Adopted children are a hot topic for literature and life. The great classic gradually leads to an understanding of the importance of the character Sonya Rostova in the plot, but does not make him the main character. The line between foster and own is so thin that philosophical problems can lead astray.
Sonya is the second cousin of the Rostov children. There is no indication in the novel under what circumstances the girl ends up in their house. Sonya is not just a sister for the main character. She is Natasha's friend. The girl seeks to help Rostova, she keeps her from the shame of relations with Kuragin. Sonya promises to sit at the door of the young countess and not let her out of the house, does not allow her to escape with Anatole.
The relationship between the girls is open and sincere. Natasha cries with Sonya, without even delving into the reason. The grief of a friend is perceived as one's own.
Sonya pays her gratitude to the family that raised her. She is ready to sacrifice everything for the Rostovs. As a result, the girl refuses the opportunity to create her own family. What is this solution? Someone thinks that stupidity, others believe in the power of love. Each reader has their own opinion about the character. One thing in common - Sonya is sorry. At the end of the novel, it is a 30-year-old "old maid". She devotes all of herself to caring for family members: she takes care of the countess, pampers Nikolai's children. The author describes it in such words that the question arises for everyone: was it worth it?
“Reconciled with her appointment as an empty flower”, “... like a cat ... took root not with people, but with the house”, “... minor services”. The classic seems to doubt the sincerity of his actions: "... all this was accepted involuntarily with too little gratitude." The novel "War and Peace" teaches: one should not allow feelings to absorb oneself completely, to abandon one's fate. Man is given life to experience everything. For a woman, this is motherhood. There are many such images of "old maids" in Russian literature. Adherents cause pity, but it's their choice. They themselves pay for their momentary weaknesses.
Love for Nikolai became the meaning of the girl's life. No one approves of the feeling that has arisen. Countess Rostova explains to her adopted daughter the perniciousness and danger of the situation: "damage to her son's career." Sonya does not hide her feelings, this becomes clear from her words. She even addresses the Metropolitan, who says that one should not succumb to this feeling. But as often happens, a person has no power over love.
The characteristic of Sonya Rostova is supplemented by data on the ability to turn, change fate. Dolokhov is wooing Sonya. A brilliant officer could change the fate of a beauty. She is a dowry, an orphan. He is a great match, but the girl refuses. The reason is a passionate love for Nikolai. The girl holds the man, does not allow him to become free. Decent Nikolai cannot offend Sonya. The relationship comes to a logical conclusion: Sonya frees Nikolai from youthful promises. Rostov marries Bolkonskaya. The woman lives in a new family, with Maria and her loved one. It is difficult and scary to imagine what Sonya is like. Look after relationships, take care of children, love, but not receive an answer, do not even dare to mentally interfere with family happiness.
A lovely girl is distinguished by fidelity of feelings. She sets an example of devotion and selflessness. In the image, according to the author, "one good". Sonya skillfully performs literary texts, reading in a thin voice, penetratingly and accurately. A special quality of the character is patience. A sensitive poetic nature hides its inner feelings, resigned to its fate. Stealth is often not characteristic of sensitive natures. Everything is different here. A feigned smile, a strong feline look - one description of the heroine. In all its beauty, a blossoming flower, velvety black eyes - another image. A beauty could use her external beauty and meekness, she would find a handsome man for herself, but she chose a different path. Is her decision correct? Everyone has their own opinion.
IS SONIA REALLY A VAST FLOWER? Sacrificing yourself for the happiness of others
was Sony's habit.
L. N. Tolstoy. War and Peace
What is an empty flower? "Empty" flower, after which there will be no fruit. Imagine a spring orchard full of fragrant white and pink blossoms. Dream, vision! But the flowers fall off, but there is no ovary.
And here are the cucumber ridges. Thin, fragile whips, strewn with ordinary bright yellow flowers. Their beauty is short-lived, but some crumbled, leaving behind an ovary - tiny cucumbers, others disappeared without a trace. So are people. Entire generations go into oblivion. What mark do they leave in life? Human destinies are different. It seems to choose its own path. But is it always like this? I thought about this question when I finished reading War and Peace, perhaps the greatest book created by human genius.
