The idea is “folk. Thought “folk thought” folk work war and peace briefly

Question 25. Popular thought in L.N. 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 L. N. 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. “The Club 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. L. N. Tolstoy’s novel “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; in the novel there are over 200 people, there are real historical figures (Kutuzov, Napoleon, Alexander I, Speransky, Rostopchin, Bagration, etc.), all social strata of Russia of that time are shown: high society, noble aristocracy, provincial nobility, army, peasantry, merchants.

2. In the epic novel, the various elements of which are united by “folk thought,” the image of the people occupies a special place. This image embodies Tolstoy’s ideal of “simplicity, goodness and truth.” An individual person is valuable only when he is an integral part of a great whole, his people. “War and Peace” is “a picture of morals built on a historical event,” wrote L. N. Tolstoy. The theme of the feat of the Russian people in the War of 1812 became the main one in the novel. During this war, the unification of the nation took place: 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 based on moral feeling is deeply hidden in the soul of every person and manifests itself in difficult times for the homeland.

3. In the fire of the people’s war, people are being tested, and we clearly see two Russias: people’s Russia, united by common feelings and aspirations, the Russia of Kutuzov, Prince Andrei, Timokhin - and the Russia of “military and court drones”, at war with each other, absorbed in their careers and indifferent to the fate of the homeland. These people have lost touch with the people; they only pretend to have patriotic feelings. Their false patriotism is manifested in pompous phrases about love for the motherland and insignificant deeds. People's Russia is represented by those heroes who, in one way or another, linked their fate with the fate of the nation. Tolstoy speaks about the destinies of the people and the destinies of individual people, about popular feelings as a measure of human morality. All of Tolstoy’s favorite heroes are a part of the sea of ​​people that makes up the people, and each of them is spiritually close to the people in their own way. But this unity does not arise immediately. Pierre and Prince Andrei walk along difficult roads in search of the popular ideal of “simplicity, good and evil.” And only on the Borodino field does each of them understand that the truth is where “they” are, 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. Russian people deeply, with all their hearts 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 were created, partisan detachments of Denisov, Dolokhov, spontaneous partisan detachments led by elder Vasilisa or some nameless sexton, who destroyed Napoleon’s great army with axes and pitchforks. The merchant Ferapontov in Smolensk called on the 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 national cause. “They want to attack all the people,” the soldier explains to Pierre. The militia put on clean shirts, the soldiers do not drink vodka - “not such a day.” It was a sacred moment for them.

5. “People's Thought” is embodied by Tolstoy in a variety of individualized images. Timokhin and his company so unexpectedly attacked the enemy, “with such insane and drunken determination, with one skewer, he ran at 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, who is a living expression of the national spirit, “people's thought.” Beneath the unattractive appearance of this hero lies inner beauty and moral greatness. - Tikhon Shcherbaty is a man of war, the most useful fighter in Denisov’s detachment. The spirit of rebellion and the feeling of love for his land, all that rebellious, courageous that the writer discovered in the serf peasant, he gathered 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 selfishness: he does not complain about anything, does not blame anyone, is meek, and kind to every person.

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

6. M. I. Kutuzov proved 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 that it is impossible for one person to control the course of history. His main concern is not to interfere with events developing naturally, armed with patience, submit to necessity. “Patience and time” - this is Kutuzov’s motto. He senses the mood of the masses and the course of historical events. Prince Andrei, before the Battle of Borodino, says about him: “He will have nothing of his own. He won’t come up with anything, won’t do anything, but he will listen to everything, remember everything, put everything in its place, won’t interfere with anything useful and won’t allow anything harmful. He understands that there is something more significant than will... And the main thing why you believe him is that he is Russian...”

7. By telling the truth about the war and showing a person in this war, Tolstoy discovered the heroism of war, showing it as a test of all the spiritual strength of a person. In his novel, the bearers of true heroism were ordinary people, such as Captain Tushin or Timokhin, the “sinner” Natasha, who obtained supplies for the wounded, General Dokhturov and Kutuzov, who never spoke about his exploits - precisely those people who, forgetting about themselves, , saved Russia in times of difficult trials.

