Essay after the ball. Life choice in the story "After the ball". Essays by topic

At the beginning of the last century, A. France assessed the work of Leo Tolstoy in the following way: “Tolstoy is a great lesson. With his work, he teaches us that beauty arises alive and perfect from truth, like Aphrodite emerging from the depths of the sea. With his life he proclaims sincerity, directness, purposefulness, firmness, calm and constant heroism, he teaches that one must be truthful and one must be strong ...

Precisely because he was full of power, he was always truthful.” All this can be fully attributed to the story “After the Ball”,

In which the deep pain of the writer for the scolding human dignity for the innocent people who died. And the main character of the work is truly admirable: fortitude, fortitude of moral principles allowed him to live a decent life.

The story raises problems that are relevant in our time: violence, cruelty, aggression prevailing in society; ideological and moral search; human attempts to answer questions about the meaning of life, about good and evil, truth and justice. At the same time, the author, who has chosen an unusual form of narration (a dialogue between young people and the wise life experience of “everyone respected” Ivan Vasilyevich), manages to avoid moralizing. Main character, he is also a narrator, Ivan Vasilyevich shares his memories, sometimes he involuntarily compares the times of his youth and the present: “Yes, this is you, today's youth. You see nothing but the body.” But when he begins to talk about the incident that deeply shocked him, Ivan Vasilyevich, as if in a time machine, returns to the days of his youth, getting younger before his eyes.

His words are sincere and emotional.

Being in his youth a cheerful, lively fellow, and even rich, the hero of the story rode from the mountains with young ladies and reveled with his comrades. But the main pleasure for him was evenings and balls. At one of these balls he met Varenka.

Intoxicated with love, the young man “saw only a tall, slender figure in a white dress with a pink belt, her shining, blushing, dimpled face and gentle, sweet eyes.” More than once the narrator compares his feelings with intoxication, although he emphasizes that he did not particularly like drinking. The ball scene makes up a large part of the story; all the events of that memorable evening are forever imprinted in the memory of the narrator. A beautiful hall with choirs, musicians, a splendid buffet, an overflowing sea of champagne, a feather from a cheap white fan given to a beloved - all this evoked happiness, bliss.

Pay attention to the description emotional state hero at this moment: “I was kind, I was not me, but some kind of unearthly creature that knows no evil and is capable of good alone.”

The longer the ball continues, the stronger the feelings of the hero flare up. The young man in love was especially struck by Varenka's dance with his father. IN portrait characteristic father, the smallest details are emphasized: a ruddy face, a white mustache and sideburns, an affectionate, joyful smile, sparkling eyes, a wide chest protruding in a military way, strong shoulders, long slender legs.

All these details, obviously, were supposed to testify to the physical and psychological health of the military.

The young man's imagination builds strange, at first glance, logical chains. So, for example, he is touched by the old-fashioned boots of Varenka's father - the father does not buy fashionable boots to take out his beloved beautiful daughter. Love for Varenka (note that even after so many years after the incident, the narrator affectionately and tenderly calls the girl Varenka) reveals a hidden ability of love in the heart of the hero.

And this love extends to all the people around Varenka, including his father, because they are so similar.

The second part of the story differs sharply in mood from the ball scene. The writer makes good use of artistic technique contrast, emphasizing a sharp change in the emotional state of the hero. The motive of the mazurka still sounds in the soul of the young man, but reality gives him other music, harsh and bad. Dreamily closing his eyes, the young man still sees the smooth, graceful dance of Varenka paired with his father, but reality presents him with a scene of inhuman cruelty.

Involuntarily, the young man witnesses the corporal punishment of a soldier who escaped from the regiment. The punished, twitching with his whole body, slapping his feet on the melted snow, falling from both sides with blows, slowly approached the hero. He was accompanied by a tall military man - it was Varenka's father.

And if during the ball love grew and grew in the heart of the hero, now the pain, horror and disgust are growing just as intensely. The execution is accompanied by a uniform beat of drums, the whistle of a flute and the sounds of blows. The punished “turned his face, wrinkled from suffering, in the direction from which the blow fell, and, baring his white teeth,” sobbed: “Brothers, have mercy.” But all the soldier's hopes for mercy and sympathy were in vain, because the colonel strictly followed the process of punishment.

