Creating stunning pictures of the recent past on the pages of the novel "War and Peace", Tolstoy wanted to show what feats thousands of completely different, and sometimes unfamiliar people are ready to do to save their homeland. Reading this novel, you understand how spiritual and sublime people it is. The faces are simple and beautiful, majestic and not quite. The author shows portraits of everyday life and front doors. There is an amazing and masterfully written miniature in the novel - about Captain Tushin.
The portrait of Captain Tushin is by no means heroic: "A thin, small and dirty officer of the artillery troops in stockings and without boots," for which, in practice, he receives constant scolding from his superiors.
Tolstoy shows us the image of Tushin, as Prince Andrei sees him. There is something special about him, absolutely non-military, somewhat funny, but very attractive.
For the second time in the novel, the captain is introduced to readers during the battle of Shengraben. This episode has been dubbed by literary critics as the "forgotten battery". Prince Andrei at the beginning of the battle characterizes the captain as follows: "Little Tushin, with a straw bitten to one side." His face is intelligent and kind, but slightly pale. Further, Tolstoy himself frankly admires the stunning figure of Tushin, who is surrounded on all sides, as the author emphasizes, broad-shouldered and huge heroes. Even Bagration himself, when he circles the positions of his troops, is nearby.
Tushin, not seeing the general, breaks ahead of his battery, where it is most dangerous, and, “peeping out from under a small hand”, gives commands. Tushin is shy in front of his superiors and senior officers. His behavior and habits are reminiscent of rural priests or zemstvo physicians. There is so much sadness in it and so little heroic and loud.
But the tactical decisions that Tushin makes with sergeant major Zakharchenko at the military council deserve great respect from Prince Bagration.
The French mistakenly believe that it is here, in the center, that the main forces of the Allied army are concentrated. They could not imagine that absolutely without any cover, the four guns commanded by the little captain Tushin would destroy Shengraben.
Tolstoy describes the real, heroic, popular and heroic reality. Directly from here is this carnival attitude towards death and enemies, as well as this cheerful epic gesture. Tolstoy draws with pleasure a special world of fairy-tale ideas that have been established in Tushin's mind. Tushin sees the enemy's guns as pipes smoked by a large invisible smoker.
According to the author's plan, only Prince Andrei is able to see and understand the strong and heroic that is inherent in the captain. Bolkonsky stands up for him at a military council. He convinces Bagration to admit that the victory in this battle is due to the heroic actions of Tushin. Undoubtedly, the image of Tushin is one of the most striking in this novel.
The image of Tushin in the novel by Tolstoy L.N. "War and Peace" is portrayed as the image of a "little man", quiet and inconspicuous, but so great when he goes about his business.
Tushin's external characterization is completely unpretentious: "A small, dirty, thin artillery officer without boots, wearing only stockings." We get to know this hero through his perception by Andrei Bolkonsky. He “looked again at the figure of the gunner. There was something special about her, not at all military, somewhat comical, but extremely attractive. We understand that the captain is sympathetic to Prince Andrei, and we begin to look closely at this hero. We meet Tushin several times in the novel. At the beginning of the battle near Shengraben, “little Tushin, with a pipe bitten to the side” appears before us again.
Here the author himself admires his hero. On the battlefield, he is not lost among the soldiers and officers, even being next to Bagration, not noticing the commander, Tushin runs out under the very fire and gives commands. “The little man, with weak, awkward movements, constantly demanded for himself another pipe from the batman ... ran forward and looked at the French from under his small hand. - Crush, guys! - he would say, and he himself would pick up the guns by the wheels and unscrew the screws.
In the image of the hero, folklore motifs and realities are combined: he represents enemy cannons as pipes of invisible huge smokers, and cannonballs - as cast-iron balls, enemy troops - as ants. He even endowed his big cannon with his own name - Matveevna. He also presents himself as "a huge, powerful man who throws cannonballs at the French with both hands."
In a military situation, Tushin behaves so naturally, as if he were doing his usual daily activities. Disorganized in life, incapable of fulfilling the ceremonial military regulations, which the authorities were constantly dissatisfied with, in battle the captain demonstrates an example of courage, valor and heroism, which is also quite natural and organic for him. He just can't behave differently because he's so organized.
