True and false patriotism in L. Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace. Essay: what is patriotism. Reflection of the theme in the novel "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy

Patriotism
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is called an epic because it covers historical events, occurring from 1805 to 1821. Thus, the novel takes place over a long period of time. Moreover, it features more than 200 characters, including world-famous military leaders. The author depicts Napoleon, Kutuzov, Bagration, Raevsky, and even Tsar Alexander I against the backdrop of the Patriotic War of 1812. Any social strata of Russia are involved here: peasants, nobles, the tsar’s associates, provincials, merchants. It is not surprising that this novel made an indelible impression on the world community.
The main topic epic work Tolstoy's theme was the heroism of the Russian people during the war with Napoleon. Regardless social status, people stood up to defend their country and fought unitedly against the enemy invasion. One of the most worthy commanders, whom the author shows in all his glory, was, of course, Kutuzov. But what ordinary people? How did they behave in difficult times for the entire nation? In the novel "War and Peace" we see that social division occurs not along class lines, but according to the level of humanity and morality.
Heroes like Andrei Bolkonsky are depicted true patriots their country, even taking sometimes erroneous steps. After all, no one can be perfect. Everyone has their own advantages and disadvantages, little whims and whims, but at the same time morally mature man show courage, determination and a willingness to improve. Andrey comes from a respected family with good fortune and princely title. Despite this, he despises high society with its intrigues and high society balls. He prefers military service to this life. If initially he sees war as something enthusiastic and heroic, then by the end of his life he understands that the meaning of existence is in peace, and not in war. Unfortunately, there are few people like him in the novel, as in real life.
Pierre Bezukhov does not lag behind his friend - he is a clumsy man and, at first glance, not attractive. Having received a large fortune as an inheritance from his father, he could spend his life attending social events and not going beyond his comfort. However, over time, we see that a patriotic spirit awakens in this character. He can't stay away. Despite the fact that Pierre is not a military man by nature, he wants to contribute to the liberation of the people. The author characterizes him as a truly Russian person who cannot live by private interests and is drawn to the people. Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya also made their feasible contribution to the war of liberation. Both of them do not give in to the general panic to leave Moscow, but, on the contrary, remain to help the wounded.
Thus, we see that the advanced layers of the nobility, along with common people imbued with the spirit of patriotism. Take, for example, the merchant Feropontov, who distributed his goods free of charge to Russian soldiers in order to somehow maintain their morale and improve their situation. Or the simple peasant Tikhon Shcherbaty, who organized peasant detachments to help the main army. But still, the most heroic act of the residents of Moscow was the burning of the capital and part of Smolensk. People with their own hands burned everything that had been created over centuries, and that was collected bit by bit by their predecessors, just so as not to give their country to the enemy. That's where true patriotism! This is what the author wanted to convey to modern reader centuries later!
I think when Tolstoy was working on his brilliant novel, he admired in his heart folk spirit, the indestructibility of the nation and its strength moral education. In defending their homes, families and cities, the Russian people showed amazing fortitude and the ability to self-sacrifice. With their character and strength of opposition, they first aroused surprise and then fear among the French invaders. There is no other work in Russian literature that so convincingly depicts the power and greatness of the Russian people. Therefore, we can safely say that the theme of patriotism in the novel “War and Peace” is in the very first place.

“War and Peace” reflects all aspects of Russian reality of that time, all its positive and negative traits. And the real moral test for the heroes is the test of war. It is when faced with a large-scale, comprehensive tragedy that true spiritual qualities and the human essence is revealed. It is under these conditions that it becomes clear who is a real patriot, and for whom patriotism was just a mask.

