Essay “The theme of family and home in Bulgakov’s novel “The White Guard. Analysis of the work “The White Guard” (M

M. Bulgakov's novel "The White Guard", written in 1925 about Civil War, covers the period from December 1918 to February 1919. Old world collapses, and the heroes of the novel, Russian intellectuals, shocked by events that change the usual way of life, drawn into the struggle between whites, reds, Germans and Petliurists, are forced to make decisions that affect their future lives. The author focuses on the Turbin family living in the City on Alekseevsky Spusk, symbolizing those spiritual, moral ideals, which are very difficult to preserve under these conditions.

What does the Turbins’ house represent, what are its traditions, what is the atmosphere in the house, which not only influences the relationships of the Turbins themselves and the people close to them, but also their thoughts, feelings, experiences and decisions?

After the death of the mother, two brothers remain in the family - Alexey, a doctor, sixteen-year-old cadet Nikolai and sister Elena. The author makes the reader think about whether this house will collapse, whether its foundations will disappear, as Russia collapsed after the abdication of the emperor. And the artist with great love and describes with warmth the Turbino house as an island of home warmth, comfort, harmony and understanding, despite the terrible, bloody events raging around it, in order to show in the name of what a person should live and what values are important to him.

The civil war spun, crushed and distorted the destinies of people, but failed to destroy the atmosphere of the Turbino house: the lampshade on the lamp, the white starched tablecloth, cream curtains, the green lamp above the table, the measured movement of the clock, the Dutch tiled stove, flowers, music and books.

Larion, the Zhytomyr cousin of the Turbins, very correctly noted that in this cozy house there is no feeling of war, because nice, intelligent people live here, caring for each other, trying to preserve the peaceful traditions of their home. And it becomes clear why Myshlaevsky, Studzinsky, Malyshev, and Nai-Tours are so drawn to this house. The red-haired Elena with a head “like a cleaned theatrical crown” radiates warmth, Nikolka with an eternal “whirl” hanging on her right eyebrow, and Alexey, who has aged since October 25, 1917.

The furious hurricane of the revolution failed to disrupt the good relations of these sincere and honest people who despise cowardice, lies and self-interest.

According to Nikolka, “not a single person should break his word of honor, because otherwise it will be impossible to live in the world.” Therefore, we understand Alexei’s tossing and turning in the coming times of dishonor and deception, when it was necessary to decide how to live further, what and whom to protect, with whom to go. The writer conveys the sincere feelings of his characters in connection with the change of power in the City. At the Turbins' party, the same question is being decided: to accept or not to accept the Bolsheviks. And Turbiny, and Myshlaevsky, and Studzinsky, and even Lariosik are hesitating, suggesting, especially since it appears on the horizon new power in the person of Petlyura. They see that any seizure of power (whether by the Germans, Whites, Bolsheviks or Petliurists) leads to the destruction of peaceful life, family, home, and the death of people. Therefore, the heroes are disappointed in their leaders. Solving the problem of a new life, they do not abandon the truth, which is higher than everything temporary, they force one to believe in the existence of enduring moral values. After all, the Turbins were able to accept and warm Lariosik with their kindness and sympathy, Nikolka was able to take care of the Nai-Tours and earn their gratitude. These people have responsibility for others. And in accordance with the truth, their good is paid for with good: an unknown woman, risking her own life, saves Alexei Turbin. But with what contempt Bulgakov treats Talberg, Elena’s husband, for his unprincipledness and lack of character: “A damn doll, devoid of the slightest concept of honor.” With what undisguised hatred he writes about those commanders who, before Petliura’s arrival in the city, abandoned the army, which, by the way, consisted of cadets, cadet boys and students. There were also such... But there were also Colonel Malyshev, Myshlaevsky and Nai-Tours. Nobles brought up on a code of honor. The scene when Colonel Malyshev learns about the hetman’s escape and the betrayal of the command was written with great skill. He finds out, and the first thing he does is disband his division. The instant reaction of the cadets was “treason.” They are trying to arrest Malyshev, and the question is asked (one of the main ones in the novel): “Who do you want to protect?” The real human drama is revealed in this small episode. The cadets are crying. It's not just the boys who are not allowed to shoot who cry. Cries " white guard" Here is the tragedy of personality that all true intellectuals in the novel experience, and the war for white officers becomes a kind of purgatory. Who's running? Hetman, Talberg, the command that abandoned the guard. Who stays? Turbines “with the ever-open score of Faust,” Myshlaevsky, Shervinsky. The best remain. They cannot part with their Motherland, with their people. And the Motherland for them, first of all, is a home where goodness, love, peace and comfort reign.

