"Real life" in the understanding of l. n

Real life as understood by Tolstoy

Real life is a life without shackles and limitations. This is the supremacy of feelings and mind over secular etiquette.

Tolstoy contrasts "false life" and "real life." All of Tolstoy's favorite heroes live "Real Life". Tolstoy in the first chapters of his work shows us only "false life" through the inhabitants of a secular society: Anna Sherrer, Vasily Kuragin, his daughter and many others. A sharp contrast to this society is the Rostov family. They live only by feelings and may not observe general decency. So, for example, Natasha Rostova, who ran out into the hall on her birthday and asked loudly about what dessert would be served. This, according to Tolstoy, is real life.

The best time to understand the insignificance of all problems is war. In 1812, everyone rushed to fight Napoleon. In the war, everyone forgot about their quarrels and disputes. Everyone thought only about victory and about the enemy. Indeed, even Pierre Bezukhov forgot about his disagreements with Dolokhov. The war eliminates everything that is not real, false in people's lives, gives a person the opportunity to open up to the end, having felt the need for this, as Nikolai Rostov and the hussars of his squadron feel it, they feel at the moment when it was impossible not to start an attack. Heroes who do not specifically seek to be useful to the general course of events, but live their normal lives, are the most useful participants in it. The criterion for real life is real, sincere feelings.

But Tolstoy has heroes who live according to the laws of reason. These are the Bolkonsky family, except, possibly, Marya. But Tolstoy also refers to these heroes as "real". Prince Andrey Bolkonsky is a very intelligent person. He lives according to the laws of reason and does not obey the senses. He rarely obeyed etiquette. He could easily walk away if he was not interested. Prince Andrew wanted to live "not for himself alone." He always tried to be helpful.

Tolstoy also shows us Pierre Bezukhov, whom they looked at with disapproval in Anna Pavlovna's living room. He, unlike others, did not greet the "useless aunt." He did not do it out of disrespect, but only because he did not consider it necessary. In the image of Pierre, two benefactors are combined: intelligence and simplicity. By "simplicity" I mean that he is free to express his feelings and emotions. Pierre had been looking for his destiny for a long time and did not know what to do. A simple Russian man, Platon Karataev, helped him figure it out. He explained to him that there is nothing better than freedom. Karataev became for Pierre the personification of the simplicity and clarity of the basic laws of life.

It is impossible to live for oneself alone - it is spiritual death. “Life is only when you live for others,” Tolstoy wrote. In the novel, this principle of real life is central. Karataev considered life to be real only that which has no meaning as a separate life. It only makes sense as a part of the whole.

Prince Andrew cannot be such a particle. He is a man of action, he is out of the rhythm of society and life in general. Bolkonsky does not go with the flow, but rather is ready to subjugate life himself, but in this he is mistaken. Life is given to us by God,

He controls us, and therefore it is impossible to subjugate life.

At the same time, Pierre, who was always drifting with the flow, understood for himself the essence of life: “Life is everything. Life is God. Everything moves, moves, and this movement is God. And as long as there is life, there is the enjoyment of the self-consciousness of the deity. To love life is to love God. " He realized the worthlessness of his life, with its revelry and revelry, but he continues to revel in and walk. Although when Pierre realizes that he must live for others, he tries to build schools, make the life of the peasants easier, but, as we can see, he does not succeed, because Pierre did not make any efforts, but succumbed to a sudden

A gust, the ardor of which soon cooled. Tolstoy wrote: "Don't make an effort, live with the flow - and you don't live." Bezukhov knew what real life was, but did nothing to live it.

Prince Bolkonsky, on the contrary, builds schools, lowers rent, releases serfs, that is, does everything that Pierre did not complete, however, he does not live a real life, because his principle is: "you have to live for yourself." However, living for oneself is spiritual death.

