The role of the family in war and peace. Composition on the theme of family nests "in the novel by L. N. Tolstoy" War and Peace. Rostovs, or the great power of love

(375 words)

The novel "War and Peace" by Tolstoy was written in 1869. Despite the fact that most of the narrative is occupied by battle scenes and the war with Napoleon, the main storyline is the history of families. The author describes Russian society during the war period, and through genealogical ties, one can best show the behavior and feelings of people during a historical upheaval. The family thought in the epic novel "War and Peace" also reveals the philosophical and moral credo of the writer.

We are shown the lives of three different secular families. They are completely different from each other, but their lives are closely intertwined. These are the houses of the Bolkonskys, Rostovs and Kuragins, using their examples the author presents the family foundations of several generations.

The reader comes to visit the Bolkonskys. The most important member of the family is Prince Nikolai, he believed that everything and everyone in his family should obey a strict order. The hero independently taught his daughter the sciences, and also brought up in her such qualities as intelligence and character activity.

Princess Mary loved her father, she obeyed him and took care of him with zeal. Her brother Andrei also loved Nikolai Bolkonsky and respected him, but could not endure his despotic manners for a long time.

Relations between them were calm, each was busy with what he was supposed to do, and had his own place. They were honest and decent people and, moreover, true patriots, but they did not like the light and idle talk in high society.

Unlike the previous family, the Rostovs were close to tender love, sincerity, mutual understanding and support. They actively participated in the fate of each other, helped even when the deeds of the guilty turned out to be reprehensible. The patriotism that manifests itself in the Rostovs proves the importance of "family thought" in War and Peace. The eldest son became a hussar, Natasha gave a cart for the maimed, the parents donated their house to shelter the victims, and the youngest son Petya died heroically in a partisan battle.

Kuragins are a family that is absolutely opposite to the first two. In this family, no one knows how to love and worry about each other. Prince Vasily lives only for the sake of profit and always knows with whom to conclude the engagement of children, with whom it is worth being friends in order to profitably settle in life. He adapts to the situation, and there can be no talk of devotion to the motherland in their family.

At the end of the novel, the Bolkonsky and Rostov families are related. They have always been linked by spiritual kinship. Tolstoy showed each clan as an individual and unique cell of society, where all members actively live and educate new generations in the best traditions of their ancestors.

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Literature lesson outline. Topic: Family thought in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"

Target: on the example of the families of the Rostovs, Bolkonskys and Kuragins, to reveal the ideal of the family in the understanding of L.N. Tolstoy.
Tasks:
1. Know the text of the novel "War and Peace", Tolstoy's ideal of the patriarchal family.
2. Be able to compare material and draw conclusions, re
say the material close to the text.
3. To instill in students a sense of respect for family values.
Theoretical lesson
Equipment: writing on the board, a portrait of the writer, multimedia material.

During the classes.