There is so much humanity, simplicity and wisdom in the final lines of the novel: “Everything will pass. Suffering, torment, blood, famine and pestilence. We will disappear, but the stars will remain, when the shadow of our bodies and deeds will not remain on earth. There is not a single person who does not know this. So why don't we want to turn our gaze to them? Why?" The stars, according to Bulgakov, are the truth, these are the moral values that people should strive to understand and preserve. The house will be preserved when its traditions are preserved, when there is no war that destroys these traditions, because there cannot be a justified war, since it not only takes the lives of people, but also destroys what a person is born for: procreation , creating a home, family and creativity.

E. Mustangova: “At the center of Bulgakov’s work is the novel “The White Guard”... Only in this novel does the usually mocking and sarcastic Bulgakov turn into a soft lyricist. All chapters and places related to the Turbins are presented in a tone of a little condescending admiration...

All will pass. Suffering, torment, blood, famine and pestilence. The sword will disappear, but the stars will remain, when the shadow of our deeds and bodies will not remain on the earth. M. Bulgakov In 1925, the first two parts of the novel by Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov were published in the magazine “Russia”...

The novel “The White Guard” was first published (incompletely) in Russia in 1924. Completely in Paris: volume one - 1927, volume two - 1929. “The White Guard” is largely an autobiographical novel based on the writer’s personal impressions of Kyiv...

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All will pass. Suffering, torment, blood, famine and pestilence. The sword will disappear, but the stars will remain, when the shadow of our deeds and bodies will not remain on the earth. M. Bulgakov In 1925, the first two parts of Mikhail’s novel were published in the magazine “Russia”...

The central place in the novel by M.A. Bulgakov's "White Guard" is occupied by the Turbin family. The young Turbins - Alexey, Elena and Nikolka - are the core of the novel, around which the composition and plot of the work are built.

At the beginning of the work we meet this family in mourning: their mother has recently died. The death of the mother, as the keeper of the hearth and the main figure in any family, symbolizes in The White Guard the upcoming trials that befell the Turbins.

In my opinion, it is no coincidence that Bulgakov brought the theme of family to the forefront. In a world collapsing around us, in which it is unclear where are our own and where are strangers, the family gathered around the table is the last unshaken stronghold, last hope for peace and tranquility. Bulgakov sees salvation in a quiet family life amid the storm of war: “Never. Never pull the lampshade off a lamp! The lampshade is sacred!” Sacred as sacred family life and brotherly love.

Is this why Talberg, who betrayed the most sacred thing - his family, seems so pathetic and petty? According to Bulgakov, no circumstances, no excuses can allow one to abandon Home and Family: “Never run like a rat into the unknown from danger. Doze by the lampshade, read - let the blizzard howl - wait until they come to you.”

It is interesting that the theme of the family as a representative of a class, generation or even a nation received in world literature of the early twentieth century great development. It is worth recalling at least Thomas Mann's novel “Buddenbrooks”.

The Turbin family is concerned with only one question: how to live further? They are still very young. Alexey Turbin, a military doctor, is only twenty-eight years old. Elena Turbina is twenty-four, and Nikolai Turbin is seventeen and a half: “Their lives were just interrupted at dawn.”

The relationship between the Turbins is very close and insightful. The brothers truly love their sister and are ready to fight for her. Elena Talberg's husband and his slippery character were clear to Alexei and Nikolai from the very beginning. But either because of weak character, or, most likely, out of love and respect for their sister, they endured and did not offend the captain with a word. Even when they realized that he was abandoning their family and running away, they saw him off like a Christian, kissing him in the hallway.

The collapse of the family means the end of the world for the Turbins and death for each of its members. Therefore, Elena, praying and asking the Mother of God not to end her family “in one year,” is ready to sacrifice the most precious thing - her feeling for Sergei Talberg. And Alexei’s miraculous recovery seems to again bring into the house a small spark of hope that someday everything will be fine.