Throughout the novel, the leading one is “people's thought.” It is with the people that the writer connects everything positive and true. Because the people show genuine concern for the future of their country, without feigned boasting, they resolutely stand up for the defense of the Motherland, pursuing a noble goal: even at the cost own life to defend Russia, not to lose it to the enemy. The people understood that the fate of the fatherland was being decided, and they considered the upcoming battle common cause. In this united people's army, embraced general idea, the author draws images of individual characters. We see Vasily Denisov, a combat hussar officer, brave, courageous, ready for daring actions and decisive actions. We see Tikhon Shcherbaty, a peasant armed with a pike, an ax and a blunderbuss, who knows how to “rake” the enemy, take tongues and “get into the very middle of the French.” This is the bravest man in Denisov’s party, he beat the enemy more than anyone else, and his ingenuity, dexterity and intelligence help him in this.

“The hidden warmth of patriotism” is manifested in the Rostov family, and in the Bolkonsky family, and in the views of Pierre Bezukhov, and even in Katisha, who says: “Whatever I am, I cannot live under Bonaparte’s rule.”

In his work, Tolstoy decisively “rips off the masks.” Showing the ghostly life of high society, he also reveals how unnatural and feigned their patriotism actually is. So, Berg, who had nothing sacred at all, who at the very hard time could be thinking about purchasing a “lovely wardrobe,” exclaimed with feigned pathos: “The army is burning with the spirit of heroism... such a heroic spirit, the truly ancient courage of the Russian troops, which they showed in this battle... there are no words worthy to describe them. .." Throwing beautiful words, visitors to aristocratic salons reveal the same indifference to everything except their selfish interests. The “patriotic” sentiments of noble Moscow were also imbued with class interests. The idea of ​​a people's militia makes them fear that the peasants will become free spirited. “It’s better to have another set... otherwise neither a soldier nor a man will return to you, just debauchery,” said one of the nobles gathered in the Slobodsky Palace. For another speaker, a “bad card player,” “patriotism” manifests itself in a frenzied cry: “We will show Europe how Russia rises up for Russia.” There is no spirit of unity between the king and the people in the meeting scene in the Kremlin. In Tolstoy's depiction of Alexander, the features of posing, duplicity, and affectation clearly appear.

In the last two parts of the novel, Tolstoy reproduces a broad and majestic picture of popular resistance to the French invasion. The outcome of the war was decided by “the incitement of hatred of the enemy in the Russian people,” which resulted in the partisan movement. And although Napoleon complained to Kutuzov and the emperor about the violation normal rules military operations, the partisans did their noble work. They "destroyed" great army in parts... there were parties... small, prefabricated, on foot and on horseback, there were peasants and landowners, unknown to anyone. The head of the party was a sexton who took several hundred prisoners a month. There was the elder Vasilisa, who killed a hundred French.” Here the full might of the people was felt, who with pitchforks and axes destroyed, in the words of Tikhon Shcherbaty, “sharomyzhniki” and “peace-makers.” In the fight against the enemy, the detachments of Dolokhov and Denisov showed genuine enthusiasm and fury. It was, as the author aptly put it, a real “club people's war».

War and Peace is called an epic because it covers historical events that took place from 1805 to 1821. Thus, the novel takes place over a long period of time. Moreover, it features more than 200 characters, including world-famous military leaders. The author depicts Napoleon, Kutuzov, Bagration, Raevsky, and even Tsar Alexander I against the backdrop of the Patriotic War of 1812. Any social strata of Russia are involved here: peasants, nobles, the tsar’s associates, provincials, merchants. It is not surprising that this novel made an indelible impression on the world community.

The main theme of Tolstoy's epic work was the theme of the heroism of the Russian people during the war with Napoleon. Regardless of social status, people stood up to defend their country and fought unitedly against the enemy invasion. One of the most worthy commanders, whom the author shows in all his glory, was, of course, Kutuzov. But what about ordinary people? How did they behave in difficult times for the entire nation? In the novel "War and Peace" we see that social division occurs not along class lines, but according to the level of humanity and morality.

Patriotism in the novel "War and Peace".

