true patriots, as can be judged by their joint move to the estate during the war with Napoleon. And, despite their origins, the Rostovs set up a hospital for wounded soldiers. And when they leave this shelter, they also help the soldiers evacuate on carts. The youngest Natasha played a huge role in this, because it was she who persuaded her relatives to leave things and family heirlooms in order to save the lives of the fighters.

The Bolkonsky family are antagonists of the Rostov family. No, Tolstoy shows them as relatives who love each other, but still harsh relatives. They have neither tenderness nor intimacy, which are so characteristic of the Rostovs. In the Bolkonsky family, like in the army, there is a strict hierarchy and order. Every thing has its place, time, task. What a thing, every person! And it was simply impossible to disrupt this course and order. And if after the war the Rostov family lives and enjoys the life saved, then it is difficult to say whether the Bolkonskys are happy. Prince Andrei died at Borodino, Prince Nikolai - a clerk at the Tsar's court, Princess Marya - passed through the most difficult path of difficulties and adversity and survived only thanks to her upbringing and faith.

And if both the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, although they are opposite in their attitude towards each other, then in the Kuragin family everything is completely bad. This is a whole “galaxy” of failed family relationships. For each of this family, the meaning of life becomes power and money. The elder Prince Vasily abandons his relatives in favor of friends whose position can be taken advantage of. Helen (the prince's daughter) is stupid, empty, cold and even partly vulgar, which does not prevent her from presenting herself from a perspective favorable to the Light and her interlocutors. Hippolytus (the eldest son) even receives the title “fool” from his father. And Tolstoy speaks of Anatole (his brother) as a person prone to fornication.

And yet, having presented us with a gallery of various family “portraits,” Lev Nikolaevich hopefully describes to us the family that Natasha Rostova and her chosen one Pierre Bezukhov have already formed. And in the image of Natalya Bezukhova, a caring and tender mother of four children, we see the image that the author would like to see not only on the pages of his novel.

It is in the image of the families of the novel that one can read one of the main thoughts of the epic: the strength of the family can strengthen the state.

Essay Family Thought in the novel War and Peace

“War and Peace” is an epic novel about the fate of the people and the people’s exploits. But “folk thought” is not the only thing presented in the work. “Family Thought” is also one of the main themes of War and Peace. The reader sees the families of the main characters. There are three of them: Bolkonsky, Rostov and Kuragin.

In the Rostov house, as well as in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, secular society talks about the war. The difference is that those gathered at the Rostovs are interested in the war because their children are going to war. Naturalness, simplicity, cordiality, nobility and sensitivity reign at the Rostov table. We see a closeness in language and customs to the common people, but at the same time, adherence to secular conventions, but, unlike the Scherer salon, without any calculation or self-interest.

The Bolkonskys are a princely family, rich and respected. Their life is somewhat similar to the life of the Rostov family - the same love, cordiality and closeness to the people. But at the same time, the Bolkonskys differ from the Rostovs in their work of thought, high intelligence and pride. They are characterized by dry features, short stature, small arms and legs. Beautiful eyes with a smart, unusual sparkle. Aristocratism, pride, depth of spiritual thought - these are the characteristics of the family of Prince Bolkonsky.

The Kuragin family is also aristocratic and influential, like the Bolkonskys. But, unlike previous families, the Kuragins personify vices. The head of the family, Vasily Kuragin, is an empty, deceitful and proud person who adapts to circumstances. His wife Alina is jealous of the beauty of her seemingly ideal, but depraved and stupid daughter. Their son Anatole is a guard officer who loves to drink and have fun, and the second son, Hippolyte, is ugly and even more stupid than the rest. And the relationships in the Kuragin family are cold and calculating. Vasily Kuragin himself admits that his children are a burden for him.

From all this it follows that it is the Rostov family that is the ideal for Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Kind, sympathetic, loving their homeland and people, they are role models. After all, later Natasha, the third daughter of Count Ilya Rostov, created her own family with Pierre Bezukhov. She is a loving and caring mother and wife, protecting family comfort.

