The storyline is the night before Christmas. Brief retelling of The Night Before Christmas (Gogol N.V.). Images of the main characters

There was a conversation among friends that “for personal improvement it is necessary to first change the conditions among which people live.” Everyone respected Ivan Vasilyevich told a story that radically changed his life.

Then he was young and deeply in love with eighteen-year-old Varenka, a beautiful, tall and graceful girl. This was at a time when the narrator studied at a provincial university, and his main pleasure was balls and evenings.

On the last day of Maslenitsa, the provincial leader gave a ball. Ivan Vasilyevich “was drunk with love” and danced only with Varenka. Her father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavich, “a handsome, stately and fresh old man,” was also there. After lunch, the hostess persuaded him to take one round of the mazurka together with his daughter. The whole hall was delighted with this couple, and Ivan Vasilyevich was imbued with an enthusiastic and tender feeling for Varenka’s father.

That night Ivan Vasilyevich could not sleep, and he went to wander around the city. His feet carried him to Varenka’s house. At the end of the field where her house stood, he saw some kind of crowd, but, coming closer, he saw that it was a Tatar deserter being driven through the gauntlet. Pyotr Vladislavich walked nearby and vigilantly ensured that the soldiers properly lowered the stick onto the red back of the person being punished, and when he saw Ivan Vasilyevich, he pretended that they did not know each other.

The narrator could not understand whether what he saw was good or bad: “If this was done with such confidence and was recognized by everyone as necessary, it means that they knew something that I did not know.” But without knowing this, he could not enter either the military or any other service.

Since then, every time he saw Varenka’s pretty face, he remembered that morning, and “the love just faded away.”

Option 2

Friends argued that conditions needed to be changed so that a person could strive to achieve personal excellence. Ivan Vasilyevich described to those present an incident that he believes changed his life.

He was young and in love with Varenka, a beautiful, tall and graceful eighteen-year-old girl. He studied at the university of a provincial city, and his main pleasure was balls and evenings. At Maslenitsa, the provincial leader had a ball. Ivan Vasilyevich, drunk with love, danced with only Varenka. The girl’s father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavich, was also present at the ball. He was handsome, stately and fresh, although he was an old man. He was persuaded to take the mazurka tour with his daughter. Everyone was delighted with the dance of this couple. Ivan Vasilyevich experienced enthusiastically tender feelings for Varenka’s father.

At night, Ivan Vasilyevich could not sleep and wandered around the city. His feet brought him to Varenka’s house. It was early morning - and at the end of the field there was a crowd of heroes, busy with something. Coming closer, he saw that a Tatar deserter was being driven through the ranks. Pyotr Vladislavich walks along the line and carefully monitors that all the soldiers act with sufficient force, lowering sticks on the soldier’s bloody back. He even whipped a soldier with his glove who didn't hit hard enough. At the same time, the colonel said: “You will smear!” Noticing Ivan Vasilyevich, the colonel pretended to be unfamiliar with him.

The narrator could not understand whether what he witnessed was good or bad. After all, this was done with confidence in the necessity and correctness, and was recognized by everyone as correct. He decided that he could not answer for himself what he personally did not know about the structure of this society. And that’s why he didn’t enlist in the military service, or anything else. And after this incident, every time he saw the face of Varenka, so beloved before, he remembered her father. Love somehow ended by itself.

Essay on literature on the topic: Summary After the ball Tolstoy L. N.

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The story “After the Ball” is based on a real event that Tolstoy learned about when he lived as a student with his brothers in Kazan. His brother Sergei Nikolaevich fell in love with the daughter of the local military commander L.P. Koreysh and was going to marry her. But after that Read More......
Colonel B. Characteristics literary hero Pyotr Vladislavovich (Colonel B.) is the father of Varenka, Ivan Vasilyevich’s beloved. He is “a military commander like an old campaigner of Nikolaev bearing.” P.V. is handsome, stately, tall. He has a ruddy face, white mustache and sideburns, “a gentle, joyful smile... in brilliant Read More ......
The prototype of the main character of the story “After the Ball” was L.N. Tolstoy’s brother Sergei Nikolaevich. Only 50 years later Lev Nikolaevich will write this story. In it, he talks about how a person’s life can change in just one morning. First part Read More......
In the image of Ivan Vasilyevich - the hero of the story “After the Ball” - L.N. Tolstoy showed us a typical person of that time, a student, one might say, an everyman, standing aloof from big affairs, living modestly and no different from others in appearance. Together with Read More......
“My whole life changed from one night, or rather morning,” this is how Ivan Vasilyevich began his story, convinced that everyone’s life develops in the way that an unexpected incident will change it. The listeners knew that Ivan Vasilyevich sometimes answered his own thoughts out loud and usually Read More......
The story “After the Ball” is one of the last works of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy. It tells about a dramatic event - the punishment of a soldier with spitzrutens. Using the well-known “story within a story” technique, the writer achieves the utmost authenticity of the narrative. We see the event through the eyes of an eyewitness - Ivan Vasilyevich. He Read More......
L.N. Tolstoy wrote the story “After the Ball” at the end of his life, in 1903. The work was based on a real incident that happened to Lev Nikolaevich’s brother Sergei Nikolaevich. The narration is told on behalf of Ivan Vasilyevich, a respected person by all. Ivan Vasilievich Read More ......
Reading L. N. Tolstoy’s story “After the Ball,” we become witnesses to how the events of just one morning can completely change a person’s fate. The hero on whose behalf the story is told is “everyone respected Ivan Vasilyevich,” in whose fate chance played a decisive role. Read More......

Summary After the ball Tolstoy L. N.

« After the ball" - a story by Leo Tolstoy, published after his death in 1911. The story is based on the events that happened to Leo Tolstoy’s older brother, Nikolai. At that time, Lev Nikolaevich, as a student, lived in Kazan with his brothers. Nikolai Nikolaevich was in love with Varvara Andreevna Koreish, the daughter of the military commander Andrei Petrovich Koreish, and visited their house. But after he saw the beating of a fugitive soldier under the leadership of the girl’s father, the lover’s feelings quickly cooled, and he abandoned his intention to marry.

This story firmly settled in Tolstoy’s memory, and many years later he described it in his work. Before the story received its final title, it was called “Daughter and Father,” then “And You Say.” Tolstoy wrote a story for a collection of works prepared by Sholom Aleichem in favor of Jews who suffered during the Chisinau pogrom.

The “girls' institute” mentioned in the story is the Kazan Rodionovsky Institute for Noble Maidens, which was then located on the outskirts of the city. The place where “the Tatar was persecuted for escaping” is now Leo Tolstoy Street.

After the ball

In the story, Tolstoy paints two contrasting pictures. The first is bright and festive, he describes a ball at the provincial leader, where the hero of the story is in love with Varenka and admired by her father, the colonel (“the provincial leader, a good-natured old man, a rich hospitable man”). Taking care of his beloved daughter, the father saves on himself, instead fashionable shoes orders boots from the battalion shoemaker. The Mazurka of father and daughter evokes universal applause; his caring attitude towards it is remarkable. The festive atmosphere is enhanced by the fact that the ball takes place on the last day of Maslenitsa. But in contrast to this festivity and luxury, the hero of the story, Ivan Vasilyevich, sees the event that takes place the next morning - a bloody reprisal, disgusting in its cruelty, carried out by Varenka’s father over the Tatar soldier who escaped. Moreover, a colonel with a “ruddy face and a white mustache and sideburns” beats a “short, weak soldier,” believing that he did not hit the Tatar hard enough with a stick on the back, which is already something “motley, wet, red, unnatural.” The transformation of a tenderly loving father and good-natured colonel into a cruel and merciless tormentor shocked Ivan Vasilyevich so much that his feelings for Varenka quickly cooled down, “from that day on, love began to wane.” In the image of love that has come to naught, the writer conveys the parting with formal faith that he himself experienced. The scale of the story is given by the fact that the reprisal is carried out in Forgiveness Sunday, which makes Christian forgiveness a meaningless declaration. The writer emphasizes the unmercifulness and unchristian character of society by the fact that not just a soldier, but a Muslim is punished with spitzrutens; Thus, “Christian” preaching to other believers is taught in the form of violence, and not of Christ’s love.

