Analysis of an episode from the novel by L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace"
In the novel L.N. Tolstoy's "War and Peace" has many bright episodes, individual paintings, each of which means a lot in itself. Moonlight night in Otradnoye, Natasha's first ball, hunting... All episodes serve general communication of the novel, represent a vast whole, but each individually is complete and interesting in its own way.
Almost at the beginning of the episode, which describes Prince Andrei’s meetings with an old oak tree, Tolstoy reflects on the fact that private life does not depend on politics. This life, which the author calls real, is devoted to “the interests of health, illness, work, rest ... the interests of thought.” It is saturated at every moment of time.
Having become disillusioned with his previous aspirations and ideals, having experienced repentance and grief (wounded at Austerlitz, the death of his wife), Prince Andrei comes to the conclusion that life in its simple manifestations, life for himself and for his loved ones, is the only thing left for him.
Bolkonsky thinks that he life path defined. But can an active, ebullient nature remain outside of public interests for a long time? And now Prince Andrei, “despite the indifference he expressed to Pierre to all external events of the world,” begins to return to an active life.
Tolstoy did not recognize life as frozen, identical and therefore dead. In her, as in people, he saw and appreciated constant development, movement forward.
The author shows how slowly his hero returns to life, to people, to new aspirations.
The meeting with the old oak tree helped him comprehend his current state of mind.
The oak tree, which Prince Andrei meets twice on his way, reveals to him the “meaning of life” in completely different ways: in one case it seems to Bolkonsky the personification of hopelessness, in the other - a symbol of joyful faith in happiness.
At the first meeting, the oak tree appears to him as a living creature, “an old, angry, contemptuous freak,” who is endowed with the ability to think, persist, frown and despise the cheerful family of “smiling birches.” Prince Andrei attributes his thoughts and feelings to the oak and, thinking about it, uses the pronouns “we”, “our”: “... We know life - our life is over!”
The hero finds in the grove something that is in tune with him - an unblown oak tree, which “alone did not want to submit to the charm of spring and did not want to see either spring or the sun.”
Sad, hopeless thoughts crowded into Prince Andrei’s head at this time: “Yes, he is right, this oak tree is right a thousand times... let others, young people, succumb to this deception again, but we know life - our life is over!”
Tolstoy often connects the inner life of his favorite heroes with the life of nature. This parallelism is characteristic artistic method writer.
So the “thoughts” of the oak tree correspond to the thoughts of Prince Andrey.. The first time he drives past him, disappointed in his previous ideals, when it seems to him that active creative and personal life already behind. The second time - after a trip to Otradnoye and a meeting with Natasha, when a turning point is planned in his fate and hopes for happiness and the desire for serious government activity return again.
Description moonlit night in Otradnoye, which Prince Andrei and Natasha admire at the same time, is emotionally and romantically elevated. A large number of epithets in a relatively short passage convey shades of contrasting colors: the night is still-light, the trees are black on one side and silvery illuminated on the other, vegetation with silvery leaves and stems here and there, the roof shiny with dew, a tree with a bright white trunk, full moon in a bright, almost starless sky. Night, moon, light and shadows - everything enchants with unforgettable charm.
The final part of the episode is very important. Prince Andrei, after this charming night, when an “unexpected confusion of young thoughts and hopes” arose in his soul, sees on the way back the same oak tree, but already transformed, spreading out “a tent of lush, dark greenery.” Prince Andrei suddenly experienced a long-forgotten feeling of joy.
He remembers “all the best moments of his life,” minutes mental turmoil, which gave him the experience of painful mental experiences (“the dead, reproachful face of his wife”), opened the light of a new truth (Austerlitz with his high sky, Pierre on the ferry and night in Otradnoye).
It is especially important to emphasize the word “update” here. Indeed, the trip to Otradnoye will become the most important milestone on the path of Prince Andrei’s spiritual quest. He will again feel the desire to be useful, to live among people dear to him: “Not only do I know everything that is in me, it is necessary that everyone knows it too...”
The episode once again provides an opportunity to see how Tolstoy shows the ability of his heroes to develop mentally and change their inner world. (Chernyshevsky called this method “dialectics of the soul”).
Thus, the episode “Prince Andrey’s Trip to Otradnoye” is important from several points of view: it depicts one of the main characters of the epic novel on the most important stage his fate, reveals his complex inner world and gives an idea of some characteristic features art world Tolstoy.
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L.N. Tolstoy "War and Peace" Meeting of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky with an oak tree
"...On the edge of the road stood an oak tree. It was probably ten times older than the birches that made up the forest, ten times thicker and twice as tall as each birch. It was a huge oak tree, twice the girth, with broken branches and bark , overgrown with old sores. With huge, clumsily, asymmetrically splayed, gnarled hands and fingers, he stood like an old, angry and contemptuous freak between the smiling birches. Only he did not want to submit to the charm of spring and did not want to see either spring or the sun.