One short, weak soldier delivered a not too sensitive blow, for which he was immediately punished by the colonel. The same suede-gloved hand that had been hugging her daughter's thin waist a few hours ago was ruthlessly hitting the man's face today.

This scene caused such acute mental pain, shame and involvement in what was being done that the hero hurried to go home. But even at home, the horror of what he saw did not leave him alone: intoxication from love is replaced by complete sobering. Now the hero is tormented by reflections: "If this was done with such confidence and recognized by all as necessary, then, therefore, they knew something that I did not know."

The rejection of evil, cruelty, injustice was so strong that the young man even abandoned his military career and his greatest love in life.

The story of L. N. Tolstoy teaches us not to follow the lead of public opinion, because not always the universal truth is the truth. We must not deviate from our moral principles - each of us, sooner or later, can become a victim of aggression that reigns in society.

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Life choice in the story "After the Ball" is an important problem raised by L. N. Tolstoy. The writer shows that two heroes of the work choose: the colonel and Ivan Vasilyevich.

Decisive situation

The turning point in the mind of the narrator is the episode when he saw that the father of the girl he was in love with was leading the execution of a poor soldier. The pictures he saw forever changed the worldview of Ivan Vasilyevich. This situation puts the hero before an important choice in his life.

Choice of main character

Ivan Vasilyevich sees a terrifying picture, sees the eyes of a soldier who has been tested, hears his pitiful speeches. And the narrator is faced with a choice: to resist such a cruel society or join its ranks. Ivan Vasilievich refuses high society, from any service, and, most importantly, he refuses his love. Ivan Vasilyevich realized that he could not connect his life with the daughter of such a cruel person. The conscience of the hero wins in the fight against social injustice. The narrator has made his choice in favor of mercy. He notes that he forever decided that he would not go to serve, because he understood that the actions of the colonel were ordinary things, that he would also have to act immorally and cruelly. For Ivan Vasilyevich, this is unthinkable. In any situation, you must remain human. L. N. Tolstoy tried to convey this to readers, demonstrating the choice of the protagonist of the story “After the Ball”.

Colonel's Choice

The narrator is not the only character facing a life choice in the work. The colonel, the girl's father, who manages the soldier's execution, faces the same choice. Having met eyes with Ivan Vasilyevich, he could stop this torture of the guilty person, but he does not. Go against the system and become the same victim, or follow the public principles? The Colonel chooses the second option. This is probably due to the fear that for disobedience and rebellion he will be in the place of that same soldier. He couldn't fight state system, could not resist her, which is the choice of the hero. Existence and submission to power is more important than honor.

(462 words) L. N. Tolstoy in his story “After the Ball” clearly demonstrated how a person’s life and worldview can completely and completely change in just one night. The work begins with the statement of the protagonist Ivan Vasilyevich that the formation of personality is far from being affected by the environment surrounding him, but by chance. As an argument for his statement, he tells a story from his life.

During his youth, Ivan Vasilievich was a charming, broken and careless guy. He was also very amorous, but his greatest love was a certain Varenka B - a majestic beauty. At the next ball, Ivan Vasilievich had a great time, performing all kinds of dances with Varenka all evening. The hero was full of joyful emotions, he literally "was drunk with love without wine." He was also pleased that the girl's father, the "military chief", comely and benevolent in appearance, had nothing against his relationship with Varenka. Looking at him, Ivan Vasilyevich felt admiration and respect. And watching the dance of his daughter with his father, the hero was touched and began to honor Colonel B., who, apparently, is ready for a lot, for the sake of the happiness of his child.

After the end of the ball, our hero was inspired with happiness. He was overwhelmed with love, and because of this, he could not sleep, so he decided to take a walk in the night. Wandering the streets, Ivan Vasilyevich suddenly heard strange and frightening sounds. Coming closer, our hero saw the horrifying spectacle of the punishment of the fugitive Tatar. He, tied with his hands to two guns, was led through the line, and everyone standing there hit the deserter with a stick. From this, the back of the punished turned into a bloody mess. The hero could not even imagine that human body may look like this. With each new blow, the runaway soldier begged for mercy: “Brothers, have mercy. Brothers, have mercy." But the "brothers" did not listen to him and continued their merciless torture. Finally, Ivan Vasilyevich was finished off by the fact that none other than Varenka's father was in command of this entire procession.