Among the more than half a thousand characters in the novel, there is a girl whose fate especially excited me. This is Sonya, a pupil of the Rostovs. Here is her story. Sonya is the count's niece, taken into the house out of mercy. Her position in this house - with all the kindness of the Rostovs - is unenviable. She studied with Natasha, she was dressed, fed, raised in the same way as her own daughter. But Sonya herself could not feel equal to the Rostov girls: she remained a poor relative and all her life felt like some kind of second-rate compared to the count and countess's own children.
Natasha - everyone's favorite, relaxed, spontaneous, radiating the joy of life - is sure: no matter what she says, no matter what she does, everything will be fine. Sonya, on the other hand, is in constant tension: what if I do something wrong, I go beyond what is permitted. And then there is this love ... The girl loves Nikolai Rostov, endowing a rather ordinary young man with all possible virtues. L. N. Tolstoy does not spare his heroine. Yes, she is pretty, elegant, graceful, sweet, but this nature is passive, uncreative, devoid of imagination.
This girl has to be reasonable, suppress her natural feelings: jealousy for Julie Karagina, then for Princess Marya, resentment against the old countess, which interferes with her marriage to Nikolai. Life has taught Sonya to control herself. But how tenderly, devotedly, and most importantly, how truly she knows how to love! I'm sorry, I couldn't fall in love with Dolokhov: probably, this love would make both happy. But Sonya, unlike Natasha, does not change her attachments. She is a whole person, loyal and pure.
Fifteen years of her life have passed before us - Sonya has never committed an unworthy act, has not made a single mistake. And yet Tolstoy somewhat belittles her. I'm trying to figure out what is unsympathetic to the author in this girl, and I think I understand. Constant comparisons between Sonya and Natasha help me. Here are two young girls entering a smart hall, to their first ball. They sat down in the same way, but involuntarily the hostess's gaze, slipping past Sonya, stopped at thin Natasha ... Here Sonya, Natasha and Nikolai recall their childhood. It turns out that Sonya has forgotten everything and cannot share the poetic feelings of Natasha and Nikolai.
On a moonlit night in Otradnoye, Natasha, enchanted by the beauty of this night, wants to fly up into the sky, and Sonya, boringly and judiciously, persuades her to go to bed. And how differently the girls behave during the terrible hours before leaving Moscow! Sonya carefully packs things, and Natasha orders to release the carts and take the wounded. Why does the writer, without condemning the girl (there is nothing to condemn her for), nevertheless belittles her? Then, according to Tolstoy, it is not the one who does not make mistakes that is good, but the one who, fighting with himself, knows how to overcome his mistakes and delusions. That is why the author loves Natasha more.
Sony's world is strict and clear. Having fallen in love with Nikolai as a girl, she knows: "Whatever happens to him, to me, I will never stop loving him - for the rest of my life." And she will not stop, but she will retreat before the desire of the countess to marry her son to the rich, noble Princess Marya and she herself gives him freedom. Sonya is destined to be alone in the same family that warmed her in childhood.
In the epilogue, Natasha will say about her: "Empty flower." And in this word there will be a cruel truth. From the very beginning of her life, from childhood, Sonya had no right to that flood of feelings that overwhelmed Natasha. Only once, at Christmas time, a brave and free girl woke up in Sonya, but she seemed to be frightened of her impulse and was never the same as that evening, but returned to her patterns, to her quiet self-sacrifice. So do we have the right to condemn Sonya? I think no. Very sorry for her. The girl's life turned out to be empty, but is she to blame for this?
From the first pages of the novel "War and Peace" by L.N. Tolstoy introduces readers to two heroines - Natasha Rostova and Sonya. Both girls were brought up in the Rostov family, constantly communicated and were friends from childhood. It seems that the heroines are similar to each other, but after reading the novel to the end, you can understand how different the characters of the girls are.
Of course, Natasha and Sonya are similar. From childhood, they were brought up under the same roof in the Rostov family. The count and countess treated both girls equally, despite the fact that Natasha is their own daughter, and Sonya is the niece of Ilya Andreevich Rostov, taken into the family for education. Both Natasha and Sonya grew up to be kind, sincere and open girls.
Natasha Rostova and Sonya are different both externally and internally.