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“After the Ball” retelling. Tolstoy L. N.

Brief summary of the story “After the Ball” by L.N. Tolstoy.

Above the story " After the ball» Tolstoy worked in August 1903. The plot was based on an episode from the life of Tolstoy’s brother, Sergei Nikolaevich, who was in love with the daughter of a military leader in Kazan. Sergei Nikolaevich's relationship with the girl was upset after he had to see the execution of a soldier, which was led by the father of his beloved.

The theme of the cruelty of military service under the tsarist regime so strongly and constantly worried Tolstoy that the idea of the story immediately clearly emerged in his creative imagination.

But the writer raises another very important problem for him: can a person by himself “understand what is good and what is bad,” or “it’s all about the environment”? “...For personal improvement, it is necessary, first of all, to change the conditions among which people live,” - this is what the interlocutors of the respected Ivan Vasilyevich say at the beginning of the story “ After the ball". And his answer: “But I think it’s all a matter of chance,” provides a thematic setting for resolving the main idea at the end of the story.

The narration is told on behalf of Ivan Vasilyevich, an elderly man who recalls the story of the days of his youth, when he was “a very cheerful and lively fellow, and also rich,” and also handsome. From a short introduction we learn that this man is respected by everyone, that “he spoke very sincerely and truthfully,” has a rich life experience. All this gives special confidence to the hero.

At the center of the work is an event that happened one morning and played a decisive role in the fate of Ivan Vasilyevich.

The story is structured as a consistent and contrasting depiction of two episodes: a ball at the provincial leader's and the punishment of a soldier on the parade ground. The contrasting episodes are organically connected and develop the artistic idea.

At the ball, the hero, then a student at a provincial university, happily in love with the lovely girl Varenka, the daughter of Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, “like an old campaigner of Nikolaev bearing,” not noticing anything around him, danced only with her. The beautiful hall, the music, the brilliance of the outfits - all this only enhanced the state in which the young man was when “without wine... drunk with love.”

The greatest impression on him was made by the mazurka that the graceful Varenka danced with her father, a handsome, stately, tall, still fresh old man, and although the colonel was overweight, “it was clear that he had once danced beautifully.”

This dance of father and daughter was the most touching episode of the ball, which added heat to the fire of the hero’s 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... and her husband, and her guests, and her lackeys... For her father, with his home boots and an affectionate smile similar to hers, I felt at that time some kind of enthusiastically tender feeling.”

After the ball the young man, having arrived home at five o'clock in the morning, could not sleep, so he decided to take a walk, and the strange sounds of a flute and drum, discordant with the melody of the mazurka, which was still sounding in him, attracted his attention.

He saw a terrible picture: “Soldiers in black uniforms stood in two rows opposite each other, holding guns to their feet, and did not move. Behind them stood a drummer and a flute player, constantly repeating the same unpleasant and shrill melody.”

Between these rows, the young man saw a man naked to the waist, who was being hit with sticks from both sides, and he did not fall only because he was led, tied to guns. Instead of a back, the poor Tatar, who tried to escape, “had something so motley, wet, red, unnatural...”.

And this execution was led by a stately colonel, who just a few hours ago had so touchingly danced a mazurka with his daughter, and in him it was impossible to guess such sophisticated evil cruelty, fueled by official zeal.

By contrasting the two scenes, Tolstoy tears off the mask from the outwardly prosperous, elegant reality. And the hero himself understands “what is good and what is bad”; in his perception, the image of the colonel was too closely intertwined with the image of Varenka, she also became unpleasant to him. But not only “love came to naught”, after this wild incident the hero “could not enter military service, as he wanted before, and not only did not serve in the military, but did not serve anywhere...”.

Analysis of the story “After the Ball” by L.N. Tolstoy

History of creation

The story “After the Ball” was written in 1903 and published after the writer’s death in 1911. The story is based on a real event that Tolstoy learned about when he lived as a student with his brothers in Kazan. His brother Sergei Nikolaevich fell in love with the daughter of the local military commander L.P. Koreysha was going to marry her. But after Sergei Nikolaevich saw the cruel punishment commanded by the father of his beloved girl, he experienced a strong shock. He stopped visiting Koreish's house and gave up the idea of getting married. This story lived so firmly in Tolstoy’s memory that many years later he described it in the story “After the Ball.” The writer was thinking about the title of the story. There were several options: “The story about the ball and through the gauntlet”, “Daughter and father”, etc. As a result, the story was called “After the ball”.

The writer was concerned with the problem: man and environment, the influence of circumstances on human behavior. Can a person manage himself or is it all a matter of environment and circumstances.

Genre, genre, creative method

“After the Ball” is a prose work; it is written in the short story genre, since the center of the story is one important event from the hero’s life (the shock of what he saw after the ball), and the text is small in volume. It must be said that in his declining years Tolstoy showed particular interest in the short story genre.

The story depicts two eras: the 40s of the 19th century, the time of Nicholas's reign and the time of the creation of the story. The writer restores the past to show that nothing has changed in the present. He opposes violence and oppression, against inhumane treatment of people. The story “After the Ball,” like all the works of JI.H. Tolstoy, is associated with realism in Russian literature.

Subjects

Tolstoy reveals in the story “After the Ball” one of the bleak aspects of life in Nicholas Russia - the position of a tsarist soldier: a twenty-five-year service life, meaningless drill, complete lack of rights for soldiers, being held through the ranks as punishment. However, the main problem in the story is related to moral questions: what shapes a person - social conditions or chance. A single incident rapidly changes an individual life (“The whole life changed from one night, or rather morning,” says the hero). In the center of the image in the story is the thought of a person who is able to immediately discard class prejudices.

Idea

The idea of the story is revealed using a certain system of images and composition. The main characters are Ivan Vasilyevich and the colonel, the father of the girl with whom the narrator was in love, through whose images the main problem is solved. The author shows that society and its structure, and not chance, influence personality.
In the image of the colonel, Tolstoy exposes the objective social conditions that distort human nature and instill in him false concepts of duty.
The ideological content is revealed through the depiction of the evolution of the narrator’s inner feelings, his sense of the world. The writer makes you think about the problem of human responsibility for the environment. It is precisely the awareness of this responsibility for the life of society that distinguishes Ivan Vasilyevich. A young man from a wealthy family, impressionable and enthusiastic, faced with terrible injustice, abruptly changed his life path, abandoning any career. “I was so ashamed that, not knowing where to look, as if I had been caught in the most shameful act, I lowered my eyes and hurried to go home.” He dedicated his life to helping other people: “Say better: no matter how many people would be worthless if you weren’t here.”
In the story J.I.H. In Tolstoy, everything is in contrast, everything is shown according to the principle of antithesis: a description of a brilliant ball and a terrible punishment on the field; the setting in the first and second parts; graceful, lovely Varenka and the figure of the Tatar with his terrible, unnatural back; Varenka’s father at the ball, who evoked enthusiastic emotion in Ivan Vasilyevich, and he is an evil, formidable old man, demanding that the soldiers carry out orders. Studying the general structure of a story becomes a means of revealing its ideological content.

Nature of the conflict

The basis of the conflict in this story lies, on the one hand, in the depiction of the two-facedness of the colonel, on the other, in the disappointment of Ivan Vasilyevich.
The colonel was a very handsome, stately, tall and fresh old man. Affectionate, leisurely speech emphasized his aristocratic essence and aroused even more admiration. Varenka’s father was so sweet and kind that he endeared himself to everyone, including the main character of the story. After the ball, in the scene of the soldier’s punishment, not a single sweet, good-natured feature remained on the colonel’s face. There was nothing left of the man who was at the ball, but a new one appeared, menacing and cruel. The angry voice of Pyotr Vladislavovich alone inspired fear. Ivan Vasilyevich describes the soldier’s punishment this way: “And I saw how he, with his strong hand in a suede glove, beat a frightened, short, weak soldier in the face because he did not lower his stick firmly enough on the red back of the Tatar.” Ivan Vasilyevich cannot love just one person, he must certainly love the whole world, understand and accept it entirely. Therefore, along with his love for Varenka, the hero also loves her father and admires him. When he encounters cruelty and injustice in this world, his entire sense of harmony and integrity of the world collapses, and he prefers not to love at all than to love partially. I am not free to change the world, to defeat evil, but I and only I am free to agree or disagree to participate in this evil - this is the logic of the hero’s reasoning. And Ivan Vasilyevich consciously renounces his love.

