Distinctive feature The life and work of the great Russian writer and thinker Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy is a constant moral quest. What true purpose a person, how to relate to other people and generally accepted “truths” - all these issues are addressed to one degree or another in his works. The writer speaks about them especially sharply and uncompromisingly in the novels, novellas and short stories he created after the spiritual crisis experienced in the late 70s of the 19th century. The story “After the Ball” is one of these.
But as the novel continues, Anna's life unravels as if this possibility had never arisen. We experience the novel as we experience our dreams without being disrupted by its illogicality. We accept Anna's disintegration without asking her. Only later, when we analyze the work, does it become illogical. But by then it is too late to change Tolstoy's spell.
"After the Ball" by Leo Tolstoy
Ivan Vasilievich claims that everything in life depends on chance, as he recalls how the direction of his own life changed overnight after the ball. He left the ball, intoxicated with love, after dancing with Varenka, the beautiful daughter of the colonel, most of nights. Unable to sleep, Ivan wandered to Varenka’s house. Near her house, he saw a military procession and heard the sounds of a pit and a drum, angry and ominous. The fugitive Tatar was beaten mercilessly under the supervision of Varenka's father. Ivan, pleased with what he witnessed, asked what the colonel knew.
History of creation
At the beginning of April 1903 in the city of Chisinau, Bessarabia province Russian Empire There was a major pogrom against Jews. L.N. Tolstoy sharply condemned the pogromists and the inactive authorities. The Committee to Help Victims of the Pogrom organized a fundraiser. At the end of April, the famous Jewish writer Sholom Aleichem asked Leo Tolstoy to “give something” for a literary collection he was preparing for the same purpose. In his response letter, Lev Nikolaevich promised to fulfill his request.
Ivan decided not to do what he planned to do in the future. His love for Varenka subsided and ultimately came to nothing. The vagaries of chance, the difference between successive orders and conscience, corporal punishment. Analyze their beliefs about chances and their impact on their lives, evaluate the difference between obeying orders and following their conscience, consider effectiveness corporal punishment. Oral Reading Have students write their definitions of chance. Ask them to focus on whether they think it is making a difference in their life.
Pause to resolve issues as they arise. After reading, ask students to identify Vasilyevich's idea of chance. Ask them to compare their definition with his and identify similarities and differences. Class Discussion Use the following questions as a springboard for solutions.
On June 9, Tolstoy decided to write a story about an incident in the life of his brother Sergei Nikolaevich, which evokes certain associations with the Chisinau pogrom. 75-year-old Lev Nikolaevich remembered this story from his student days spent with his brothers in Kazan.
The plan for the future story was sketched out in a diary entry dated June 18, 1903. The first version of the story, entitled “Daughter and Father,” was written on August 5-6. Then Tolstoy changed the title to “And you say.” The final edition of the story entitled “After the Ball” was completed on August 20, 1903. The work was published after the writer’s death in “Posthumous works of art L.N. Tolstoy" in 1911
He suggests that the colonel is wearing old boots so his daughter can enjoy the new ones. What does this mean about our judgments based solely on appearance? Vasilyevich dresses like he is proud of the ball. How does this relate to the outcome of the story? Is his pride constructive or destructive? Why doesn’t Vasilyevich intervene in the beating of the Tatar? What does this say about his pride? Why does the colonel refuse to recognize Vasilyevich? Is the colonel so cruel in punishing the Tatar? Why does he threaten to beat up the soldiers if they don't follow their orders? Would you do the same? When would conscience alone abrogate one of its duties? Can a soldier defy an order on good faith grounds? Vasilievich assumes that the colonel knows something that he does not. What could the colonel know that would justify or mitigate his actions? Why does the colonel's behavior affect Vasilyevich's emotions on Varenka?
- Vasilievich believes that everything depends on chance.
- Explain.
- He says his entire life was changed by the events of one morning.
- Have you experienced similar life-changing events?
- Explain: For the first time, Vasilyevich is surprised by the colonel’s boots.
Description of the work
The narration is told on behalf of the main character - Ivan Vasilyevich. IN familiar surroundings he told two incidents from his life when he was a student at a provincial university. They were supposed to illustrate his statement that what determines a person’s fate is not the environment, but chance.