Tolstoy believed that a work can be good only when the writer loves his main idea in it. In War and Peace, the writer, as he admitted, loved "people's thought". It lies not only and not so much in the depiction of the people themselves, their way of life, their life, but in the fact that every positive hero of the novel ultimately connects his fate with the fate of the nation.

The crisis situation in the country, caused by the rapid advance of Napoleonic troops into the depths of Russia, revealed their best qualities in people and made it possible to take a closer look at the man who was previously perceived by the nobles only as an obligatory attribute of the landowner’s estate, whose lot was hard peasant labor. When a serious threat of enslavement loomed over Russia, the men, dressed in soldiers' greatcoats, forgetting their long-standing sorrows and grievances, together with the “gentlemen” courageously and steadfastly defended their homeland from a powerful enemy. Commanding a regiment, Andrei Bolkonsky for the first time saw patriotic heroes in the serfs, ready to die to save the fatherland. These main human values, in the spirit of “simplicity, goodness and truth,” according to Tolstoy, represent “folk thought,” which constitutes the soul of the novel and its main meaning. It is she who unites the peasantry with the best part of the nobility with a single goal - the fight for the freedom of the Fatherland. The peasantry, which organized partisan detachments that fearlessly exterminated the French army in the rear, played a huge role in the final destruction of the enemy.

By the word “people” Tolstoy understood the entire patriotic population of Russia, including the peasantry, the urban poor, the nobility, and the merchant class. The author poetizes the simplicity, kindness, and morality of the people, contrasting them with the falsehood and hypocrisy of the world. Tolstoy shows the dual psychology of the peasantry using the example of two of its typical representatives: Tikhon Shcherbaty and Platon Karataev.

Tikhon Shcherbaty stands out in Denisov’s detachment for his unusual daring, agility and desperate courage. This man, who at first fought alone against the “miroders” in his native village, attached to Denisov’s partisan detachment, soon became the most useful person in the detachment. Tolstoy concentrated in this hero the typical features of the Russian folk character. The image of Platon Karataev shows a different type of Russian peasant. With his humanity, kindness, simplicity, indifference to hardships, and a sense of collectivism, this inconspicuous “round” man was able to return to Pierre Bezukhov, who was in captivity, faith in people, goodness, love, and justice. His spiritual qualities are contrasted with the arrogance, selfishness and careerism of the highest St. Petersburg society. Platon Karataev remained the most precious memory for Pierre, “the personification of everything Russian, good and round.”

In the images of Tikhon Shcherbaty and Platon Karataev, Tolstoy concentrated the main qualities of the Russian people, who appear in the novel in the person of soldiers, partisans, servants, peasants, and the urban poor. Both heroes are dear to the writer’s heart: Plato as the embodiment of “everything Russian, good and round,” all those qualities (patriarchalism, kindness, humility, non-resistance, religiosity) that the writer highly valued among the Russian peasantry; Tikhon is the embodiment of a heroic people who rose up to fight, but only at a critical, exceptional time for the country (the Patriotic War of 1812). Tolstoy condemns Tikhon’s rebellious sentiments in peacetime.

Tolstoy correctly assessed the nature and goals of the Patriotic War of 1812, deeply understood the decisive role of the people defending their homeland in the war from foreign invaders, rejecting official assessments of the war of 1812 as a war of two emperors - Alexander and Napoleon. On the pages of the novel and, especially in the second part of the epilogue, Tolstoy says that until now all history was written as the history of individuals, as a rule, tyrants, monarchs, and no one thought about what is the driving force of history. According to Tolstoy, this is the so-called “swarm principle”, the spirit and will of not one person, but the nation as a whole, and how strong the spirit and will of the people are, so probable are certain historical events. In Tolstoy’s Patriotic War, two wills collided: the will of the French soldiers and the will of the entire Russian people. This war was fair for the Russians, they fought for their Motherland, so their spirit and will to win turned out to be stronger than the French spirit and will. Therefore, Russia's victory over France was predetermined.