Novel "War and Peace" - greatest work world literature.
It was created from 1863 to 1869. There are more than 600 in the novel characters.
The destinies of the heroes are traced over 15 years in peacetime and war.
And although Tolstoy peaceful life believes real life people, in the center of the story is a story about the Patriotic War. Tolstoy hated wars, but this war on the part of Russia was a liberation war, Russia defended its independence, the Russian people defended their fatherland. Naturally, therefore, the author touches on the problem of patriotism in his novel, but views it ambiguously. He proves that in difficult days for Russia, the majority of Russian people showed true patriotism and courage in defending their homeland. But there were also those - they were a minority - who only played at patriotism and courage. This is hateful to Tolstoy secular society, regulars at the salons of Scherer, Kuragina, Bezukhova. Their so-called patriotism was expressed in the fact that they stopped speaking French, they did not serve French dishes on their table, and in Helene’s salon they did not refuse this and sympathized with Napoleon. There were people like Boris Trubetskoy who made their careers during the days of the suffering of their fatherland. Tolstoy contrasts this group of false patriots with the true sons of the fatherland, for whom the homeland was the main thing in times of trial. People and best part The nobility, in Tolstoy's understanding, constituted the nation. During the days of the war true love The nobles Bolkonsky, Rostov and many others came to their homeland. They equipped the militia at their own expense; Bolkonsky’s son, Andrei, went into the active army, not wanting to be an adjutant. Pierre Bezukhov remains in Moscow to kill Napoleon. But he fails to do this. At the Raevsky battery he helps the battery workers. Residents of Moscow leave and burn the city. When the old man Bolkonsky sees off his son, he says that if Andrei behaves meanly, he will be bitter and ashamed. Natasha gives carts for the wounded. Princess Bolkonskaya cannot remain on an estate captured by enemies.
Tolstoy talks about the mood that possessed the soldiers. On the eve of the Battle of Borodino, the soldiers put on clean shirts because they were going to a sacred mortal battle for Russia. They refused the extra portion of vodka because they did not want to be drugged. They said: “They want to attack the whole world, they want to make one end.” The writer shows how the soldiers of Raevsky’s battery fought. Pierre was struck by the everydayness with which they terrible conditions do their duty. Tolstoy believes that Battle of Borodino was a moral victory for the Russian army. The Russians did not give in. The steadfastness and courage shown by the defenders of Moscow in the Battle of Borodino were fueled precisely by a sense of patriotism.
Pierre talks with Prince Andrei. Prince Andrei is extremely angry: “The French are your enemies and mine. They came to destroy Russia. War is an abomination, but the Russians are forced to wage this war, and Napoleon came as an invader, the enemy must be destroyed, then the war will be destroyed.”
Tolstoy depicts guerrilla warfare beautifully. He admires the fact that dozens of Karps and Vlasovs, armed with pitchforks and axes, went against the invaders. Ironic about the fact that Napoleon was outraged by the war not according to the rules. The club of the people's war rose and nailed the French until it drove out the last invader. Guerrilla movement was the most striking manifestation of the patriotism of the entire people.
Kutuzov in the novel is an exponent of the idea of ​​patriotism; he was appointed commander against the will of the tsar and the royal court. Andrei explains this to Pierre this way: “While Russia was healthy, Barclay de Tolly was good... When Russia is sick, it needs its own man.”
Kutuzov was a truly people's commander, he understood the soldiers, their needs, their mood, because he loved his people.
The episode in Fili is important. Kutuzov takes upon himself the gravest responsibility and orders a retreat. This order contains the true patriotism of Kutuzov. Retreating from Moscow, Kutuzov retained an army that could not yet compare in numbers with Napoleonic's. Defending Moscow would mean losing the army, and this would lead to the loss of both Moscow and Russia.
After Napoleon was pushed beyond Russian borders, Kutuzov refuses to fight outside Russia. He believes that the Russian people fulfilled their mission by expelling the invader, and there is no need to shed more people’s blood.

Patriotism, according to L. N. Tolstoy, is not loud words, not noisy activity and fussiness, but a simple and natural feeling of “the need for sacrifice and compassion in the awareness of general misfortune.” This feeling is common to Natasha and Pierre, it possessed Petya Rostov when he rejoiced that he was in Moscow, where there would soon be a battle; the same feeling drew the crowd to the house of Count Rastopchin, who deceived them, because people from the crowd wanted to fight Napoleon. At the heart of all these actions, with all their differences, lay one feeling - patriotism.

