Family thought in the novel “War and Peace” (School essays). Family Thought in Tolstoy's Novel War and Peace Essay Essay on Tolstoy's Family Thought and Mine

Babkina Ekaterina

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Students 10 B class of Yesenin gymnasium No. 69 Babkina Ekaterina CREATIVE PROJECT on the topic: “Family thought in L.N. Tolstoy’s novel War and Peace”

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a great writer and philosopher. In his works he raises a lot of important moral and personal issues that remain relevant to this day. The pinnacle of his creativity was the epic novel War and Peace. Many pages of this novel are devoted to the family theme, one of the writer’s favorite ones. Lev Nikolaevich shows his views on the relationships of close people, on the family structure using the example of several families: the Rostovs, Bolkonskys, Kuragins, Bergs, and in the epilogue also the Bezukhov (Pierre and Natasha) and Rostov families (Nikolai Rostov and Marya Bolkonskaya). These families are very different, each is unique, but without the common, most necessary basis of family existence - loving unity between people - a true family, according to Tolstoy, is impossible. By comparing different types of family relationships, the author shows what a family should be like, what true family values ​​are and how they influence the formation of personality. Introduction

Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov Countess Natalya Rostova is the wife of Ilya Rostov. Count Nikolai Ilyich Rostov (Nicolas) is the eldest son of Ilya and Natalya Rostov. Vera Ilyinichna Rostova is the eldest daughter of Ilya and Natalya Rostov. Count Pyotr Ilyich Rostov (Petya) is the youngest son of Ilya and Natalya Rostov. Natasha Rostova (Natalie) is the youngest daughter of Ilya and Natalya Rostov, married Countess Bezukhova, Pierre's second wife. Sonya (Sophie) is the niece of Count Rostov, brought up in the count's family. Andryusha Rostov is the son of Nikolai Rostov. Rostov family

The Rostov family The Rostov family is an ideal harmonious whole. The invisible core of their family is spiritual life. These people are warm-hearted and simple, there is something childish in them all. The pride of the Bolkonskys is alien to them, they are natural in all their spiritual movements and, like no one else, they know how to enjoy life. The Rostovs can never restrain their emotions: they constantly cry and laugh, forgetting about decency and etiquette. In general, the brightest and most sincerely lyrical scenes of the novel are associated with the Rostovs. Holidays and balls are their element. No one knows how to organize dinners so generously and on such a scale as Ilya Andreich Rostov, who is famous for this even in hospitable Moscow. But the most fun in the Rostov house is not crowded gatherings, but family holidays in a narrow family circle, sometimes improvised and even more memorable (such as Christmastide with mummers). However, they generally live in a festive atmosphere: Nikolai’s arrival from the army, Natasha’s first ball, the hunt and the subsequent evening at his uncle’s turn into a holiday. For Nikolai, even Natasha’s singing after his terrible loss to Dolokhov becomes an unexpectedly bright, festive impression, and for the younger Petya Rostov, the arrival in Denisov’s partisan detachment, the evening with the officers and the battle the next morning, which became his first and last, becomes a holiday.

Dance of Count and Countess Rostov on name day

Name day of Countess Natalia Rostova and youngest daughter Natasha

The head of the family, Ilya Andreevich, is the kindest man who idolizes his wife, the countess, adores children, is trusting and generous, and does not know how to run a household at all. His material affairs were in a state of disarray; all his estates were remortgaged. But, despite this, he could not limit himself and his family to their usual luxury. Count Rostov is noble; his own honor and the honor of his children are above all for him. No matter how hard it was for him to pay the forty-three thousand lost by his son Nikolai, Ilya Andreevich did it. Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov

At the beginning of the novel, Natasha is thirteen years old, she is an ugly, but lively and spontaneous girl, living in an atmosphere of constant love, falling in love with young people, with her parents, with everything that surrounds her. As the plot develops, she turns into a girl attractive with her liveliness and charm, sensitively reacting to everything that happens. Yes, she makes mistakes sometimes. This is the characteristic of the young, but he admits his mistakes. Natasha knows how to love sincerely and devotedly, in this L.N. Tolstoy saw the main purpose of a woman. Natasha Rostova

“The eldest, Vera, was good, she was not stupid, she studied well... she had a pleasant voice...” Vera is too smart for this family, but her mind reveals its inferiority when it comes into contact with the emotional and spiritual element of this house. She exudes coldness and exorbitant arrogance; it’s not for nothing that she will become Berg’s wife - she is a match for him. Vera Ilyinichna Rostova