Main characters

The main characters of the story are the young man Ivan Vasilyevich, in love with Varenka, and the girl’s father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich.
The Colonel, a handsome and strong man of about fifty, an attentive and caring father who wears homemade boots to dress and take out his beloved daughter, the Colonel is sincere both at the ball, when he dances with his beloved daughter, and after the ball, when, without reasoning, like a zealous Nikolaev a campaigner drives a fugitive soldier through the ranks. He undoubtedly believes in the need to deal with those who have broken the law. It is this sincerity of the colonel in different life situations that most baffles Ivan Vasilyevich. How do you understand someone who is sincerely kind in one situation and sincerely angry in another? “Obviously, he knows something that I don’t know... If I knew what he knows, I would understand what I saw, and it would not torment me.” Ivan Vasilyevich felt that society was to blame for this contradiction: “If this was done with such confidence and was recognized by everyone as necessary, then, therefore, they knew something that I did not know.”
Ivan Vasilyevich, a modest and decent young man, shocked by the scene of the beating of soldiers, is unable to understand why this is possible, why there are orders that require sticks to protect. The shock experienced by Ivan Vasilyevich turned his ideas about class morality upside down: he began to understand the Tatar’s plea for mercy, compassion and anger sounding in the words of the blacksmith; Without realizing it, he shares the highest human laws of morality.

Plot and composition

The plot of the story is simple. Ivan Vasilyevich, convinced that the environment does not influence a person’s way of thinking, but that it’s all a matter of chance, tells the story of his youthful love for the beautiful Varenka B. At the ball, the hero meets Varenka’s father, a very handsome, stately, tall and “fresh old man” with Colonel's ruddy face and luxurious mustache. The owners persuade him to dance a mazurka with their daughter. While dancing, the couple attracts everyone's attention. After the mazurka, the father takes Varenka to Ivan Vasilyevich, and the young people spend the rest of the evening together.

Ivan Vasilyevich returns home in the morning, but cannot sleep and goes to wander around the city in the direction of Varenka’s house. From afar, he hears the sounds of a flute and a drum, which endlessly repeat the same shrill melody. On the field in front of B.'s house, he sees how some Tatar soldiers are being driven through the line for escaping. The execution is commanded by Varenka’s father, the handsome, stately Colonel B. Tatar begs the soldiers to “have mercy,” but the colonel strictly makes sure that the soldiers do not give him the slightest concession. One of the soldiers “smears.” B. hits him in the face. Ivan Vasilyevich sees the red, motley, blood-wet back of the Tatar and is horrified. Noticing Ivan Vasilyevich, B. pretends to be unfamiliar with him and turns away.
Ivan Vasilyevich thinks that the colonel is probably right, since everyone admits that he is acting normally. However, he cannot understand the reasons that forced B. to brutally beat a man, and not understanding, he decides not to enlist in military service. His love is waning. So one incident changed his life and views.
The whole story is the events of one night, which the hero recalls many years later. The composition of the story is clear and clear, four parts are logically distinguished in it: a large dialogue at the beginning of the story, leading to the story of the ball; ball scene; execution scene and final remark.

“After the Ball” is structured as a “story within a story”: it begins with the fact that the venerable, who has seen a lot in life and, as the author adds, a sincere and truthful person, Ivan Vasilyevich, in a conversation with friends, asserts that a person’s life develops one way or another not at all from the influence of the environment, but because of chance, and as proof of this he cites an incident, as he himself admits, that changed his life. This is actually a story, the heroes of which are Varenka B., her father and Ivan Vasilyevich himself. Thus, from the dialogue between the narrator and his friends at the very beginning of the story, we learn that the episode in question was of great importance in a person’s life. The form of oral storytelling gives events a special realism. The mention of the sincerity of the narrator serves the same purpose. He talks about what happened to him in his youth; This narrative is given a certain “patina of antiquity,” as well as the mention that Varenka is already old, that “her daughters are married.”

Artistic originality

Tolstoy the artist always took care to “reduce everything to unity” in his work. In the story “After the Ball,” contrast became such a unifying principle. The story is built on the device of contrast, or antithesis, by showing two diametrically opposed episodes and, in connection with this, a sharp change in the narrator’s experiences. Thus, the contrasting composition of the story and the appropriate language help to reveal the idea of the work, tear off the mask of good nature from the colonel’s face, and show his true essence.
Contrast is also used by the writer when choosing linguistic means. Thus, when describing the portrait of Varenka, white color predominates: “ White dress“,” “white kid gloves,” “white satin shoes” (this artistic technique is called color painting). This is due to the fact that white color is the personification of purity, light, joy. Tolstoy, with the help of this word, emphasizes the feeling of celebration and conveys the narrator’s state of mind. The musical accompaniment of the story speaks about the holiday in Ivan Vasilyevich’s soul: a cheerful quadrille, a gentle smooth waltz, a playful polka, and an elegant mazurka create a joyful mood.

In the scene of punishment there are different colors and different music: “... I saw... something big, black and heard the sounds of a flute and drum coming from there. ... it was ... hard, bad music."

Meaning of the work

The significance of the story is enormous. Tolstoy poses broad humanistic problems: why do some live a carefree life, while others drag out a miserable existence? What is justice, honor, dignity? These problems have worried and continue to worry more than one generation of Russian society. That is why Tolstoy remembered an incident that happened in his youth and based it on his story.
2008 marked the 180th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. Hundreds of books and articles have been written about him, his works are known all over the world, his name is revered in all countries, the heroes of his novels and stories live on screens and theater stages. His word is heard on radio and television. “Without knowing Tolstoy,” wrote M. Gorky, “you cannot consider yourself to know your country, you cannot consider yourself a cultured person.”
Tolstoy's humanism, his penetration into the inner world of man, his protest against social injustice do not become obsolete, but live and influence the minds and hearts of people even today.
An entire era in the development of Russian classical literature is associated with the name of Tolstoy. fiction.
Tolstoy's legacy has great importance to shape the worldview and aesthetic tastes of readers. Acquaintance with his works, filled with high humanistic and moral ideals, undoubtedly contributes to spiritual enrichment.
There is no other writer in Russian literature whose work would be as diverse and complex as the work of L.N. Tolstoy. The great writer developed Russian literary language, enriched literature with new means of depicting life.
The global significance of Tolstoy's work is determined by the formulation of great, exciting socio-political, philosophical and moral problems, unsurpassed realism in the depiction of life and high artistic skill.
His works - novels, stories, short stories, plays - are read with unflagging interest by more and more generations of people all over the world. globe. This is evidenced by the fact that the decade from 2000 to 2010. was declared by UNESCO as the decade of L.N. Tolstoy.

Characteristics of the image of Ivan Vasilyevich

Ivan Vasilievich- main character, narrator. His narrative takes listeners into the setting of a Russian provincial town in the 1840s. At that time, I.V. was studying at the university, did not participate in any circles, but simply lived, “as is typical of youth.”

One day he happened to be “on the last day of Maslenitsa at a ball given by the provincial leader.” His beloved, Varenka B., was also there. I.V. especially dwells on the “incorporeality” of his passion for the young beautiful woman, trying to create in his listeners the impression of almost “angel-likeness” of his inner state: “...I was happy, blissful, I was kind, I was not me, but some unearthly being, knowing no evil and capable of only good " I.V.’s affection for himself and Varenka is gradually transferred to everyone present: to the good-natured, hospitable leader and his wife, a lady with plump white hair bare shoulders(I.V. emphasizes its resemblance to the ceremonial portraits of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna), to Varenka’s father, Colonel V., and even to the engineer Anisimov, who took away his first mazurka with Varenka. “I embraced the whole world with my love at that time.” This truly divine, brotherly love, revealed to I.V. on the last day of Maslenitsa, on the eve of Lent, is strangely sanctioned in Tolstoy’s portrayal by the pagan, generally blasphemous laws of ballroom social entertainment.