The author deliberately portrays the hero as a “little man”, weak, timid, but fearless, capable of a feat. He is the representative of the people and, according to Tolstoy, it was precisely such people who made history. During the battle of Shengraben, left on the battlefield without cover, with one of his batteries, which consisted of four guns, Tushin continued the fight, only slightly shuddering when shells exploded nearby. The battery was not taken by the enemy only because the French could not even imagine that this continuously firing point was so audacious. Tushin is portrayed by Tolstoy at this point as a true hero. However, when the captain has to appear before Bagration, he is so lost that he can hardly pronounce the words. Clinging to the flagpole, he causes laughter from those present. So brave in battle, here he cannot defend himself, cannot tell that the battery was left without cover, because by doing this he can cause trouble to the person who led the defense. But Andrei Bolkonsky could not help but stand up for Tushin, for which he heard words of gratitude from him: “Thank you, helped me out, my dear.”
The image of Captain Tushin is a lesson in courage. A coward will never admit that he is afraid. A truly courageous and courageous person is also afraid, but he knows that at certain moments you need to be able to overcome your fear. Another meeting of the reader with the captain will take place in the hospital, in one of the battles he will lose his arm. We will no longer meet this hero on the pages of the novel, but his sincere image will be remembered, and moral lessons will make you think about what courage is and what a real hero should be like.
Updated: 2012-03-26
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"The club of the people's war has risen with all
with its formidable and majestic power ...
rose, fell and nailed the French
until the whole invasion is gone."
L.N. Tolstoy
This epigraph is a line from Leo Tolstoy's great novel War and Peace. It, of course, refers to the entire novel, and not to a specific battle, but it expresses the general idea of the writer about the nationality of the Patriotic War of 1812. In the history of this war, few have heard of the battle of Shengraben. The battle of Shengraben in Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" gained general fame. It is here that we learn about real human exploits and their heroes.
The course of the battle of Shengraben
The French army outnumbered the Russian one. One hundred thousand against thirty-five. The Russian army led by Kutuzov won a small victory at Krems and had to move to Znaim to save themselves. Kutuzov no longer trusted his allies. The Austrian army, without waiting for the reinforcements of the Russian troops, launched an attack on the French, but seeing their superiority, capitulated. Kutuzov, on the other hand, had to retreat, because the unevenness of forces did not bode well. The only salvation was to get to Znaim before the French. But the Russian road was longer and more difficult. Then Kutuzov decides to send Bagration's vanguard to cut across the enemy, that he, as best he could, detained the enemy. Bagration "had to hold the entire enemy army for 24 hours with four thousand hungry, exhausted soldiers," writes Tolstoy. And here chance saved the Russians. The French envoy Murat, seeing Bagration's detachment, decided that this was the entire Russian army, and proposed a truce for three days. Kutuzov took advantage of this "rest".
Of course, Napoleon immediately understood the deception, but while his messenger was driving to the army, Kutuzov had already managed to get to Znaim.
When Bagration's vanguard retreated, Tushin's small battery, which stood near the village of Shengraben, was forgotten and abandoned by the Russians.
The feat of the Tushin battery
"No one ordered Tushin where and with what to shoot ... and he decided that it would be good to set fire to the village." Tushin's battery assumed mortal danger. Once in the center of events, they set fire to the village, thereby distracting the French. But after the retreat, Bagration sat down to analyze the mistakes of the Russian army. He scolded Tushin for not retreating, but leaving the gun on the field. Tushin didn’t even make excuses: “Tushin ... in all his horror presented his guilt and shame in the fact that he, having remained alive, lost two guns.”
He was not to blame, since Zherkov's detachment did not even cover him. Prince Andrei Bolkonsky interceded for him, who saw how Tushin defended his weapon as best he could. He did not throw the cannons, they were broken, there were no people, there was a horse with a broken leg nearby. Bolkonsky explained to Bagration that it was Tushin's battery that saved the Russian army. Tushin was touched: "Here, thank you, rescued me, my dear."
Through the description of the Battle of Shengraben in War and Peace, Tolstoy gives psychological portraits of some of the heroes. For Andrei Bolkonsky, who was confident that everything was going according to plan in the war, it was a discovery that what was drawn on paper might not at all coincide with the real state of affairs. The selflessness of the unprepossessing Tushin struck him. After all, Bolkonsky expected something different from the battle, he was waiting for "his Toulon." But it turned out to be worse than he thought. After the explanation with Bagration, Zherkov's meanness, Tushin's feat, Prince Andrei “... it was sad and hard. It was all so strange, so unlike what he had hoped for."