This oak tree seemed to say: “Spring, and love, and happiness! And how can you not get tired of the same stupid, senseless deception! Everything is the same, and everything is a lie! There is no spring, no sun, no happiness. Look, there are the crushed dead spruce trees sitting, always alone, and there I spread out my broken, skinned fingers, growing from the back, from the sides - anywhere. As I grew up, I still stand, and I don’t believe your hopes and deceptions.”
Prince Andrei looked back at this oak tree several times while driving through the forest. There were flowers and grass under the oak tree, but he still stood in the middle of them, gloomy, motionless, ugly and stubborn.
“Yes, he’s right, this oak tree is right a thousand times,” thought Prince Andrei. “Let others, young people, succumb to this deception again, but we know: our life is over!” A whole series of thoughts, hopeless, but sadly pleasant, in connection with this oak tree arose in the soul of Prince Andrei. During this journey, he seemed to think over his whole life again and came to the same reassuring and hopeless conclusion that he did not need to start anything, that he should live out his life without doing evil, without worrying and without wanting anything...
It was already the beginning of June when Prince Andrei, returning home, again entered that birch grove, in which this old, gnarled oak struck him so strangely and memorably. “Here in this forest there was this oak tree that we agreed with. Where is he? - thought Prince Andrei, looking at left side roads. Without knowing it, he admired the oak tree he was looking for, but now he did not recognize it.
The old oak tree, completely transformed, spread out like a tent of lush, dark greenery, was melting, slightly swaying in the rays of the evening sun. No gnarled fingers, no sores, no old grief and mistrust - nothing was visible. Juicy, young leaves broke through the hundred-year-old hard bark without knots, so it was impossible to believe that it was the old man who produced them. “Yes, this is the same oak tree,” thought Prince Andrei, and suddenly an unreasonable spring feeling of joy and renewal came over him. All the best moments of his life suddenly came back to him at the same time. And Austerlitz with the high sky, and Pierre on the ferry, and the girl excited by the beauty of the night, and this night, and the moon - all this suddenly came to his mind.
“No, life is not over at thirty-one,” Prince Andrei suddenly finally and irrevocably decided. - Not only do I know everything that is in me, it is necessary that everyone knows it: both Pierre and this girl who wanted to fly into the sky. It is necessary that my life should not go on for me alone, that it should be reflected on everyone and that they all live with me together.”
Essay on the topic “Analysis of the episode of two meetings of Andrei Bolkonsky with an oak tree” (“War and Peace”) 5.00 /5 (100.00%) 3 votes
In the novel “War and Peace” by Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, the theme of nature plays an important role. The problem of the relationship between man and nature, as well as the influence environment on the fate of the heroes is one of the main ones and occupies the main place in the work. Nature personifies the events taking place in the country and in the destinies of the heroes. As the situation changes, nature also changes. The relationship between nature and man is especially clearly visible in the example of Andrei Bolkonsky.
Connect with emotional experiences, events in life and psychological state Bolkonsky, first of all, I think you need oak.
The meeting with the old oak tree shows us how much Andrei suffers, how hard it is for him. It's like he an old oak, experiences the bitterness of loss and pain, both externally and internally: “With his huge clumsily, asymmetrically splayed, gnarled hands and fingers, he stood like an old, angry, contemptuous freak between the smiling birches. Only he alone did not want to submit to the charm of spring and did not want to see either spring or the sun.” This description of the oak tree makes it clear to us what is in Andrei Bolkonsky’s soul. Just like the old oak, out of place among the beautiful birches, Andrei does not accept the society around him and does not share its interests. Of all the people present in Anna Pavlovna Scherer's salon, Bolkonsky finds mutual language only with Pierre Bezukhov, because the rest are carried away by unnecessary matters. It is the events that are taking place: the death of his wife, awareness of the surrounding reality, and Andrei Bolkonsky’s state of mind that are reflected in the image of the oak tree.
But this meeting with the oak tree was not the only one in Bolkonsky’s life. After Bolkonsky, wounded on the battlefield, looking at the sky, realizes that his life is not over, that he must live and love. Bolkonsky sees an oak tree, young, beautiful, spreading out in full bloom with new vigor, and understands that he, like this oak tree, must also bloom and begin to live again. He learns to love again and finds his happiness next to Natasha Rostova, begins to think differently and is not afraid to be happy.
The image of the oak tree and the image of Andrei Bolkonsky are similar; a parallel can be drawn between them. After all, while reading the novel, we see how Andrei Bolkonsky and, accordingly, the oak tree change. We can say that both of Andrei’s meetings with the oak tree show, in the first case, how difficult and wrong his life is, and in the second, how important it is for a person to be able to correct the mistakes of the past, forgive, love and start something new on the ruins of the old.