Further events happen to I.V. the very next morning, on the first day of Lent. By chance, he witnesses a barbaric execution - a ritual of punishing a fugitive Tatar with spitzrutens. The execution scene is a distorting mirror of the ballroom ritual. I.V.’s perception involuntarily records these distorted correspondences. The melody of the mazurka is superimposed on the shrill accompaniment of the drum and flute, the rhythm of the dance steps is superimposed on the chased wave of the soldier’s hands and the biting whistling of stick blows, Varenka’s dance with her father is superimposed on the hellish “dance” of the Tatar being tortured and walking with him in a pair with a “firm, trembling gait.” "Colonel B. Instead of the "incorporeal" Varenka - the "motley, wet, red" "human body": "Brothers, have mercy." These “brothers”, this obvious analogy with Golgotha, unambiguously echo the motif of brotherly, universal love experienced by I.V. during the ball. In his imagination, seemingly disparate worlds are monstrously intertwined: spiritual and carnal, Christian and pagan, divine and demonic. The Maslenitsa ball, pagan Pharisaic official culture give rise to the idea of universal love, and the “modern Golgotha” seen at the beginning of Lent, on the contrary, reveals not the face of Christ suffering for humanity, but an ugly bloody mess of tortured human flesh. Satan serves God, God serves Satan, and all this is united by the common symbol of ritualized dance. For Tolstoy, all this is “false culture”, a “werewolf culture” that denies itself.

Unlike the author, I.V. is not able to accept the truth that has been revealed to him. “Obviously, he knows something that I don’t know,” thought I.V. about the colonel, watching how he easily and habitually moves from the ball to the execution, from the “spirit” to the “flesh”, without changing, essentially their behavior. I.V. was never “initiated” into the secrets of secular “decency” that justify such “werewolfism”. He remained “on the other side” of what was committed by the bearers of the official morality of good and evil. Without delving into the contemporary postulates of “decent” behavior, I.V. at the same time did not believe his natural moral sense, not yet spoiled by society. Refusal from military service and marriage to Varenka is not so much a protest as I.V.’s spiritual surrender to the chaos of his contemporary culture.

After the ball, characterization of the image of Pyotr Vladislavovich

Pyotr Vladislavovich (Colonel B.)- father of Varenka, Ivan Vasilyevich’s beloved. P.V. - “a military commander like an old campaigner of Nikolaev bearing.” This, however, does not prevent him from gracefully performing a mazurka together with his daughter during the ball. P.V., both in the service and in the world, is accustomed to doing everything “according to the law.” Following the rules of ballroom etiquette, before the dance he does not forget to free himself from the sword and put on a suede glove. right hand. This bureaucratic punctuality, which does not fundamentally distinguish between the spheres of official and private behavior, will reveal its ominous meaning to the narrator Ivan Vasilyevich as the story progresses, but for now he enthusiastically watches the dancing couple, experiencing “some kind of enthusiastically tender feeling” for Varenka’s father.

The next morning, the same and at the same time terribly different P.V. appears before the narrator. Just as methodically as he prepared for the dance in the assembly, now, on the parade ground, he competently performs the ritual of execution of a fugitive soldier. Holding your daughter by the waist with your right hand in a suede glove during a mazurka and hitting with the same hand in a suede glove in the face of a soldier who has lost the rhythm of punishment with canes does not make much difference for P.V. In the minds of Ivan Vasilyevich, the image of P.V. begins to split into two, acquiring an almost infernal meaning. Scattered details of the portrait and gestures suddenly come together, revealing a chilling “photo identikit”. tender kiss on the daughter’s forehead after the dance and the emphasized portrait resemblance to Nicholas I vividly reveal the meaning of this well-known Judas gesture. And the beautiful, stately, tall figure of P.V., his ruddy face, white mustache, white sideburns, “a gentle, joyful smile... in his sparkling eyes and lips” - these portrait details of P.V. not only transfer from the ball scene to the episode executions, but also unexpectedly repeated in the angelic, “disembodied” appearance of his daughter Varenka: “tall, slender, graceful and majestic,” in all white and, again, “her radiant, flushed face with dimples and gentle, sweet eyes.” It was not for nothing that when Ivan Vasilyevich subsequently had to see the smile on Varenka’s face, he “immediately remembered the colonel on the square”, and he “felt somehow awkward and unpleasant...”. As the plot unfolds, the angelic and the Judaic begin to unnaturally shine through each other in the guise of both P.V. and Varenka, revealing the “werewolf” nature of Tolstoy’s contemporary Christian culture.

The role of chance in a person’s life (Based on the example of L. N. Tolstoy’s story “After the Ball”)

1. Reception of contrast.
2. A cruel joke.
3. Change of worldview.

Chance rules everything. I would also like to know who controls the situation.
S. E. Lec

The topic of the essay presents very interest Ask- the role of chance in human life. But indeed in life, Mr. Chance plays an important role. And it can not only open your eyes to some event, but also dramatically change the life of one or even several people. So what is the price of the case? To answer this question, consider one of the works of L.N. Tolstoy - the story “After the Ball.”

The very title of the work already hints at the fact that an incident in the lives of the heroes plays an important, if not exceptional, significance. The title seems to suggest: something exceptional happened after the ball, which could affect the lives of the main, and possibly secondary characters works.

The story begins with the respected Ivan Vasilyevich talking about one episode from his biography, which dramatically changed not only his life, but also his view of the world. “You say that a person cannot understand on his own what is good and what is bad, that it’s all about the environment, that the environment is eating away,” Ivan Vasilyevich suddenly spoke. “And I think it’s all a matter of chance.”

To describe such a radical change in outlook on life, the writer uses contrasting colors to recreate the shades of a brilliant ball and bloody punishment. In this picture, not only harshness and hypocrisy appear, but also a special color palette. So, for example, the second part of the story turns purple. It’s like a bloody wall that runs between two days and puts an insurmountable barrier between two young people.

But not only external circumstances, but also the internal qualities of people change in such a short period of time. They are especially clearly reflected in the colonel’s appearance. Before us appear two seemingly different people before and after the ball.

Ivan Vasilyevich notices at the ball that the colonel has a stately figure and a handsome face. However, a few hours later he appears in a different light. And much attention is paid to the face of the military man, who expresses some kind of hatred towards the criminal. Now the colonel has a protruding lip and puffed out cheeks. Not a trace remained of the handsome, “ballroom” face of the military man. He was also changed by an incident: the punishment of a Tatar for escaping. As a result, a new reason for thought arises: if it had not been a Tatar or a colonel, there would have been another reason for punishment. What would be the description of a military man then?

The contrast of the two days is also preserved in the color scheme. The ball features pure, airy colors such as white and pink. That evening he “saw only a tall, slender figure in a white dress with a pink belt, her radiant, flushed face with dimples and gentle, sweet eyes.” After the ball, this is one, but very telling color - motley red: “... I caught a glimpse of the back of the punished between the rows. It was something so motley, wet, red, unnatural that I didn’t believe it was a human body.” To create the most complete picture of the two completely different worlds, the narrator introduces not only color, but also sound shades into his narrative. This allows you to see the difference between the two days at the level of perception of subtle transitions of the melody. At the ball, Ivan Vasilyevich was intoxicated with love and constantly “danced quadrilles, waltzes, polkas,” and mazurkas. All this creates a melancholy and poetic picture of the evening.

During punishment, completely different music sounds: the thunder of drums, the whistle of a flute. They do not calm, but seem to tear at the soul even more and leave notes of confusion in it.

At first, echoes of the mazurka are still heard in the hero’s soul, but soon they are replaced by a heavier melody: “... I heard the sounds of a flute and drum coming from there. I was singing all the time in my soul and occasionally heard the motif of a mazurka. But it was some other, hard, bad music.”

After what he saw in the hero’s soul, the opposite mood still remains. Different tones appear in it: now the harsh voice of a colonel, now the plaintive request of a Tatar, now the drum roll, now the whistle of a flute: “All the way in my ears I either heard the drum beat and the whistle of a flute, or heard the words: “Brothers, have mercy,” then I heard the colonel’s self-confident, angry voice.”