1. Organizational moment. (5 minutes)
2. Word of the teacher. (7 min.)
The family is one of the most important themes in Russian literature of the 60-70s of the 19th century. Saltykov-Shchedrin writes a family chronicle, F.M. Dostoevsky evaluates the fate of a random family, and Tolstoy has “a family thought.
Thus, the purpose of our lesson: on the example of comparing the families of the Rostovs, Bolkonskys and Kuragins, to reveal the ideal of the family in the understanding of L.N. Tolstoy.
The world of the family is the most important "component" of the novel. Tolstoy traces the fate of entire families. His heroes are connected by family, friendship, love relationships; often they are separated by mutual hostility, enmity.
On the pages of "War and Peace" we get acquainted with the family nests of the main characters: Rostovs, Kuragins, Bolkonskys. The family idea finds its highest embodiment in the way of life, the general atmosphere, in the relations between close people of these families.
You, I hope, having read the pages of the novel, visited these families. And today we have to figure out which family is ideal for Tolstoy, which family life he considers “real”.
As an epigraph to the lesson, let's take the words of V. Zenkovsky: “Family life has three sides: biological, social and spiritual. If any one side is arranged, and the other sides are either directly absent or neglected, then a family crisis is inevitable.
So, let's focus on the family of Count Rostov.
Film (5 min)
Count Rostov (student's speech, 5 min.): We are simple people, we can neither save nor increase. I am always happy to have guests. The wife even complains sometimes: they say, the visitors tortured her. And I love everyone, I have all the cute. We have a big friendly family, I have always dreamed of such a family, I am attached to my wife and children with all my heart. It is not customary in our family to hide feelings: if we are sad, we cry, if we are happy, we laugh. I want to dance - please.
Countess Rostova (student's speech 5 min.): I want to add to the words of my husband that in our family there is one main feature that binds everyone together - love. Love and trust, because "only the heart is vigilant." We are all attentive to each other.
Natasha: (student's speech 5 min.) Can I also say. My mother and I have the same first name. We all love her very much, she is our moral ideal. Our parents were able to instill in us sincerity and naturalness. I am very grateful to them for the fact that they are always ready to understand, forgive, help in the most difficult moments of life. And there will be many more such situations. Mommy is my best friend, I can’t sleep until I tell her all my secrets and worries.
(student's speech, 7 min) The world of the Rostovs is the world whose norms are affirmed by Tolstoy for their simplicity and naturalness, purity and cordiality; causes admiration and patriotism of the "Rostov breed".
The mistress of the house, Countess Natalya Rostova, is the head of the family, wife and mother of 12 children. We celebrate the scene of the reception of guests - "congratulations" - by Count Ilya Rostov, who, without exception, "both above and below him standing people" said: "Very, very grateful to you, for myself and for dear birthday girls." The count speaks to the guests more often in Russian, "sometimes in very bad, but self-confident French." The conventions of secular tact, secular news - all this is observed in conversations with guests. These details indicate that the Rostovs are people of their time and class and bear its features. And the younger generation breaks into this secular environment, like a "beam of the sun". Even the jokes of the Rostovs are pure, touchingly naive.
So, in the Rostov family, simplicity and cordiality, natural behavior, cordiality, mutual love in the family, nobility and sensitivity, closeness in language and customs to the people and at the same time their observance of a secular way of life and secular conventions, which, however, are not calculation and gain. So in the storyline of the Rostov family, Tolstoy reflects "the life and work of the local nobility." We were confronted with various psychological types: the good-natured, hospitable loafer Count Rostov, the Countess who tenderly loves her children, the sensible Vera, the charming Natasha; sincere Nikolai. In contrast to the Sherer salon in the house of the Rostovs there is an atmosphere of fun, joy, happiness, sincere concern for the fate of the Motherland.
LN Tolstoy stands at the origins of folk philosophy and adheres to the folk point of view on the family - with its patriarchal way of life, the authority of parents, their concern for children. The author denotes the spiritual community of all family members with one word - Rostovs, and emphasizes the closeness of mother and daughter with one name - Natalya. Mother is a synonym for the world of the family in Tolstoy, that natural tuning fork by which the Rostov children will test their lives: Natasha, Nikolai, Petya. They will be united by an important quality laid down in the family by their parents: sincerity, naturalness, simplicity. Openness of soul, cordiality is their main property. Hence, from home, this ability of the Rostovs to attract people to themselves, the talent to understand someone else's soul, the ability to experience, sympathize. And all this is on the verge of self-denial. The Rostovs do not know how to feel “slightly”, “halfly”, they completely surrender to the feeling that has taken possession of their soul.
It was important for Tolstoy to show through the fate of Natasha Rostova that all her talents are realized in the family. Natasha - the mother will be able to educate in her children both the love of music and the ability for the most sincere friendship and love; she will teach children the most important talent in life - the talent to love selflessly, sometimes forgetting about themselves; and this study will take place not in the form of notations, but in the form of daily communication of children with very kind, honest, sincere and truthful people: mother and father. And this is the real happiness of the family, because each of us dreams of the kindest and most just person next to him. Pierre's dream came true...
How often Tolstoy uses the words "family", "family" to designate the house of the Rostovs! What a warm light and comfort emanates from this, such a familiar and kind word to everyone! Behind this word is peace, harmony, love.
Name and write down those main features of the Rostov family. (3 min)
Type of entry in the notebook:
Rostovs: love, trust, sincerity, openness, moral core, the ability to forgive, the life of the heart
Now we characterize the Bolkonsky family.
Film (5 min)
Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky: (student's speech 5 min) I have firmly established views on the family. I went through a harsh military school and I believe that there are two sources of human vices: idleness and superstition, and only two virtues: activity and intelligence. I have always been involved in raising my daughter myself, in order to develop these virtues, giving lessons in algebra and geometry. The main condition of life is order. I do not deny that sometimes I am harsh, too demanding, sometimes I arouse fear, reverence, but how else. I honestly served my homeland and would not tolerate treason. And if it was my son, I, the old man, would be doubly hurt. I passed on patriotism and pride to my children.
Princess Marya: (student's speech, 5 min.) Of course, I am shy in front of my father and a little afraid of him. I live mostly in my mind. I never show my feelings. True, they say that my eyes treacherously betray excitement or love. This was especially noticeable after meeting Nikolai. In my opinion, we share a common feeling of love for the motherland with the Rostovs. In a moment of danger, we are ready to sacrifice everything. Nikolay and I will instill in our children pride, courage, firmness of spirit, as well as kindness and love. I will be demanding of them, as my father was demanding of me.
Prince Andrei (student's speech 5 min): I tried not to let my father down. He managed to instill in me a high concept of honor and duty. Once dreamed of personal glory, but never achieved it. In the battle of Shengraben, I looked at many things with different eyes. I was especially offended by the behavior of our command in relation to the real hero of the battle, Captain Tushin. After Austerlitz, he revised his outlook on the world, and was largely disappointed. Natasha “breathed” life into me, but, unfortunately, I never managed to become her husband. If we had a family, I would bring up kindness, honesty, decency, love for the motherland in my children.
(student's speech 5 min) Distinctive features of the Bolkonskys are spirituality, intelligence, independence, nobility, high ideas of honor, duty. The old prince, in the past Catherine's nobleman, a friend of Kutuzov, is a statesman. He, serving Catherine, served Russia. Not wanting to adapt to the new time, which required not to serve, but to serve, he voluntarily imprisoned himself in the estate. However, disgraced, he never ceased to be interested in politics. Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky tirelessly makes sure that children develop their abilities, know how to work and want to learn. The old prince was engaged in the upbringing and education of children himself, not trusting and not entrusting this to anyone. He does not trust anyone, not only the upbringing of his children, but even their fate. With what "outward calmness and inner malice" he agrees to Andrei's marriage to Natasha. And the year to test the feelings of Andrei and Natasha is also an attempt to protect the son’s feelings from accidents and troubles as much as possible: “There was a son whom it is a pity to give to a girl.” The impossibility of being separated from Princess Mary pushes him to desperate acts, vicious, bilious: in the presence of the groom, he will tell his daughter: “... there is nothing to disfigure yourself - and so bad.” He was offended by the courtship of the Kuragins “for his daughter. The insult is the most painful, because it did not apply to him, to his daughter, whom he loved more than himself.