Son of Count Rostov. "A short, curly-haired young man with an open expression on his face." The hero is distinguished by “impetuousness and enthusiasm”, he is cheerful, open, friendly and emotional. Nicholas takes part in military campaigns and the Patriotic War of 1812. In the Battle of Shengraben, Nikolai goes on the attack very bravely at first, but is then wounded in the arm. This wound causes him to panic, he thinks about how he, “whom everyone loves so much,” could die. This event somewhat diminishes the image of the hero. Afterwards, Nikolai becomes a brave officer, a real hussar, remaining faithful to duty. Nikolai had a long affair with Sonya, and he was going to do a noble deed by marrying a dowry woman against the will of his mother. But he receives a letter from Sonya in which she says that she is letting him go. After the death of his father, Nikolai takes care of the family, resigning Nikolai Rostov

Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky - the old prince Prince Andrei Nikolaevich Bolkonsky (André) - the son of the old prince. Princess Maria Nikolaevna (Marie) - daughter of the old prince, sister of Prince Andrei Liza (Lise) - first wife of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky Young Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky (Nikolenka) - son of Prince Andrei. Bolkonsky family

Bolkonsky family A slightly different family of Bolkonskys, serving nobles. Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky most of all valued two virtues in people: activity and intelligence. Raising his daughter Marya, he develops these qualities in her. True love for the Motherland and the consciousness of one’s duty to it are heard in the old prince’s parting words to his son: “Remember one thing, Prince Andrei, if they kill you, it will hurt me, the old man... And if I find out that you did not behave like the son of Nikolai Bolkonsky, I it will be... embarrassing!” In this family, too, words do not diverge from deeds, which is why both Andrei and Princess Marya are the best representatives of the high society environment. The fate of the people is not alien to them, they are honest and decent people, sincere patriots. These people try to live in harmony with their conscience. It is no coincidence that Tolstoy shows that these families are related, for spiritual kinship united them from the very beginning.

Bolkonsky Nikolai Andreevich - prince, general-in-chief, was dismissed from service under Paul I and exiled to the village, where he lives with his family the rest of the time on the Bald Mountains estate. He is the father of Andrei Bolkonsky and Princess Marya. He is a very pedantic, dry, active person who cannot stand idleness, stupidity, or superstition. In his house, everything is scheduled according to the clock; he has to be on the job all the time. The old prince did not make the slightest changes to the order and schedule. Nikolai Andreevich is short, “in a powdered wig... with small dry hands and gray drooping eyebrows, sometimes, as he scowled, obscuring the brilliance of his intelligent and youthful sparkling eyes.” The prince is very restrained in expressing his feelings. He constantly torments his daughter with nagging, although in fact he loves her very much. Nikolai Andreevich is a proud, intelligent person, constantly concerned about preserving family honor and dignity. He instilled in his son a sense of pride, honesty, duty, and patriotism. Despite his withdrawal from public life, the prince is constantly interested in political and military events taking place in Russia. Only before his death does he lose sight of the scale of the tragedy that happened to his homeland. Prince Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky

At the beginning of the novel we see Bolkonsky as an intelligent, proud, but rather arrogant person. He despises people of high society, is unhappy in his marriage and does not respect his pretty wife. Andrey is very reserved, well educated, and has a strong will. This hero is experiencing great spiritual changes. First we see that his idol is Napoleon, whom he considers a great man. Bolkonsky ends up in the war and goes into the active army. There he fights along with all the soldiers, showing great courage, composure, and prudence. Participates in the Battle of Shengraben. Bolkonsky was seriously wounded in the Battle of Austerlitz. This moment is extremely important, because it was then that the spiritual rebirth of the hero began. Lying motionless and seeing the calm and eternal sky of Austerlitz above him, he understands the pettiness and stupidity of everything that is happening in the war. He realized that in fact there should be completely different values ​​in life than those that he had until now. All exploits and glory do not matter. There is only this vast and eternal sky. In the same episode, Andrei sees Napoleon and understands the insignificance of this man; he returns home, where everyone considered him dead. His wife dies in childbirth, but the child survives. The hero is shocked by the death of his wife and feels guilty towards her. He decides not to serve anymore, settles in Bogucharovo, takes care of the household, raising his son, and reads a lot of books. During a trip to St. Petersburg, Bolkonsky meets Natasha Rostova for the second time. A deep feeling awakens in him, the heroes decide to get married. The father does not agree with his son’s choice, they postpone the wedding for a year, the hero goes abroad. After his fiancee betrays him, he returns to the army under the leadership of Kutuzov. During the Battle of Borodino, he was mortally wounded. By chance, he leaves Moscow in the Rostov convoy. Before his death, he forgives Natasha and understands the true meaning of love. Andrey Bolkonsky

