The story evoked a lot of feelings. It is difficult to come to terms with the fact that a person can be so different, perform such different actions, without experiencing visible moral difficulties, as the colonel did. L.N. Tolstoy deliberately drew such a contrast in order to more deeply emphasize the fractures in the souls of many people of that time. Probably, now there are also people who change social roles, like masks, and behave in completely opposite ways in different places. Analysis by L.N. Tolstoy is even more subtle than N.V. Gogol or M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, because the same Gogol characters fundamentally cannot experience certain high feelings, such as love, open joy, inspiration; every moment of sincerity reveals in them people who are petty, envious and cynical. Tolstoy's colonel is not like that at all. He can be joyful, sincerely pleasant to talk to, and charming. But at the same time, he is ready, putting on the mask of an army commander, to act ruthlessly, with methodical cold rage. Man is by nature an integral being, and in his behavior he must try to proceed from common internal criteria. For L.N. Tolstoy these were Christian commandments. When these criteria are different, the whole personality disintegrates. The narrator instinctively retained this integrity within himself, refusing to enter a world where it was possible to succeed only by splitting and isolating different parts of the personality from each other. In a normal person, thought, word and deed are one, and when opposing thoughts are fenced off in the very core of the soul, a person ceases to be like God, in whose image he was created. Recognizing such people is much more difficult than Gogol’s characters, because they must be observed in different situations. You can imperceptibly become dependent on such a person, having imbued with initial trust in him, then afterwards a shock will arise, similar to what Ivan Vasilyevich experienced. The story teaches that integrity in all manifestations of life, loyalty to a single moral feeling are truly human qualities, they stand above changing social or racial differences.
The narrator is a special artistic character on whose behalf the narration in the work is conducted. Sometimes the narrator’s position approaches the author’s position, sometimes it diverges significantly from it. One can recall “Lefty” by Leskov, “The Night Before Christmas” by Gogol, “The Stone Flower” by Bazhov: in them the authors create vivid images of narrators.
There are two narrators: the first, obviously a young man, narrates in the first person - but not singular, but plural (“we asked,” “one of us said”), that is, the first narrator is, as it were, a collective person. He introduces us to a situation in which young people are talking about the influence of conditions on the formation of a person; “everyone respected Ivan Vasilyevich” takes part in the conversation. We see that this conversation is no exception: such conversations happen often: “Often he completely forgot the reason for which he was talking...”.
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Left a comment on 10/21/2017:
The story begins with the idea that a person’s life is especially influenced by his environment, but just one incident can change his fate even more dramatically. And this first thought has already taken possession of the hero.
I involuntarily plunged into the depths of the story, clearly imagining all the people and events described. All the emotions of Ivan Vasilyevich, the main character of this story, were conveyed to me. The story is told on his behalf, in which the most important role is played by Varenka B., his strongest love, and her father, Pyotr Vladislavovich. Ivan Vasilyevich describes Varenka with special trepidation, giving her almost angelic features.
The ball itself for Ivan Vasilyevich was a bright, bright, well-organized event, where everything was nice to him. His perception was largely influenced by falling in love with Varenka. This tender feeling was further reinforced when the narrator saw the girl’s father, who is portrayed as a stately and slender man. Ivan Vasilyevich read in him the same loving attitude towards his daughter. And watching his father and Varenka dance, he united them into a single whole and experienced extraordinary tenderness.
But Ivan Vasilyevich’s mood changed dramatically when, after the ball, he saw a scene of cruel punishment of a soldier, Varenka’s father Pyotr Vladislavovich supervised this execution. Now he appeared before the narrator as a stern and merciless boss. Ivan Vasilyevich lost all his happy feelings and, to the point of nausea, did not understand what exactly had happened, why Pyotr Vladislavovich’s face turned out to be completely different. He could never find an answer to this question.
It is difficult for me to understand and judge the actions of the heroes of the story, but their characters seem to me quite natural, filled with life and evoking sincere emotions.
Title of the work: After the ball
Year of writing: 1903
Genre: story
Main characters: Ivan Vasilievich- narrator, Colonel, Varenka- daughter of a colonel.
Plot
The narrator is deeply in love with the girl and goes to the ball in the most rosy mood, in anticipation of a meeting and, perhaps, an explanation. At the ball, he meets Varenka's father - an old colonel, ruddy and cheerful, who was kind to his daughter. After the ball, the young man cannot sleep, he is so excited and happy, and he goes to wander around the city. Soon his attention is attracted by a strange and frightening noise. He comes closer and sees a crowd of people who look with horror at the ongoing massacre of the exhausted, pathetic soldier. He is driven through the gauntlet - beaten on the back with birch sticks as punishment for escaping from the army. This execution is controlled by the old colonel, suddenly he stops and hits the young soldier hard and sharply in the face, who, in his opinion, weakly hit the deserter’s bleeding back.