Engage in discussions about the influence of chance or fate. Ask them what could have happened if Vasilyevich had not seen the beating. Encourage them to extrapolate possible outcomes of the story into their own own life. Did chance change the course of your life? Personality Profile Ask each student to write a personal profile for a character in the story. Ask them to focus on the life events that lead to the characters developing the way they do. Encourage them to include details from the story. Share profiles with the class.
Conscientious Choice Ask students to identify complex solutions which they accepted on the basis of conscience. Ask them to give reasons for this. Ask students to explain whether conscience makes it easier to make or make a decision. Corporal punishment is available in many countries. Ask students to reflect on their views on the effectiveness of corporal punishment. Then have them explore both sides of the issue. After the study, ask students to write an explanatory essay in which they explain whether the study changed their original opinion.
Most of the story is occupied by the experiences of the hero, who attended the provincial leader’s ball on the last day of Maslenitsa. All the “cream” of provincial society gathered there, including Varenka B., with whom the student was madly in love. She became the queen of the ball, and was admired not only by men, but also by women whom she pushed into the background. So, at least, it seemed to the student Vanya. The beautiful girl favored him and gave him most of the dances with her.
Share the essay with the class. It is commendable to avoid discipline confined to informal pellets on school grounds, as is often the case in many places, but it is difficult to avoid the impression that those in charge of the proposed curriculum have attempted to embrace the world.
The draft program also offers "adventure" activities such as park trails; study and evaluation of regional games related to folklore tradition; various types dances, as well as attention to popular and traditional expressions; gymnastics without and with apparatus; and sports practices that value the country's African and Indian heritage, such as capoeira and juka juka.
Varenka was the daughter of Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, who was also at the ball with his wife. At the end, those present persuaded the colonel to dance with his daughter. The couple found themselves in the spotlight. Pyotr Vladislavovich remembered his former prowess and danced dashingly like a young man. WITH increased attention Vanya was watching the couple. The old-fashioned colonel's boots especially touched his soul. They were seen to be saving on themselves so as not to deny their beloved daughter anything.
No matter how good the teacher's benevolence and level of knowledge, it is unlikely that he could satisfy all these elements satisfactorily in just a few weeks of lessons, even if the subjects worked for years primary school, as the sentence says.
It must be clarified that this huge variety of items is provided only for primary education, since the document is not detailed for summer secondary education, which due to obsession entrance exam universities often cease to exist. physical education.
After the dance, the colonel said that he had to get up early tomorrow and did not stay for dinner. And Ivan danced with Varenka for a long time. An unearthly feeling of happiness and absolute harmony of existence gripped the main character. He loved not only Varenka, her father, but the whole world, in which, as it seemed to him at those moments, there was nothing bad.
Finally, the ball was over. Returning home in the morning, Ivan realized that he would not be able to sleep from the excess of feelings. He went out into the street and his feet carried him to Varenka’s house, located on the outskirts of the city. As we approached the field adjacent to the house, drumming and unpleasant, shrill sounds of a flute began to sound, drowning out the dance melodies that were still sounding in Ivan’s soul. There they passed a fugitive Tatar soldier through the line. Other soldiers from both sides hit the unfortunate man on his bare back, and he only muttered exhaustedly: “Brothers, have mercy.” His back had long since turned into a bloody mess.
In any case, even if the activities had a more gradual spread, including in the last three years before their entry into higher education, it would still be a lot. target. The most neglected point in developing an ambitious curriculum, there may have been a need to take a few steps back and ask what the purpose of teaching physical education is.
The ancient Greeks, for example, saw the practice of sports with an irreplaceable stage in military training young people. Obviously this is not the case. Are we ready for classes physical education to shape the next generation of Olympic athletes? Do we want to address the ever-expanding obesity epidemic among children and adolescents?
And Varenka’s father led the execution, and he did it as diligently as he had danced with his daughter the day before. When one small soldier did not hit the Tatar hard enough, the colonel, his face twisted with anger, began to hit him in the face for this. Ivan was shocked to the point of nausea by what he saw. His love for Varenka began to wane. The bloody back of the soldier tortured by her father stood between them.
Clear answers to these questions will help address the apparent lack of focus that the document is experiencing in its current version. It seems there is no point in talking about dance without the participation of teachers in the field art education. Likewise, cleaner integration between school exercises and science and biology classes, linking theory and practice with explanations of benefits physical activity, will also be useful.
Reviewed by writers such as Vladimir Nabokov, one of greatest works Russian literature The Death of Ivan Ilyich was Leo Tolstoy's first book after he momentarily gave up writing to devote himself to spirituality. The author of vast epic panoramas such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina returned to lyricism with in short text less than 80 pages but with surprising depth and punch.