Princess Marya represents a “feminine”, contemplative type of spirituality - religiosity. She lives entirely by faith and Christian ideals, confident that true happiness is not in earthly goods, but in connection with the source of “all breath” - with the Creator. The main thing in life for her is selfless love and humility, so she is very close to Tolstoy’s philosophical ideals of the world. She is not alien to earthly feelings: like a woman, she passionately desires love and family happiness, but she completely trusts the will of God and is ready to accept any fate. She catches herself with bad thoughts about her father, who fetters her freedom and dooms her to loneliness. But every time she manages to overcome herself by doing the usual spiritual work in prayer: faith in her is stronger than all other feelings, in which she is unexpectedly similar to her father, who also considers all human feelings to be weakness and subordinates them to the highest imperative of duty. Only the old prince identifies duty with reason, and the princess with religious commandments, which again oblige her to feelings, but of a higher order: to love God with all her heart and mind, and her neighbor as herself. As a result, for Princess Marya, the duty to obey her father is inseparable from sincere love for him. Princess Marya Bolkonskaya

Prince Andrei's wife. She is the darling of the whole world, an attractive young woman whom everyone calls “the little princess.” “Her pretty upper lip, with a slightly blackened mustache, was short in the teeth, but the more sweetly it opened and even more sweetly it sometimes stretched out and fell onto the lower one. As always happens with quite attractive women, her shortcoming - short lips and half-open mouth - seemed "Her special, actually her beauty. Everyone was happy to look at this pretty future mother, full of health and liveliness, who endured her situation so easily." Lisa was everyone's favorite thanks to her constant liveliness and politeness as a socialite; she could not imagine her life without high society. But Prince Andrei did not love his wife and felt unhappy in his marriage. Lisa does not understand her husband, his aspirations and ideals. After Andrei leaves for the war, she lives in the Bald Mountains with the old Prince Bolkonsky, for whom she feels fear and hostility. Lisa foresees her imminent death and actually dies during childbirth. Lisa

Prince Vasily Sergeevich Kuragin, a friend of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, spoke about his children: “My children are the burden of my existence.” Elena Vasilievna Kuragina (Helen) is the first unfaithful wife of Pierre Bezukhov, the daughter of Prince Vasily Anatole Kuragin is the youngest son of Prince Vasily, “a restless fool » Ippolit Kuragin - son of Prince Vasily, “the deceased fool” Kuragin family

The Kuragin family in peaceful life appears in all the insignificance of its selfishness, soullessness, immorality; it evokes only contempt and indignation in Tolstoy. Its members play the most negative role in the destinies of the other heroes. All of them are people of high society, and therefore are false and insincere in all their words, deeds and gestures. The head of the house, Prince Vasily, is a cunning, dexterous courtier and an inveterate intriguer. Tolstoy emphasizes his deceit and duplicity in every possible way. He thinks first of all about his successes at court and about moving up the career ladder. He never has his own opinion, turning like a weather vane in his judgments behind the political course of the court. During the war of 1812, Prince Vasily at first speaks of Kutuzov with contempt, knowing that the emperor does not favor him; the next day, when Kutuzov is appointed commander-in-chief, Kuragin begins to extol him, in order to renounce him at the first dissatisfaction of the court due to abandonment named after Moscow. Kuragin also perceives his family as a means for gaining social position and enrichment: he tries to marry his son and marry off his daughter as profitably as possible. For the sake of profit, Prince Vasily is even capable of crime, as evidenced by the episode with the mosaic briefcase, when Kuragin tried to steal and destroy the will of the dying Count Bezukhov in order to deprive Pierre of his inheritance and redistribute it in his favor. During these hours, as Tolstoy describes, “his cheeks twitched nervously” and “jumped” “first to one side, then to the other, giving his face an unpleasant expression that never appeared on the face of Prince Vasily when he was in the living rooms.” . This is how his predatory nature inadvertently comes out. When the intrigue breaks down, Prince Vasily immediately “restructures” so as to still maintain his own benefit: he instantly “marries” Pierre to his daughter and, under the guise of a family and trusting relationship, deftly puts his hands into his son-in-law’s money, and then becomes the main character face in the daughter's salon. Tolstoy specifically emphasizes that Prince Vasily was hardly guided by conscious calculation: “Something constantly attracted him to people stronger and richer than him, and he was gifted with the rare art of catching exactly the moment when it was necessary and possible to take advantage of people.” Thus, when describing Kuragin’s psychology, the author again focuses our attention on feeling, intuition, instinct, which come to the fore, being more important than conscious will and reason. Kuragina family x