"War and Peace" is a Russian national epic, which reflected the national character of the Russian people at the moment when their historical fate was being decided. L.N. Tolstoy worked on the novel for almost six years: from 1863 to 1869. From the very beginning of work on the work, the writer’s attention was attracted not only by historical events, but also by private family life.

For L.N. Tolstoy himself, one of his main values ​​was family. The family in which he grew up, without which we would not have known the Tolstoy writer, the family that he created himself. Family as a school of life and family as an institution. In life, a family is a way of reproduction and the best means to instill moral principles in a person and develop his talents. Family is the transfer of experience of generations, the uniqueness of a nation.

“Family thought” was first seriously touched upon by Tolstoy in “Childhood.” He depicts his family, its climate, the relationship between children and parents and the influence of the family atmosphere on himself. The apogee of the development of “family thought” in Tolstoy’s work was the novel “Anna Karenina”. The novel “War and Peace” examines the Patriotic War of 1812 through the prism of “family thought.”

The novel "War and Peace" describes the life of several noble families: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys and the Kuragins.

The Bolkonskys and Rostovs are families with whom Tolstoy sympathizes. From them come Marya and Andrei Bolkonsky, Natasha - the writer’s favorite characters. The members of these families were subjected to three main tests by the writer: social life, love, war. Families are shown not in isolation from the surrounding world, but in close contact with it and contacts with each other. It is in this way that Tolstoy reveals “family thought.”

In the Rostov family, it was customary not to be afraid to express their feelings: cry, fall in love. This was one of the most hospitable families in Moscow. In addition to their children, they raised Boris and Sonya. An atmosphere of universal love and trust reigned in the house. Love binds all family members. It manifests itself in sensitivity, attention, and closeness. With the Rostovs, everything is sincere, it comes from the heart. In this family, cordiality, hospitality, hospitality reign, and the traditions and customs of Russian life are preserved. Only from such a family can children like Nikolai and Natasha come out. These are people with a strong intuitive beginning, but do not carry any spiritual values. That is why they are drawn to the Bolkonsky family, who carry moral and spiritual values.

The Bolkonsky family has a spartan atmosphere. It’s not customary to cry here, they don’t like guests here, everything here is subordinated to reason. This is an old aristocratic family. In addition to blood ties, the members of this family are also connected by spiritual closeness. Nikolai Andreevich, loving his daughter, forces her to study natural sciences, believing that she is completely bad. However, the princess’s spiritual foundations prevail. The happiness given to her at the end of the novel is a reward for suffering. Prince Andrey is the image of a real man: strong-willed, strong, practical, educated, moderately sensitive.

These two families form, as it were, two halves, and it is quite natural that they are attracted to each other, and they form harmonious couples. The spiritual and practical are reunited in the pair Nikolai - Princess Marya. The same thing should have happened between Prince Andrei and Natasha, but Bolkonsky’s death prevents this.

Tolstoy contrasts the Kuragin family with the Rostovs and Bolkonskys. Kuragins are a symbol of a degraded family, a family in which material interests are placed above spiritual ones. The members of this family appear before us in all their insignificance, vulgarity, callousness, and greed. Kuragins live an artificial life; they are selfishly occupied with everyday interests. The family is devoid of spirituality. For Helen and Anatole, the main thing in life is the satisfaction of their base desires. They are completely cut off from people's life, they live in a brilliant but cold world, where all feelings are perverted. Prince Vasily is so carried away by secular affairs that he has lost all human essence. According to Tolstoy, this family has no right to exist, almost all of its members die. The family of Vera and Berg can be compared with the Kuragins. Their whole life consists of imitating others. Their motto is “like others.” This family will be given children, but they will certainly be moral monsters.

The couple Natasha Rostova - Pierre Bezukhov becomes the ideal of a harmonious family. All of Pierre’s spiritual quests and all of Natasha’s tireless energy went towards creating a strong and reliable family. It is safe to say that their children will grow up healthy physically and morally.

By showing three families most fully in the novel, Tolstoy makes it clear to the reader that the future belongs to families such as the Rostov and Bolkonsky families, who embody sincerity of feelings and high spirituality.