The idea is “folk. People's thought in the epic novel "War and Peace. Guerrilla movement of the people's war"
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.
To love a people means to see with complete clarity both their merits and their shortcomings, their great and small, their ups and downs. Writing for the people means helping them understand their strengths and weaknesses.
F.A. Abramov
In terms of genre, “War and Peace” is an epic of modern times, that is, it combines the features of a classical epic, the example of which is Homer’s “Iliad,” and the achievements of the European novel of the 18th-19th centuries. The subject of the epic is the national character, in other words, the people with their everyday life, their view of the world and man, their assessment of good and bad, prejudices and misconceptions, and their behavior in critical situations.
The people, according to Tolstoy, are not only the men and soldiers who act in the novel, but also nobles who have a people's view of the world and spiritual values. Thus, a people is people united by one history, language, culture, living in the same territory. In the novel “The Captain's Daughter,” Pushkin noted: the common people and the nobility are so divided in the process of historical development of Russia that they cannot understand each other’s aspirations. In the epic novel “War and Peace,” Tolstoy argues that at the most important historical moments, the people and the best nobles do not oppose each other, but act in concert: during the Patriotic War, the aristocrats Bolkonsky, Pierre Bezukhov, and Rostov felt the same “warmth of patriotism” in themselves. , as ordinary men and soldiers. Moreover, the very meaning of personal development, according to Tolstoy, lies in the search for a natural fusion of the individual with the people. The best nobles and people are together opposed to the ruling bureaucratic and military circles, who are not capable of high sacrifices and exploits for the sake of the fatherland, but are guided in all actions by selfish considerations.
War and Peace presents a broad picture of people's life in both peace and war. The most important event testing the national character is the Patriotic War of 1812, when the Russian people most fully demonstrated their resilience, unostentatious (internal) patriotism and generosity. However, the description of folk scenes and individual heroes from the people appears already in the first two volumes, that is, one might say, in a huge exposition to the main historical events of the novel.
The crowd scenes of the first and second volumes make a sad impression. The writer depicts Russian soldiers on foreign campaigns, when the Russian army fulfills its allied duty. For ordinary soldiers, this duty is completely incomprehensible: they are fighting for someone else's interests on someone else's land. Therefore, the army is more like a faceless, submissive crowd, which at the slightest danger turns into a panicked flight. This is confirmed by the scene at Austerlitz: “... a naively frightened voice (...) shouted: “Well, brothers, the Sabbath!” And it was as if this voice was a command. At this voice, everything started to run. Mixed, ever-increasing crowds ran back to the place where they had passed the emperors five minutes earlier” (1, 3, XVI).
There is complete confusion among the allied forces. The Russian army is actually starving, since the Austrians do not deliver the promised food. Vasily Denisov's hussars pull out some edible roots from the ground and eat them, which makes everyone's stomachs hurt. As an honest officer, Denisov could not calmly look at this disgrace and decided to commit a crime of office: by force he recaptured part of the provisions from another regiment (1, 2, XV, XVI). This act had a bad impact on his military career: Denisov is put on trial for arbitrariness (2, 2, XX). Russian troops constantly find themselves in difficult situations due to the stupidity or betrayal of the Austrians. So, for example, near Shengraben, General Nostitz with his corps left their positions, believing the talk of peace, and left Bagration’s four-thousand-strong detachment without cover, which now stood face to face with Murat’s hundred-thousand-strong French army (1, 2, XIV). But at Shengraben, Russian soldiers do not flee, but fight calmly and skillfully, because they know that they are covering the retreat of the Russian army.
On the pages of the first two volumes, Tolstoy creates individual images of soldiers: Lavrushka, Denisov’s rogue orderly (2, 2, XVI); the cheerful soldier Sidorov, who deftly imitates French speech (1.2, XV); Transfiguration Lazarev, who received the Order of the Legion of Honor from Napoleon in the scene of the Peace of Tilsit (2, 2, XXI). However, significantly more heroes from the people are shown in a peaceful setting. Tolstoy does not depict the hardships of serfdom, although he, being an honest artist, could not completely avoid this topic. The writer says that Pierre, while touring his estates, decided to make the life of the serfs easier, but nothing came of it, because the chief manager easily deceived the naive Count Bezukhov (2, 1, X). Or another example: old Bolkonsky gave the barman Philip as a soldier because he forgot the prince’s order and, according to an old habit, served coffee first to Princess Marya, and then to the companion Burien (2, 5, II).