The fight for the mosaic briefcase

Hélène, having married Pierre, soon opened a chic salon in his house, which quickly became one of the most fashionable and prestigious in St. Petersburg. She is not distinguished by intelligence or originality of judgment, but she knows how to smile so charmingly and meaningfully that she is considered the smartest woman in the capital, and the cream of the intelligentsia gathers in her salon: diplomats and senators, poets and painters. Pierre, being much more educated and deeper than his wife, finds himself in her salon as something like necessary furniture, the husband of a famous wife, whom the guests condescendingly tolerate, so that Pierre gradually begins to feel like a stranger in his own home. Helene is constantly surrounded by men courting her, so Pierre doesn’t even know who to be jealous of and, tormented by doubts, comes to a duel with Dolokhov, whom his wife clearly singled out more than others. Helen not only did not feel sorry for her husband and did not think about his feelings, but made a scene for him and severely reprimanded him for an inappropriate “scandal” that could undermine her authority. In the end, having already broken up with her husband and living separately from him, Helen starts an intrigue with two admirers at once: with an elderly nobleman and with a foreign prince, wondering how she could get married again and settle down in such a way as to maintain a connection with both of them. For this reason, she even converts to Catholicism in order to declare Helen’s Orthodox marriage invalid.

Anatole is the brilliant idol of all secular young ladies, the hero of the golden youth of both capitals. A slender, tall, handsome man, he drives all women crazy with his proud posture and ardent passion, behind which they do not have time to discern his soullessness and thoughtlessness. When Anatole came to the Bolkonskys, all the women in the house involuntarily became eager to please him and began to intrigue against each other. Anatole does not know how to talk to women, because he never finds anything smart to say, but he has a bewitching effect on them with the look of his beautiful eyes, like Helen’s smile. Natasha, even during her first conversation with Anatole, looking into his eyes, “felt with fear that between him and her there was absolutely no barrier of modesty that she had always felt between herself and other men. She, without knowing how, after five minutes felt terribly close to this man.” Anatole

Hippolytus becomes a symbol of the spiritual ugliness of this family. Outwardly, he is surprisingly similar to Helen, but at the same time he is “amazingly bad-looking.” His face was “foggy with idiocy and invariably expressed self-confident disgust. He cannot say anything smart, but in society he is greeted very kindly and all the absurdities he says are forgiven, because he is the son of Prince Vasily and the brother of Helen. In addition, he very boldly courtes all pretty women, since he is unusually voluptuous. Thus, his example reveals the inner ugliness of Helen and Anatole, hiding under their beautiful appearance. Hippolytus

Count Kirill Vladimirovich Count Pyotr Kirillovich Bezukhov (Pierre) - son of Count Bezukhov, the only heir to his fortune Bezukhov family

Having become the heir to his deceased father's huge fortune, Pierre turned from a poor, funny, uninteresting young man into an enviable groom. He is gullible, does not know how to resist secular intrigue and deceit, and quickly falls into the marriage “net” of the experienced, calculating Prince Vasily. The scene of Pierre’s “matchmaking” is depicted in a comic spirit, since, in fact, there was no matchmaking: Bezukhov is congratulated on a proposal that he did not make. However, Pierre's relationship with his wife develops dramatically and almost leads to a tragic ending: Pierre shoots himself in a duel with Dolokhov, his wife's lover, and miraculously does not die himself or become a murderer. He manages to divorce Helen, leaving her most of his fortune. According to Tolstoy, a marriage that is not sanctified by love cannot be happy. After all, Pierre was attracted only by beauty in his future wife, and on Helen’s part there was only calculation. Having become free from Helen, Pierre is skeptical about the possibility of family happiness for himself. Earless family

The Drubetsky family Anna M Mikhailovna Drubetskaya - Princess Boris Drubetskoy - son of the Princess

The Drubetsky family From the very beginning of the story, all the thoughts of Anna Mikhailovna and her son are directed towards one goal - the arrangement of their material well-being. For this sake, Anna Mikhailovna does not disdain either humiliating begging, or the use of brute force, or intrigue.