In War and Peace, Tolstoy reveals what real life is, showing this on the example of Pierre Bezukhov and Andrei Bolkonsky. He showed that one cannot live like Prince Andrew for oneself, that one cannot, like Pierre, go with the flow without making any efforts, but one must, like Andrei, “tear, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and quit and again start and quit again, and always struggle and lose. " And the calmness in which Bolkonsky was in Bogucharovo or Pierre in St. Petersburg is a spiritual meanness. But, like Pierre, one must love life "in its countless, never-exhausting manifestations." One must live, one must love, one must believe.

“The living person is that,” wrote Tolstoy, “who goes forward, to where it is illuminated ... in front of him is a moving lantern, and who never reaches the illuminated place, but the illuminated place goes ahead of him. And this is life. And there is no other. " A person must seek and not find peace, must strive to achieve his goal. A happy person who achieves his plan all his life, devoting his whole life to something.

But still, real life is the common life of people, "bringing personal interest into harmonious accord with the common interests of all people." Real life is peace. Wars, on the other hand, contradict human essence, wars are evil, generated by the people themselves. Ozhegov wrote that life is the activity of a person and society, that is, the interconnected activity of that whole and its parts, about which Leo Tolstoy wrote in his novel.

One must live, one must love, one must believe.

“The artist's goal is not to undeniably resolve the issue, but to make people love life in its countless, never-exhausting manifestations. If they had told me that I could write a novel with which I would incontrovertibly establish my seemingly correct view of all social questions, I would not have devoted even two hours of labor to such a novel, but if they had told me that what I write would be the present children will read in twenty years and will cry and laugh at him and love life, I would devote my whole life and all my strength to him, ”wrote JI.H. Tolstoy in one of his letters during the years of work on the novel "War and Peace".
The idea of ​​the novel is revealed in the juxtaposition indicated in the title itself, in the juxtaposition of "peace" and "war" as life and death, good and evil.
At the beginning of the third part of the second volume, Lev Nikolaevich gives a kind of formula for "real life": , friendship, hatred, passions went, as always, independently and outside of political closeness or enmity with Napoleon Bonaparte, and outside all possible transformations. "
Hunting and Christmastide, the first Natasha's ball, a moonlit night in Otradnoye and a girl at the window, Prince Andrey's meetings with an old oak tree, the death of Petya Rostov ... The episodes are very different, whether they refer to "war" or "peace", "historical" Of the "family" line, all are significant for the creator of the work, for in each one the essential meaning of life is very fully expressed.
The best heroes of Tolstoy repeat his moral code, which is why one of the basic principles of creating positive heroes by Tolstoy is to portray them in all their spiritual complexity, in a continuous search for truth. Tolstoy leads his heroes through a continuous series of hobbies for what seems to be the most interesting and significant in the life of a person and society. These hobbies often bring with them bitter disappointments. “Significant” often turns out to be insignificant, having no truly human value. And only as a result of collisions with the world, as a result of liberation from illusions, Andrei Bolkonsky and Pierre Bezukhov gradually discover in life what, from their point of view, is undoubted, genuine.
Perhaps the main point of the reflections of Bolkonsky and Bezukhov is I and the world, the connection between them and the people around them. How to become happy for oneself and necessary, necessary for others, without denying oneself and without suppressing others? They are people of "light", but Tolstoy denies the norms of life of a secular society, and behind its external decency, grace reveals emptiness, selfishness, greed and careerism. The life of people of the aristocratic circle is predominantly "ritual", ceremonial in nature: imbued with the cult of empty conventions, it is devoid of real human relations, feelings, aspirations; this is. not real, but artificial life.