The author masterfully, with just a few strokes, draws heroes from the people, their peaceful life, their work, worries, and all these heroes receive brightly individual portraits, just like the characters from the nobility. The Rostov Counts' traveller, Danila, takes part in a wolf hunt. He selflessly devotes himself to hunting and understands this fun no less than his masters. Therefore, without thinking about anything else but the wolf, he angrily cursed the old Count Rostov, who decided to “snack” during the rut (2.4, IV). Uncle Rostov's housekeeper Anisya Fedorovna, a fat, rosy-cheeked, beautiful housekeeper, lives with her. The writer notes her warm hospitality and homeliness (how many different treats were on the tray that she herself brought to the guests!), her kind attention to Natasha (2.4, VII). The image of Tikhon, the devoted valet of old Bolkonsky, is remarkable: the servant understands his paralyzed master without words (3, 2, VIII). Bogucharov's elder Dron has an amazing character - a strong, cruel man, “whom the men feared more than the master” (3, 2, IX). Some vague ideas, dark dreams are wandering in his soul, incomprehensible neither to himself nor to his enlightened masters - the princes Bolkonsky. In peacetime, the best nobles and their serfs live a common life, understand each other, Tolstoy does not find insoluble contradictions between them.
But then the Patriotic War begins, and the Russian nation faces a serious danger of losing its state independence. The writer shows how different heroes, familiar to the reader from the first two volumes or who appeared only in the third volume, are united by one common feeling, which Pierre calls “the inner warmth of patriotism” (3, 2, XXV). This trait becomes not individual, but national, that is, inherent to many Russian people - peasants and aristocrats, soldiers and generals, merchants and urban bourgeoisie. The events of 1812 demonstrate the sacrifice of the Russians, incomprehensible to the French, and the determination of the Russians, against which the invaders can do nothing.
During the Patriotic War, the Russian army behaves completely differently than in the Napoleonic Wars of 1805-1807. Russians do not play war, this is especially noticeable when describing the Battle of Borodino. In the first volume, Princess Marya, in a letter to her friend Julie Karagina, talks about seeing off recruits for the war of 1805: mothers, wives, children, and the recruits themselves are crying (1.1, XXII). And on the eve of the Battle of Borodino, Pierre observes a different mood of the Russian soldiers: “The cavalrymen go to battle and meet the wounded, and do not think for a minute about what awaits them, but walk past and wink at the wounded” (3, 2, XX). Russian “people are calmly and seemingly frivolously preparing for death” (3, 2, XXV), since tomorrow they will “fight for Russian land” (ibid.). The feeling of the army is expressed by Prince Andrei in his last conversation with Pierre: “For me, for tomorrow this is this: a hundred thousand Russian and a hundred thousand French troops agreed to fight, and whoever fights angrier and feels less sorry for himself will win” (3.2, XXV). Timokhin and other junior officers agree with their colonel: “Here, your Excellency, the truth is the true truth. Why feel sorry for yourself now!” (ibid.). Prince Andrei's words came true. Towards the evening of the Battle of Borodino, an adjutant came to Napoleon and said that, on the orders of the emperor, two hundred guns were tirelessly firing at Russian positions, but that the Russians did not flinch, did not run, but “still stand as they did at the beginning of the battle” (3, 2, XXXVIII).