Son of Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya. From childhood he was brought up and lived for a long time in the house of the Rostovs, to whom he was a relative. Boris and Natasha were in love with each other. Outwardly, he is “a tall, blond young man with regular, delicate features of a calm and handsome face.” Since his youth, Boris has dreamed of a military career and allows his mother to humiliate herself in front of her superiors if it helps him. So, Prince Vasily finds him a place in the guard. Boris is going to make a brilliant career and makes many useful contacts. After a while he becomes Helen's lover. Boris manages to be in the right place at the right time, and his career and position are especially firmly established. In 1809 he meets Natasha again and becomes interested in her, even thinking about marrying her. But this would hinder his career. Therefore, Boris begins to look for a rich bride. He eventually marries Julie Karagina. Boris Drubetskoy

The family in Tolstoy's novel War and Peace is examined at turning points in history. Having shown three families most fully in the novel, the writer makes it clear to the reader that the future belongs to such families as the Rostov and Bolkonsky families, who embody sincerity of feelings and high spirituality, the most prominent representatives of which each go through their own path of rapprochement with the people. War and Peace is a broad and truthful picture of life in Russia in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. The work is not outdated even today, as it raises and resolves universal human eternal questions of good and evil, love and death, heroism and pseudo-love for the Motherland. Tolstoy is not just a writer of everyday life, he is an artist with a certain position. You can agree or argue with it, but you will never remain indifferent, and this, it seems to me, is the main value of his works. The writer shows ideals that need to be strived for, but are unlikely to be achieved. conclusion

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, dashingly 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 ideas 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.

Closely connected with the theme of the people in the novel theme of family and nobility. The author divides the nobles into “haves” (these include Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov), local patriots (old man Bolkonsky, the Rostovs), and secular nobility (the salon of Anna Pavlovna Scherer, Helen).

According to Tolstoy, the family is the soil for the formation of the human soul. And at the same time, each family is a whole world, special, unlike anything else, full of complex relationships. In the novel “War and Peace,” the theme of family, according to the author’s plan, serves as the most important means of organizing the text. The atmosphere of the family nest determines the characters, destinies and views of the heroes of the work. In the system of all the main images of the novel, the author identifies several families, using the example of which he expresses his attitude towards the ideal of home - these are the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins.

The Rostovs and Bolkonskys are not just families, they are ways of life based on national traditions. These traditions were most fully manifested in the life of the Rostov representatives - a noble-naive family living by feelings, combining a serious attitude to family honor (Nikolai Rostov does not refuse his father’s debts), warmth and cordiality of family relationships, hospitality and hospitality that distinguishes Russian people. Talking about Petya, Natasha, Nikolai and the elder Rostovs, Tolstoy sought to artistically recreate the history of an average noble family at the beginning of the 19th century.

During the course of the story, Tolstoy introduces the reader to all representatives of the Rostov family, talking about them with deep interest and sympathy. The Rostov house in Moscow was considered one of the most hospitable, and therefore one of the most beloved. A kind, carefree and forgiving spirit of benevolent love reigned here. This caused good-natured ridicule among some, but it did not prevent anyone from taking advantage of Count Rostov’s hospitable generosity: kindness and love are always attractive.

The most prominent representative of the Rostov family is Natasha - charming, natural, cheerful and naive. All these traits are dear to Tolstoy, and for them he loves his heroine. Starting from the first acquaintance, the writer emphasizes that Natasha is not like other characters in the novel. We see her as a daring child when, at her name day, she fearlessly, despite the presence of Countess Akhrosimova (whom the whole world was afraid of), asks what kind of cake will be served for dessert; then matured, but still just as lively, spontaneous and charming, when she has to make the first important decision - to refuse Denisov, who proposed to her. She says: “Vasily Dmitrich, I feel so sorry for you!.. No, but you are so nice... but don’t... this is... otherwise I will always love you...” There is no direct logic in Natasha’s words , but at the same time they are touchingly pure and truthful. Later we see Natasha with Nikolai and Petya in Mikhailovsk, visiting her uncle, when she performs a Russian dance, causing admiration from those around her; Natasha, in love with Prince Andrei, and then carried away by Anatoly Kuragin. As she grows up, Natasha’s character traits also develop: love of life, optimism, amorousness. Tolstoy shows her in joy, in grief, and in despair, and shows her in such a way that the reader cannot doubt: all her feelings are sincere and genuine.