But History, menacing and harsh, had already delivered its verdict on the Turbins. What awaits them? In the darkness of conflagrations, in the belly of war, it doesn’t matter who is Petlyura, or the hetman, or the Bolsheviks - no one can tell who is brother and who is sister. For the Petliurist Galanba there is neither family nor home. He forgot or wanted to forget that everyone is equal before God. Therefore, this hero killed the Jew Yakov Feldman just at the moment when the Jew’s wife was giving birth and needed a midwife.

Bulgakov brilliantly describes the events of the eighteenth year. At the same time, he focuses on the fate of the Turbin family to show that war is a cold and dirty monster. She does not spare anyone: neither young Nikolka, who strongly resembles Nikolai Rostov, nor “reddish Elena,” Elena the Beautiful. The war doesn’t care whether you are a Petliurist or a Bolshevik, a monarchist or a socialist. She indiscriminately eats everything that comes her way. War is insatiable and always merciless and unfair.

Child of hatred, war has and cannot have any justification. And today, in the twenty-first century, when every day on television they broadcast reports from one or another place of hostilities, the war has a lot of supporters. As blind as she herself. Many justify the war in Chechnya and Iraq, not realizing that it is necessary to always answer one single question: can I be in the place of those innocent people who, by the will of fate, like the Turbins, are drawn into the whirlpool of war? Who will be white tomorrow? Who will be killed for their religion, skin color, nation, worldview?

There are a lot of adults who will quite sincerely exclaim, like the unknown person in the crowd from Bulgakov’s novel, in the crowd going to bury the innocently murdered sleeping lieutenants: “That’s what they need!” Fools! They do not understand that all people are mortal and there is no point in hastening an already imminent end. After all, everything will disappear, “but the stars will remain, when even the shadow of our bodies and deeds will not remain on earth. There is not a single person who does not know this. So why don't we want to turn our gaze to them? Why?"

M. Bulgakov’s novel “The White Guard,” written in 1925 about the Civil War, covers the period from December 1918 to February 1919. The old world is collapsing, and the heroes of the novel, Russian intellectuals, shocked by events that change the usual way of life, are drawn into into the struggle between whites, reds, Germans and Petliurists, they are forced to make decisions that affect their future lives. The author focuses on the Turbin family living in the City on Alekseevsky Spusk, symbolizing those spiritual and moral ideals that are very difficult to preserve in these conditions.

After the death of the mother, two brothers remain in the family - Alexey, a doctor, sixteen-year-old cadet Nikolai and sister Elena. The author makes the reader think about whether this house will collapse, whether its foundations will disappear, as Russia collapsed after the abdication of the emperor. And the artist, with great love and warmth, describes the Turbino house as an island of home warmth, comfort, harmony and understanding, despite the terrible, bloody events raging around it, in order to show in the name of what a person should live and what values are important to him.

The furious hurricane of the revolution failed to disrupt the good relations of these sincere and honest people who despise cowardice, lies and self-interest.

According to Nikolka, “not a single person should break his word of honor, because otherwise it will be impossible to live in the world.” Therefore, we understand Alexei’s tossing and turning in the coming times of dishonor and deception, when it was necessary to decide how to live further, what and whom to protect, with whom to go. The writer conveys the sincere feelings of his characters in connection with the change of power in the City. At the Turbins' party, the same question is being decided: to accept or not to accept the Bolsheviks. And Turbiny, and Myshlaevsky, and Studzinsky, and even Lariosik are hesitating, they suggest, especially since a new force appears on the horizon in the person of Petlyura. They see that any seizure of power (whether by the Germans, Whites, Bolsheviks or Petliurists) leads to the destruction of peaceful life, family, home, and the death of people. Therefore, the heroes are disappointed in their leaders. Solving the problem of a new life, they do not abandon the truth, which is higher than everything temporary, they force one to believe in the existence of enduring moral values. After all, the Turbins were able to accept and warm Lariosik with their kindness and sympathy, Nikolka was able to take care of the Nai-Tours and earn their gratitude. These people have responsibility for others. And in accordance with the truth, their good is paid for with good: an unknown woman, risking her own life, saves Alexei Turbin. But with what contempt Bulgakov treats Talberg, Elena’s husband, for his unprincipledness and lack of character: “A damn doll, devoid of the slightest concept of honor.” With what undisguised hatred he writes about those commanders who, before Petliura’s arrival in the city, abandoned the army, which, by the way, consisted of cadets, cadet boys and students. There were also such... But there were also Colonel Malyshev, Myshlaevsky and Nai-Tours. Nobles brought up on a code of honor. The scene when Colonel Malyshev learns about the hetman’s escape and the betrayal of the command was written with great skill. He finds out, and the first thing he does is disband his division. The instant reaction of the cadets was “treason.” They are trying to arrest Malyshev, and the question is asked (one of the main ones in the novel): “Who do you want to protect?” The real human drama is revealed in this small episode. The cadets are crying. It's not just the boys who are not allowed to shoot who cry. The White Guard is crying. Here is the tragedy of personality that all true intellectuals in the novel experience, and the war for white officers becomes a kind of purgatory. Who's running? Hetman, Talberg, the command that abandoned the guard. Who stays? Turbines “with the ever-open score of Faust,” Myshlaevsky, Shervinsky. The best remain. They cannot part with their Motherland, with their people. And the Motherland for them, first of all, is a home where goodness, love, peace and comfort reign.

