L. Tolstoy, "After the ball, why is the story called" After the ball "?

Tolstoy LN - the greatest figure in Russian and world classical literature. His work is multifaceted, but there is one common feature that unites almost all of his works. It is a measure of the moral responsibility of a person for all the actions that he does in his life.

History of creation

The work "After the Ball" Tolstoy did not write casually. Once his brother fell in love with the daughter of the Kazan commander and even wanted to marry her. But one day he witnessed how the soldier was punished, and directed him, to the horror of Sergei Nikolaevich, precisely the father of his beloved. The shock was so strong that there could be no question of any wedding.

I remember this story and Leo Nikolayevich. And after several decades, being already a recognized writer, he created on its basis a work of art about the rules prevailing in the Russian army. At the same time, the author changed the title three times: "Daughter and father", "And you say" and, finally, chose the option under which it entered the literature.

Let's try to understand why the story is called "After the ball."

Composition and artistic techniques

The work is based on the "story in the story" principle, which gives the story more credibility. Ivan Vasilievich, the hero-narrator, tries to explain to his interlocutors that if not everything, much in life depends on the case. And he remembers how one single night changed his destiny: he broke off relations with the girl he was in love with, and for ever abandoned the idea of becoming a military man. This is the key to understanding why the story is called "After the ball."

Compositional monologue of Ivan Vasilyevich is divided into two contrasting parts: the description of the ball and what happened in the early morning after its termination. They are united by common heroes: the young Ivan Vasilyevich and already elderly Colonel B., Varenka's father.

Summary of the story "After the Ball"

Tolstoy describes in detail everything that happens at the ball in the Governor's house. The hero is in love, that's why everything seems wonderful to him: guests, music, and beloved Varenka, and her gray-haired but energetic father, the colonel. What is happening turns his head and fills the soul with immeasurable happiness.

The culmination of the ball is the dance that the Colonel performs in tandem with his daughter. Ivan Vasilyevich most of all touches the old man's boots: old-fashioned, opykovye, with square socks. Such a long time no one wore, from which the hero concludes that he lives only for the sake of his daughter. But Tolstoy probably wanted to emphasize one more detail: the Colonel's adherence to the old rules and foundations. This will explain to some extent how one and the same person could be (not to play a role, namely to be!) A loving father, and after a few hours to lead a brutal beating of the guilty soldier.

But back to the plot. Ivan Vasilyevich, seized with a sense of delight, could not stay at home after returning from the ball. He went to the street, where he witnessed a terrible picture. It is she who will explain why the story is called "After the ball."

At first the hero heard strange sounds, then saw ahead of something black. It turned out that in the early morning a fugitive soldier was punished. He was led along the line, and with every step on his mutilated back, from both sides, came strikes. And he directed this process, to the great horror of the young man, the father of his beloved. At some point the Colonel's eye stopped on Ivan Vasilievich, but he immediately hastened to turn away, as if something had been shamed.

Why the story is called "After the ball"

But Ivan Vasilyevich could not see Varenka any more. Now between them stood an insurmountable barrier - the colonel and the Tatar he punished. The narrator tried to understand his deed, but the main idea, to which he came as a result, determined his future life. "May I not be able to change the world and destroy the evil existing in it, but only I can decide for myself whether to participate in me or not in this evil" - so you can determine the outcome of his reflections. So the story after the ball determined several important problems for Russian society. What is the destructive power of the existing regime in Russia? What makes one person go to destroy another? What is the share of people's moral responsibility for their actions?

Story Value

Written in 1903, shortly before the war with Japan, the work showed the shortcomings of the state structure of the country, in which state administration and a strict reactionary regime, reigning not only in the army, but also in other spheres of life, prevail over moral laws. And then the humanity and sense of responsibility for their own actions go to the background. However, a person has the right to decide for himself what his fate should be, and this is proved by the main theme "After the ball."