As the story progresses, we learn a lot of important things about Count Rostov: about the financial worries of Ilya Nikolaevich; about his hospitality and good nature; about how inimitably and fervently he dances Danila Kupora; about how much effort he makes to organize a reception in honor of Bagration; about how, in a fit of patriotic delight, returning from the palace where he heard and saw the emperor, he lets his youngest minor son go to war. Tolstoy almost always shows Countess Rostova through the eyes of Natasha. Her main feature is her love for children. For Natasha, she is the first friend and adviser. The Countess understands her children perfectly and is always ready to warn them against mistakes and give the necessary advice.

Tolstoy treats Petya, the youngest son of the Rostovs, with especially touching sympathy. This is a wonderful, kind, loving and beloved boy, so similar to Natasha, a faithful companion of her games, her page, unquestioningly fulfilling all the desires and whims of his sister. He, like Natasha, loves life in all its manifestations. He knows how to take pity on the captive French drummer, invites him to dinner and treats him to fried meat, just as his father, Count Rostov, invited everyone to his house to feed and caress him. Petya's death is clear evidence of the senselessness and mercilessness of the war.

For the Rostovs, love is the basis of family life. Here they are not afraid to express their feelings either to each other or to friends and acquaintances. The love, kindness and warmth of the Rostovs extend not only to its members, but also to people who, by the will of fate, have become their loved ones. So, Andrei Bolkonsky, finding himself in Otradnoye, struck by Natasha’s cheerfulness, decides to change his life. In the Rostov family they never condemn or reproach each other even when an act committed by one of its members deserves condemnation, be it Nikolai, who lost a huge amount of money to Dolokhov and put the family in danger of ruin, or Natasha, who tried to escape with Anatoly Kuragin. Here we are always ready to help each other and stand up for a loved one at any moment.

Such purity of relationships and high morality make the Rostovs similar to the Bolkonskys. But the Bolkonskys, in contrast to the Rostovs, attach great importance to their birth and wealth. They do not accept everyone indiscriminately. A special order reigns here, understandable only to family members; here everything is subordinated to honor, reason and duty. All representatives of this family have a clearly expressed sense of family superiority and self-esteem. But at the same time, in the Bolkonskys’ relationship there is natural and sincere love, hidden under the mask of arrogance. The proud Bolkonskys are noticeably different in character from the cozy and homely Rostovs, and that is why the unity of these two families, in the author’s view, is possible only between uncharacteristic representatives of these families (Nikolai Rostov and Princess Marya).

The Bolkonsky family in the novel is contrasted with the Kuragin family. Both the Bolkonskys and the Kuragins occupy a prominent place in the social life of Moscow and St. Petersburg. But if, when describing the members of the Bolkonsky family, the author draws attention to issues of pride and honor, then the Kuragins are depicted as active participants in intrigues and behind-the-scenes games (the story with Count Bezukhov’s briefcase), regulars at balls and social events. The way of life of the Bolkonsky family is based on love and cohesion. All representatives of the Kuragin family are united by immorality (secret connections between Anatole and Helen), unscrupulousness (an attempt to arrange Natasha’s escape), prudence (the marriage of Pierre and Helen), and false patriotism.

It is no coincidence that representatives of the Kuragin family belong to high society. From the first pages of the novel, the reader is transported to the St. Petersburg drawing rooms of high society and gets acquainted with the “cream” of this society: nobles, dignitaries, diplomats, ladies-in-waiting. As the narrative progresses, Tolstoy tears away the veils of external brilliance and refined manners from these people, and their spiritual squalor and moral baseness are revealed to the reader. There is neither simplicity, nor goodness, nor truth in their behavior and relationships. Everything is unnatural, hypocritical in Anna Pavlovna Scherer’s salon. Everything alive, be it a thought and a feeling, a sincere impulse or a topical wit, fades away in a soulless environment. That is why the naturalness and openness in Pierre’s behavior frightened Scherer so much. Here they are accustomed to “decently pulled masks”, to a masquerade. Prince Vasily speaks lazily, like an actor in an old play, while the hostess herself behaves with artificial enthusiasm.