Nikolai Andreevich, who is proud of his son's mind and his daughter's spiritual world, knows that in their family between Marya and Andrey there is not only complete mutual understanding, but also sincere friendship based on the unity of views and thoughts. Relationships in this family are not built on the principle of equality, but they are also full of care and love, only hidden. The Bolkonskys are all very reserved. This is an example of a true family. They are characterized by high spirituality, true beauty, pride, sacrifice and respect for other people's feelings.
How are the Bolkonskys' house and the Rostovs' house similar? First of all, a sense of family, spiritual kinship of close people, patriarchal way of life, hospitality. Both families are distinguished by the great concern of parents for children. Rostov and Bolkonsky love children more than themselves: Rostova - the eldest cannot bear the death of her husband and younger Petya; old man Bolkonsky loves children passionately and reverently, even his strictness and exactingness come only from the desire for good for children.
The life of the Bolkonsky family in the Bald Mountains is in some elements similar to the life of the Rostovs: the same mutual love of family members, the same deep cordiality, the same natural behavior, just like the Rostovs, great closeness to the people in language and relationships with ordinary people. On this basis, both families are equally opposed to high society.
There are also differences between these families. The Bolkonskys are distinguished from the Rostovs by the deep work of thought, the high intelligence of all family members: the old prince, and Princess Mary, and her brother, who are prone to mental activity. In addition, a characteristic feature of the "breed" of the Bolkonskys is pride.
Name and write down the main features of the Bolkonsky family: high spirituality, pride, courage, honor, duty, activity, mind, fortitude, natural love, hidden under the mask of coldness
Let's turn to the Kuragin family.
According to the roles, the dialogue between Prince Vasily and Anna Pavlovna Sherer. (5 minutes)
Prince Vasily (student's speech 3 min): I don't even have a bump of parental love, but I don't need it. I think it's all redundant. The main thing is material well-being, position in the world. Didn't I try to make my children happy? Helen married off the richest groom in Moscow, Count Pierre Bezukhov, Ippolit was attached to the diplomatic corps, Anatole almost married Princess Marya. To achieve the goals, all means are good.
Helen: (student's speech, 3 min) I don't understand your lofty words about love, honor, kindness. Anatole, Ippolit, and I have always lived in our pleasure. It is important to satisfy your desires and needs, even at the expense of others. Why should I be tormented by pangs of conscience, if the remoteness to change this mattress with Dolokhov? I am always right about everything.
(student's speech, 5 min) The external beauty of the Kuragins replaces the spiritual one. There are many human vices in this family. Hélène makes fun of Pierre's desire to have children. Children, in her understanding, are a burden that interferes with life. According to Tolstoy, the worst thing for a woman is the absence of children. The purpose of a woman is to become a good mother, wife.
Actually, the Bolkonskys and Rostovs are more than families, they are whole lifestyles, each of which, for its part, is fanned by its own poetry.
Family happiness, simple and so deep for the author of War and Peace, the very one that the Rostovs and Bolkonskys know, it is natural and familiar to them - this family, “peaceful” happiness will not be given to the Kuragin family, where an atmosphere of universal calculation and lack of spirituality reigns . They are devoid of generic poetry. Their family closeness and connection is unpoetic, although it certainly exists - instinctive mutual support and solidarity, a kind of mutual guarantee of egoism. Such a family connection is not a positive, real family connection, but, in essence, its negation.
To make a service career, to “make” them a profitable marriage or marriage - this is how Prince Vasily Kuragin understands his parental duty. What are his children in essence - he is of little interest. They need to be "attached". The immorality allowed in the Kuragin family becomes the norm of their life. This is evidenced by the behavior of Anatole, the relationship of Helen with her brother, which Pierre recalls with horror, the behavior of Helen herself. In this house there is no place for sincerity and decency. You noticed that in the novel there is not even a description of the Kuragins' house, because the family ties of these people are weakly expressed, each of them lives apart, taking into account, first of all, their own interests.
Pierre said very precisely about the false Kuragin family: “Oh, vile, heartless breed!”
Vasil Kuragin is the father of three children, but all his dreams come down to one thing: to attach them more profitably, to get away with it. The shame of matchmaking is easily endured by all Kuragins. Anatole, who accidentally met Mary on the day of the matchmaking, holds Bourien in his arms. Helen, calmly and with a frozen smile of beauty, condescendingly treated the idea of ​​\u200b\u200brelatives and friends to marry her to Pierre. He, Anatole, is only slightly annoyed by the unsuccessful attempt to take Natasha away. Only once will their “restraint” change them: Helen will scream in fear of being killed by Pierre, and her brother will cry like a woman, having lost her leg. Their calmness comes from indifference to everyone except themselves: Anatole "had the ability of calmness, precious to the world, and unchanging confidence." Their spiritual callousness, meanness will be stigmatized by the most honest and delicate Pierre, and therefore the accusation will sound from his lips, like a shot: “Where you are, there is debauchery, evil.”
They are alien to Tolstoy's ethics. Egoists are closed only on themselves. Empty flowers. Nothing will be born from them, because in a family one must be able to give warmth and care to others. They only know how to take: “I’m not a fool to give birth to children” (Helen), “We must take a girl while she is still a flower in a bud” (Anatole).
Features of the Kuragin family: lack of parental love, material well-being, the desire to satisfy their needs at the expense of others, the lack of spiritual beauty.
3. Summing up(7 min).
Only those who yearn for unity, Tolstoy, at the end of his epic, will grant the acquisition of a family and peace. In the epilogue, we see the happy family of Natasha and Pierre. Natasha, with her love for her husband, creates that amazing atmosphere that inspires and supports him, and Pierre is happy, admiring the purity of her feelings, that wonderful intuition with which she penetrates his soul. Understanding each other without words, according to the expression of their eyes, gesture, they are ready to go together to the end along the road of life, preserving the inner, spiritual connection and harmony that has arisen between them.
L.N. Tolstoy in the novel shows his ideal of a woman and family. This ideal is given in the images of Natasha Rostova and Marya Bolkonskaya and the images of their families. Tolstoy's favorite heroes want to live honestly. In family relationships, the heroes keep such moral values ​​as simplicity, naturalness, noble self-esteem, admiration for motherhood, love and respect. It is these moral values ​​that save Russia in a moment of national danger. The family and the woman - the keeper of the family hearth - have always been the moral foundations of society.
Many years have passed since the appearance of Leo Tolstoy's novel, but the main values ​​of the family: love, trust, mutual understanding, honor, decency, patriotism remain the main moral values. Rozhdestvensky said: "Everything begins with love." Dostoevsky said: "Man is not born for happiness and deserves it with suffering."
Every modern family is a big complex world with its own traditions, attitudes and habits, even its own view of raising children. Children are said to be echoes of their parents. However, in order for this echo to sound not only due to natural affection, but mainly due to conviction, it is necessary that customs, orders, rules of life be strengthened in the house, in the family circle, which cannot be transgressed not out of fear of punishment, but out of respect for the foundations of the family, to its traditions.
Do everything so that childhood and the future of your children are wonderful, so that the family is strong, friendly, family traditions are preserved and passed on from generation to generation. I wish happiness in the family, in the one in which you live today, which you yourself will create tomorrow. May mutual help and understanding always reign under the roof of your home, may your life be rich both spiritually and materially.
4. Homework.(3 min)
Write a mini-essay on the topic "My future family."