Main characters
The hero of the story, Ivan Vasilyevich, is endowed with a sense of compassion and the ability to put himself in the place of another person. Human misfortunes did not become simple life decorations for him, as they were for the vast majority of representatives of the privileged classes. Ivan Vasilyevich’s conscience is not drowned out by false life expediency. These qualities are in highest degree were inherent in Tolstoy himself.
Tolstoy's version of the work doesn't displace the original, but it does help give the classic a new, darker dimension. Choosing to Preserve Excellent original text is one of the virtues, and the life - and especially the slow death - of the bureaucrat protagonist takes on a more claustrophobic presentation with images. Ivan Ilyich's torment is accompanied by his sad face.
In the story, we follow the trajectory of Ilyich, a bourgeois who forges a career of relative success in the judicial bureaucracy. He's a guy with simple ambitions, troubled by being quiet at home, who happens to have a stroke of luck on his card. Until illness causes your world of phenomena to collapse and brings you face to face with the inevitability of death and the futility of your life.
Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich is a caring father and a good family man. Most likely, he considers himself a true Christian, serving God, the sovereign and the fatherland. But he, like most people at all times, is absolutely deaf to the main thing in Christianity - the great moral law Christ. According to this law, you must treat people the way you would like them to treat you. Regardless of class and property barriers.
It is possible that most people pay attention to modern reader, so that's how the job works. The comedian said he was inspired by the aesthetic of Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal, about a knight who tries to delay his journey by playing chess with death.
"The Death of Ivan Ilyich" is the story of her death and her escape, both by Ilyich himself and his family and friends, who increasingly avoid contact with the dying. For example, his wife, Praskovia Fedorovna, has serious relationship with him, firstly, duels, and then indifference. "In my opinion, Ivan Ilyich's relatives leave him when the character becomes sick and weak to fulfill the role that he has always played in this family," Keito said. “The character ran away from these people and gave them money and comfort so that no one could take anything from him.”
Difficult to compose psychological portrait beautiful Varenka. Most likely, it is unlikely that her external attractiveness was combined with the same soul. After all, she was raised by her father, who turned out to be a real fanatic in the public service.
Story Analysis
Particularly touching is the constant reminder of Ivan Ilyich, searching for where the web of lies that took over his life would have begun, pondering childhood memories that seemed so far removed from “the memory of someone else.” Just like traces of friendship with the servant Gerasim, a simple person, which becomes a companion of the last days.
Although death is a taboo and one of the problems pushed by the carpets of Western society, "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" shows how the inevitable arrival and world of phenomena occurs, social status, money and positions. The ball with which the equally legendary fooristoun is beaten to secure the championship victory over the giants is taken by the black boy from Harlem Cotter, Martin. In DeLillo's novel, handwritten passages from a mythical ballet serve as a pretext for constructing a giant picture of America from cold war before the Cuban crisis and collapse Soviet Union. A masterpiece, a surreal, humorous novel, lyrical, evocative, hyper-realistic, but not apocalyptic in the way it might mistakenly think of someone.
The compositional dominant of the story is the opposition of its two parts, which describe the events at the ball and after it. First, the ball sparkling with light colors is a celebration of youth, love and beauty. It takes place on the last day of Maslenitsa - Forgiveness Sunday, when believers must forgive each other mutual sins. Then - dark colors, “bad music” hitting the nerves, and cruel reprisals against the unfortunate soldiers, among whom the main victim is a non-religious (like the Chisinau Jews).
The Underworld: plot and content of the novel
But Lillo is ironically pessimistic and nostalgic, but does not want to send any messages to the readers, simply relies on the story and invites us to do the same, reflect and think about what we are and what we do, leaving us with the question: preferable to living in a society where ideals carry weight and encourage people to be together or in a society where people are deprived of ideals and hopes and are lonely, have abandoned themselves? C. by eradicating evil, America no longer feels obligated to oppose the good will of good, and Americans no longer feel as many little heroes whose mission is to fight evil because of their nationality.
There are several main ideas in the story. First of all, it is an absolute rejection of any violence, including that justified by state necessity. Secondly, the division of people into those worthy of respect and those likened to cattle is contrary to the will of God.
Other motives are less obvious. In torturing a non-believer on Forgiveness Sunday, Tolstoy allegorically continues to reproach the official church for justifying state violence, from which he was excommunicated two years earlier.