The main idea determined not only the artistic form of the work, but also the characters and the assessment of its heroes. The War of 1812 became a milestone, a test for all the good characters in the novel: for Prince Andrei, who feels an extraordinary uplift before the Battle of Borodino and believes in victory; for Pierre Bezukhov, all of whose thoughts are aimed at helping to expel the invaders; for Natasha, who gave the carts to the wounded, because it was impossible not to give them back, it was shameful and disgusting not to give them back; for Petya Rostov, who takes part in the hostilities of a partisan detachment and dies in a battle with the enemy; for Denisov, Dolokhov, even Anatoly Kuragin. All these people, throwing away everything personal, become one and participate in the formation of the will to win.

The theme of guerrilla warfare occupies a special place in the novel. Tolstoy emphasizes that the war of 1812 was truly a people's war, because the people themselves rose up to fight the invaders. The detachments of elders Vasilisa Kozhina and Denis Davydov were already operating, and the heroes of the novel, Vasily Denisov and Dolokhov, were also creating their own detachments. Tolstoy calls the cruel, life-and-death war “the club of the people’s war”: “The club of the people’s war rose with all its formidable and majestic force, and, without asking anyone’s tastes and rules, with stupid simplicity, but with expediency, without understanding nothing, it rose, fell and nailed the French until the entire invasion was destroyed.” In the actions of the partisan detachments of 1812, Tolstoy saw the highest form of unity between the people and the army, which radically changed the attitude towards war.

Tolstoy glorifies the “club of the people’s war”, glorifies the people who raised it against the enemy. “Karps and Vlass” did not sell hay to the French even for good money, but burned it, thereby undermining the enemy army. The small merchant Ferapontov, before the French entered Smolensk, asked the soldiers to take his goods for free, since if “Raceya decided,” he himself would burn everything. Residents of Moscow and Smolensk did the same, burning their houses so that they would not fall to the enemy. The Rostovs, leaving Moscow, gave up all their carts to transport the wounded, thus completing their ruin. Pierre Bezukhov invested huge amounts of money in the formation of a regiment, which he took as his own support, while he himself remained in Moscow, hoping to kill Napoleon in order to behead the enemy army.

“And good for that people,” wrote Lev Nikolaevich, “who, not like the French in 1813, saluted according to all the rules of art and turned the sword over with the hilt, gracefully and courteously handing it over to the magnanimous winner, but good for those people who, in a moment of testing, without asking how others acted according to the rules in similar cases, with simplicity and ease he picks up the first club he comes across and nails it until in his soul the feeling of insult and revenge is replaced by contempt and pity.”

The true feeling of love for the Motherland is contrasted with the ostentatious, false patriotism of Rostopchin, who, instead of fulfilling the duty assigned to him - to remove everything valuable from Moscow - worried the people with the distribution of weapons and posters, since he liked the “beautiful role of the leader of popular feeling.” At an important time for Russia, this false patriot dreamed only of a “heroic effect.” When a huge number of people sacrificed their lives to save their homeland, the St. Petersburg nobility wanted only one thing for themselves: benefits and pleasures. A bright type of careerist is given in the image of Boris Drubetsky, who skillfully and deftly used connections and the sincere goodwill of people, pretending to be a patriot, in order to move up the career ladder. The problem of true and false patriotism posed by the writer allowed him to broadly and comprehensively paint a picture of military everyday life and express his attitude towards the war.

The aggressive, aggressive war was hateful and disgusting to Tolstoy, but, from the point of view of the people, it was fair and liberating. The writer's views are revealed both in realistic paintings, saturated with blood, death and suffering, and in the contrasting comparison of the eternal harmony of nature with the madness of people killing each other. Tolstoy often puts his own thoughts about the war into the mouths of his favorite heroes. Andrei Bolkonsky hates her because he understands that her main goal is murder, which is accompanied by treason, theft, robbery, and drunkenness.