One of the main thoughts in L. Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is a family thought. The whole novel is built on the description of the fate of people, entire families, family nests. We see the same people in a homely atmosphere, in society, in military operations, and we can trace how the characters of the novel change internally and externally. In addition, analyzing the novel, you can highlight certain features that are characteristic of a particular family. In the work of L. Tolstoy, we get acquainted with many families, but the author describes the Rostovs, Bolkonskys and Kuragins better and in more detail than all. Love, friendship and mutual understanding reign in the Rostov family. The Rostovs care about each other and want the people around them to be happy. They are characterized by thriftiness, kindness, sincerity and breadth of nature. Natasha Rostova is a bright representative of the Rostov "breed". She is emotional, sensitive, intuitively guesses people. Sometimes selfish (as in the case of the loss of Nikolai), but more often capable of self-sacrifice (recall the episode with the removal of the wounded from Moscow). Natasha lives in an atmosphere of love and happiness, she is a passionate person. External ugliness enhances her spiritual beauty and lively character. One of the striking features of the heroine is the need for love (she needs to be constantly loved). Natasha is filled with a thirst for life, and this is the secret of her charm. Natasha does not know how to explain and prove, because she understands people not with her mind, but with her heart. But her heart always tells her correctly, with the exception of incorrect behavior with Anatole Kuragin. Countess Rostova is proud of the friendship and trust of her children, pampers them, worries about their fate. Nikolai Rostov is very similar to his sister, which is why they understand each other so well. Nikolai is very young, open to people and the whole world. He wants to be useful, to please everyone, and, importantly, Nikolai wants to seem like an adult, rude man, like Denisov. It is Denisov who embodies the ideal of a man that the younger Rostov aspires to. Nikolai comes on vacation to Moscow. On this visit home, Nikolai wants to assert himself, to prove to everyone and to himself that he is already an adult and has his own manly affairs: dinner at the English Club, Dolokhov's duel with Pierre, cards, running. And the old Count Rostov is always taking care of his son: remortgaging his estates so that Nikolenka can get himself a trotter and "the most fashionable trousers, special, which no one else in Moscow had, and the most fashionable boots, with the sharpest socks and small silver spurs ..." Then the old count needs a lot of effort so that his son's participation in the duel goes unnoticed. And suddenly Nikolenka loses money, and the money is not small. But Nikolai never realizes his guilt, and he is to blame for his inability to think. He did not have enough intuition to determine that Dolokhov was an evil person, and Rostov cannot realize this with his mind. Having lost forty-three thousand and returning home, Nikolai becomes a boy, although he wants to hide what is on his mind. And in his heart he considers himself "a scoundrel, a scoundrel who could not atone for his crime his whole life. He would like to kiss his father's hands, ask for forgiveness on his knees ..." Nikolai is an honest man, he not only painfully survived his loss, but and found a way out: to limit himself in everything and return the debt to his parents. Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov is good-natured, generous and motivated. He is known in Moscow not only as a good family man, but also as a person who knows how to arrange a ball, a dinner better than others, and, if necessary, to put his own money for this. The most striking example of Rostov generosity is the preparation of a dinner in honor of Bagration. “Really, dad, I think Prince Bagration, when he was preparing for the battle of Shengraben, was less busy than you are now ...” N. Rostov said to his father on the eve of dinner, and he was right. Ilya Andreevich put a lot of effort into making the dinner in honor of Bagration a success. Why didn’t he order: “Combs, put scallops in a cake ... big sterlets ... Oh, my fathers! .. But who will bring me flowers? there were pots here by Friday ... We need more songwriters, after all. The features of the "Rostov breed" are manifested in the actions of the count and when leaving Moscow: he allows the carts to be given to the wounded, thereby causing heavy damage to his condition. The Rostovs personify a family way of life in which class traditions are alive. An atmosphere of love, mutual understanding and kindness reigns in their family. The complete opposite of the Rostov family is the Bolkonsky family. For the first time we meet Lisa and Andrey Bolkonsky at the evening at Anna Pavlovna Sherer's, and we immediately notice a certain coldness between husband and wife. Lisa Bolkonskaya does not understand her husband, neither his aspirations nor his character. After the departure of Bolkonsky, he lives in the Bald Mountains, experiencing constant fear and antipathy for his father-in-law and friendly converging not with his sister-in-law, but with the empty and frivolous Mademoiselle Bourrienne. Lisa dies during childbirth; the expression on her face before and after her death seems to indicate that she did no harm to anyone and cannot understand what she is suffering for. Her death leaves a feeling of irreparable misfortune in Prince Andrei and sincere pity in the old prince. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky is an educated, restrained, practical, intelligent, strong-willed person, his sister notes in him some kind of "pride of thought." Old Prince Bolkonsky lives in the countryside. He cannot stand stupidity and idleness, he lives according to a clear schedule, which he himself established. Being harsh and demanding with everyone, he harasses his daughter with nit-picking, but deep down he loves her very much. Nikolai Andreevich Bolkonsky is proud, smart and reserved, just like his son. The main thing for the Bolkonskys is the honor of the family. Marya Bolkonskaya is very religious, she receives strangers in secret from her father, but in everything else she clearly fulfills his will. She is a smart, educated woman, the same as her brother and father, but, unlike them, meek and God-fearing. The Bolkonskys are smart, educated, love each other, but the relationship in their family is rather dry, they do not like to flaunt their feelings. No noisy festivities and celebrations are arranged in their family, they do not have that fun that is in the Rostovs; The Bolkonskys live not with feelings, but with reason. Also in the novel "War and Peace" a large place is given to the Kuragin family. Prince Vasily takes care of his children, wants to richly arrange their lives and therefore considers himself an exemplary father. His son Anatole is arrogant, stupid, depraved, self-confident, but eloquent. He wants to marry the ugly Princess Mary for the sake of money, he tries to seduce Natasha Rostov. Ippolit Kuragin is stupid and does not even try to hide his stupidity: in his appearance, the features of the moral degeneration of the entire Kuragin family are clearly visible. Helen is a secular beauty, she is stupid, but her beauty redeems a lot. In society, her stupidity is not noticed, it seems to everyone that Helen always behaves in a very worthy way in the world and has a reputation as an intelligent and tactful woman. The Kuragin family is distinguished by stupidity and money-grubbing. They do not experience sincere feelings not only in relation to others, but also in relation to each other. Children have no need to go to their father; and Prince Vasily himself calls his sons "fools": Ippolit - "calm", and Anatole - "restless", who always has to be rescued. The Kuragins have no joint affairs and concerns, there is no need to meet and talk. Everyone is busy with their own problems. All Kuragins strive to get close to people who are richer than them, from communication with whom one can benefit. In the epilogue, we see how two seemingly completely different families are reunited - the Rostov family and the Bolkonsky family. Nikolai Rostov marries Princess Marya Bolkonskaya. Nikolai and Marya are an ideal couple, they harmoniously complement each other: in this family, Princess Marya's aspiration to rise and the earthly, material that Nikolai represents are combined. At the end of "War and Peace" Natasha and Pierre are resurrected to life after "baptism" through suffering and contact with death. This happens naturally - like green needles of grass breaking through dead fallen leaves in spring, how order is restored in a destroyed anthill, how blood rushes to the heart, how Moscow is rebuilt after the destruction. The order of life is restored, in which each of the heroes finds his place. December 5, 1820 is the last scene of the novel's epilogue. Tolstoy builds it as a picture of family happiness in the Bald Mountains; the old Rostov family broke up (the old count died), two new families arose, each of which had new, "fresh" children. The new Natasha Rostova, the black-eyed favorite of her father, Count Nikolai, the new Pierre Bezukhov, who is still three months old and fed by his mother Natasha, appear on the last pages of Tolstoy's book. The image of organic vitality (Natasha - a strong and passionate mother) is supplemented in the finale by other images: this is Princess Mary, in whom motherhood is associated with the tension of spiritual life, striving for the infinite, and this is especially the fifteen-year-old Nikolenka Bolkonsky. In his appearance, the features of his father appeared. The novel ends with Nikolenka's dream, in which Pierre and Prince Andrei are united, and where the motifs of glory, heroism, heroism, and honor reappear. The son of Prince Andrei is the heir to his qualities, a symbol of the eternal continuation of life. Life is entering a new round, and the new generation will again, anew, seek answers to its questions. At this new round of life, PEACE and WAR will meet again - harmony and struggle, wholeness, unity and contradictions that explode them. The finale of "War and Peace" is open, wide open into a moving, ever-living life. Thus, the "family nests" of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys continued to live together, in harmony and happiness, and the "nest" of the Kuragins ceased to exist ...