Human nature, according to Tolstoy, is multifaceted, in most people there is good and bad, human development depends on the struggle of these principles, and character is determined by what is in the foreground. Tolstoy sees the same person “now a villain, now an angel, now a sage, now an idiot, now a strong man, now a powerless being” (entry in his diary on March 21, 1898). His heroes make mistakes and are tormented by this, they know impulses upward and succumb to the influence of low passions. Pierre's life has been full of such contradictions, heights and disruptions since his return to Russia. Hobbies and disappointments are experienced repeatedly by Prince Andrew. Favorite heroes of Tolstoy are highly characterized by dissatisfaction with themselves, lack of complacency, continuous search for the meaning of life and a real place in it. “In order to live honestly, you have to struggle, get confused, fight, make mistakes, start and quit again, and always struggle and be deprived. And calmness is a spiritual meanness, ”wrote Lev Nikolaevich in one of his letters.
On the eve of 1812, both Pierre and Prince Andrew would once again be convinced of the illusiveness of their hobbies: both Freemasonry and the Speransky committee would turn out to be “not that”, not real. The present will be revealed in the Patriotic War. The writer will lead his heroes through common trials for the whole people. In a united struggle against the French invasion, the interests and behavior of Natasha Rostova, her brothers Peter and Nikolai, Pierre Bezukhov, the Bolkonsky family, Kutuzov and Bagration, Dolokhov and Denisov coincide. All of them are included in the "swarm" of people making history. The basis of national unity is the common people, like the majority of the nation, but the best part of the nobility also strives for complicity in its fate.
The most precious thing for Tolstoy is the loving union of people whose lives are subject to a common goal. Therefore, as the writer shows, it was at the time of the nationwide disaster that the best national features of the Russian man were manifested, and the best that was characteristic of Tolstoy's beloved heroes came to light.
The writer contrasts the cruel deed of war with the peaceful life of nature, which gives joy to everyone living on earth. Let's remember the famous hunting scene. The feeling of the fullness of life and the joy of struggle emanates from this picture.
Waking up and looking out the window, Nikolai Rostov saw the morning, which could not be better for hunting. And Natasha immediately appears with the statement that it is impossible not to go. This conviction is shared by everyone: the hunky Danila, and the old uncle, and the hunting dogs, who, seeing the owner, rushed to him in excitement, understanding his desire. From the first minutes of this day, everyone lives in a special atmosphere, with a keen sense of the uniqueness of what is happening. What previously seemed important, brought grief, worried, now, in this simple and clear world, has receded into the background. Nicholas, as distant and ghostly, recalls his failures associated with Alexander I, with Dolokhov, and now prays about the most important thing: "Only once in my life would I hunt a hardened wolf." And when he sees a wolf, he feels that "the greatest happiness has happened." And young Natasha, and old uncle, and Count Rostov, and serf Mitka - all are equally absorbed in persecution, intoxicated by a quick jump, the excitement of the hunt, and autumn fresh air.
A person becomes a part of the whole - people, nature. Nature, which is beautiful, because everything in it is natural, simple, clear, and communication with it elevates, purifies a person, gives him true happiness. And it is quite natural to sound in especially tense moments such strange appeals to dogs: “Karayushka! Father "," Milushka, mother! "," Erzynka, sister! " And no one is surprised that "Natasha, without catching her breath, joyfully and enthusiastically squealed so piercingly that her ears rang." At a critical moment in pursuit of the wolf, whom the old count managed to miss, the enraged hunter Danilo threatens him with a raised arapnik and curses him with a strong word. And the count stands as punished, thereby recognizing Danila's right at this moment to treat him like that. Hunting time is a special time, with its own laws, when roles are shifted, the usual measure is shifted in everything - in emotions, behavior, even spoken language. Through this deep shift, the "present" is achieved, the fullness and brightness of the experiences, cleared of the interests of the life that awaits the same people outside the special hunting time.