A short essay-reasoning on literature for grade 10 on the topic: “War and Peace: Popular Thought”

The tragic war of 1812 brought many 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 its “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 “popular thought.” Thus, 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 the arbiter of the destinies of mankind. Otherwise, the participant in the war will fail, as was the case 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 to 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.” This seemingly passivity reveals the deep intelligence and wisdom of the commander. 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 popular image in the novel and a hero of the Patriotic War, although he is a simple man not at all connected with military affairs. He himself voluntarily asked to join Vasily Denisov’s detachment, which confirms his dedication and willingness to sacrifice 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 stop at 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, and national boundaries between people are erased. Everyone is afraid to kill; Everyone as one does not want to die. Petya Rostov is worried about the fate of the French boy who was captured: “It’s great for us, but what about him? Where did they take him? Did you feed him? Did you offend me?" And it seems like this is the enemy of the Russian soldier, but at the same time, even in war, you need to treat your enemies humanely. French or Russian - we are all people in need of mercy and kindness. In the War of 1812, such a thought mattered as never before. It was adhered to by many heroes of “War and Peace” and, first of all, L.N. himself. 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 revealed true patriotism, love for the Motherland and a national spirit that did not break under anything, but only grew stronger, giving impetus to a great victory, for which we still feel pride in our hearts.

According to Tolstoy himself, he loved “folk thought” in the novel most of all. Reflections on this topic became the most important thing for the writer that he wanted to convey to the reader. What did he mean?

“People's thought” in the novel is not in the depiction of the Russian people as a community and not in the abundance of crowd scenes, as it may seem to an inexperienced reader. It is in the point of view of the writer, the system of moral assessments that he gives to both historical events and his heroes. Don't confuse this!

1. Mass scenes in the novel are associated with the depiction of battle scenes of 1805, scenes of the Battle of Borodino, the defense and abandonment of Smolensk, and partisan warfare.

In the depiction of the war of 1805, special attention is paid to two battles: Austerlitz and Schöngraben. Tolstoy's goal is to show why the army wins or loses. Shengraben is a “forced” battle, 4 thousand soldiers must cover the retreat of the forty thousand strong Russian army. The battle is observed by Kutuzov’s envoy, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky. He sees how the soldiers show heroism, but not the way this quality was imagined by the prince: Captain Timokhin and his squad with skillful actions force the French to retreat, Captain Tushin, an inconspicuous modest man, “does his job”, cheerfully and quickly, his battery smashes the main positions of the French, sets fire to the village and forces them to retreat, and they do not even suspect that they are “ordinary heroes.”

On the contrary, the Battle of Azsterlitz is a “battle of three emperors”, with unclear goals and an unclear plan. It is no coincidence that at the military council, Kutuzov dozed off like an old man to the measured muttering of the Austrian general. Kutuzov wants to save soldiers who do not understand what they are fighting for; it is not for nothing that the landscape of the beginning of the battle is symbolic: the fog covering the battlefield. The author comes to the conclusion: it is not the generals who win the battle, the soldiers win the battle, or rather, the spirit of the army, the understanding of what they are doing.

The same thing happens at Borodino: Kutuzov almost does not participate in the leadership of the battle, unlike Napoleon, who believes that the outcome depends on the will of the emperor. No, the outcome depends on the soldiers getting ready for the last battle, as if for a holiday, putting on clean shirts. According to Kutuzov, the Battle of Borodino was neither won nor lost in terms of consequences, but the Russians won, suppressing the French with fortitude and unprecedented unity of all against a single enemy.

This is how “popular thought” manifested itself in crowd scenes.

1. The partisan war that spontaneously unfolded during the invasion also testifies to the unity of the Russian people. In various places under the French, landowners and peasants took up pitchforks and axes to drive the enemy out of their native land. The “club of the people’s war” rose and “nailed ... the Frenchman until the invasion itself perished.” Drawing pictures of guerrilla warfare, Tolstoy depicts some peasant heroes. One of them is Tikhon Shcherbaty, like a wolf attacking the enemy, “the most useful person in the squad,” cruel and merciless. According to Tolstoy, this is a folk type that manifests itself in difficult times for the Motherland. The second folk type is Platon Karataev, from whom Pierre learned to live simply and harmoniously, to accept everything that happens on a person’s path, he realized “that ballet shoes squeeze just like peasant bast shoes,” and therefore a person needs little to be happy. So moral values ​​for Tolstoy become the measure of everything else: peace, war, people, actions.
2. While in captivity, Pierre has a dream. In a dream, the globe appears to him as a ball of drops that tremble, shimmer, separate somewhere, merge somewhere. And every drop reflects God. This metaphor is Tolstoy’s own idea of ​​the people’s life: a person lives his “swarm life”, is busy with his problems and thoughts, but he must “conjugate” (the writer’s word) his life with the lives of others. And if the desires and needs of many people coincide at one point, history makes its movement there. This is another aspect of “folk thought in the novel.”
3. And Tolstoy “measures” his heroes with this yardstick. If they are far from common interests, common aspirations, if they do not understand what is common, they put their own interests above others or try to interfere in the natural course of life, then they sink lower and lower and fall into a spiritual crisis. This happens with Prince Andrey, when he raises soldiers in a senseless attack at Austerlitz, and with Pierre, trying to kill Napoleon. Some of the heroes never realize their own life at all, or rather, existence - such is Helen, Rostopchin with his “posters”, Napoleon. Pierre, trying to somehow help Russia, equips a regiment with his own money, Natasha gives carts to the wounded, without thinking about the well-being of the family, and Berg is trying to “buy a shelf that Verochka likes so much.” Which of them lives according to popular laws?