Tolstoy compares the evening reception at Scherer’s to a spinning workshop, in which “spindles made noise evenly and incessantly from different sides.” But in these workshops, important matters are decided, state intrigues are woven, personal problems are solved, selfish plans are outlined: places are looked for for unsettled sons, like Ippolit Kuragin, profitable matches for marriage are discussed. In this light, “eternal inhuman enmity, the struggle for mortal blessings, boils.” Suffice it to recall the distorted faces of the “mournful” Drubetskaya and the “merciful” Prince Vasily, when the two of them clutched the briefcase with the will at the bedside of the dying Count Bezukhov.

Prince Vasily Kuragin, the head of the Kuragin family, is a bright type of enterprising careerist, money-grubber and egoist. Entrepreneurship and acquisitiveness became, as it were, “involuntary” traits of his character. As Tolstoy emphasizes, Prince Vasily knew how to use people and hide this skill, covering it with subtle observance of the rules of secular behavior. Thanks to this skill, Prince Vasily achieves a lot in life, because in the society in which he lives, the search for various kinds of benefits is the main thing in relations between people. For the sake of his own selfish goals, Prince Vasily is developing very vigorous activity. Suffice it to recall the campaign launched to marry Pierre to his daughter Helen. Without waiting for Pierre and Helene’s explanation or matchmaking, Prince Vasily bursts into the room with an icon in his hands and blesses the newlyweds - the mousetrap slammed shut. The siege of Maria Bolkonskaya, a rich bride for Anatole, began, and only chance prevented the successful completion of this “operation.” What kind of love and family well-being can we talk about when marriages are made out of open calculation? Tolstoy tells with irony about Prince Vasily, when he fools and robs Pierre, embezzling income from his estates and keeping several thousand quitrents from the Ryazan estate, hiding his actions under the guise of kindness and care for the young man, whom he cannot leave to the mercy of fate. .

Helen is the only one of all the children of Prince Vasily who does not burden him, but brings joy with her successes. This is explained by the fact that she was a true daughter of her father and early understood what rules she needed to play by in the world in order to achieve success and occupy a strong position. Beauty is Helen's only virtue. She understands this very well and uses it as a means to achieve personal gain. When Helen walks through the hall, the dazzling whiteness of her shoulders attracts the gaze of all the men present. Having married Pierre, she began to shine even brighter, did not miss a single ball and was always a welcome guest. Having openly cheated on her husband, she cynically declares that she does not want to have children from him. Pierre rightly defined its essence: “Where you are, there is debauchery.”

Prince Vasily is openly burdened by his sons. The youngest son of Prince Vasily, Anatol Kuragin, causes disgust from the very first moment of meeting him. When writing a description of this hero, Tolstoy noted: “He is like a beautiful doll, there is nothing in his eyes.” Anatole is sure that the world was created for his pleasure. According to the author, “he was instinctively convinced that he could not live differently than he lived,” that he “must live on an income of thirty thousand and always occupy the highest position in society.” Tolstoy repeatedly emphasizes that Anatole is handsome. But his outer beauty contrasts with his empty inner appearance. Anatole's immorality is especially evident during his courtship of Natasha Rostova, when she was the bride of Andrei Bolkonsky. Anatol Kuragin became a symbol of freedom for Natasha Rostova, and she, with her purity, naivety and faith in people, could not understand that this is freedom from the boundaries of what is permitted, from the moral framework of what is permissible. The second son of Prince Vasily - Ippolit - is described by the author as a rake and a veil. But unlike Anatole, he is also mentally limited, which makes his actions especially ridiculous. Tolstoy devotes rather little space to Ippolit in the novel, not deigning him with his attention. The beauty and youth of the Kuragins takes on a repulsive character, for this beauty is insincere, not warmed by the soul.

Tolstoy depicted the declaration of love between Boris Drubetsky and Julie Karagina with irony and sarcasm. Julie knows that this brilliant but poor handsome man does not love her, but demands a declaration of love according to all the rules for his wealth. And Boris, uttering the right words, thinks that it is always possible to arrange it so that he rarely sees his wife. For the Kuragins and Drubetskys, all means are good to achieve success and fame and strengthen their position in society. You can join a Masonic lodge, pretending that you are close to the ideas of love, equality, brotherhood, although in fact the only purpose of this is the desire to make profitable acquaintances. Pierre, a sincere and trusting man, soon saw that these people were not interested in questions of truth, the good of humanity, but in the uniforms and crosses that they sought in life.

