Brief description of the story after Tolstoy's ball. A very brief retelling for the reader's diary After the Ball (Tolstoy Lev N.). The morally ambiguous image of the colonel
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 scary picture bloody punishment. He wanted to show that every incident, one way or another, affects fate. Main character story - dear and a famous person, he himself believes that this incident turned his soul upside down and changed his fate.
Retelling plan
1. Ivan Vasilyevich begins a story about an incident that turned his life upside down.
2. Description of the ball. The hero's love.
3. After the ball. The hero accidentally witnesses the execution and cruelty of Varenka’s father.
4. This incident turns the hero’s life upside down and disrupts all his future plans.
Retelling
The respected Ivan Vasilyevich, unexpectedly for all those present, expresses the idea that it is not the environment that influences the formation of a young man’s worldview, but chance. Your statement old man reinforces with a story about an incident from own life, after which “his whole life changed” for him.
As a young man, Ivan Vasilyevich was in love with a certain Varenka B., a lovely girl: tall, slender, graceful. At that time he was a “student at a provincial university,” a cheerful and lively fellow, and also rich. Like many young people in his circle, Ivan Vasilyevich spent his evenings at balls and caroused with friends.
Ivan Vasilyevich characterizes the ball at the provincial leader as “wonderful” not so much because everything was really wonderful there, but because his beloved was at the ball. Varenka looked especially beautiful in a pink and white dress. Ivan Vasilyevich danced with her all evening and felt that his love for her was mutual.
Varenka’s father, a colonel (“a very handsome, stately, tall and fresh old man”), has the same affectionate and joyful smile as his daughter. The owners persuade him to dance a mazurka with their daughter. The dancing couple attracts everyone's attention. The main character is touched by the fact that the colonel is wearing unfashionable calf boots, since, obviously, he is forced to deny himself a lot in order to dress and take his daughter out into the world. After the dance, the colonel brought Varenka to Ivan Vasilyevich, and for the rest of the evening the young people were not separated. They don’t talk about love, and there’s no need to: Ivan Vasilyevich is happy. He fears only one thing: that his happiness will not be spoiled by anything.
The hero returns home in the morning, but cannot sleep because he is “too happy.” He goes to wander around the city in the direction of Varenka’s house. Suddenly the young man hears the sounds of a flute and a drum, hard, bad sounds. It turned out that this music accompanied the punishment of a Tatar soldier for escaping. He was “run through the gauntlet.” Varenka’s father commanded the execution. The person being punished begged for “mercy,” but the colonel strictly monitored compliance with the punishment procedure. Therefore, he hit the “frightened, short, weak soldier” in the face because he “smeared”, i.e. lightly lowers his stick onto the already mutilated back of the person being punished. The sight of the soldier's red, motley, blood-wet back terrifies Ivan Vasilyevich, as does the punishment procedure itself. But what shocked the young man most was the realization that he was unable to understand the colonel’s obvious confidence in the correctness of his actions, who, meanwhile, noticing Ivan Vasilyevich, turned away and pretended to be unfamiliar with him.
After everything he saw, Ivan Vasilyevich “could not enter military service, as he had wanted before,” and “from that day on, love began to wane.” So just one incident changed the hero’s entire life and views.
The specificity of the work of the Russian classic L. N. Tolstoy is the constant search for morality. He wondered about the purpose of man. In Tolstoy's stories, the theme of relationships between people runs like a red thread. The philosophical orientation of his works touches on these issues and reveals their essence. This is felt most acutely in works created after a spiritual crisis. The story "After the Ball" deserves special attention. The plan for the future story was created as a draft of a diary entry. The final version was approved by the writer at the end of August 1903.