So, “People's Thought,” according to Tolstoy, is the thought of the need to connect one’s life with common interests, life according to the moral laws that have existed in the world for centuries, life together.

Tolstoy managed to reflect all aspects of life in Russia in the 19th century in his epic War and Peace. Popular thought in the novel is illuminated especially brightly. The image of a people in general is one of the main and meaning-forming ones. Moreover, it is the national character that is the subject of depiction in the novel. But it can only be understood from a description of the everyday life of the people, their view of humanity and the world, moral assessments, misconceptions and prejudices.

Image of the people

Tolstoy included in the concept of “people” not only soldiers and men, but also the noble class, which had a similar view of spiritual values ​​and the world. It was this idea that the author based the epic “War and Peace”. Folk thought in the novel is therefore embodied through all people united by language, history, culture and territory.

From this point of view, Tolstoy is an innovator, since before him in Russian literature there was always a clear boundary between the peasant class and the nobility. In order to illustrate his idea, the writer turned to very harsh times for all of Russia - the Patriotic War of 1812.

The only confrontation is the struggle of the best people of the noble class, united with people from the people, with military and bureaucratic circles, who are unable to perform feats or make sacrifices for the defense of the Fatherland.

Depicting the life of ordinary soldiers

Pictures of people's lives in times of peace and war are widely represented in Tolstoy's epic "War and Peace". The popular thought in the novel, however, manifested itself most clearly during the Patriotic War, when all residents of Russia were required to demonstrate perseverance, generosity and patriotism.

Despite this, descriptions of folk scenes appear already in the first two volumes of the novel. This is an image of Russian soldiers when they participated in foreign campaigns, fulfilling their duty to the allies. For ordinary soldiers who came from the people, such campaigns are incomprehensible - why defend not your own land?

Tolstoy paints terrible pictures. The army is starving because the allies it supports are not supplying provisions. Unable to watch the soldiers suffer, officer Denisov decides to recapture food from another regiment, which has a detrimental effect on his career. This act reveals the spiritual qualities of a Russian person.

“War and Peace”: popular thought in the novel

As noted above, the fates of Tolstoy's heroes from among the best nobles are always connected with the life of the people. Therefore, “folk thought” runs through the entire work like a red thread. Thus, Pierre Bezukhov, having been captured, learns the truth of life, which is revealed to him by an ordinary peasant man. And it lies in the fact that a person is unhappy only when there is a surplus in his life. You need little to be happy.

On the Field of Austerlitz, Andrei Bolkonsky feels his connection with the people. He grabs the flagpole, not hoping that they will follow him. But the soldiers, seeing the standard bearer, rush into battle. The unity of ordinary soldiers and officers gives the army unprecedented strength.

The house in the novel "War and Peace" is of great importance. But we are not talking about decoration and furniture. The image of the house embodies family values. Moreover, all of Russia is home, all the people are one big family. That is why Natasha Rostova throws her property off the carts and gives them to the wounded.

It is in this unity that Tolstoy sees the true strength of the people. The force that was able to win the War of 1812.

Images of people from the people

Even on the first pages of the novel, the writer creates images of individual soldiers. This is Denisov’s orderly Lavrushka with his roguish disposition, and the merry fellow Sidorov, hilariously imitating the French, and Lazarev, who received an order from Napoleon himself.