True and false patriotism
Drawing the characters of his heroes, Tolstoy makes us understand who is a real patriot of Russia, and who is currying favor for personal purposes. This is the artistic significance of the Battle of Shengraben in understanding some of the images of the novel. The episode with Tushin shows how one can be small in rank and rank, but be a true person. Tushin did not think what would happen to him, he saved the detachment, those who were nearby, who followed him, saved at the cost of his own life, without choosing his own rewards. Dolokhov and Zherkov stand in opposition to him. It cannot be said that Dolokhov did not show courage. He, together with Timokhin, rushed to the French, putting his chest under the bullets, but, grabbing the first Frenchman he came across, he immediately took advantage of this. Running to the regimental commander, he asked to pay attention to the fact that he stopped the company and took trophies, and asked to remember him. Is this true patriotism? It was important for Dolokhov that he was noticed and then awarded. Zherkov's cowardice also refers to a false sense of duty to his homeland. He could have helped Tushin's battery, but he never reached it, probably because he was afraid to meet the enemy face to face.
conclusions
Tolstoy attaches great importance to the Battle of Shengraben. This is the first step towards the moral formation of the soul of Andrei Bolkonsky. In this episode, one can very clearly see the true and false patriotism of Russian officers, commanders, soldiers. Tolstoy briefly, in small phrases, in separate actions, shows us the truth of the feelings of the characters. After analyzing the events under Shengraben, the reader sees that each hero showed himself without embellishment, as he really is.
My essay on the topic “The Battle of Shengraben in the novel “War and Peace” reveals one of the main episodes of the novel. The question of real patriotism runs through the whole work. And Tolstoy gives a clear answer to it.
Artwork test
The image of Captain Tushin in the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"
Recreating grandiose pictures of the relatively recent past on the pages of War and Peace, Tolstoy showed what miracles of heroism for the sake of saving the motherland, in fulfillment of an oath and duty, thousands of different, sometimes unfamiliar people are capable of.
Reading this novel is like leafing through a family album or walking in a gallery where portraits of dozens and hundreds of characters are hung on the walls. The faces are sublime and spiritual, the faces are simple, the faces are beautiful and ugly, majestic and not very. There are ceremonial portraits, there are household portraits, and among them is an amazing miniature made by the hand of a master - a short story about Captain Tushin.
Tushin's portrait is not at all heroic: "A small, dirty, thin artillery officer without boots, wearing only stockings." For which, in fact, he receives a scolding from the headquarters officer. Tolstoy shows it to us through the eyes of Prince Andrei, who "looked once more at the figurine of the artilleryman. There was something special about it, not at all military, somewhat comical, but extremely attractive." The captain appears for the second time on the pages of the novel during the Battle of Shengraben, in an episode called by literary critics "the forgotten battery". At the beginning of the Battle of Shengraben, Prince Andrey again sees the captain: "Little Tushin, with a pipe bitten to one side." His kind and intelligent face is somewhat pale. And then Tolstoy himself, without the help of his heroes, frankly admires this amazing figure.
This figurine is surrounded on all sides, the author emphasizes, by huge broad-shouldered heroes. Bagration himself, circling the positions, is nearby. However, Tushin, not noticing the general, runs ahead of the battery, under the very fire and, "peeping out from under the small hand", commands. "Add two more lines, just right," he shouted in a thin voice. Tushin is shy in front of everyone: in front of the authorities, in front of senior officers. His habits and behavior remind us of zemstvo doctors or rural priests. There is so much Chekhovian, kind and sad in it, and so little loud and heroic. However, the tactical decisions taken by Tushin at a military council with sergeant major Zakharchenko, "for whom he had great respect," deserve a resolute "Good!" Prince Bagration. It is more difficult to conceive of a reward higher than this.
And now the French think that the main forces of the allied army are concentrated here in the center. Even in their nightmares, they could not dream of the comical vision of four cannons without cover and of a little captain with a tube-nose warmer that burned Shengraben. “A little man, with weak, awkward movements, constantly demanded for himself another pipe from the batman ... he ran forward and looked at the French from under his small hand. “Smash, guys!” he said and he himself picked up the guns by the wheels and unscrewed the screws " .
Tolstoy describes the true, popular, heroic, heroic reality. It is from here this epic gesture and a cheerful, carnival attitude towards enemies and death. Tolstoy draws with pleasure a special mythical world that has been established in Tushin's head. Enemy cannons are not cannons, but pipes smoked by a huge invisible smoker: - Look, puffed again ... now wait for the ball. Apparently, Tushin himself imagines himself in his true image - just as huge and strong, throwing iron balls over the horizon. Only Prince Andrei is able to understand and see the heroic and strong that is in the captain. Standing up for him, Bolkonsky at the military council does not convince Prince Bagration that the success of the day "we owe most of all to the action of this battery, and the heroic stamina of Captain Tushin," but deserves the embarrassed gratitude of the captain himself: "Thank you, helped me out, my dear."