However, the incident played a cruel joke on the girl herself. Varenka suffered “punishment” for her father’s actions. It cannot, of course, be said that she did not know her father and could not imagine what he was capable of. But the main character these two are so different images combined in one picture, thanks to which the young people had to part. So his love seemed to disappear somewhere: “When she, as often happened with her, with a smile on her face, thought, I immediately remembered the colonel in the square, and I felt somehow awkward and unpleasant, and I became less likely to see her."

But what he saw had an impact not only on Ivan Vasilyevich’s relationship with Varenka. It also had a severe impact on the worldview of the narrator himself. He tried to understand and comprehend what he had to see in the morning. At first, Ivan Vasilyevich even assumed that those who punish had some information that was unknown to him. But this could not calm him down and improve his mental balance. “But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find out later. But without finding out, I could not enter military service, as I had wanted before, and not only did I not serve in the military, but I did not serve anywhere and, as you see, was not suitable for anything.” And such ignorance and doubt influenced the fact that Ivan Vasilyevich was unable to enlist in military service, because for him it was embodied in the guise of a cruel colonel - not the fit man who danced at the ball, but in the image of the one who hit the the face of the soldier who weakly struck the Tatar.

However, in the story itself there is one small episode that proves that the colonel loves his daughter very much, that is, he would never cause her any harm. The military man denies himself many things, even goes out in public wearing unfashionable calf boots just so that Varenka can deny herself nothing. The Colonel dances beautifully, but in a couple the grace of the dance depends on both partners. So again he does everything to present his daughter in a good light.

But chance intervenes in life again. Ivan Vasilyevich and the colonel meet eyes during the punishment, the latter turns away as if he had not noticed anything. He is far from the moral image that L.N. Tolstoy formed in his later works. But I would like to believe that for the colonel himself this meeting, and therefore the incident itself, played an equally important role. Since he turned away, maybe he feels that he is not entirely right and is behaving inappropriately at that moment: he hit the soldier in the face who is “smearing.” Or maybe he just remembers what happened the night before at the provincial leader’s ball and understands how contrasting the picture is playing out before Ivan Vasilyevich’s eyes.

It was this contrast that played the biggest role in the life of the main character. If these scenes had not been preserved in his soul, then maybe over time he would have been able to calm down and meet Varenka again. But in his soul there was constantly a struggle between two different, but very impressive pictures. And since the latter was more vivid, speaking and cruel, it left a much greater impression on Ivan Vasilyevich’s soul. Therefore, he could not overcome himself not to remember this.

The writer chooses the most effective technique - the technique of contrast. We do not know what his attitude is to what he saw and to the concept of “chance” in this life. But the use of this technique makes it possible to understand that the writer, to some extent, agrees with the main character. And in this way he denounces and does not accept either for his character, or even less for himself, the colonel’s act. This perception of the world also leaves an imprint on the later views of the writer, who begins to think about the spiritual improvement of the individual. He shows us that the colonel is very far from all this. Ivan Vasilyevich, on the contrary, is probably encountering this for the first time and understands that any action must have a spiritual and moral basis. Perhaps then the case will not have its destructive effect on a person.

Tolstoy L. N.After the ball

– So you say that a person cannot understand on his own what is good and what is bad, that it’s all about the environment, that the environment is corroding. And I think it's all a matter of chance. I'll tell you about myself.

This is how the respected Ivan Vasilyevich spoke after a conversation between us, about the fact that for personal improvement it is necessary to first change the conditions among which people live. Nobody, in fact, said that you cannot understand for yourself what is good and what is bad, but Ivan Vasilyevich had such a manner of responding to his own thoughts that arose as a result of the conversation and, on the occasion of these thoughts, telling episodes from his life. Often he completely forgot the reason for which he was telling, getting carried away by the story, especially since he told it very sincerely and truthfully.

So he did now.

– I’ll tell you about myself. My whole life turned out this way and not differently, not from the environment, but from something completely different.

- From what? – we asked.

- Yes it long story. To understand, you need to tell a lot.

- So tell me.

Ivan Vasilyevich thought for a moment and shook his head.

“Yes,” he said. “My whole life changed from one night, or rather morning.

- What happened?

- What happened was that I was very much in love. I fell in love many times, but this was my strongest love. It's a thing of the past; her daughters are already married. It was B... yes, Varenka B... - Ivan Vasilyevich said his last name. “She was a wonderful beauty even at fifty years old.” But in her youth, eighteen years old, she was lovely: tall, slender, graceful and majestic, just majestic. She always held herself unusually straight, as if she could not do otherwise, throwing her head back a little, and this gave her, with her beauty and tall stature, despite her thinness, even bonyness, a kind of regal appearance that would frighten away from her if would it not be for the affectionate, always cheerful smile of her mouth, and her lovely sparkling eyes, and her entire sweet, young being.

– What is it like for Ivan Vasilyevich to paint?

- No matter how you describe it, it’s impossible to describe it in such a way that you understand what she was like. But that’s not the point: what I want to tell you happened in the forties. At that time I was a student at a provincial university. I don’t know whether this is good or bad, but at that time we didn’t have any clubs or theories at our university, but we were just young and lived as is typical for youth: we studied and had fun. I was a very cheerful and lively fellow, and also rich. I had a dashing pacer, rode down the mountains with young ladies (skates were not yet in fashion), partied with friends (at that time we drank nothing but champagne; there was no money - we didn’t drink anything, but we didn’t drink like we do now , vodka). My main pleasure was evenings and balls. I danced well and was not ugly.

“Well, there’s no need to be modest,” one of the interlocutors interrupted him. – We know your daguerreotype portrait. It’s not that you weren’t ugly, but you were handsome.

- The handsome man is so handsome, but that’s not the point. But the fact is that during this very strong love I visited her on the last day of Maslenitsa at a ball hosted by the provincial leader, a good-natured old man, a rich hospitable man and a chamberlain. He was received by his wife, who was as good-natured as he, in a velvet puce dress, with a diamond feronniere on her head and with open old, plump, white shoulders and breasts, like portraits of Elizaveta Petrovna. The ball was wonderful: a beautiful hall, with choirs, musicians - famous serfs of the amateur landowner at that time, a magnificent buffet and a sea of champagne poured out. Although I was a lover of champagne, I didn’t drink, because without wine I was drunk with love, but I danced until I dropped, danced quadrilles, waltzes, and polkas, of course, as far as possible, all with Varenka. She was wearing a white dress with a pink belt and white kid gloves that did not reach her thin, sharp elbows, and white satin shoes. The Mazurka was taken from me: the disgusting engineer Anisimov - I still can’t forgive him for this - invited her, she just came in, and I stopped by the hairdresser and for gloves and was late. So I danced the mazurka not with her, but with a German girl whom I had courted a little before. But, I’m afraid, that evening I was very discourteous with her, did not speak to her, did not look at her, but saw only a tall, slender figure in a white dress with a pink belt, her radiant, flushed face with dimples and gentle, sweet eyes. I wasn’t the only one, everyone looked at her and admired her, both men and women admired her, despite the fact that she outshone them all. It was impossible not to admire.

According to the law, so to speak, I did not dance the mazurka with her, but in reality I danced almost all the time with her. She, without embarrassment, walked straight across the hall to me, and I jumped up without waiting for an invitation, and she thanked me with a smile for my insight. When we were brought to her and she did not guess my quality, she, giving her hand not to me, shrugged her thin shoulders and, as a sign of regret and consolation, smiled at me. When they did the mazurka waltz figures, I waltzed with her for a long time, and she, breathing quickly, smiled and said to me: “Encore.”

And I waltzed again and again and did not feel my body.

“Well, why didn’t you feel, I think, you really felt when you hugged her waist, not only your own, but also her body,” said one of the guests.

Ivan Vasilyevich suddenly blushed and almost shouted angrily:

– Yes, that’s you, today’s youth. You see nothing except the body. It wasn't like that in our time. The more in love I was, the more incorporeal she became for me. Now you see legs, ankles and something else, you undress the women you are in love with, but for me, as Alphonse Karr said - he was a good writer - the object of my love was always wearing bronze clothes. We didn’t just undress, but tried to cover our nakedness, like the good son of Noah. Well, you won’t understand...