The image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is central. He unites the heroes of the work and protects them from danger. Turning events in the country instill anxiety and fear in the souls of people. And only home comfort and warmth can create the illusion of peace and security.

1918

Great is the year one thousand nine hundred and eighteen. But he is also scary. Kyiv was occupied by German troops on one side and the hetman's army on the other. And rumors about Petlyura’s arrival instill increasing anxiety in the already frightened townspeople. Visitors and all sorts of dubious characters are scurrying around on the street. Anxiety is even in the air. This is how Bulgakov depicted the situation in Kyiv in Last year war. And he used the image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” so that its heroes could hide, at least for a while, from the impending danger. The characters of the main characters are revealed within the walls of the Turbins’ apartment. Everything outside of it is like another world, scary, wild and incomprehensible.

Intimate conversations

The theme of home in the novel "The White Guard" plays important role. The Turbins’ apartment is cozy and warm. But here, too, the heroes of the novel argue and conduct political discussions. Alexei Turbin, the oldest tenant of this apartment, scolds the Ukrainian hetman, whose most harmless offense is that he forced the Russian population to speak a “vile language.” Next, he spews curses at representatives of the hetman’s army. However, the obscenity of his words does not detract from the truth that lies within them.

Myshlaevsky, Stepanov and Shervinsky, younger brother Nikolka - everyone is excitedly discussing what is happening in the city. And also present here is Elena, the sister of Alexei and Nikolka.

But the image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is not the embodiment of a family hearth and not a refuge for dissident individuals. This is a symbol of what is still bright and real in a dilapidated country. A political change always gives rise to unrest and robbery. And the people in Peaceful time, seemingly quite decent and honest, in difficult situations show their true face. Turbines and their friends are few of those who have not been made worse off by the changes in the country.

Thalberg's betrayal

At the beginning of the novel, Elena's husband leaves the house. He runs into the unknown in a “rat run.” Listening to her husband’s assurances that Denikin will soon return with the army, Elena, “old and ugly,” understands that he will not return. And so it happened. Thalberg had connections, he took advantage of them and was able to escape. And already at the end of the work, Elena learns about his upcoming marriage.

The image of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is a kind of fortress. But for cowardly and selfish people, it is like a sinking ship for rats. Talberg flees, and only those who can trust each other remain. Those who are not capable of betrayal.

Autobiographical work

Based on own life experience Bulgakov created this novel. “The White Guard” is a work in which the characters express the thoughts of the author himself. The book is not national, since it is dedicated only to a certain social stratum close to the writer.

Bulgakov's heroes turn to God more than once in the most difficult moments. There is complete harmony and mutual understanding in the family. This is exactly how Bulgakov imagined his ideal house. But perhaps the theme of the house in the novel “The White Guard” is inspired by the author’s youthful memories.

Universal hatred

In 1918, bitterness prevailed in the cities. It had an impressive scale, as it was generated by the centuries-old hatred of peasants towards nobles and officers. And to this it is also worth adding the anger of the local population towards the occupiers and Petliurists, whose appearance is awaited with horror. The author depicted all this using the example of the Kyiv events. But only parents' house in the novel “The White Guard” is a bright, kind image that inspires hope. And here it’s not only Alexey, Elena and Nikolka who can take refuge from the external storms of life.

The Turbins’ house in the novel “The White Guard” also becomes a haven for people who are close in spirit to its inhabitants. Myshlaevsky, Karas and Shervinsky became relatives to Elena and her brothers. They know about everything that happens in this family - about all the sorrows and hopes. And they are always welcome here.