What he saw firmly settled in the head of Ivan Vasilyevich. There was no trace of recent happiness, delight and love, now the young man was overwhelmed with disgust, shame, shock and horror. Hurrying away from the ill-fated place, he felt not only moral pain, but also physical:

“... my heart was almost physical, reaching nausea, melancholy, such that I stopped several times, and it seemed to me that I was about to vomit ...”.

The author of the story convincingly and vividly showed us how just one single case can change a person from head to toe. If at the ball we saw a young man hovering in the clouds, who was ready to share his happiness with the whole world, then after that he is in torn feelings: the hero is completely disappointed, lost and dejected. The cruel reprisal against the deserter, which, by coincidence, caught Ivan Vasilyevich in his youth, awakened in him a sense of compassion, responsibility, conscience and humanity. The hero of the story literally matured overnight. And, not being able to prevent this evil, he decided at least not to take part in it, renouncing military service and cut off contact with his beloved.

In his story “After the Ball”, Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, in his wonderful literary language, tells us about a big problem inherent in the upper class of that time, about hypocrisy and duplicity.

The hero of the story is a simple nobleman, good man, not very good quality

Educated, but having a decent upbringing and vaccinated in childhood moral values. He is an ordinary inhabitant of his era, constantly in a state of joy, revelry and falling in love, not particularly delving into what is actually happening in the country where he lives and in the society in which he lives. He is in love with the slender, graceful Varenka with a wonderful smile and sparkling eyes, and is completely fascinated by her father - a stately handsome man with a white moving mustache. Her father is a colonel with refined manners and a very pleasant person to talk to. Dancing at the ball with his daughter, he shines. Ivan Vasilyevich, looking at them, admires and falls in love even more with both his daughter and his father. His heart is overflowing with emotions and pleasant excitements, the world seems pink and serene. Returning home, Ivan Vasilyevich fully realizes that Varenka is his soulmate, his love, his light and his life. His feelings are so genuine that he can not be near her. And in the morning he rushes to her house ... And then the irreparable happens.

On the way to the house of his beloved, he observes a cruel scene of torture. Soldiers led by a colonel are beating a Tatar. A man begs for mercy, but no one hears him, his whole back is already a bloody mess. And then a ferocious colonel pounces on one of his soldiers and beats him, for what, they say, you gently punish. The ladle, which yesterday shone at the ball, today severely beats the soldier, and it is clear that he is used to this business and even likes it. The worldview of our hero, at that moment, turned upside down. The father of beloved Varenka appears as a terrible and merciless barbarian, whose true face is very different from secular lion, whom he visited at balls or at home in the company of people equal to himself. Ivan Vasilievich is shocked, so far he has not encountered the army, although he intended to connect his life with this, in his opinion, worthy occupation. It is clear that after what he saw, he no longer thinks so. But what about Varya? Her father's hypocrisy, his duplicity, does not remain without consequences. Our hero is disappointed in feelings, in a recently beloved girl, he sees a tough father. Varya is now associated with him only with meanness and heartlessness. Varenka remains only a memory. What he saw killed all the dreams of the young nobleman and made him look around and rethink the whole world in which he lives.

Tolstoy wrote this story based on real events that happened to his brother, about fifty years before writing the creation itself. And the hero of the story rethought his whole life, just like the brother of Lev Nikolayevich, he revised it and realized that he could not live, love, breathe near such a barbarian as the colonel turned out to be.

Essays on topics:

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I used to think of Tolstoy as the creator of major, epoch-making works. After all, this writer is known throughout the world as the author of "War and Peace", "Anna Karenina", "Resurrection". However, towards the end of his life, Tolstoy turned to storytelling. The work "After the Ball" is one of the most famous stories writer.