- Yes. So I danced with her again and didn’t see how time passed. The musicians, with a kind of desperation of weariness, you know, as happens at the end of the ball, picked up the same mazurka motif, father and mother rose from the living room from the card tables, waiting for dinner, footmen ran in more often, carrying something. It was three o'clock. We had to take advantage of the last minutes. I chose her again, and we walked along the hall for the hundredth time.

- So, after dinner, the square dance is mine? I told her, leading her to her seat.

“Of course, if they don’t take me away,” she said, smiling.

“I won’t,” I said.

“Give me the fan,” she said.

“It’s a pity to give it away,” I said, handing her a cheap white fan.

“So here’s to you, so you don’t regret it,” she said, tore a feather from the fan and gave it to me.

I took the feather and could only express all my delight and gratitude with a glance. I was not only cheerful and contented, I was happy, blissful, I was kind, I was not me, but some unearthly creature, knowing no evil and capable of only good. I hid the feather in my glove and stood there, unable to move away from her.

“Look, daddy is being asked to dance,” she told me, pointing to the tall, stately figure of her father, a colonel with silver epaulettes, standing in the doorway with the hostess and other ladies.

“Varenka, come here,” we heard the loud voice of the hostess in a diamond feronniere and with Elizabethan shoulders.

Varenka went to the door, and I followed her.

- Persuade, ma chere, your father to walk with you. Well, please, Pyotr Vladislavich,” the hostess turned to the colonel.

Varenka's father was a very handsome, stately, tall and fresh old man. His face was very ruddy, with a white curled mustache a la Nicolas I, white sideburns drawn up to the mustache and with temples combed forward, and the same affectionate, joyful smile, like his daughter’s, was in his shining eyes and lips. He was beautifully built, with a broad chest, sparsely decorated with orders, protruding in a military manner, with strong shoulders and long, slender legs. He was a military commander, like an old campaigner of Nikolaev bearing.

When we approached the door, the colonel refused, saying that he had forgotten how to dance, but still, smiling, throwing left side hand, took the sword out of the belt, gave it to the obliging young man and, pulling a suede glove on his right hand, “everything must be done according to the law,” he said, smiling, took his daughter’s hand and began to turn a quarter turn, waiting for the beat.

Having waited for the start of the mazurka motif, he smartly stamped one foot, kicked out the other, and his tall, heavy figure, sometimes quietly and smoothly, sometimes noisily and violently, with the clatter of soles and feet against feet, moved around the hall. The graceful figure of Varenka floated next to him, imperceptibly, shortening or lengthening the steps of her small white satin legs in time. The entire hall watched the couple's every move. I not only admired them, but looked at them with rapturous emotion. I was especially touched by his boots, covered with strips - good calf boots, but not fashionable ones, with pointed ones, but ancient ones, with square toes and without heels. Apparently the boots were built by the battalion shoemaker. “To take out and dress his beloved daughter, he does not buy fashionable boots, but he wears homemade ones,” I thought, and these quadrangular toes of the boots especially touched me. It was clear that he had once danced beautifully, but now he was overweight, and his legs were no longer elastic enough for all those beautiful and fast steps that he tried to perform. But he still deftly completed two laps. When he, quickly spreading his legs, brought them together again and, although somewhat heavily, fell to one knee, and she, smiling and adjusting her skirt, which he had caught, smoothly walked around him, everyone applauded loudly. Rising with some effort, he vaguely and sweetly grabbed his daughter by the ears and, kissing her forehead, brought her to me, thinking that I was dancing with her. I said that I am not her boyfriend.

“Well, it doesn’t matter, now go for a walk with her,” he said, smiling affectionately and threading his sword into his sword belt.

Just as it happens that after one drop spills from a bottle, its contents pour out in large streams, 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. At that time, I felt a kind of enthusiastically tender feeling towards her father, with his house boots and a gentle smile similar to hers.

The Mazurka ended, the hosts asked for guests for dinner, but Colonel B. refused, saying that he had to get up early tomorrow, and said goodbye to the hosts. I was afraid that they would take her away too, but she stayed with her mother.

After dinner, I danced the promised quadrille with her, and, despite the fact that I seemed to be infinitely happy, my happiness grew and grew. We didn't say anything about love. I didn’t even ask her or myself whether she loved me. It was enough for me that I loved her. And I was afraid of only one thing, that something might spoil my happiness.

When I arrived home, undressed and thought about sleep, I saw that this was completely impossible. I had in my hand a feather from her fan and her whole glove, which she gave me when she left, when she got into the carriage and I picked up her mother and then her. I looked at these things and, without closing my eyes, I saw her in front of me at that moment when, choosing from two gentlemen, she guessed my quality, and I heard her sweet voice when she said: “Pride? Yes?" - and joyfully gives me his hand, or when at dinner he sips a glass of champagne and looks at me from under his brows with caressing eyes. But most of all I see her paired with her father, when she smoothly moves around him and looks at the admiring spectators with pride and joy, both for herself and for him. And I involuntarily unite him and her in one tender, touching feeling.

At that time we lived alone with our late brother. My brother didn’t like the world at all and didn’t go to balls, but now he was preparing for the candidate’s exam and leading the most correct life. He slept. I looked at his head buried in the pillow and half covered by the flannel blanket, and I felt lovingly sorry for him, sorry for the fact that he did not know and did not share the happiness that I was experiencing. Our serf footman Petrusha met me with a candle and wanted to help me undress, but I let him go. The sight of his sleepy face with tangled hair seemed touchingly touching to me. Trying not to make any noise, I tiptoed into my room and sat down on the bed. No, I was too happy, I couldn't sleep. Moreover, I was hot in the heated rooms, and without taking off my uniform, I slowly went out into the hallway, put on my overcoat, opened the outer door and went out into the street.

I left the ball at five o’clock, by the time I got home, I sat at home, another two hours passed, so when I left, it was already light. It was the most Pancake week weather, there was fog, the snow saturated with water was melting on the roads, and it was dripping from all the roofs. B. lived then at the end of the city, near a large field, at one end of which there was a festivities, and at the other - a girls' institute. I walked through our deserted lane and went out onto a large street, where pedestrians and draymen with firewood on sleighs that reached the pavement with runners began to meet. And the horses, their wet heads swaying evenly under the glossy arches, and the cabbies covered with matting, splashing in huge boots next to the carts, and the houses of the street, which seemed very high in the fog, everything was especially sweet and significant to me.

When I went out onto the field where their house was, I saw at the end of it, in the direction of the walk, something large, black, and I heard the sounds of a flute and drum coming from there. I was singing all the time in my soul and occasionally heard the motif of a mazurka. But it was some other, hard, bad music.

"What it is?" – I thought and walked along the slippery road in the middle of the field in the direction of the sounds. After walking a hundred paces, because of the fog, I began to distinguish many black people. Obviously soldiers. “That’s right, training,” I thought, and together with the blacksmith in a greasy sheepskin coat and apron, who was carrying something and walking in front of me, I came closer. The soldiers in black uniforms stood in two rows facing each other, holding their guns to their feet, and did not move. Behind them stood a drummer and a flute player, constantly repeating the same unpleasant, shrill melody.

-What are they doing? - I asked the blacksmith who stopped next to me.

“The Tatar is being persecuted for escaping,” the blacksmith said angrily, looking at the far end of the rows.

I began to look in the same direction and saw something terrible in the middle of the rows, approaching me. Approaching me was a bare-chested man, tied to the guns of two soldiers who were leading him. Next to him walked a tall military man in an overcoat and cap, whose figure seemed familiar to me. Twitching with his whole body, splashing his feet on the melted snow, the punished, under the blows raining down on him from both sides, moved towards me, then tipping back - and then the non-commissioned officers, leading him by the guns, pushed him forward, then falling forward - and then The non-commissioned officers, holding him from falling, pulled him back. And keeping pace with him, the tall military man walked with a firm, trembling gait. It was her father, with his ruddy face and white mustache and sideburns.