Tolstoy does not idealize the people and paints scenes showing the inconsistency and spontaneity of peasant sentiments. This is, first of all, the Bogucharov riot (3, 2, XI), when the men refused to give Princess Marya carts for her property and did not even want to let her out of the estate, because French leaflets (!) called not to leave. Obviously, the Bogucharov men were flattered by French money (fake, as it later turned out) for hay and food. The men display the same self-interest as the noble staff officers (like Berg and Boris Drubetsky), who see war as a means to make a career, achieve material well-being and even home comfort. However, having decided at the meeting not to leave Bogucharovo, for some reason the men immediately went to a tavern and got drunk. And then the entire peasant gathering obeyed one decisive master - Nikolai Rostov, who shouted at the crowd in a wild voice and ordered the instigators to be tied up, which the peasants obediently did.
Starting from Smolensk, some kind of difficult-to-define, from the French point of view, feeling awakens in the Russians: “The people were carelessly waiting for the enemy... And as soon as the enemy approached, all the rich left, leaving their property, while the poor stayed and lit and destroyed what what remained” (3, 3, V). An illustration for this reasoning is the scene in Smolensk, when the merchant Ferapontov himself set fire to his shop and flour barn (3.2, IV). Tolstoy notes the difference in the behavior of “enlightened” Europeans and Russians. The Austrians and Germans, conquered by Napoleon several years ago, dance with the invaders at balls and are completely enchanted by French gallantry. They seem to forget that the French are enemies, but the Russians do not forget this. For Muscovites, “there could be no question: whether it would be good or bad under the rule of the French in Moscow. It was impossible to be under the control of the French: it was the worst of all” (3, 3, V).
In the irreconcilable struggle against the aggressor, the Russians retained high human qualities, which testifies to the mental health of the people. The greatness of a nation, according to Tolstoy, does not lie in the fact that it conquers all neighboring peoples by force of arms, but in the fact that the nation, even in the most brutal wars, knows how to preserve a sense of justice and humanity in relation to the enemy. The scene that reveals the generosity of the Russians is the rescue of the boastful captain Rambal and his batman Morel. Rambal first appears on the pages of the novel when French troops enter Moscow after Borodin. He receives quarters in the house of the widow of the freemason Joseph Alekseevich Bazdeev, where Pierre has been living for several days, and Pierre saves the Frenchman from the bullet of the crazy old man Makar Alekseevich Bazdeev. In gratitude, the Frenchman invites Pierre to have dinner together; they talk quite peacefully over a bottle of wine, which the valiant captain, by right of the winner, had already grabbed in some Moscow house. The talkative Frenchman praises the courage of the Russian soldiers on the Borodino field, but the French, in his opinion, are still the bravest warriors, and Napoleon is “the greatest man of past and future centuries” (3, 3, XXIX). The second time Captain Rambal appears in the fourth volume, when he and his orderly, hungry, frostbitten, abandoned by their beloved emperor to the mercy of fate, came out of the forest to a soldier’s fire near the village of Krasny. The Russians fed both of them, and then took Rambal to the officer’s hut to warm up. Both Frenchmen were touched by this attitude of ordinary soldiers, and the captain, barely alive, kept repeating: “Here are the people! O my good friends! (4, 4, IX).
In the fourth volume, two heroes appear who, according to Tolstoy, demonstrate opposite and interconnected sides of the Russian national character. This is Platon Karataev - a dreamy, complacent soldier, meekly submitting to fate, and Tikhon Shcherbaty - an active, skillful, decisive and courageous peasant who does not resign himself to fate, but actively intervenes in life. Tikhon came to Denisov’s detachment not on the orders of the landowner or military commander, but on his own initiative. He, more than anyone else in Denisov’s detachment, killed the French and brought the “tongues”. In the Patriotic War, as follows from the content of the novel, the “Shcherbatov” active character of the Russians was more manifested, although the “Karataev” wise patience and humility in the face of adversity also played a role. The self-sacrifice of the people, the courage and steadfastness of the army, the spontaneous partisan movement - this is what determined Russia's victory over France, and not the mistakes of Napoleon, the cold winter, or the genius of Alexander.