In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy said melancholy: "The life of peoples does not fit into the lives of several people." It is quite possible that such a remark is true in relation to historical and state figures. But the touching and sincere little captain Tushin is wider, bigger and taller than his portrait. Folklore motifs and reality, epic, song depth and spiritual simplicity of wisdom converged in it in a special way. Undoubtedly - this is one of the brightest characters in the book.
Recreating grandiose pictures of the relatively recent past on the pages of War and Peace, Tolstoy showed what miracles of heroism for the sake of saving the motherland, in fulfillment of an oath and duty, thousands of different, sometimes unfamiliar people are capable of. Reading this novel is like leafing through a family album or walking through a gallery, on the walls of which there are portraits of dozens and hundreds of people. The faces are sublime and spiritual, the faces are simple, the faces are beautiful and ugly, majestic and not very. There are ceremonial portraits, there are everyday ones, and among them is an amazing miniature made by the hand of a master - a story about Captain Tushin.
The portrait of Tushin is not at all heroic: “A small, dirty, thin artillery officer without boots, wearing only stockings,” for which, in fact, he receives a scolding from a staff officer.
Tolstoy shows us Tushin through the eyes of Prince Andrei, who “looked once more at the figurine of the gunner. There was something special about her, not at all military, somewhat comical, but extremely attractive.
For the second time on the pages of the novel, the captain appears during the battle of Shengraben, in an episode called by literary critics “forgotten battery”.
At the beginning of the Battle of Shengraben, Prince Andrey again sees the captain: “Little Tushin, with a pipe bitten to the side.” His kind and intelligent face is somewhat pale. And then Tolstoy himself, without the help of his heroes, frankly admires this amazing figure, which is surrounded on all sides, the author emphasizes, by huge broad-shouldered heroes. Bagration himself, circling the positions, is nearby. However, Tushin, not noticing the general, runs ahead of the batteries, under the very fire, and, “peeping out from under a small hand”, commands: “Add two more lines, it will be just right.”
Tushin is shy in front of everyone: in front of the authorities, in front of senior officers. His habits and behavior remind us of zemstvo doctors or rural priests. There is so much Chekhovian, kind and sad in it, and so little loud and heroic.
However, the tactical decisions taken by Tushin at a military council with sergeant major Zakharchenko, “for whom he had great respect,” deserve a resolute “good!” Prince Bagration. It is difficult to conceive a higher reward than this.
And now the French think that here, in the center, the main forces of the allied army are concentrated. Even in their worst dreams they could not dream that four cannons without cover and a little captain with a tube-nose warmer would burn Shengraben.
“The little man, with weak, awkward movements, constantly demanded for himself another pipe from the batman ... ran forward and looked at the French from under his small hand. - Crush, guys! - he would say, and he himself would pick up the guns by the wheels and unscrew the screws.
Tolstoy describes the true, popular, heroic, heroic reality. It is from here this epic gesture and a cheerful, carnival attitude towards enemies and death.
Tolstoy draws with pleasure a special world of mythical ideas that has been established in Tushin's mind. Enemy cannons are not cannons, but pipes smoked by a huge invisible smoker: “Look, puffed again ... now wait for the ball.”
Apparently, Tushin himself imagines himself as huge and strong, throwing iron balls over the horizon.
Only Prince Andrei is able to understand and see the heroic and strong that is in the captain. Standing up for him, Bolkonsky at the military council convinces Prince Bagration that the success of the day “we owe most of all to the action of this battery and the heroic stamina of Captain Tushin,” which deserves the embarrassed gratitude of the captain himself: “Thank you, helped me out, my dear.”
In the epilogue of the novel, Tolstoy said: "The life of peoples does not fit into the lives of several people." It is quite possible that such a remark is true in relation to historical and state characters. But the touching and sincere little captain Tushin is wider, bigger and taller than his portrait. Folklore motifs and reality, epic, song depth and sincere simplicity of wisdom converged in it in a special way. Undoubtedly, this is one of the brightest characters in the book.
Captain Tushin and his role in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace"
The true hero of the novel "War and Peace" is the Russian people. Defending their native land from the Napoleonic invasion, the Russians showed exceptional heroism, courage, steadfastness and endurance. L. N. Tolstoy deeply believed in this and believed that the main force is the people's strength, the source of which was people's patriotism. The people in the novel always appear when it comes to the fate of the entire army. Tolstoy described all the stages of the war, from the moment when the people begin to gather strength, until the moment when the "club of the people's war" fell on the head of the enemy. In each round of the war, the author shows a new stage in the development of the people's consciousness. Tolstoy showed how a feeling of insult is born, how revenge ripens, how, by the end of the war, hatred is replaced by contempt and pity.