With each blow, the person being punished, as if in surprise, turned his face, wrinkled with suffering, in the direction from which the blow fell, and, baring his white teeth, repeated some of the same words. Only when he was very close did I hear these words. He did not speak, but sobbed: “Brothers, have mercy. Brothers, have mercy." But the brothers were not merciful, and when the procession was completely level with me, I saw how the soldier standing opposite me resolutely stepped forward and, whistling, swinging his stick, slapped it hard on the Tatar’s back. The Tatar jerked forward, but the non-commissioned officers held him back, and the same blow fell on him from the other side, and again from this, and again from that. The colonel walked alongside and, looking first at his feet and then at the man being punished, sucked in air, puffing out his cheeks, and slowly released it through his protruding lip. When the procession passed the place where I was standing, I caught a glimpse of the back of the man being punished between the rows. It was something so motley, wet, red, unnatural that I did not believe that it was a human body.

“Oh my God,” said the blacksmith next to me.

The procession began to move away, blows still fell from both sides on the stumbling, writhing man, and the drums still beat and the flute whistled, and the tall, stately figure of the colonel next to the punished man still moved with a firm step. Suddenly the colonel stopped and quickly approached one of the soldiers.

“I’ll anoint you,” I heard his angry voice. -Are you going to smear it? Will you?

And I saw how he, with his strong hand in a suede glove, hit a frightened, short, weak soldier in the face because he did not bring his stick down hard enough on the red back of the Tatar.

– Serve some fresh spitzrutens! - he shouted, looking around and saw me. Pretending that he did not know me, he quickly turned away, frowning menacingly and viciously. I was so ashamed that, not knowing where to look, as if I had been caught in the most shameful act, I lowered my eyes and hurried to go home. All the way in my ears I heard drums beating and a flute whistling, or the words: “Brothers, have mercy,” or I heard the self-confident, angry voice of the colonel shouting: “Are you going to smear? Will you? Meanwhile, there was an almost physical melancholy in my heart, almost to the point of nausea, such that I stopped several times, and it seemed to me that I was about to vomit with all the horror that entered me from this sight. I don’t remember how I got home and went to bed. But as soon as he began to fall asleep, he heard and saw everything again and jumped up.

“Obviously, he knows something that I don’t know,” I thought about the colonel. “If I knew what he knows, I would understand what I saw, and it would not torment me.” But no matter how much I thought, I could not understand what the colonel knew, and I fell asleep only in the evening, and then after I went to a friend and got completely drunk with him.

Well, do you think that I then decided that what I saw was a bad thing? Not at all. “If this was done with such confidence and was recognized by everyone as necessary, then it follows that they knew something that I did not know,” I thought and tried to find out. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find out. And without finding out, he could not enter military service, as he had wanted before, and not only did he not serve in the military, but he did not serve anywhere and, as you see, was no good for anything.

“Well, we know how good you are,” said one of us. - Tell me better: no matter how many people would be worthless if you were not there.

“Well, this is absolutely nonsense,” said Ivan Vasilyevich with sincere annoyance.

- Well, what about love? – we asked.

- Love? Love began to wane from that day on. When she, as often happened with her, with a smile on her face, thought, I immediately remembered the colonel in the square, and I felt somehow awkward and unpleasant, and I began to see her less often. And the love just faded away. So this is what things happen and what changes and directs a person’s whole life. And you say...” he finished.

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Notes
1. More (French).
2. Alphonse Carr (French).
3. Darling (French).
4. Like Nicholas I (French).

After the ball. Tolstoy L.N.

Since then, every time he saw Varenka’s pretty face, he remembered that morning, and “the love just faded away.”

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The main characters of the story:

Ivan Vasilievich– a storyteller who shares the story of his greatest love and what caused its sudden demise. A person who is not indifferent to beauty, who wants to see good traits in his neighbor, but who cannot tolerate violence against the individual. He is disgusted by the oppression of poor, unfortunate people. Pity for the mutilated soldier, albeit a guilty one, who continues to be inhumanly mocked, despite pleas, without showing any mercy, leads the hero into a state of despair, even to the point that he decides to get drunk with a friend until he passes out. The young man is especially struck by the fact that the execution process is led by a colonel, the father of his beloved Varenka. After this, he decides never to be a military man, although at first he wanted it.

Varenka- daughter of Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, bride of Ivan Vasilyevich, the object of his great love. A very beautiful, graceful girl with a gentle look.

Varenka's father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich- at first he made a good impression on Ivan Vasilyevich, such that he even experienced an “enthusiastic and tender” feeling towards him.

However, the charm dissipated when the narrator saw the colonel leading the process of beating the guilty Tatar fugitive, whom, on the orders of Pyotr Vladislavovich, every soldier in the ranks beat with sticks. No pity, no compassion, only cruelty and anger - this is how Varenka’s father actually turned out.

Beginning of the story: Ivan Vasilyevich expresses his opinion

In one house there was a leisurely conversation, the essence of which was that human behavior in most cases is influenced by external environment. Ivan Vasilyevich categorically disagreed with this, and, deciding to prove he was right, he began to tell a story that happened to him one day.

Love for Varenka

“I was very much in love” - this is how Ivan Vasilyevich begins sad story about an episode of your life. The object of his affection turned out to be Varenka, the daughter of Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, a very beautiful girl- at eighteen years old, graceful and even majestic. A gentle smile never left her face, and this captivated Ivan Vasilyevich even more. He himself characterizes himself as a rich young man, fond of balls and enjoying life. And then one day, on the last day of Maslenitsa, he had the opportunity to go to a ball with the governor’s leader.

At the ball…

Everything was wonderful that day: the narrator danced only with Varenka. “I was not only cheerful and contented, I was happy, blissful, I was kind, I was not me, but some unearthly creature who knows no evil and is capable of only good...” - this is how Ivan Vasilyevich describes his state. Love for the colonel's daughter grew more and more in his soul. After dinner, the hostess persuaded Pyotr Vladislavovich to go through one round of the mazurka with her daughter, and everyone was delighted with this couple.
The hero was happy, and was afraid of only one thing: that something would darken the bright joy that reigned in his soul. Unfortunately, very soon his fears came true.

“My whole life changed from one night...”

Arriving home after the ball, Ivan Vasilyevich was so excited that he could not fall asleep. Little did he know then that in a few minutes he would make a decision that would turn out to be fateful. And it seemed like nothing special - driven by insomnia, the young man in love decided to walk around the city early morning. If only he knew what this innocent walk would lead to. The young man's soul was filled with beautiful music, to which he danced at the ball, but suddenly completely different sounds were heard: harsh, bad.

As he approached, he saw a terrible picture: walking towards him was “a man naked to the waist, tied to the guns of two soldiers who were leading him.”

It was a captured deserter who was led through the line, and each soldier was obliged to hit the fugitive. Sometimes human cruelty knows no bounds, and the author tried to convey this in bright colors.

Disappointment in Varenka's father

The terrible sight was forever imprinted in the consciousness of Ivan Vasilyevich, who just a few hours ago considered the colonel to be a rather nice person. Now he was cruel, merciless, terrible. “Will you smear it, will you?!” - Pyotr Vladislavovich shouted at the soldier who did not hit the deserter hard enough... No one listened to the quiet request of the poor sufferer, who barely whispered: “Brothers, have mercy.” And Ivan’s pleasant feelings towards Varenka’s father instantly disappeared, leaving room for bitter surprise, disappointment, even shock. It’s no wonder that the young man got drunk that morning with a friend.

"Love has come to naught..."

From then on, Ivan Vasilyevich could no longer relate to Varya as before. Every time he met her, he remembered the colonel in the square. And love gradually melted away.
“So this is why a person’s fate can change,” the narrator concluded. Alas, to our greatest regret, this also happens.

The author’s intention when creating the story “After the Ball”

Inhumane treatment of people, unfortunately, was the norm in those days. And this was clearly understood by Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, who, although he was a count, sympathized with the suffering people with all his soul.

Throughout the story, the author gives the reader a reason to reflect on the question: what makes a person cruel or, conversely, kind? The environment where he lives? Or is it something else? But can there be a clear answer to such a complex question? And what is the opinion of the author himself?

The position of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy: on the side of moral principles

Throughout his life, Leo Tolstoy experienced torment from the fact that a person lives like an atheist, and this cannot but affect his behavior and views. The oppression of the poor by the rich, the obvious vices of the nobility and those who managed to occupy some position in society - everything led the writer into a confusion of feelings. Having an amazing gift for putting thoughts into words, Lev Nikolaevich became the author of novels, novellas, and short stories that reflect the essence of his experiences. He was convinced that man, despite all the evil, retains some “higher intelligence” endowed by the Creator. But is it? Trying to fulfill the Christian commandments, Leo Tolstoy did not realize the main thing: the whole world lies in evil, and vice cannot be defeated by one’s own efforts. This simply requires the power of God.