So, in War and Peace, folk scenes and characters occupy an important place, as they should in an epic. According to the philosophy of history, which Tolstoy sets out in the second part of the epilogue, the driving force of any event is not an individual great person (king or hero), but the people directly participating in the event. The people are both the embodiment of national ideals and the bearer of prejudices; they are the beginning and the end of state life.
This truth was understood by Tolstoy’s favorite hero, Prince Andrei. At the beginning of the novel, he believed that a specific hero person could influence history with orders from army headquarters or a beautiful feat, therefore, during the foreign campaign of 1805, he sought to serve on Kutuzov’s headquarters and looked everywhere for his “Toulon.” After analyzing the historical events in which he personally participated, Bolkonsky came to the conclusion that history is made not by headquarters orders, but by direct participants in the events. Prince Andrey tells Pierre about this on the eve of the Battle of Borodino: “... if anything depended on the orders of the headquarters, then I would be there and make orders, but instead I have the honor of serving here, in the regiment, with these gentlemen, and I believe that tomorrow will really depend on us, and not on them...” (3, 2, XXV).
The people, according to Tolstoy, have the most correct view of the world and man, since the people's view is not formed in one head of some sage, but undergoes a “polishing” test in the heads of a huge number of people and only after that is established as national (community) sight. Goodness, simplicity, truth - these are the real truths that have been developed by the people's consciousness and to which Tolstoy's favorite heroes strive.
Introduction
The concept of “people's war” includes the main lexical core – “people”. And the people, that means peasants, men, people who did not belong to a high class. That is, a people's war is a struggle of the masses without the involvement of generals and colonels, without certain clearly planned actions (more often these are spontaneous decisions), without specific ideas. But the people's war in the novel “War and Peace” by L.N. Tolstoy. - This is not a war of one people, but a war of an entire nation. Here nobles, peasant partisans, officers, and militias howl together. Tolstoy shows everyone with a single goal - to win victory over the French troops at any cost.
Heroes of the People's War
Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" describes in sufficient detail the actions of commanders-in-chief, officers, and ordinary soldiers during battles. We can watch how the enemy moves, hear the whistle of bullets, smell the smoke from cannonballs flying out of a cannon. Everyone takes part in the Patriotic War of 1812. “The whole people want to rush in; one word - Moscow. They want to make one end,” says one of the novel’s heroes to Pierre Bezukhov.
We see on the battlefield the commander-in-chief of the Russian army - Mikhail Ilarionovich Kutuzov, Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, Count Nikolai Rostov, little Petya Rostov, commanders of the troops Bagration, Barclay de Tole, Captain Tushin, Denisov and many other military people. They are joined by partisan detachments, sometimes formed independently by peasant peasants. But people from the invisible front are fighting next to them. This is Natasha Rostova, Princess Marya Bolkonskaya, residents of Moscow who left the city only because they did not want to obey the French emperor, the merchant Ferapontov, who gave all his property to the soldiers: “Drag, otherwise I’ll burn it all myself!..” Now we can say with confidence that L.N. Tolstoy really described the people’s war in his novel “War and Peace”. Only together, with common efforts, thoughts, feelings, the Russian people remained invincible.
People's War Guerrilla Movement
According to Leo Tolstoy, a special role, one might even say the main one, was played by the partisan movement. After leaving Moscow, the French moved a huge army along the roads of retreat. But every day their army was melting not only from cold, hunger and disease, the worst thing for them were the partisans, who were actively involved at that time. They waited everywhere, and in the end the French army was completely defeated. The pitiful remnants of the enemy army (about 10,000 soldiers in total) were captured. The partisans did their job well. They helped the Russian army survive, helped hold its positions, and helped defeat the enemy.
The partisans were different: “there were parties that adopted all the techniques of the army, with infantry, artillery, headquarters, with the conveniences of life; there were only Cossacks and cavalry; there were small ones, teams, on foot and on horseback, there were peasants and landowners... there was a sexton... who took several hundred prisoners. There was the elder Vasilisa, who killed hundreds of French...” Tolstoy connects them together. Yes, they are different, but they have one goal - to save the Russian land, and in this they are all together. The people of war in the work “War and Peace” experience a single feeling of patriotism, the feeling of a Russian person who wants to win.