No one forced Muscovites to leave; on the contrary, Count Rastopchin persuaded them to stay and called those who leave the city cowards. But they went “because for the Russian people there could be no question: will it be good or bad under the rule of the French in Moscow? It was impossible to be under the French: it was the worst of all...”

As it turned out, the author writes, when tragic circumstances people still turn out to be better than one might think: “I will not submit to Napoleon,” said those from whom no one expected such behavior. And when Napoleon stood on September 2, 1812 Poklonnaya Hill, expecting a deputation of boyars with the keys to Moscow, he could not imagine that it was empty.

No, my Moscow did not go to him with a guilty head. Not a holiday, not a receiving gift, She was preparing a fire for the impatient hero... -

This is what A.S. Pushkin wrote.

On the way to the Borodino field, where the decisive battle was being prepared, Pierre Bezukhov saw and heard a lot. The words were simple and understandable, they were spoken by a militiaman: “They want to attack all the people...”

Tolstoy believes that patriotism is a natural feeling of people living the life of their people. Therefore, he denies him to Berg, Kuragin, and Rastopchin.

Natasha cannot and does not want to understand her mother, who “at such a moment” thinks about property and forbids unloading the carts on which she wants to take out the “remaining goods” from Moscow. The daughter thinks about the wounded who cannot be left to the French. It was “wild and unnatural” to think about oneself. “The Countess understood this and was ashamed,” writes Tolstoy.

The description of the Battle of Borodino, which occupies twenty chapters of the third volume of the novel, is the center of the work, a decisive moment in the life of the entire country and many of the heroes of the book. Here all paths will cross, here every character will be revealed in a new way, and here a tremendous force will appear: the people, “men in white shirts” - the force that won the war. On the faces of the people whom Pierre saw, there was “an expression of consciousness of the solemnity of the coming moment,” there was “ latent heat patriotism... which explained why these people were calmly and seemingly frivolously preparing for death.”

What decided this victory? Tolstoy believes: not command orders, not plans, but many simple, natural actions of individual people: the fact that the men Karp and Vlas did not transport hay to Moscow for good money, but burned it, that the partisans destroyed Napoleon’s great army piece by piece, What partisan detachments“there were hundreds of different sizes and characters...”

Tolstoy absolutely understood the meaning of the feeling under the influence of which the guerrilla warfare: patriotism of the people. Growing out of this feeling, “the club of the people’s war rose with all its formidable and majestic force and, without understanding anything, rose, fell and nailed the French until the entire invasion was destroyed.” Isn't this a great feeling of patriotism shown by the people in the Patriotic War of 1812?

L.N. Tolstoy revealed to readers so many springs of human behavior, in particular patriotism, which today they simply do not talk about or talk about bashfully. But this is a proud feeling that allows a person to feel his involvement in time, events, life, and determine his position in it. Material from the site

It would seem that what is common between the time about which L.N. Tolstoy wrote and ours, between the war of 1812 and 1941? In 1812 there were no bombs, no airplanes, there were no horrors and atrocities of Majdanek, Buchenwald, Mauthausen - death camps. But why, then, in the dugouts and hospitals of 1941, in the smokehouses under the siege, did people read “War and Peace” as the most “today’s” book for them, why was Lermontov’s “Borodino” the favorite poem from a first-grader to a general during the long four years of the war?

L.N. Tolstoy also wrote about us, because he knew something about man that was enough for more than a hundred years. And when the Great began Patriotic War, it turned out that Tolstoy said something very important about every person, and people rushed to him. We still have to draw and draw from the inexhaustible source of his books mental strength, durability and then complicated feeling which is called patriotism.

Didn't find what you were looking for? Use the search

On this page there is material on the following topics:

• patriotism in the eyes of Tolstoy
• Tolstoy war and peace about love for the motherland
• patriotism shown by Pierre in the war with Napoleon
• what are patriotic militias of 1941
• Tolstoy patriotism