Telling the truth about the war is very difficult. The author's innovation is connected not only with the fact that he portrayed a man in the war, but most importantly, that he discovered the heroism of the war, presenting it as an everyday affair and at the same time a test of spiritual qualities, human strength.
And it is legitimate that the bearers of real, genuine heroism were simple, modest people, such as Captain Tushin or Timokhin, forgotten by history.
Tushin is a simple and modest person, small in stature, frail, lost in the presence of superiors, unable to properly salute. It is difficult to distinguish him from the soldiers. Tushin lives the same life with the soldiers, eats and drinks with them, sings their songs, participates in their conversations. During the battles, he does not know fear: with a handful of soldiers, the same heroes as their commander, Tushin fulfills his duty with amazing courage and heroism, despite the fact that the cover left on someone's orders in the middle of the case.
On his battery, Tushin was transformed beyond recognition: despite his lean physique, he resembled a hero. The captain was absorbed in the battle, he saw only his guns and the enemy, he was one with the whole battery: guns, people, horses. Tushin calls the guns by their names, speaks affectionately to them, it even seems to him that he is throwing the cannonballs at the enemy. At this moment, all his happiness and sorrow, love and hate, joy and sadness are inextricably linked with the battle, guns, smoke, comrades and the enemy.
Sometimes it even seems that the battery, which has lost its guns, most of the people, is holding on to its position under the onslaught of the enemy and without any cover only thanks to the iron will and unshakable selflessness of its captain. The spirit of the battery, which is embodied in Tushino, makes the soldiers fight merrily and die merrily, laugh at the adjutant who orders to leave the position and cowardly hides from the cannonballs. They all know that they are rescuing a retreating army, but they are unaware of their own heroism. It was this battery, exhausted and slightly alive from the constant attacks of the enemy, that played one of the key roles in the battle.
And what did Captain Tushin get in return for his dead comrades and broken guns? Alas, only the dissatisfaction of the authorities was the reward for the heroes. When Tushin enters the headquarters, we understand from his awkwardness and neglect of high ranks that he is a stranger here, that a group of generals and adjutants exists separately from what was on the battlefield. The feat of his battery is not noticed; the award will be presented to people whose heroism is confirmed by adjutants and officers who were not under bullets that day. But the captain does not try to justify himself - otherwise the commander of his cover will be punished. And only Andrei Bolkonsky, who brought out the guns together with Tushin, saves the military honor of the battery.
This incident struck Prince Andrei. What was happening in the army was so strange, so unlike what he had hoped for. Prince Andrei saw careerism, betrayal of the allies, pettiness, cowardice, lies - in a word, everything from which he fled to war. And, of course, the meeting with Captain Tushin is of particular importance in this insight, contact with real life. This small and modest officer, who set fire to Shengraben, but who did not at all think that he was a hero, but on the contrary, was afraid of his superiors, made a huge impression on the prince. From this ordinary-looking captain, Andrei receives a true lesson in heroism. Bolkonsky realized that the heroic appearance is often deceptive. His idea of life values, of the true begins to change.
We remember the names of the great commanders, but hardly anyone will remember the name of the captain who set fire to Shengraben. How many tushins, timokhins lie on the battlefields. Hundreds, thousands of unknown heroes rest in these fields. History does not name them. Not in the name of crosses, ranks, glory, Russian soldiers fought and died; in moments of feat, they least of all thought about glory. In his epic novel, Tolstoy proved that the people accomplished a feat, that the people are a hero.
Characteristics of the image of Captain Tushin
ushin - staff captain, hero of the Shengraben battle, “a small, dirty, thin artillery officer with big, intelligent and kind eyes. There was something "unmilitary, somewhat comical, but extremely attractive" about this man. T. becomes shy when meeting with his superiors, and there is always some kind of his fault. On the eve of the battle, he speaks of the fear of death and the uncertainty of what awaits after it.
In battle, T. completely changes, presenting himself as the hero of a fantastic picture, a hero throwing cannonballs at the enemy, and the enemy guns seem to him to be the same puffing smoking pipes as his own. Battery T. forgotten during the battle, left without cover. During the battle, T. does not have a sense of fear and thoughts about death and injury. He becomes more and more cheerful, the soldiers listen to him like children, he does everything he can, and thanks to his ingenuity sets fire to the village of Shengraben. From another trouble (cannons left on the battlefield), the hero is rescued by Andrei Bolkonsky, who announces to Bagration that the detachment largely owes its success to this man.