The family for Tolstoy is the soil for the formation of the human soul, and at the same time, in War and Peace, the introduction of the family theme is one of the ways to organize the text. The atmosphere of the house, the family nest, according to the writer, determines the warehouse of psychology, views and even the fate of the characters. That is why, in the system of all the main images of the novel, L. N. Tolstoy identifies several families, on the example of which the author's attitude to the ideal of the hearth is clearly expressed - these are the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs and the Kuragins.
At the same time, the Bolkonskys and Rostovs are not just families, they are a whole way of life, a way of life based on Russian national traditions. Probably, these features are most fully manifested in the life of the Rostovs - a noble-naive family, living with feelings and impulsive impulses, combining both a serious attitude towards family honor (Nikolai Rostov does not refuse his father's debts), and cordiality, and warmth of intra-family relations, and hospitality, and hospitality, always characteristic of the Russian people.
The kindness and carelessness of the Rostov family extend not only to its members; even a stranger to them, Andrei Bolkonsky, being in Otradnoye, struck by the naturalness and cheerfulness of Natasha Rostova, seeks to change his life. And, probably, the brightest and most characteristic representative of the Rostov breed is Natasha. In its naturalness, ardor, naivety and some superficiality - the essence of the family.
Such purity of relations, high morality make the Rostovs related to representatives of another noble family in the novel - with the Bolkonskys. But in this breed, the main qualities are opposite to those of Rostov. Everything is subject to reason, honor and duty. It is precisely these principles that the sensual Rostovs, probably, cannot accept and understand.
The feeling of family superiority and proper dignity are clearly expressed in Marya - after all, she, more than all the Bolkonskys, inclined to hide her feelings, considered the marriage of her brother and Natasha Rostova unsuitable.
But along with this, one cannot fail to note the role of duty to the Fatherland in the life of this family - protecting the interests of the state for them is higher than even personal happiness. Andrei Bolkonsky leaves at a time when his wife is due to give birth; the old prince, in a fit of patriotism, forgetting about his daughter, is eager to defend the Fatherland.
And at the same time, it must be said that in the relations of the Bolkonskys there is, albeit deeply hidden, love natural and sincere, hidden under the mask of coldness and arrogance.
The straight, proud Bolkonskys are not at all like the comfortably homely Rostovs, and that is why the unity of these two clans, in Tolstoy's view, is possible only between the most uncharacteristic representatives of families (marriage between Nikolai Rostov and Princess Marya), therefore the meeting of Natasha Rostova and Andrei Bolkonsky in Mytishchi serves not to connect and correct their relationship, but to complete and clarify them. This is precisely the reason for the solemnity and pathos of their relationship in the last days of Andrei Bolkonsky's life.
The low, “mean” breed of the Kuragins is not at all like these two families; they can hardly even be called a family: there is no love between them, there is only the envy of the mother for her daughter, the contempt of Prince Vasily for his sons: the “calm fool” Ippolit and the “restless fool” Anatole. Their proximity is the mutual guarantee of selfish people, their appearance, often in a romantic halo, causes crises in other families.
Anatole, a symbol of freedom for Natasha, freedom from the restrictions of the patriarchal world and at the same time from the boundaries of what is permitted, from the moral framework of what is permissible...
In this "breed", unlike the Rostovs and Bolkonskys, there is no cult of the child, no reverent attitude towards him.
But this family of intriguing Napoleons disappears in the fire of 1812, like the unsuccessful world adventure of the great emperor, all Helen's intrigues disappear - entangled in them, she dies.
But by the end of the novel, new families appear that embody the best features of both families - the pride of Nikolai Rostov gives way to the needs of the family and the growing feeling, and Natasha Rostova and Pierre Bezukhov create that home comfort, that atmosphere that they both were looking for.
Nikolai and Princess Marya will probably be happy - after all, they are precisely those representatives of the Bolkonsky and Rostov families who are able to find something in common; “Ice and fire”, Prince Andrei and Natasha, were not able to connect their lives - after all, even in love, they could not fully understand each other.
It is interesting to add that the condition for the connection of Nikolai Rostov and the much deeper Marya Bolkonskaya was the absence of a relationship between Andrei Bolkonsky and Natasha Rostova, so this love line is activated only at the end of the epic.
But, despite all the outward completeness of the novel, one can also note such a compositional feature as the openness of the final - after all, the last scene, the scene with Nikolenka, who absorbed all the best and purest that the Bolkonskys, the Rostovs and Bezukhov had, is not accidental. He is the future...