"The spirit of the hunt" persists in subsequent episodes, when Natasha and Nikolai are visiting their uncle. Like Danilo, uncle seems to us a living particle of nature and people. As if the continuation of everything Natasha and Nikolai saw and experienced on the hunt, his song sounds:
As from the evening powder
Dropped out good ...
"My uncle sang the way the people sing ... this unconscious melody, like the melody of a bird, and my uncle's was unusually good." And this song awakened in Natasha's soul something important, iconic, dear, about which she, perhaps, did not know and did not think, and which was vividly manifested in her dance. Natasha "knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya's father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person."
Swift, expansive, "overflowing with life", Natasha, in an amazing way, always exerts a powerful influence on those around her. Nikolai is returning home after a major loss to Dolokhov. He promised to pay tomorrow, gave his word of honor, and with horror realizes the impossibility of restraining him. It is strange for Nikolay in his condition to see the usual peaceful home comfort: “They have the same things. They don't know anything! Where can I go? " Natasha is going to sing, it is incomprehensible and annoys him: what can she be happy about, a bullet in the forehead, and not sing. Nikolai is, as it were, separated from his loved ones by the misfortune that has happened to him, and through this misfortune he perceives the familiar environment. But then Natasha's singing is heard ... And something unexpected happens to him: “Suddenly the whole world for him concentrated in anticipation of the next note, the next phrase ... Oh, our stupid life! - thought Nikolay. - All this: misfortune, and money, and Dolokhov, and malice, and honor - all this is nonsense ... but here it is - real. " Nikolai, who has just been the most unhappy person, is experiencing a moment of the most complete happiness.
The mere impression of meeting Natasha contributed to an instant and complete change in the worldview in Prince Andrei. “It never entered his head that he was in love with Rostov; he thought about her; he only imagined her to himself, and as a result of this his whole life appeared to him in a new light. "
Likewise, Pierre has a “terrible question: why? for what? - which had previously appeared to him in the middle of every activity, has now been replaced for him not by another question and not by an answer to the previous question, but by the presentation of her. " He remembered her as he had last seen her, and the doubts that tormented him disappeared. Natasha's extraordinary attractiveness and charm lie primarily in the spiritualized naturalness with which she perceives the world, lives in it, in her sincerity and truthfulness.
Leo Tolstoy showed the poetry and prose of family life in their inextricable connection. His happy families have prose, but no earthiness. The importance of a happy family life in the system of main human values ​​is emphasized by the writer with reference to Platon Karataev. Remembering him, Pierre says to Natasha: “He would approve of this family life of ours. He so wanted to see goodness, happiness, tranquility in everything, and I would proudly show us us, ”that is, a happy family is perceived by Pierre as an integral part of a correct (“ good-looking ”) life.
Peaceful life in the epilogue is the "real life" that the heroes dreamed of. It includes ordinary, natural human interests: the health and illness of children, work of adults, rest, friendship, hatred, passions, that is, everything that was shown in the second volume.
But the fundamental difference of this life is that here the heroes already find satisfaction, feeling themselves as a result of the war as a particle of the people. "Pairing" with the life of the people in Borodino and in captivity changed Pierre. His servants found that he had "forgiven" a lot. "Now the smile of the joy of life was constantly playing around his mouth, and his eyes shone with concern for people - the question: are they as happy as he is?" The main wisdom to which he came: “... if vicious people are connected with each other and constitute strength, then honest people need to do only the same. It’s so simple. ”
Natural life, according to Tolstoy, can be deeply humanized, spiritualized, provided that it is illuminated from within by the light of higher moral consciousness. In the harmony of the physical and the spiritual, the writer sees the apotheosis of life, its meaning.