The writer gives us a detailed description of some of the partisans, such as, for example, Tikhon Shcherbaty. Having joined Denisov’s detachment, Tikhon led active partisan activities. He “was the most needed person” in the squad. His cunning, dexterity, dexterity, fearlessness, good physical strength, and accuracy in fulfilling his goals gave the Russian army results. But there were many like Tikhon. Tolstoy describes them briefly, or simply does not give any description. This is not important, something else is important: the feeling of unity of all people, no matter what social class they belonged to.
About the people in the novel “War and Peace”
“Blessed are those people who, in a moment of trial, without asking how others acted according to the rules in similar cases, with simplicity and ease, pick up the first club they come across and nail it with it until in their soul the feeling of insult and revenge is replaced by contempt and pity,” says Leo Tolstoy himself in the novel. The writer shows his sincere attitude towards the Russian people through his heroes. Commander-in-Chief Kutuzov exclaimed: “Wonderful, incomparable people!” His unity with the people is emphasized by Tolstoy in his characterization, in his fatherly attitude towards his soldiers, in the tears that Kutuzov often gave vent to in various situations.
Nikolai Rostov recognizes the strength of “our Russian people,” without which he can no longer imagine himself. Andrei Bolkonsky explains to Bezukhov what the success of a military campaign depends on: “Success has never depended and will not depend on position, weapons, or even numbers; and least of all from the position... From the feeling that is in me, in him, in every soldier.” And this feeling of true patriotism, and not the feeling of “his Toulon” (which is what Prince Andrei initially thinks about), comes to Bolkonsky with an understanding of the strength of the people, faith in the people, unity with the people.
Conclusion
In my essay on the topic “People's War in the novel “War and Peace””, Leo Tolstoy’s idea is expressed that the Russian people are strong in their unity, and it was this unity that helped win the Patriotic War of 1812. This is confirmed in his great work - the novel War and Peace.
Work test
Introduction
“The subject of history is the life of peoples and humanity,” this is how L.N. Tolstoy begins the second part of the epilogue of the epic novel “War and Peace.” He further asks the question: “What force moves nations?” Reflecting on these “theories,” Tolstoy comes to the conclusion that: “The life of peoples does not fit into the lives of a few people, because the connection between these several people and nations has not been found...” In other words, Tolstoy says that the role of the people in history is undeniable, and the eternal truth that history is made by the people was proven by him in his novel. “People's thought” in Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace” is indeed one of the main themes of the epic novel.
The people in the novel "War and Peace"
Many readers understand the word “people” not quite the way Tolstoy understands it. Lev Nikolaevich means by “people” not only soldiers, peasants, men, not only that “huge mass” driven by some force. For Tolstoy, the “people” included officers, generals, and the nobility. This is Kutuzov, and Bolkonsky, and the Rostovs, and Bezukhov - this is all of humanity, embraced by one thought, one deed, one purpose. All the main characters of Tolstoy's novel are directly connected with their people and are inseparable from them.
Heroes of the novel and “folk thought”
The fates of the beloved heroes of Tolstoy’s novel are connected with the life of the people. “People's thought” in “War and Peace” runs like a red thread through the life of Pierre Bezukhov. While in captivity, Pierre learned his truth of life. Platon Karataev, a peasant peasant, opened it to Bezukhov: “In captivity, in a booth, Pierre learned not with his mind, but with his whole being, with his life, that man was created for happiness, that happiness is in himself, in the satisfaction of natural human needs, that all misfortune occurs not from lack, but from excess.” The French offered Pierre to transfer from a soldier's booth to an officer's, but he refused, remaining faithful to those with whom he suffered his fate. And for a long time afterwards he recalled with rapture this month of captivity as “complete peace of mind, complete inner freedom, which he experienced only at that time.”