However, the house in the novel “War and Peace” occupies a key place, so most of the heroes from among the common people can be found in descriptions of peacetime. Here another serious problem of the 19th century arises - the hardships of serfdom. Tolstoy depicts how the old Prince Bolkonsky, having decided to punish the barman Philip, who forgot the owner’s orders, gave him up as a soldier. And Pierre’s attempt to make life easier for his serfs ended in nothing, since the manager deceived the count.

People's labor

The epic “War and Peace” raises many problems characteristic of Tolstoy’s work. The theme of labor, as one of the main ones for the writer, was no exception. Labor is inextricably linked with people's life. Moreover, Tolstoy uses it to characterize characters, as he attaches great importance to it. Idleness in the writer’s understanding speaks of a morally weak, insignificant and unworthy person.

But work is not just a duty, it is a pleasure. Thus, the arriving Danila, participating in the hunt, devotes himself to this task to the end, he shows himself to be a real expert and, in a fit of excitement, even shouts at Count Rostov.

The old valet Tikhon has become so familiar with his position that he understands his master without words. And the servant Anisya is praised by Tolstoy for her homeliness, playfulness and good nature. For her, the owners’ house is not a foreign and hostile place, but a native and close one. A woman treats her work with love.

Russian people and war

However, the quiet life ended and the war began. All the images in the novel “War and Peace” are also transformed. All heroes, both low and high class, are united by a single feeling of “inner warmth of patriotism.” This feeling becomes a national trait of the Russian people. It made him capable of self-sacrifice. The same self-sacrifice that decided the outcome of the war and so amazed the French soldiers.

Another difference between Russian troops and the French is that they do not play war. For the Russian people, this is a great tragedy in which nothing good can come. Unknown to Russian soldiers is the pleasure of battle or the joy of the upcoming war. But at the same time, everyone is ready to give their life. There is no cowardice here, the soldiers are ready to die, because their duty is to defend their homeland. Only the one who “feels less sorry for himself” can win - this is how Andrei Bolkonsky expressed the popular thought.

Peasant sentiments in the epic

The theme of the people sounds piercingly and vividly in the novel “War and Peace”. At the same time, Tolstoy does not try to idealize the people. The writer depicts scenes indicating the spontaneity and inconsistency of peasant sentiments. A good example of this is the Bogucharov riot, when the peasants, having read French leaflets, refused to let Princess Marya leave the estate. Men are capable of the same self-interest as nobles like Berg, who are eager to receive ranks thanks to the war. The French promised money, and now they have obeyed them. However, when Nikolai Rostov ordered to stop the outrages and bind the instigators, the peasants obediently carried out his orders.

On the other hand, when the French began to advance, the people left their homes, destroying their acquired property so that it would not go to the enemies.

People power

Nevertheless, the epic “War and Peace” revealed the best folk qualities. The essence of the work is precisely to depict the true strength of the Russian people.

In the fight against the French, the Russians, despite everything, were able to maintain high moral qualities. Tolstoy saw the greatness of a nation not in the fact that it can conquer neighboring peoples with the help of weapons, but in the fact that even in the most cruel times it can preserve justice, humanity and a merciful attitude towards the enemy. An example of this is the episode of the rescue of the French captain Rambal.

and Platon Karataev

If you analyze the novel “War and Peace” chapter by chapter, these two heroes will definitely attract your attention. Tolstoy, including them in the narrative, wanted to show the interconnected and at the same time opposite sides of the national Russian character. Let's compare these characters:

Platon Karataev is a complacent and dreamy soldier who is accustomed to resignedly obeying fate.

Tikhon Shcherbaty is an intelligent, decisive, courageous and active peasant who will never resign himself to fate and will actively resist it. He himself became a soldier and became famous for killing the most Frenchmen.

These characters embodied two sides: humility, long-suffering on the one hand and an uncontrollable desire to fight on the other.

It is believed that Shcherbatov’s principle was most clearly manifested in the novel, however, Karataev’s wisdom and patience did not stand aside.

conclusions

Thus, the people are the main active force in War and Peace. According to Tolstoy's philosophy, one person cannot change history; only the strength and desire of the people are capable of this. Therefore, Napoleon, who decided to reshape the world, lost to the power of an entire nation.