The theme of the family in the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy (2nd version)

Leo Tolstoy is a great writer of the 19th century. In his works, he managed to raise many important questions, as well as give answers to them. Therefore, his works occupy one of the first places in world fiction. The pinnacle of his work is the epic novel War and Peace. In it, Tolstoy addresses the fundamental questions of human existence. In his understanding, one of such important issues that determine the essence of a person is the family. Tolstoy hardly imagines his characters as lonely. This theme is displayed most vividly and multifaceted in those parts of the work that tell about the world.

In the novel, different family lines intersect, the stories of different families are revealed. Lev Nikolaevich shows his views on the relationship of close people, on the family structure on the example of the Rostovs and Bolkonskys.

In the large Rostov family, the head is Ilya Andreevich, a Moscow gentleman, a kind man who idolizes his wife, adores children, rather generous and trusting. Despite the fact that his material affairs are in a state of disarray, since he does not know how to run a household at all, Ilya Andreevich could not limit himself and his entire family to the usual luxury. Forty-three thousand, lost by his son Nikolai, he paid, no matter how hard it was for him to do this, because he is very noble: his own honor and the honor of his children are above all for him.

The Rostov family is distinguished by kindness, sincerity, sincerity, readiness to help, which attracts people to itself. It is in such a family that patriots grow up, recklessly going to their death, like Petya Rostov. It was hard for his parents to let him go to the active army, so they worked for their son so that he would get into the headquarters, and not into the active regiment.

Hypocrisy and hypocrisy are not inherent in the Rostov family, therefore everyone here loves each other, children trust their parents, and they respect their wishes, opinions on various issues. Therefore, Natasha still managed to persuade her parents to take away from the besieged Moscow not dowry and luxury items: paintings, carpets, dishes, but wounded soldiers. Thus, the Rostov family remained true to their ideals, for which it is worth living. Even though it completely ruined the family, it still did not allow them to transgress the laws of conscience.

Natasha grew up in such a friendly and benevolent family. She is similar to her mother both externally and in character - just like her mother shows the same caring and thriftiness. But there are also traits of a father in her - kindness, breadth of nature, a desire to unite and make everyone happy. She is her father's favorite. A very important quality of Natasha is naturalness. She is not able to play a predetermined role, does not depend on the opinions of strangers, does not live according to the laws of the world. The heroine is endowed with love for people, the talent of communication, the openness of her soul. She can love and surrender to love completely, and it was in this that Tolstoy saw the main purpose of a woman. He saw the origins of devotion and kindness, disinterestedness and devotion in family education.

Another member of the family is Nikolai Rostov. He is distinguished neither by the depth of his mind, nor by the ability to think deeply and experience the pain of people. But his soul is simple, honest and decent.