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Drawing a portrait of the main character, L.N. Tolstoy writes: "A black-eyed, big-mouthed, ugly, but lively girl." Natasha is not distinguished by external beauty, but her internal qualities - naturalness, sincerity and simplicity - cannot but delight readers.
Sonya's appearance is more attractive: "a thin, petite brunette with a soft, tinted look with long eyelashes, a thick black braid," ... "she resembled a beautiful, but not yet formed kitten, who would be a lovely cat." Sonya is calm, beautiful, kind, but she does not have that liveliness and thirst for life that are characteristic of her sister.
Natasha Rostova and Sonya have different attitudes towards nature. Natasha is a poetic person, she knows how to notice the beauty of the world around her. In Otradnoye, Rostov never ceases to admire the moon: “Oh, what a charm! "..." After all, such a lovely night has never, never happened.
Sonya, on the contrary, is devoid of a sense of beauty. She does not pay attention to the beauty of the moonlit night, but persuades her sister to go to bed: “But when are you going to sleep?”.
Both Natasha and Sonya are able to love, but each of the girls has a different relationship. Sonya is monogamous, from childhood she had feelings for her second cousin Nikolai Rostov. Nikolai also loved Sonya and even promised to marry her. However, their happiness was not destined to come true. The relationship between the two heroes was opposed by the count and countess of Rostov: the parents wanted a rich bride for their son (Sonya was a dowry). The girl managed to keep her childhood love and carried it through the years. Sonya sacrificed herself for the love of Nikolai: she wrote a letter to Rostov, in which she released him from the promise of marriage. The young man was able to find a new love, while Sonya remained alone (because of her feelings for Nikolai, she did not accept Dolokhov's offer).
Natasha Rostova is the exact opposite of her friend. Unlike Sony, she is very amorous. As a child, Natasha liked Boris Drubetskoy, a young man who lived with his mother near the Rostovs. Having matured, Natasha falls in love with Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, with whom, it would seem, a happy family life awaited her. But plans for the wedding are collapsing due to Natasha's passion for Anatole Kuragin, which Bolkonsky is unable to forgive because of his pride. The last love of Natasha Rostova is Pierre Bezukhov, in marriage with whom the girl finds real happiness - she becomes a loving mother of four children and a faithful wife.
The images of the heroines also differ in the epilogue. Natasha Rostova, having tied the knot with Pierre Bezukhov, is changing a lot: "she has grown stouter and wider", "her facial features were defined and had an expression of calm softness and clarity." Natasha leaves all her past hobbies, she rarely happens in the world. The heroine dissolves in life, now her interests are occupied by her husband and four children. But it is the role of a faithful wife and caring mother that exalts Natasha over Sonya.
Years later, Sonya does not change at all, her life freezes in place. Together with Nikolai, his wife Marya Bolkonskaya and the old countess, she moves to live in Bald Mountains, where she takes care of the mother of her lover, caresses and pampers the Rostov children. No wonder Natasha calls her sister "empty flower": Sonya leaves nothing behind, constantly living in the shadow of the Rostovs.
Creating images of Natasha Rostova and Sonya, L.N. Tolstoy makes the heroines very close to each other and at the same time different.
He not only wrote a wonderful work "War and Peace", but also showed Russian life for several decades. Researchers of Tolstoy's work have calculated that the writer depicted more than 600 characters on the pages of his novel. Moreover, each of these characters has a clear and accurate description of the writer. This allows the reader to draw a detailed portrait of each character.
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Of course, the main character of Tolstoy's work is the people. According to the author, this is the best thing in the Russian nation. According to the novel, the people include not only ordinary people who have nothing, but also nobles who live not for themselves, but for others. But the people in the novel are opposed by aristocrats:
It can be immediately determined from the description that all these characters are the negative characters of the novel. Their life is unspiritual and mechanical, they perform artificial and lifeless actions, they are incapable of compassion, they are selfish. These heroes cannot change even under the influence of life.
In a completely different way, Lev Nikolayevich portrays his positive characters. Their actions are guided by the heart. These positive actors include:
All these heroes able to empathize, develop and change. But it is the war of 1812, the trials that it brought, that makes it possible to understand to which camp the characters of Tolstoy's novel can be attributed.