In the works of L. Tolstoy, much is based on oppositions. One of the main ones is the opposition of "real life" and "false life". In this case, the heroes of "War and Peace" can be divided into those who live a "fake life" (these are, as a rule, people of secular,
Petersburg society: maid of honor Scherer, Prince Vasily Kuragin, Helen Kuragin, Governor-General Rostopchin), and those whose lives are full of real meaning.
The life of the Rostov family is very vividly depicted in the novel. Rostov are primarily people of feelings, sensations, reflection is unusual for them. Each member of this family perceives life in its own way, especially, but at the same time, they all have something in common, uniting them, making them really a family. And it is known what significance Tolstoy attached to this concept.
An indispensable condition for real life, according to Tolstoy, is the emancipation of a person who understands conventions and neglects them, builds his behavior in society not on secular requirements of decency, but on other grounds. At a birthday dinner in the Rostovs' house, Natasha decides to be impudent: she loudly, in front of all the guests, asks her mother what kind of ice cream will be served. And although the countess pretended that she was dissatisfied and indignant at her daughter's bad manners, Natasha felt that her insolence was favorably received by the guests precisely because of her naturalness and naturalness. Anna Pavlovna Sherer is frightened by Pierre Bezukhov, who has appeared in her living room, because he is distinguished by his spontaneity and simplicity of behavior and a lack of understanding of secular etiquette, which requires people to greet "no one needs aunt" just in the name of observing some kind of ritual. Tolstoy very vividly depicts the immediacy of the behavior in the scene of Russian dance of the old Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov and Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova. Natasha, all radiant with delight, points to her father to the guests. Tolstoy conveys the feeling of joy that gripped the count himself, Natasha, Nikolai, Sonya, guests ... In the writer's understanding, this is true life.
The famous hunting scene is also an expressive example of the manifestation of real life. It was decided to go hunting on another day, but the morning was such that Nikolai Rostov felt, as Tolstoy writes, that "one cannot but go." Independently of him, Natasha, Petya, the old count and the huntsman Danila experience this feeling. During the hunt, all conventions are discarded and forgotten, and Danila can be rude to the count and even call him rude, and the count understands this, realizes that in a different situation the hunter would never allow himself this, but the hunting situation liberates Danila in every sense of the word, and no longer the count is his master, but he himself is the master of the situation, the owner of power over all. Participants in the hunt experience the same sensations, although each exhibits it differently. When the hunters drove the hare, Natasha squeals enthusiastically and loudly, everyone understands her feelings, the delight that gripped her. After such liberation, Natasha's dance becomes possible.
Tolstoy's epic culminates in the war of 1812. It filters out everything that is not real, false in people's lives, gives a person the opportunity to open up to the end, feeling the need for it, as Nikolai Rostov and the hussars of his squadron feel at the moment when it is impossible not to start an attack. The Smolensk merchant Ferapontov, who burns his goods and distributes it to the soldiers, also feels the need. Heroes who do not seek to be useful to the general course of events, but live their normal lives, are the most useful participants in it. So, real, sincere feelings are the unmistakable criterion of real life.
But heroes who live more according to the laws of reason are also capable of real life. An example of this is the Bolkonsky family. None of them, except, perhaps, Princess Marya, is not characterized by an open manifestation of their feelings. But Prince Andrew and his sister have their own path to real life. And Prince Andrew will pass through the streaks of delusion, but an unmistakable moral sense will help him to overthrow the false idols whom he worshiped. So Napoleon and Speransky will be debunked in his mind, love for Natasha, so different from all Petersburg beauties, will enter his life. Natasha will become the personification of real life, opposing the falsity of the world. That is why Andrei will endure her betrayal so painfully - after all, this will be tantamount to the collapse of the ideal.
But here, too, the war will put everything in its place. After breaking up with Natasha, Andrei will go to war, no longer driven by ambitious dreams, but by an inner sense of involvement in the people's cause, the cause of defending Russia. Wounded, he forgives Natasha before dying, because a true understanding of life comes to him.
Tolstoy's real life can be expressed in the feelings of some characters and in the thoughts of others. This is embodied in the novel by Pierre Bezukhov, in whose image both of these principles are combined, for he has both the ability for direct feeling, like the Rostovs, and a sharp analytical mind, like his elder friend Bolkonsky. He, too, seeks the meaning of life and is mistaken in his searches, sometimes loses all sorts of guidelines, but feeling and thought lead him to new discoveries, and this path leads him to an understanding of the people's soul. This is manifested both during his communication with the soldiers on the Borodino field on the day of the battle and in captivity, when he becomes close to Platon Karataev. Plato becomes for him the personification of the simplicity and clarity of the basic laws of life, the answer to all reflections. The feeling of the immensity of true life grips Pierre when he looks at the starry sky and is imbued with the feeling of his unity with the whole universe. We can say that he sees the same sky that Prince Andrew saw on the Austerlitz field. And Pierre laughs at the mere thought that a soldier can lock him up, that is, the entire universe, and not let him go anywhere. Inner freedom is a characteristic feature of true life.
Favorite heroes of Tolstoy agree in their admiration for life, unconscious, like Natasha's, or, conversely, clearly perceived, like Prince Andrew's. The commander Kutuzov, who understands the inevitability of what must happen, is opposed to Napoleon, who imagines that he controls the course of events, as if the course of thought can be controlled. Real life is always simple and natural, no matter how it develops and manifests itself.