Brief description of the characters “After the Ball”
Main characters
Ivan Vasilievich |
In the story “After the Ball,” the hero Ivan Vasilyevich has the ability to empathize and knows how to imagine himself in the place of another person. Man's misfortunes were not an ordinary picture of the day for him. Ivan Vasilyevich’s conscience is not silent. From what he sees, the hero loses everything that is bright and vibrant that is alive in him at this time. Neglects what is important to himself. He accepts the tragedy and physical pain of a stranger to him as his own. In his mouth and thoughts there is a message and a view of things from the author himself. |
Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich |
The image of a caring parent and a wonderful family man. Positions himself as a true Christian who pleases God in every possible way, but also serves the state and the sovereign. It is most accurately characterized by absolute indifference to the moral postulate of Christianity, according to which one should treat others the way they would like to be treated. An example of a warrior’s spiritual blindness is his immense love for his daughter and bestial hatred of ordinary soldiers. |
Varenka |
The image of the girl in the story plays rather a secondary role. Varenka is a young girl with whom Ivan Vasilyevich is in love. She is the only child in the family. Varenka has a good education, enjoys reading, is fluent in French. At the ball, the love between the girl and the main character begins. But after the ball, he lost his love for this person. Varenka marries someone else and retains her attractiveness until old age. |
Minor characters
The portraits of the characters collectively reflect the author’s own view of things. Illustrate his uncompromising position regarding human cruelty. The colonel controls the execution and vigilantly monitors the execution of the punishment. His whole appearance demonstrates cruelty in his relationship with his subordinates. He takes out his anger not only on the offender, but also on the soldiers who stand in the ranks and carry out the punishment.
The author describes the events on behalf of the main character, who tells two incidents from his own life that happened with his participation during his student years. The main idea here is that the decisive moment in the fate of any person is not the environment, but the circumstances.
A very brief summary (in a nutshell)
The main character, Ivan Vasilyevich, decided to tell a story that happened to him in his youth. He was in love with Varenka B. Once he attended a ball at the provincial leader, where he danced a lot with her. Her father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavich, was also at this ball. He danced a mazurka beautifully with his daughter, and the Colonel admired them throughout the ball and made a very pleasant impression on everyone. At night, Ivan Vasilyevich could not sleep, and in the morning he went for a walk. On the street he met soldiers who were leading a deserter and beating him one by one. Anyone who hit him weakly was immediately hit in the face by the commander. This commander turned out to be Varenka’s father, a colonel. After that, his love for Varenka passed, and from military service he refused.
Summary (details)
When the conversation turned to what is needed for personal improvement, Ivan Vasilyevich decided to tell a story that happened to him in his youth and radically changed his life. The interlocutors believed that in order to improve, it was worth changing the conditions in which people live, and Ivan Vasilyevich was convinced that it was all a matter of chance. So his life changed after one incident.
He was young and handsome then, studying at a provincial university. He fell in love with an eighteen-year-old girl, Varenka B. As he said, she was a remarkable beauty even at fifty, but then she was simply a sight for sore eyes: tall, graceful, and most importantly, she carried herself majestically. Varenka also always smiled, as did her lovely eyes. As Ivan Vasilyevich said, he was in love more than once, but never as much as with her.
Being a young and carefree student, he loved to attend balls and any entertainment events. One day, on the last day of Maslenitsa, he was invited to a ball by the provincial leader. Varenka was there too. He, as if intoxicated with love, danced all evening only with her. Her father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavich, was also there. He was a stately and handsome old man with white sideburns and a curled mustache. He was asked to dance one round of the mazurka with his daughter. The whole hall admired this beautiful couple, and Ivan Vasilyevich was even imbued with some kind of enthusiastic and tender feeling for Varenka’s father.
When he returned home, his brother, a diligent student, was already asleep. Ivan Vasilyevich still could not sleep and decided to take a walk around the city. It was already dawn and the morning fog was dissipating. He was happy in the knowledge that she danced with him all evening, looked at him joyfully, and when leaving, gave away her glove. His feet themselves imperceptibly led him to Varenka’s house. There on the field some people in black could be seen and the mournful beat of a drum could be heard.