In the image of the Rostovs, Tolstoy embodied his ideal of the strength of the family, the inviolability of the family nest, the home. But not all the young generation of this family followed in the footsteps of their parents. As a result of Vera's marriage to Berg, a family was formed that did not resemble either the Rostovs, or the Bolkonskys, or the Kuragins. Berg himself has much in common with Griboyedov's Molchalin (moderation, diligence and accuracy). According to Tolstoy, Berg is not only a philistine in himself, but also a particle of the universal philistinism (the mania of acquisitiveness in any situation prevails, drowning out the manifestations of normal feelings - an episode with the purchase of furniture during the evacuation of most residents from Moscow). Berg "exploits" the war of 1812, "squeezes" out of it the maximum benefit for himself. The Bergs do their best to resemble socially acceptable models: the evening that the Bergs arrange is an exact copy of many other evenings with candles and tea. As a result of the influence of her husband, Vera, still in her girlhood, despite her pleasant appearance and development, good manners instilled in her, repels people from herself with her indifference to others and extreme egoism.

Such a family, according to Tolstoy, cannot become the basis of society, because the “foundation” laid in its basis is material acquisitions, which, rather, devastate the soul, contribute to the destruction of human relations, rather than unification.

A somewhat different Bolkonsky family - serving nobles. All of them are characterized by special talent, originality, spirituality. Each of them is remarkable in its own way. The head of the family, Prince Nikolai, was harsh with all the people around him, and therefore, without being cruel, he aroused fear and respect in himself. Most of all, he appreciates the mind and activity in people. Therefore, raising his daughter, he tries to develop these qualities in her. The high concept of honor, pride, independence, nobility and sharpness of mind, the old prince passed on to his son. Both the son and the father of the Bolkonsky are versatile, educated, gifted people who know how to behave with others. Andrei is an arrogant person, confident in his superiority over others, knowing that in this life he has a high purpose. He understands that happiness is in the family, in himself, but this happiness is not easy for Andrei.

His sister, Princess Marya, is shown to us as a perfect, absolutely whole psychologically, physically and morally human type. She lives in constant unconscious expectation of family happiness and love. The princess is smart, romantic, religious. She meekly endures all the mockery of her father, reconciles herself to everything, but does not cease to love him deeply and strongly. Maria loves everyone, but she loves with love, forcing those around her to obey her rhythms and movements and dissolve in her.

Brother and sister Bolkonsky inherited the strangeness and depth of their father's nature, but without his imperiousness and intolerance. They are insightful, deeply understand people, like their father, but not in order to despise them, but in order to sympathize.

The Bolkonskys are not alien to the fate of the people, they are honest and decent people, trying to live in justice and in harmony with conscience.

In direct contrast to previous families, Tolstoy depicts the Kuragin family. The head of the family is Prince Vasily. He has children: Helen, Anatole and Hippolyte. Vasily Kuragin is a typical representative of secular Petersburg: smart, gallant, dressed in the latest fashion. But behind all this brightness and beauty lies a person who is completely false, unnatural, greedy and rude. Prince Vasily lives in an atmosphere of lies, secular intrigues and gossip. The most important thing in his life is money and position in society.

He is ready even for a crime for the sake of money. This is confirmed by his behavior on the day of his death, the old Count Bezukhov. Prince Vasily is ready for anything, just to receive an inheritance. He treats Pierre with contempt bordering on hatred, but as soon as Bezukhov receives an inheritance, everything changes. Pierre becomes a profitable match for Helen, because he can pay the debts of Prince Vasily. Knowing this, Kuragin indulges in any tricks, just to bring a rich but inexperienced heir closer to him.

Now let's move on to Helen Kuragina. Everyone in the world admires her stateliness, beauty, defiant outfits and rich jewelry. She is one of the most enviable brides in St. Petersburg. But behind this beauty and brilliance of diamonds there is no soul. It is empty, callous and heartless. For Helen, family happiness does not consist in the love of her husband or children, but in spending her husband's money, in arranging balls and salons. As soon as Pierre starts talking about offspring, she laughs rudely in his face.

Anatole and Hippolyte are in no way inferior to either their father or sister. The first spends his life in festivities and revelry, in card games and various kinds of entertainment. Prince Vasily admits that "this Anatole costs forty thousand a year." His second son is stupid and cynical. Prince Vasily says that he is a "restless fool".

The author does not hide his disgust for this "family". It has no place for good intentions and aspirations. The world of the Kuragins is a world of "secular mob", dirt and depravity. The selfishness, self-interest and base instincts that reign there do not allow these people to be called a full-fledged family. Their main vices are carelessness, selfishness and an irrepressible thirst for money.

The foundations of the family according to Tolstoy are built on love, work, beauty. When they collapse, the family becomes unhappy, breaks up. And yet, the main thing that Lev Nikolayevich wanted to say about the inner life of the family is connected with the warmth, comfort, poetry of a real home, where everyone is dear to you, and you are dear to everyone, where they are waiting for you. The closer people are to natural life, the stronger the intra-family ties, the greater the happiness and joy in the life of each family member. This point of view is shown by Tolstoy on the pages of his novel.