The image of the loving and carefree Ivan Vasilyevich reminds Tolstoy of his own youth, which the writer was critical of. Oddly enough, but young Tolstoy had common features and with the colonel. In another of his works (“Youth”), the writer writes about his own division of people into worthy and despised.
Tolstoy "After the Ball", analysis of the work.
Story by L.N. Tolstoy's "After the Ball" refers to late works writer.
It was written in 1903, but is based on the memories of Tolstoy's youth.
The writer learned about the story described in the story while he was a student at Kazan University.
Probably, this incident struck him so much that he remembered it all his life and, in the end, embodied it in his work.
Compositionally, “After the Ball” is a story-memory, a story about an incident from his youth that shook the hero-narrator to the core. The narrator, Ivan Vasilyevich, is an elderly man, respected and loved by everyone. We learn that he never served anywhere, but he helped many people get back on their feet and find themselves.
Apparently, Ivan Vasilyevich’s life was filled with bright events which he is happy to share with young people. The author notes one special manner of the narrator: “... 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, the narrator tells us about one morning that turned his whole life upside down. This happened in the 40s of the 19th century. The narrator was then studying at a provincial university. He lived enjoying his youth. Ivan Vasilyevich compares those times with his contemporary era. Like all older people, his words reveal a certain disapproval of “today’s” youth, their way of life and thoughts. It seems to me that the words of the author himself are heard here. Tolstoy is not happy that young people do not enjoy life, which should be typical for them, but create various political circles and are carried away by newfangled theories, often dangerous to reason and even life.
Ivan Vasilyevich enjoyed his youth, strength, beauty and wealth. Besides, he was in love. This feeling accompanied the hero constantly. But, at the moment he describes, the narrator was experiencing his most strong feeling. And no wonder: the object of his love was Varenka B., a rare beauty and clever girl. At this time, on the last day of Maslenitsa, the narrator went to a ball provincial leader, where Varenka was. Ivan Vasilyevich was immensely happy. He enjoyed the whole evening, without leaving a single step from the object of his love. Happiness, delight, love for the whole world overwhelmed the enthusiastic young man.
At this ball, the narrator first saw Varenka’s father, Colonel B. He seemed kind to Ivan Vasilyevich, decent person, madly in love with his daughter, ready to sacrifice anything for Varenka’s sake. The dance of father and daughter delighted not only the narrator, but also all the guests at the ball. At the end of the dance, everyone applauded Colonel B. and his Varenka.
The narrator was very pleased when Pyotr Vladislavich himself brought his daughter to him for the next dance.
Ivan Vasilyevich says this about his state of mind at the ball: “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 a gentle smile similar to hers, I felt at that time some kind of enthusiastic and tender feeling.”
After the ball the hero returned home, but emotional stress, excitement, joy did not give him the opportunity to sleep peacefully. The narrator decided to wander around the city and calm down a little. Early in the morning On the first day of Lent, Ivan Vasilyevich walks around the city. Everything he sees seems touching and beautiful to him. The cheerful melody of a mazurka sounds in my head. But... at this time the narrator comes across a terrifying scene. He witnesses how a fugitive Tatar is punished. The sight was very scary. And it was even more terrible because Varenka’s father, the same Colonel B, was in charge of all this. He mercilessly watched the execution scene, without showing any emotions. And all this happened on the first day of Lent!
The first feeling that overwhelmed the narrator was shame: “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.” Everything he saw stood before Ivan Vasilyevich’s eyes: “... 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 had entered this sight hits me."
The narrator tries to understand the reason for the colonel's cruelty. Maybe he knows something that the hero doesn’t know, and that’s why he behaves so ruthlessly? But no matter how much Ivan Vasilyevich suffered, he could not solve this mystery.
The result of such a terrible morning was that the narrator decided never to serve anywhere, so that, God forbid, he would not become a participant in a terrible crime, similar to the one he saw that morning on the parade ground.
It seems to me that in this work the image of the narrator is very close to the author, his inner world, his views on life.
Ivan Vasilievich - sensitive, emotional and deeply moral person. In my opinion, his psychological portrait in his youth is largely copied from Tolstoy himself, his feelings and reactions are similar to the feelings and reactions of the writer.
Therefore, the narrator is deeply sympathetic to L.N. Tolstoy, in his mouth he puts his thoughts about the soul, God, man.