Jan 27 2015

In the works of L. Tolstoy, much is based on counterpoints, on oppositions. One of the main counterpoints is the opposition of "real life" and "false life." At the same time, the heroes of Tolstoy's works, in particular the heroes of War and Peace, can be divided into those who live a “fake life” - these are, as a rule, people of secular Petersburg society: the maid of honor Sherer, Prince Vasily Kuragin, Helen Kuragin, General Governor Rostopchin, and those who are full of real meaning. Real life manifests itself everywhere, regardless of the situation. So, the life of the Rostov family is very vividly depicted in the novel.

Rostov are primarily people of feelings, sensations, reflection is unusual for them. Each member of this family feels life in its own way, especially, but at the same time, all members of the family have something in common, uniting them, making them really a family, representatives of the breed. And it is known what importance he attached to this concept in the novel “War and Peace”. At the birthday dinner, which takes place in the Rostovs' house, she decides to be impudent: she loudly in front of all the guests asks her mother what kind of ice cream will be served. And although the Countess did all the rights reserved in 2001-2005, pretending that she was dissatisfied and outraged by her daughter's bad manners, Natasha felt that her insolence was favorably received by the guests precisely because of her naturalness and naturalness.

An indispensable condition for real life, according to Tolstoy, is the emancipation of a person who understands conventions and neglects them, builds his behavior in society not on secular requirements of decency, but on other grounds. That is why Anna Pavlovna Sherer is so frightened by the appearance in her living room, distinguished by his spontaneity and simplicity of behavior and a lack of understanding of secular etiquette, which requires people to greet “no one needed aunt” just in the name of observing some kind of ritual. Tolstoy very vividly draws this immediacy of behavior in the scene of Russian dance of the old Count Ilya Andreyevich Rostov and Marya Dmitrievna Akhrosimova. Natasha, all radiant with delight, points to her father to the guests.

Tolstoy conveys the feeling of joy that overcame the count himself, Nikolai, Sonya, guests ... This, in the understanding of the writer, is true life. The famous hunting scene is also an expressive example of the manifestation of real life. It was decided to go hunting on another day, but the morning was such that Nikolai Rostov felt, as Tolstoy writes, that “one cannot but go”.

Independently of him, Natasha, Petya, the old count and the huntsman Danila experience this feeling. As the researcher of Tolstoy's creativity SG Bocharov writes, “necessity enters the life of people, to which it is joyful to obey”. During the hunt, all conventions are discarded and forgotten, and Danila can be rude to the count and even call him rude, and the count understands this, realizes that in a different situation the hunter would never allow himself this, but the hunting situation liberates Danila in every sense of the word , and no longer the count is his master, but he himself is the master of the situation, the owner of power over everyone. Participants in the hunt experience the same sensations, although each exhibits it differently.