Mother's testament

Turbina Sr., who died shortly before the events described in the work, bequeathed her children to live together. Elena, Alexey and Nikolka keep their promise, and only this saves them. Love, understanding and support - the components of a true Home - do not allow them to perish. And even when Alexey is dying, and doctors call him “hopeless,” Elena continues to believe and finds support in prayers. And, to the surprise of the doctors, Alexey recovers.

The author paid much attention to the interior elements in the Turbins' house. Thanks to small details a striking contrast is created between this apartment and the one located on the floor below. The atmosphere in Lisovich's house is cold and uncomfortable. And after the robbery, Vasilisa goes to the Turbins for spiritual support. Even this seemingly unpleasant character feels safe in Elena and Alexei’s house.

The world outside this house is mired in confusion. But here everyone still sings songs, sincerely smiles at each other and boldly looks danger in the eyes. This atmosphere also attracts another character - Lariosik. Talberg's relative almost immediately became one of his own here, which Elena's husband failed to do. The thing is that the arriving guest from Zhitomir has such qualities as kindness, decency and sincerity. And they are mandatory for a long stay in the house, the image of which was depicted so vividly and colorfully by Bulgakov.

"The White Guard" is a novel that was published more than 90 years ago. When a play based on this work was staged in one of the Moscow theaters, the audience, whose fates were so similar to the lives of the heroes, cried and fainted. This work became extremely close to those who lived through the events of 1917-1918. But the novel did not lose relevance even later. And some fragments in it are unusually reminiscent of the present time. And this once again confirms that the present literary work always, at any time relevant.

In the novel “The White Guard,” the original Russian intelligent family of the Turbins suddenly becomes involved in great events, becomes a witness and participant in terrible and amazing deeds. The days of the Turbins absorb the eternal charm of calendar time. Memories of the mother and her former life contrast with the real situation of the bloody 1918. The great misfortune - the loss of the mother - merges with another terrible disaster- the collapse of the old, seemingly strong and beautiful world.

You can’t sit out a difficult time by closing yourself off from it, like the homeowner Vasilisa, “an engineer and a coward, a bourgeois and unsympathetic.” Turbines face a threatening time differently. They do not betray themselves in anything. Every day friends gather in their house and are greeted by light, warmth, and a laid table.

Some time will pass, and Nai-Tours, realizing that he and his cadets have been treacherously abandoned by the command, that his guys are destined for the fate of cannon fodder, at the cost own life will save her boys. Everything honest and pure is attracted to the House like a magnet. Here, in this comfort of the House, the mortally frozen Myshlaevsky comes from the terrible World. A man of honor, like Turbins, he did not leave his post near the city, where in terrible frost forty people waited a day in the snow, without fires, for a shift that would never
came if Colonel Nai-Tours, also a man of honor and duty, could not, despite the disgrace happening at the headquarters, bring two hundred cadets, thanks to the efforts of Nai-Tours, perfectly dressed and armed.

The lines of the Turbins and Nai-Tours will intertwine in the fate of Nikolka, who witnessed the last heroic minutes of the colonel’s life. Admired by the colonel's feat and humanism, Nikolka will do the impossible - she will be able to overcome the seemingly insurmountable in order to give Nai-Turs his last duty - to bury him with dignity and become a loved one for the mother and sister of the deceased hero.

The world of the Turbins contains the fates of all truly decent people, be it the courageous officers Myshlaevsky and Stepanov, or deeply civilian by nature, but not shying away from what befell him in the era of hard times, Alexey Turbin, or even the completely, seemingly absurd Lariosik. But it was Lariosik who managed to quite accurately express the very essence of the House, opposing the era of cruelty and violence. Lariosik spoke about himself, but many could subscribe to these words, “that he suffered a drama, but here, with Elena Vasilievna, his soul comes to life, because this is a completely exceptional person, Elena Vasilievna, and in their apartment it is warm and cozy, and especially the cream curtains on all the windows are wonderful, thanks to which you feel cut off from the outside world... And this outside world... you must admit, it’s menacing, bloody and meaningless.”

There, outside the windows, is the merciless destruction of everything that was valuable in Russia. Here, behind the curtains, there is an unshakable belief that everything beautiful must be protected and preserved, that this is necessary under any circumstances, that it is feasible.