This incident made such a strong impression on the young man that his love passed away, and he did not go to military service, and could not find a worthy place for himself in the world.
Conclusion (my opinion)
Tolstoy, with extraordinary skill, was able to show two opposing pictures: a cheerful ball with elegant and happy people, and a terrible picture of bloody punishment. He wanted to show that every incident, one way or another, affects fate. The main character of the story is a respected and famous person, he himself believes that this incident turned his soul upside down and changed his fate.
I am used to thinking of Tolstoy as the creator of major, epoch-making works. After all, this writer is known throughout the world as the author of “War and Peace,” “Anna Karenina,” and “Resurrection.” However, towards the end of his life, Tolstoy turned to writing stories. The work “After the Ball” is one of the writer’s most famous stories.
It is known that the writer learned about the incident that formed the basis of “After the Ball” in his youth. While a student at Kazan University, Tolstoy heard from his friends about the cruel punishment that took place during Lent. The impression of this terrible story sank into the writer’s soul so much that he remembered it for many years.
I can't say that I liked this story. He makes a very painful impression. Its main part, describing the punishment of a fugitive Tatar, leaves a feeling of horror. The same melancholy horror that the narrator experienced after everything he had seen: “Meanwhile, there was an almost physical melancholy in my heart, reaching the point of nausea, such that I stopped several times, and it seemed to me that I was about to vomit with all that horror, which entered me from this sight.”
Reading the first part of the story, which describes the ball, you are filled with a light and bright feeling. You experience a feeling of peace and happiness that only Tolstoy could create in his works. On the pages of his best works, which describe family comfort and home holidays, this warm, wonderful mood is always present. In “After the Ball,” the narrator at the ball is as happy as a young man in love who knows no troubles in life can be. Ivan Vasilyevich enjoyed his youth, his beauty, his love.
Tolstoy psychologically subtly describes the state of the narrator: “Just as it happens that after one drop poured out of a bottle, its contents pour out in large 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 enthusiastic and tender feeling towards her father, with his home boots and a gentle smile similar to hers.”
How beautiful is the description of Varenka’s dance with her father! The father, already overweight, but still handsome and fit, cannot get enough of his beautiful daughter. Their dance speaks of the love of father and daughter, a strong family, and the warmth of emotional relationships. All this was so clearly visible that at the end of the dance the guests applauded the colonel and Varenka. The narrator felt that he, too, loved Pyotr Vladislavich. How could it be otherwise: after all, he is the father of his beloved Varenka!
The description of the ball leaves a warm and bright impression. You are happy for the hero, you feel good and light at heart. And what a contrast the second part of the story, which is the main part of the work, sounds like! The feeling of fear and horror approaches gradually. Its first sign is music, “harsh and bad,” as well as something large, black, approaching the narrator.
A passing blacksmith also witnesses the Tatar's punishment. His reaction confirms the inhumanity and nightmarishness of what is happening. On the field, through two rows of soldiers, a Tatar, naked to the waist, was driven away. He was tied to the guns of two soldiers who led him through the line. Each of the soldiers had to hit the fugitive. The Tatar's back turned into a bloody piece of meat. The fugitive begged to end his torment: “At each blow, the 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 soldiers knew no mercy.
The colonel watched everything that happened, strictly following the Tatar. The narrator recognized this colonel as Varenka's father, who pretended not to know Ivan Vasilyevich. The colonel not only observed what was happening, but made sure that the soldiers did not “smear” and hit with full force.
And this happened on the first day of Lent! Without a doubt, all these soldiers, not to mention the colonel, considered themselves true Christians. I’m not saying that such mockery of a person is not Christian at all. But do this during Lent, when all people remember the torment of Christ! Or do the soldiers believe that a Tatar is not a person because he is of a different faith?
The first feeling that the narrator experienced was universal shame for everyone: for these people, for himself. How can this happen in the world, and what needs to be done to prevent this from happening again? These questions remain in your head after reading the story. But, in my opinion, these are eternal questions that have tormented people for many centuries and will always torment.
The narrator decided them about himself: he simply withdrew. Ivan Vasilyevich decided never to serve, so as not to be involved in such crimes against his soul. Or rather, it was an unconscious decision. This was the dictate of Ivan Vasilyevich’s soul, the most correct in his conditions, in my opinion.