Reviews of the story “After the Ball”

After reading the story “After the Ball,” I was a little shocked by the events that happened there. Poor soldier who was subjected to such cruel execution! What happened to him next? Was he really beaten to death? Why can’t a person’s heart have compassion, condescension, pity? I find the answer to some of these questions in the Bible: “The heart of man is evil always.” Unfortunately, Lev Nikolaevich did not come to terms with this conclusion of the Holy Scripture, but looked for his own ways to solve the problem, in particular, through self-improvement. Alas, this was the wrong position.”

“One can talk a lot about the theme of cruelty, evil, oppression of the weak, which was raised in Leo Tolstoy’s story “After the Ball.” However, one thing is clear: not a single author could offer a clear solution to the problem, because a person who does not place his hope in the Creator, who does not accept His laws, will not be able to change only through the implementation of the moral code or the Sermon on the Mount of Jesus Christ. Here is what the very famous evangelical preacher Ivan Stepanovich Prokhanov wrote about this, who came to Yasnaya Polyana with believing friends to personally meet Lev Nikolaevich and talk with him: “Of course, we could not convince Tolstoy to change his mind. Likewise, he could not change our beliefs and our faith.

After talking with Tolstoy, I became even more convinced that the salvation of the world lies in the simple Gospel. Not in part of the Gospel, not even in most of the Gospel, but in a clearer interpretation of the whole Gospel...” Only in this is the real truth!

Leo Tolstoy is a writer of world significance. For example, the writer’s works have repeatedly become the basis for cinematic adaptations. Tolstoy's literary heritage inspired the Italian directors brothers Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, who in 1990 shot the film “And the Light Shines in the Darkness”, and in 2001 - “Resurrection”. Both films are an attempt to comprehend the images and plots of Tolstoy’s works through the form of cinema.

“After the Ball” is a story that the writer wrote in 1903. However, the work reached readers only in 1911. Tolstoy was inspired by events that actually happened, so the story was based on an incident from the life of his brother Lev Nikolaevich. The author's brother fell in love with the daughter of one of the military commanders. The passion for the girl was strong, and the man intended to offer his chosen one his hand and heart. However, he did not do this because one day he saw how cruelly the girl’s father behaved towards the soldier. Therefore, it would be fair to say that Tolstoy writes a story at the intersection of two planes - philosophy (namely ethics) and literature, which here demonstrates the ability to reflect the moral principles of the author. “After the Ball” makes you think about universal human issues of life.

From the history of writing a story

This work is special not only because the story was published posthumously - in 1911 (the writer died in 1910). Also, the specificity of the text is literal realism. Tolstoy wrote “After the Ball,” so to speak, in hot pursuit. The plot is based on a situation from the life of Sergei Tolstoy (1826–1904), the author’s brother. By the way, Sergei was characterized as a witty, talented person, to whom success was easy.

Dear readers! We invite you to familiarize yourself with Leo Tolstoy’s novel “War and Peace,” which in the context of the epic embodies a set of traits associated with the Russian peasant, a simple peasant with his own philosophy.

It is noteworthy that the situation mentioned in the story occurred in Sergei’s young years. Then he shared his story with his brother. Varya, a charming, sweet girl, attracted Sergei’s attention.

Varya's father served as a military mayor. Tolstoy became seriously interested in the girl, and even intended to make Varya his bride. But the young man’s plans never came true.

The fact is that one day Sergei saw how brutally, with extraordinary cruelty, Varya’s father treated a fugitive soldier, a guilty man, much lower in rank.

The mayor viciously dealt with the soldier. This act made Sergei change his mind about entering into family ties with the girl’s father. The message of the story is that humanity is a universal dimension of human life, regardless of status and position.

Leo Tolstoy was struck by Sergei’s story, but the writer managed to put what he heard into literary form many years later, in fact, a year before his brother’s death. In addition, the title of the story was also in question. Tolstoy chose between several options, thinking of calling the work “Father and Daughter”, “The Story of the Ball and Through the Gauntlet”, or “And You Say...”. As a result, the writer settled on the “After the Ball” option.

The title of the story has a deep meaning. Life is ambiguous and contradictory. On the one hand, people live in palaces, dance in luxurious halls, dress in magnificent and rich outfits. Here hypocrisy rules the roost, manners turn into vulgarity, and people lose their humanity. On the other hand, there is the wrong side of life - external grandeur and luxury hide unjustifiably cruel actions and brutal treatment of lower-ranking people, the fossilization of the human heart and the lack of compassion and empathy. The writer wants to show that not all people are able to accept the fact of such ambivalence in life.

Problems of Leo Tolstoy's story

“After the Ball” is filled with philosophical meaning. Tolstoy brought to the fore ethical problems, the situation prevailing on the moral plane. In the work, the writer asks questions about honor, morality, dignity, decency and justice. Moreover, this problem is characteristic not only of the society of imperial Russia, but also of the world as a whole.

The morally ambiguous image of the colonel

At the center is a moral conflict, which is revealed through an appeal to the ambivalence of the figure of the colonel. The hero's appearance is certainly beautiful. The Colonel is depicted as a stately, attractive man, mature, however, at the same time, surprisingly youthful.

The colonel has a pleasant appearance and the strict bearing of a military servant. Aristocratic features and impeccable manners are complemented by a voice that you want to listen to and a beautifully delivered speech. Tolstoy introduces the colonel during the ball: the hero’s demeanor is fascinating, it seems that this man is capable of winning the favor of any guest.

After the ball, after the night, morning comes. In the morning, the colonel demonstrates a completely different side of his personality. During the performance of official duties, the hero shows cruelty and menacing character. Punishing the fugitive soldier, the colonel knows no mercy. The transformation, the duality of the colonel’s nature struck the young man, who was about to get engaged to the daughter of this formidable man. The young man watches the execution of the fugitive: this leads to irrevocable changes in the worldview of the young hero. In the eyes of the young man, the evil living inside the colonel will come into contact with him if he marries Vara. Although the girl is sweet and does not show signs of an equally cruel character, personal happiness and evil still turn out to be disproportionate for the young man. These things cannot exist side by side.

Behind the situation described by Tolstoy lies a philosophical meaning: society demonstrates external complacency, which, however, is accompanied by an unpleasant “lining” of falsehood, hypocrisy, loss of human qualities, and inability to sympathize and sympathize. The author does not take a naive position: Lev Nikolaevich concludes that these unspoken rules that reign in society, this situation cannot be changed. But even if transformations are impossible, then the duty of a person (as a conscious person) is to make a moral choice between good and evil.

Compositional and stylistic features of the story

The specificity of the composition “After the Ball” is the presence of an antithesis, that is, the opposition of the ball and the subsequent morning execution of the soldier. The genre of Tolstoy's work was defined above - it is a story. The direction in which the text is written is characterized as realism. In fact, there are not many works in literature whose narrative unfolds over the course of just one day. Among the texts that come to mind first are James Joyce's Ulysses and Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband.

"After the Ball" also describes the events that take place on the eve of the soldier's execution - during the dance evening, and what happened in the morning. Literary critics say that Tolstoy seemed to put “a story within a story”, included a story that the reader learns as if from the lips of a young man, and general description bala. Therefore, the composition of the story includes, respectively, an exposition (presented in the form of a dialogue-summary to the main events of the work), a plot (a ball), a climax (the execution of a fugitive), and a denouement (in the form of a philosophical, ethical conclusion made by a young man). “A story within a story” allowed Tolstoy to describe two historical periods at once: the youth of the character, whose prototype was Sergei (1840s), and late XIX century.

Dear lovers of the classics! We suggest you read it chapter by chapter.

Antithesis - Tolstoy's central artistic device here - is presented in two variations. The reader sees the first instance of such a contrast when he encounters a description of the circumstances - a ball in the evening and an execution in the morning. The second is in the personality of the colonel himself, who displays completely different traits at the ball and during the performance of his official duties.