Andrei Bolkonsky also felt his people at the Battle of Austerlitz. Grabbing the flagpole and rushing forward, he did not think that the soldiers would follow him. And they, seeing Bolkonsky with a banner and hearing: “Guys, go ahead!” rushed at the enemy behind their leader. The unity of officers and ordinary soldiers confirms that the people are not divided into ranks and titles, the people are united, and Andrei Bolkonsky understood this.
Natasha Rostova, leaving Moscow, dumps her family property on the ground and gives away her carts for the wounded. This decision comes to her immediately, without thinking, which suggests that the heroine does not separate herself from the people. Another episode that speaks of the true Russian spirit of Rostova, in which L. Tolstoy himself admires his beloved heroine: “Where, how, when did she suck into herself from the Russian air that she breathed - this countess, raised by a French governess - this spirit, where she got these techniques from... But these spirits and techniques were the same, inimitable, unstudied, Russian.”
And Captain Tushin, who sacrificed his own life for the sake of victory, for the sake of Russia. Captain Timokhin, who rushed at the Frenchman with “one skewer.” Denisov, Nikolai Rostov, Petya Rostov and many other Russian people who stood with the people and knew true patriotism.
Tolstoy created a collective image of a people - a united, invincible people, when not only soldiers, troops, but also militias fight. Civilians help not with weapons, but with their own methods: men burn hay so as not to take it to Moscow, people leave the city only because they do not want to obey Napoleon. This is what “folk thought” is and how it is revealed in the novel. Tolstoy makes it clear that the Russian people are strong in a single thought - not to surrender to the enemy. A sense of patriotism is important for all Russian people.
Platon Karataev and Tikhon Shcherbaty
The novel also shows the partisan movement. A prominent representative here was Tikhon Shcherbaty, who fought the French with all his disobedience, dexterity, and cunning. His active work brings success to the Russians. Denisov is proud of his partisan detachment thanks to Tikhon.
Opposite to the image of Tikhon Shcherbaty is the image of Platon Karataev. Kind, wise, with his worldly philosophy, he calms Pierre and helps him survive captivity. Plato's speech is filled with Russian proverbs, which emphasizes his nationality.
Kutuzov and the people
The only commander-in-chief of the army who never separated himself and the people was Kutuzov. “He knew not with his mind or science, but with his whole Russian being, he knew and felt what every Russian soldier felt...” The disunity of the Russian army in the alliance with Austria, the deception of the Austrian army, when the allies abandoned the Russians in battles, were unbearable pain for Kutuzov. To Napoleon’s letter about peace, Kutuzov replied: “I would be damned if they looked at me as the first instigator of any deal: such is the will of our people” (italics by L.N. Tolstoy). Kutuzov did not write on his own behalf, he expressed the opinion of the entire people, all Russian people.
The image of Kutuzov is contrasted with the image of Napoleon, who was very far from his people. He was only interested in personal interest in the struggle for power. An empire of worldwide submission to Bonaparte - and an abyss in the interests of the people. As a result, the war of 1812 was lost, the French fled, and Napoleon was the first to leave Moscow. He abandoned his army, abandoned his people.
conclusions
In his novel War and Peace, Tolstoy shows that people's power is invincible. And in every Russian person there is “simplicity, goodness and truth.” True patriotism does not measure everyone by rank, does not build a career, does not seek fame. At the beginning of the third volume, Tolstoy writes: “There are two sides of life in every person: personal life, which is the more free the more abstract its interests are, and spontaneous, swarm life, where a person inevitably fulfills the laws prescribed to him.” Laws of honor, conscience, common culture, common history.
This essay on the topic “People's Thought” in the novel “War and Peace” reveals only a small part of what the author wanted to tell us. The people live in the novel in every chapter, in every line.
Work test
The peak of Leo Tolstoy's creative activity occurred in the mid-19th century. Russia shuddered from the indignation of the peasant masses, so the idea of popular consciousness in the process of social development became a key theme in the literary works of many writers of that time. “People's Thought” in the novel “War and Peace” reveals the heroic image of the Russian people against the backdrop of the events of the Patriotic War of 1812.
What did Tolstoy mean by the word people?