I don’t know if I liked L.N.’s story. Tolstoy "After the Ball". I can only say with confidence that he did not leave me indifferent. And one more thing: I want my future children to read it.
The main character of the story “After the Ball” is a man whom the author calls Ivan Vasilyevich. Being involved in a conversation about the conditions for personal improvement, Ivan Vasilyevich told the conversation participants about a story that happened to him during his student years. This story dramatically changed the life of the hero of the story.
Ivan Vasilyevich at that time was in love with a girl named Varenka, the daughter of a colonel. His feelings reached their climax at one of the balls, when Ivan Vasilyevich selflessly danced the entire evening with the subject of his sighs. That evening Varenka’s father was also present at the ball, who seemed to the hero of the story to be a very sweet and sincere person. The colonel left the ball early, citing official business that awaited him in the morning.
And Ivan Vasilyevich arrived home when it was already dawn, and unable to sleep from the feelings overwhelming him, he went out for a walk. In the field, not far from Varenka’s house, he saw a soldier’s formation, through which some people were moving. As a blacksmith passing by explained to him, they were punishing an escaped soldier. Coming closer, Ivan Vasilyevich saw a man tied to two rifles being dragged through the line. The sticks that were in the hands of the soldiers standing in the ranks were lowered onto his back. And Varenka’s father walked next to the punished man. Now he was a completely different person, not at all similar to the sweet and good-natured old man whom Ivan Vasilyevich had recently seen at the ball. When one of the soldiers did not hit the offender on the back with a stick, the colonel angrily shouted at this soldier.
Since then, Ivan Vasilyevich’s love slowly began to cool down. He understood that the army had strict rules and strict discipline, but he still could not understand why such a cruel punishment was necessary. The hero of the story, who until that moment was planning to enlist in military service, changed his mind about doing so after an unpleasant scene. The public punishment of the guilty soldier seen in the square completely changed the life of Ivan Vasilyevich. This is the summary of the story.
The main idea of the story “After the Ball” is that the class differences that existed in the 19th century significantly influenced human behavior in different situations. Varenka's father, being at the ball, among his equals, was a charming man and a caring father who would never refuse to dance a mazurka with his beloved daughter. But, finding himself among soldiers, and even those gathered to carry out punishment, the colonel turns into a completely different person - tough and domineering.
The story “After the Ball” teaches you to be attentive to the people with whom you have to communicate in order to understand how straightforward and decent this or that person is, or whether he tends to be two-faced in different life situations.
In the story “After the Ball” I liked the main character, Ivan Vasilyevich. He did not remain indifferent to the scene of harsh punishment of a soldier, a man from a simple class. And although he did not make any attempts to stop the beating, realizing that it was not in his power to cancel the punishment, the protest in the soul of the protagonist was so strong that it turned him away from military service and extinguished the fire of ardent love for the colonel’s daughter.
What proverbs fit the story “After the Ball”?
No matter how wise you are, you cannot change your conscience.
Face to face one cannot be caught in hypocrisy.
A soldier is a forced person.
What is the will of chance in people's lives? Can he influence a person's destiny? Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in his story “After the Ball” gives us an example of how chance influenced the fate of Ivan Vasilyevich. The story touches on issues of honor, duty, and conscience. The story told by the author was written based on real events that took place in the life of Leo Tolstoy’s brother.
The story leaves a double impression. On the one hand, the description of the ball leaves a warm and bright impression. On the other hand, the second part of the story evokes horror and fear. The morning after the ball no longer seems so cloudless and bright. After reading, you begin to think about fate and the possibility of changing it. The scene with the Tatar's punishment leaves a heavy, unpleasant feeling. Like the author of the story, I had a feeling of all-consuming melancholy and horror. Like the author, I don’t know the whole truth, I don’t know why this Tatar was punished so cruelly. This makes me unable to judge how bad it is. The story makes you think about the moral side of punishment. Essentially powerless at that time, the soldier could be punished. Even for the fact that he weakly beats his guilty comrade. The colonel hits the frightened soldier in the face because he did not hit the Tatar hard enough with his stick. Thus, the issue of mercy raised in this work is thought-provoking. Can a Christian mock a person? No! This is contrary to the canons of the Bible. This is inhumane, heartless! The story teaches us compassion.
Ivan Vasilyevich has a great dislike for any forms of violence. And even such a strong all-consuming feeling - love, is not able to overcome this hostility. He changes his attitude towards military service and abandons his career. Feelings for Varenka K. gradually fade away in the young man’s heart.
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