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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Tolstoy considered family to be the basis of everything. It contains love, and the future, and peace, and goodness. Families make up society, the moral laws of which are laid down and preserved in the family. The writer’s family is a society in miniature. Almost all of Tolstoy’s heroes are family people, and he characterizes them through their families.

In the novel, the life of three families unfolds before us: the Rostovs, the Bolkonskys, the Kuragins. In the epilogue of the novel, the author shows the happy “new” families of Nikolai and Marya, Pierre and Natasha. Each family is endowed with characteristic features and also embodies its own view of the world and its values. Members of these families participate in one way or another in all the events described in the work. The novel covers fifteen years of life, families are traced through three generations: fathers, children and grandchildren.

The Rostov family is an example of an ideal relationship between loved ones who love and respect each other. The father of the family, Count Ilya Rostov, is depicted as a typical Russian gentleman. The manager Mitenka constantly deceives the count. Only Nikolai Rostov exposes and fires him. No one in the family accuses anyone, suspects anyone, or deceives anyone. They are one whole, always sincerely ready to help each other. Joys and sorrows are experienced together, together they look for answers to difficult questions. They quickly experience troubles; the emotional and intuitive principles predominate in them. All Rostovs are passionate people, but the mistakes and mistakes of family members do not cause hostility and hostility towards each other. The family is upset and grieving when Nikolai Rostov loses at cards, experiences the story of Natasha’s love for Anatoly Kuragin and an attempt to escape with him, although the entire secular society discusses this shameful event.

In the Rostov family there is a “Russian spirit”, everyone loves national culture and art. They live in accordance with national traditions: they welcome guests, are generous, love to live in the countryside, and take part in folk festivals with pleasure. All Rostovs are talented and have musical abilities. The courtyard people who serve in the house are deeply devoted to the masters and live with them like one family.

During the war, the Rostov family remains in Moscow until the last moment, while it is still possible to evacuate. Their house houses the wounded, who need to be taken out of the city so that they are not killed by the French. The Rostovs decide to give up their acquired property and give away the carts for the soldiers. This is how the true patriotism of this family is manifested.

A different order reigns in the Bolkonsky family. All living feelings are driven to the very bottom of the soul. In the relationship between them there is only cold rationality. Prince Andrei and Princess Marya do not have a mother, and the father replaces parental love with over-demandingness, which makes his children unhappy. Princess Marya is a girl with a strong, courageous character. She was not broken by her father’s cruel attitude, she did not become embittered, and did not lose her pure and gentle soul.

Old Bolkonsky is sure that in the world “there are only two virtues - activity and intelligence.” He himself works all his life: he writes the charter, works in the workshop, studies with his daughter. Bolkonsky is a nobleman of the old school. He is a patriot of his homeland and wants to benefit it. Having learned that the French are advancing, he becomes the head of the people's militia, ready to defend his land with arms in hand, to prevent the enemy from setting foot on it.

Prince Andrei looks like his father. He also strives for power, works in Speransky’s committee, wants to become a big man, to serve for the good of the country. Although he promised himself never to participate in battles again, in 1812 he went to fight again. Saving his homeland is a sacred matter for him. Prince Andrei dies for his homeland like a hero.

The Kuragin family brings evil and destruction to the world. Using the example of the members of this family, Tolstoy showed how deceptive external beauty can be. Helen and Anatole are beautiful people, but this beauty is imaginary. External shine hides the emptiness of their low souls. Anatole leaves a bad memory of himself everywhere. Because of money, he wooes Princess Marya and destroys the relationship between Prince Andrei and Natasha. Helen loves only herself, destroys Pierre's life, disgraces him.

Lies and hypocrisy, and contempt for others reign in the Kuragin family. The father of the family, Prince Vasily, is a court intriguer, he is only interested in gossip and vile deeds. For the sake of money, he is ready to do anything, even commit a crime. His behavior in the scene of the death of Count Bezukhov is the height of blasphemy and contempt for the laws of human morality.

There is no spiritual relationship in the Kuragin family. Tolstoy does not show us their house. They are primitive, undeveloped people, whom the author portrays in satirical tones. They cannot achieve happiness in life.

According to Tolstoy, a good family is a reward for a righteous life. In the finale, he rewards his heroes with happiness in family life.