The theme of the family in the novel "War and Peace" by L. N. Tolstoy (variant 3)

What should be the family in the understanding of Tolstoy, we learn only at the very end of the novel. The novel begins with a description of an unsuccessful marriage. We are talking about Prince Bolkonsky and the little princess. We meet them both in the salon of Anna Pavlovna Sherer. It is impossible not to pay attention to Prince Andrei - he is so unlike the others: “He, apparently, all those who were in the living room were not only familiar, but he was already tired of him so much that it was very boring for him to look at them and listen to them.” Everyone else is interested in this living room, because here, in these conversations, gossip, their whole life. And for the wife of Prince Andrei, a lovely little woman, here is her whole life. And for Prince Andrei? “Of all the faces that bored him, the face of his pretty wife seemed to bore him the most. With a grimace that spoiled his handsome face, he turned away from her. And when she turned to him in a flirtatious tone, he even “closed his eyes and turned away.” When they returned home, their relationship did not become warmer. Prince Andrei does not become more affectionate, but we already understand that the point here is not in his nasty character. He was too soft and charming in dealing with Pierre, whom he sincerely loved. With his wife, he treats "with cold courtesy." He advises her to go to bed early, ostensibly worrying about her health, but in fact wanting only one thing: that she leave as soon as possible and let him talk calmly with Pierre. Before she left, he stood up and "politely, like a stranger, kissed her hand." Why is he so cold with his wife, who is expecting a child from him? He tries to be polite, but we feel that he is rude to her. The wife tells him that he has changed towards her, which means that he used to be different. In Scherer's living room, when everyone was admiring "this pretty future mother, full of health and liveliness, who so easily endured her situation," it was difficult to understand what irritated Prince Andrei in her. But everything becomes clear when she continues to talk to her husband at home “in the same flirtatious tone with which she addressed strangers.” Prince Andrei was sick of this coquettish tone, this light chatter, this unwillingness to think about his own words. I even want to stand up for the princess - after all, she is not to blame, she has always been like that, why didn’t he notice this before? No, Tolstoy answers, it's my fault. Guilty because he doesn't feel. Only a sensitive and understanding person can approach happiness, because happiness is a reward for the tireless work of the soul. The little princess does not make efforts on herself, does not force herself to understand why her husband has changed towards her. But everything is so obvious. She only needed to become more attentive - to take a closer look, listen and understand: you can’t behave like that with Prince Andrei. But her heart told her nothing, and she continued to suffer from her husband's suave coldness. However, Tolstoy does not take the side of Bolkonsky: in relations with his wife, he does not look very attractive. Tolstoy does not give an unequivocal answer to the question of why the life of the young Bolkonsky family turned out this way - both are to blame, and no one can change anything. Prince Andrei says to his sister: “But if you want to know the truth ... you want to know if I am happy? No. Is she happy? No. Why is this? I don't know...” One can only guess why. Because they are different, because they did not understand: family happiness is work, the constant work of two people.

Tolstoy helps his hero, freeing him from this painful marriage. Later, he will also “save” Pierre, who also drank adversity in family life with Helen. But nothing in life is in vain. Probably, Pierre needed to get this terrible experience of life with a vile and depraved woman in order to experience complete happiness in his second marriage. No one knows whether Natasha would have been happy if she had married Prince Andrei or not. But Tolstoy felt that she would be better off with Pierre. The question is, why didn't he connect them sooner? Why did you make me go through so much suffering, temptations and hardships? It is clear that they are made for each other. However, it was important for Tolstoy to trace the formation of their personalities. Both Natasha and Pierre did a great spiritual job, which prepared them for family happiness. Pierre carried his love for Natasha through many years, and over the years so much spiritual wealth has accumulated in him that his love has become even more serious and deeper. He went through captivity, the horror of death, terrible hardships, but his soul only grew stronger and became even richer. Natasha, who survived a personal tragedy - a break with Prince Andrei, then his death, and then the death of her younger brother Petya and her mother's illness - also grew spiritually and was able to look at Pierre with different eyes, appreciate his love.

When you read about how Natasha has changed after marriage, at first it becomes insulting. “Plump and wider la,” rejoices at the baby diaper “with a yellow spot instead of green,” jealous, stingy, she abandoned singing - but what is it? However, it is necessary to understand why: “She felt that those charms that instinct had taught her to use before, now would only be ridiculous in the eyes of her husband, to whom she gave herself from the first minute all - that is, with all her soul, leaving not a single corner open to him. She felt that her connection with her husband was held not by those poetic feelings that attracted him to her, but was held by something else, indefinite, but firm, like the connection of her own soul with her body. Well, how can one not remember the poor little princess Bolkonskaya, who was not given to understand what was revealed to Natasha. She considered it natural to address her husband in a flirtatious tone, as if she were an outsider, and Natasha seemed stupid to “beat her curls, put on robrons and sing romances in order to attract her husband to her.” It was much more important for Natasha to feel Pierre's soul, to understand what worries him, and to guess his desires. Left alone with him, she spoke to him in such a way, “as soon as a wife and husband talk, that is, with extraordinary clarity and speed, knowing and communicating each other’s thoughts, in a way contrary to all the rules of logic, without the mediation of judgments, conclusions and conclusions, but in a completely special way. way." What is this method? If you follow their conversation, it may even seem funny: sometimes their remarks look completely incoherent. But it's from the outside. And they do not need long, complete phrases, they already understand each other, because their souls speak instead of them.

How is the family of Marya and Nikolai Rostov different from the Bezukhov family? Perhaps because it is based on the constant spiritual work of Countess Marya alone. Her “eternal spiritual tension, which has only the moral good of children as its goal,” delights and surprises Nikolai, but he himself is not capable of it. However, his admiration and admiration for his wife also make their family strong. Nikolai is proud of his wife, understands that she is smarter than him and more significant, but does not envy, but rejoices, considering his wife a part of himself. Countess Mary, on the other hand, simply tenderly and submissively loves her husband: she has been waiting for her happiness for too long and no longer believed that it would ever come.

Tolstoy shows the life of these two families, and we can well conclude on which side of his sympathy. Of course, the ideal in his view is the family of Natasha and Pierre.

That family where husband and wife are one whole, where there is no place for conventions and unnecessary affectation, where shining eyes and a smile can say much more than long, confusing phrases. We do not know how their life will turn out in the future, but we understand: wherever fate throws Pierre, Natasha will always and everywhere follow him, no matter how hard and hard it threatens her.