When the hunters drove the hare, Natasha squeals enthusiastically and loudly, and everyone understands her feelings, the delight that gripped her. After such liberation, Natasha's dance becomes possible, which Tolstoy portrays as an instinctive penetration into the innermost secrets of the people's soul, which this “grafinechka”, who danced only salon dances with shawls and never danced folk dances, was able to accomplish this. But, perhaps, at this moment that distant childish admiration for the father's dance also affected ... During the hunt, each hero acts as one cannot help but do.

This is a kind of model for the behavior of the people during 1812, which becomes the culmination of Tolstoy's epic. weeds out everything that is not real, false in people's lives, gives a person the opportunity to open up to the end, feeling the need for it, as Nikolai Rostov and the hussars of his squadron feel it, they feel it at the moment when it was impossible not to start an attack. The Smolensk merchant Ferapontov also feels the need, burning his goods and distributing them to the soldiers.

Heroes who do not specifically seek to be useful to the general course of events, but live their normal lives, are the most useful participants in it. So, real, sincere feelings are the unmistakable criterion of real life. But the heroes who live in Tolstoy more likely according to the laws of reason are also capable of real life. An example of this is the Bolkonsky family. None of them, except, perhaps, Princess Marya, is not characterized by an open manifestation of feelings.

But Prince Andrew and his sister have their own path to real life. And he will pass through the streaks of delusion, but an unerring moral sense will help him to overthrow the false idols he worshiped. So Napoleon and Speransky will be debunked in his mind, and love for Natasha, so unlike all Petersburg beauties, will enter his life.

Natasha will become the personification of real life, opposing the falsity of the world. That is why Andrei will endure her betrayal so painfully - after all, this will be tantamount to the collapse of the ideal. But here, too, the war will put everything in its place. After breaking up with Natasha, Andrei will go on, driven no longer by ambitious dreams, but by an inner sense of involvement in the people's cause, the cause of defending Russia.

Wounded, before dying, he forgives Natasha, because an understanding of life in its simple and eternal basis comes to him. But now Prince Andrei understood something more, which makes his earthly existence impossible: he understood what the mind of an earthly man cannot contain; he understood life so deeply that he is forced to distance himself from it. And so he dies. Tolstoy's real life can be expressed in the feelings of some characters and in the thoughts of others. This is embodied in the novel by Pierre Bezukhov, in whose image both of these principles are combined, for he has both the ability for direct feeling, like the Rostovs, and a sharp analytical mind, like his elder friend Bolkonsky.

He, too, seeks the meaning of life and is mistaken in his searches, finds false guidelines and loses all guidelines, but feeling and thought lead him to new discoveries, and this path inevitably leads him to an understanding of the people's soul. This manifests itself both during his communication with the soldiers on the Borodino field on the day of the battle, and in captivity, when he becomes close to Platon Karataev. This eventually leads him to a marriage with Natasha and the future Decembrists. Plato becomes for him the personification of the simplicity and clarity of the basic laws of life, the answer to all reflections.

The feeling of the immensity of true life embraces Pierre when he leaves his booth at night, where he was held in French captivity, looks back at the forests, looks at the starry sky and is imbued with the feeling of his unity with everything and the existence of the entire universe in himself. We can say that he sees the same sky that Prince Andrew saw on the Austerlitz field. And Pierre laughs at the mere thought that a soldier can lock him in a booth, that is, the entire universe, and not let him go anywhere. Inner freedom is a characteristic feature of true life. Favorite heroes of Tolstoy agree in their admiration for life, unconscious, like Natasha's, or, conversely, clearly perceived, like Prince Andrew's.

The commander Kutuzov, who understands the inevitability of what must happen, is opposed to Napoleon, who imagines that he controls the course of events, as if the course of life can be controlled. Real life is always simple and natural, no matter how it develops and manifests itself. Tolstoy loves the life he portrays, loves his heroes who live it.

After all, it is characteristic that it was during the work on "War and Peace" that he wrote in a letter to Boborykin that his goal as an artist was not the solution of some theoretical issues, but his goal was to make readers “cry and laugh and love life”. Tolstoy's real life is always portrayed as beautiful.