Coming closer, he saw that they were soldiers. As one blacksmith said, they were driving away a Tatar deserter. A tall and stately colonel walked nearby and made sure that the person being punished was regularly beaten. If one of the soldiers weakly lowered a stick on the Tatar’s reddened back, he would hit him in the face with his suede glove. This colonel turned out to be Varenka’s father, Pyotr Vladislavich. Noticing Ivan Vasilyevich in the crowd, the colonel pretended as if he did not know him.
After this morning, Ivan Vasilyevich could not understand whether what he saw was good or bad, but his love for Varenka quickly faded away. He thought maybe it was normal since it was done with such confidence. Maybe he didn’t understand something in this life, but he never found out. The narrator refused to enroll in the military or any other service.
Explanation of difficult words from the text
Provincial- located in the province, not in the center.
Graceful- having an elegant, sophisticated form.
Maslenitsa- a holiday of farewell to winter, with festivities and eating pancakes.
Provincial leader- elected head of the nobles in the province.
Mazurka- Polish pair folk dance.
Drive away- carry an offending soldier through the ranks, while other soldiers beat him with sticks.
Deserter- a soldier who escaped from military service.
Video summary (for those who prefer to listen)
Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy wrote the story a little earlier than the first publication, in 1903. The book was published on August 20, 1911, right in time for the Easter table. The reason for Lev Nikolaevich writing the work “After the Ball” is quite simple, taken from life. While studying at the university, the writer and friends (Sergei, Dmitry, Nikolai, Maria) lived in Kazan. Sergei, Lev's brother, fell in love with Varenka, a local girl. Her father was a strict but honest officer. Their family also lived nearby, as in the story. Lev Nikolaevich wanted to not just tell one of real stories(the beating of an escaped soldier), but also to find out what really changes a person: circumstances or the environment?
Characteristics
- Ivan Vasilievich- an honest, fair and open guy is wooing and caring for the officer’s daughter, Varenka. Because of the situation he sees late at night, the guy loses faith in his love for the girl and remembers what happens for the rest of his life.
- Varenka- the object of Ivan Vasilyevich’s affection, the daughter of Pyotr Vladislavovich. Naive, but charming and smart.
- Petr Vladislavovich- Colonel, Varenka’s father. The reader remembers him as a cruel, righteous officer, giving criminal orders and beating his subordinates.
- Tatar is a fugitive soldier.They decided to lynch him right on the street, in front of ordinary citizens and the main character.
Summary of Leo Tolstoy’s story “After the Ball”
The action takes place after the ball and directly at the ball itself. At the very beginning, the author shows us friends standing around who are actively talking about the topic of personal improvement and growth. The main character of the story is a respected man whose name is Ivan Vasilyevich.He tells the guys a story that fundamentally changed his life. The hero talks about the old days, when he was still at the university and the main events in his life were balls. He was in love with a young and very beautiful girl, her name was Varenka.
Important! The main character really liked how her father performed in the dance, and described the performance as “amazing and enthusiastic.” He was also struck by his father’s shoes: “To take out and dress his beloved daughter, he does not buy fashionable boots, but wears homemade ones.”Ivan Vasilyevich slept poorly and decided to take a walk. On the way, he saw a crowd of people gathered, in which a Tatar was seen. The soldiers beat him with sticks, punishing him mercilessly for desertion. The Tatar asked for mercy, but the soldiers did not stop. Varenka’s father, Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, supervised this process. He even hit one soldier because he wanted to have mercy on the sufferer. The punishment did not last long. As Ivan was leaving, he heard not even screams, but passionate sobs from the convict. You could hear how much pain the officer caused him, turning his back into something lifeless and terrible. Ivan Vasilyevich walked home and could not believe his eyes. Just now he admired this man, but after what he saw, he simply hated him. Having reached home, he could not sleep for a long time. Jumping up, the guy ran to a friend and got drunk there. The hero fell asleep towards evening, when he crawled drunk into his mansion.
- What about love? - the guys ask.
- And love completely disappeared from that moment. As soon as I saw Varenka’s widest, most beautiful smile, I immediately remembered the enraged face of her father and those unfortunate events that discouraged all desire to love.