Writers of the nineteenth century showed the people either in the form of the peasantry oppressed by the tsar or the entire Russian nation, or in the form of the patriotic nobility or the social stratum of the merchants. Tolstoy lovingly says “people” every time he talks about moral people. The author deprives anyone who behaves immorally, is laziness, greed and cruelty of the right to be involved in this community of citizens.
People living within one state represent its basis and are the material of history, regardless of class and education. Do we have a genius, a great man? His role in the development of mankind is insignificant, Tolstoy claims, a genius is a product of his society, wrapped in a bright package of talent.
No one single-handedly can control millions of people, create the history of an entire state, or, according to his plan, provoke the vector of events, especially their consequences. In the novel “War and Peace,” the author assigned the role of the creator of history to the people, guided by rational life desires and instincts.
Popular thought in the image of Kutuzov
The Russian classic calls decisions made behind the scenes of power, at the legislative level, the upward trend in the development of society. This, in his opinion, is the centrifugal force of history. Events taking place among the common population are a process of downward development of history, a centripetal force in the development of social ties.
Therefore, the image of Kutuzov is endowed with high moral qualities. Events show that the general finds himself connected with the people by one chain of state problems. He is close to the problems experienced by ordinary people who are much lower than Kutuzov on the social ladder. The legendary commander feels anxiety, the bitterness of defeat and the joy of victory as naturally as his soldiers. They have one task, they move along the same path of events, defending their homeland.
In the novel, Kutuzov is a prominent representative of the people, because his personal goals absolutely coincide with the goals of the Russian population. The author in every possible way focuses the reader's attention on the merits of the commander-in-chief of the Russian army. His authority in the eyes of soldiers and officers is indestructible. The spirit of the army he commands depends on his mood, health, and his physical presence on the battlefield.
Popular thought in the images of nobles
Can a count or prince be considered a people? Was it typical for representatives of the Russian nobility to meet the demands of historical necessity? The plot line of the novel clearly reflects the moral development of positive characters, their merging with the masses during the Patriotic War of 1812.
Leo Tolstoy emphasizes that the will to victory, to get rid of the presence of an enemy army on the territory of one’s land is tested by the people’s thought. Pierre Bezukhov, in the same stream as the refugees, ends his search for the meaning of life, seeing it in the very idea of worthy survival in the face of danger.
Natasha Rostova cannot remain indifferent and leave the wounded soldiers. The young countess rushes to find additional carts to take the wounded out of burning Moscow. Along the Smolensk road she tries to help soldiers suffering and dying from wounds.
Marya Bolkonskaya, the sister of Prince Andrei, almost paid with her life for her desire to escape from enemy-occupied territory. The girl does not comply with Madame Burien’s entreaties to wait for the French at her estate, and enters into an open conflict with the men for the opportunity to be with her compatriots on Russian soil.
From the beginning of the story, Prince Bolkonsky reveres Napoleon as an advanced contemporary who brings new ideas of equality and brotherhood. On the battlefield of Austerlitz, his delusion dissipates when he sees the morbid admiration of Bonaparte, looking at the bodies of many killed soldiers of both armies.
Andrei Bolkonsky dies, remaining a little man, faithful to his oath, his people and the emperor.
Patriotism is a Russian principle
Leo Tolstoy refers to patriotism as a clear sign of nationality, uniting all social classes in moments of danger. Captain Tushin, heroically defending artillery positions, endowed as a simple person with “small and great.” A similarly ambiguous character is Tikhon Shcherbaty, merciless to his enemies, but a cruel person at heart in general.
Young Peter Rostov dies while taking part in the partisan movement, which became an important factor in the victory. Platon Karataev, having been captured, shows courageous calm, professing love of life in testing situations as the basic idea of Christianity. Leo Tolstoy values good nature and humble patience above all else in a Russian person.
History knows hundreds of examples of heroic deeds, sometimes the names of the heroes are not known. All that remains is memory and glory to the patriotic, unbending spirit of the Russian people, who in peaceful days remains a jealous guardian and bearer of spiritual values.