It is known that the writer learned about the incident that formed the basis of "After the Ball" in his youth. As a student at Kazan University, Tolstoy heard from his acquaintances about the cruel punishment that took place during Lent. The impression of this terrible story so sunk into the soul of the writer that he remembered it for many years.

Needless to say, I liked this story. It makes a very painful impression. Its main part, describing the punishment of the fugitive Tatar, leaves a feeling of horror. The same dreary horror that the narrator experienced after everything he saw: “Meanwhile, my heart was almost physical, reaching nausea, melancholy, such that I stopped several times, and it seemed to me that I was about to vomit with all that horror, who entered me from this spectacle.

Reading the first part of the story, describing the ball, you are filled with a light and bright feeling. You experience a sense of peace and happiness, which only Tolstoy can create in his works. On the pages of his best works, describing family comfort, home holidays, this warm, wonderful mood is always present. In "After the Ball" the narrator at the ball is as happy as a young man in love who knows no troubles in life can be happy. Ivan Vasilyevich enjoyed his youth, beauty, his love.

Tolstoy psychologically subtly describes the state of the narrator: “Just as it happens that after one drop poured out of a bottle, its contents pour out in large jets, so in my soul love for Varenka freed all the ability of love hidden in my soul. At that time I embraced the whole world with my love. I loved the hostess in the feronniere, with her Elizabethan bust, and her husband, and her guests, and her lackeys, and even the engineer Anisimov, who was sulking at me. To her father, with his house boots and affectionate, similar to her smile, I experienced at that time some kind of enthusiastic tender feeling.

How beautiful is the description of Varenka's dance with her father! The father, already overweight, but still handsome and fit, cannot get enough of his beautiful daughter. Their dance speaks of the love of father and daughter, a strong family, the warmth of spiritual relationships. All this was so clearly visible that at the end of the dance the guests applauded the colonel and Varenka. The narrator felt that he, too, loved Pyotr Vladislavich. And how could it be otherwise: after all, he is the father of his adored Varenka!

The description of the ball leaves a warm and bright impression. You rejoice for the hero, you feel good and easy at heart. And what a contrast sounds the second part of the story, which is the main one in the work! The feeling of fear and horror comes gradually. Her first sign is music, "hard and bad", as well as something big, black, approaching the narrator.

A passer-by blacksmith also becomes a witness to the punishment of the Tatar. His reaction confirms all the inhumanity and nightmare of what is happening. On the field, through two rows of soldiers, a Tartar, naked to the waist, was driven away. He was tied to the guns of two soldiers leading him through the ranks. Each of the soldiers had to hit the fugitive. The Tartar's back turned into a bloodied piece of meat. The fugitive begged to end his torment: “At each blow, the punished, as if surprised, turned his face wrinkled from suffering in the direction from which the blow fell, and, baring his white teeth, repeated some of the same words. It was only when he was very close that I heard these words. He did not speak, but sobbed: “Brothers, have mercy. Brothers, have mercy." But the soldiers did not know mercy.

Everything that happened was watched by a colonel who strictly followed the Tatar. The narrator recognized this colonel as Varenka's father, who pretended not to know Ivan Vasilyevich. The colonel not only watched what was happening, but made sure that the soldiers did not “smear”, they beat at full strength.

And this happened on the first day of Lent! Without a doubt, all these soldiers, not to mention the colonel, considered themselves true Christians. I'm not talking about the fact that in general such a mockery of a person is not Christian. But to do this in Great Lent, when all people remember the torment of Christ! Or do the soldiers think that the Tatar is not a man, because he is a non-believer?

The first feeling that the narrator experienced was universal shame for everyone: for these people, for himself. How can this happen in the world, and what needs to be done to prevent this from happening again? These questions remain in my head after reading the story. But, in my opinion, these are eternal questions that have tormented people for many centuries and will always torment.

Concerning himself, the narrator solved them: he simply withdrew. Ivan Vasilyevich decided never to serve, so as not to be involved in such crimes against his soul. Rather, it was an unconscious decision. It was the command of the soul of Ivan Vasilievich, the most correct in his conditions, in my opinion.

I don't know if I liked the story of L.N. Tolstoy "After the Ball". I can only say with certainty that he did not leave me indifferent. And one more thing: I want my future children to read it.