Count Peter Rostov is the youngest child in the family, Natasha's brother. At the beginning of the novel, the reader sees him as a very young child. So, in 1805 he was only 9 years old. And if at this age the writer only notices that he is fat, then the characterization of Peter at the age of 13 is added to the fact that the teenager turns out to be handsome and cheerful.
At the age of 16, Peter goes to war, although he had to go to university, and soon becomes a real man, an officer. He is a patriot and worries about the fate of his Motherland. Petya spoke excellent French and could feel sorry for the captured French boy. Going to war, Petya dreams of doing something heroic.
And despite the fact that at first his parents did not want to let him go to the service, and then they found a place where it was safer, he still joins the army with a friend. As soon as he was appointed assistant general, he was immediately taken prisoner. Deciding to take part in the battle with the French, helping Dolokhov, Petya dies, having been wounded in the head.
Natasha Rostova will name her only son after him, who will never be able to forget her brother, with whom she was so close.
There are many minor characters in the novel "War and Peace". Among them, the following characters stand out:
Tall and blond Boris Drubetsky was brought up in the Rostov family and was in love with Natasha. His mother, Princess Drubetskaya, was a distant relative of the Rostov family. He is proud and dreams of a military career.
Having got into the guard thanks to the efforts of his mother, he also participates in the military campaign of 1805. The characterization of him by the writer is unflattering, since Boris tries to make only “useful” acquaintances. So, he is ready to spend all the money to pass for a rich man. He becomes the husband of Julie Kuragina, as she is rich.
Guards officer Dolokhov is a bright secondary character in the novel. At the beginning of the novel, Fyodor Ivanovich is 25 years old. He was born a respectable lady Marya Ivanovna, belonging to a poor noble family. Women liked the officer of the Semyonovsky regiment, because he was handsome: medium height, with curly hair and blue eyes. A firm voice and a cold look were harmoniously combined in Dolokhov with his education and intelligence. Despite the fact that Dolokhov is a player and loves a revelry life, he is still respected in society.
General Bolkonsky has long been retired. He is rich and respected in society. He performed his service during the reign of Catherine II, so Kutuzov is his good friend. But the character of the father of the Bolkonsky family is difficult. Nikolai Andreevich happens not only strict, but also severe. He takes care of his health and appreciates order in everything.
Count Ilya Andreevich Rostov is a positive and bright hero of the novel. His wife is Anna Mikhailovna Shinshina. Ilya Andreevich is raising five children. He is rich and cheerful, kind and self-confident in character. The old prince is very trusting and easily deceived.
Ilya Andreevich is a sympathetic person, a patriot. He receives wounded soldiers in his house. But he did not follow the state of the family at all, therefore he becomes the culprit of ruin. The prince dies in 1813, trying to survive the tragedies of his children.
In the work of Leo Tolstoy there are many minor characters that make it possible to understand the events that the author describes. In the work "War and Peace" female characters are represented by the following heroines:
Sonya Rostova is the second cousin of Natasha Rostova, the protagonist of the novel War and Peace. Sofya Alexandrovna is an orphan and a dowry. For the first time, readers see her at the beginning of the novel. Then, in 1805, she was barely 15 years old. Sonya looked beautiful: her waist was thin and miniature, a large and thick black braid wrapped around her head twice. Even the look, soft and withdrawn, bewitched.
The older the girl got, the more beautiful she looked. And at 22, according to Tolstoy's description, she was somewhat like a cat: smooth, flexible and soft. She was in love with Nikolenka Rostov. She even refuses her love to the “brilliant” groom Dolokhov. Sonya knew how to read skillfully in front of different audiences. She usually read in a thin voice and very diligently.
But Nicholas chose to marry Marya Bolkonskaya. And the economic and patient Sonya, who managed the household so skillfully, remained to live in the house of the young Rostov family, helping them. At the end of the novel, the writer shows her at the age of 30, but she is also not married, but is busy with the Rostov children and caring for the sick princess.
Julie Kuragina is a minor heroine in the novel. It is known that after the death of her brothers in the war, left with her mother, the girl becomes a rich heiress. At the beginning of the novel, Julie is already 20 years old and the reader learns that she is from a decent noble family. Her virtuous parents raised her, and in general, Julie was familiar to the Rostov family from childhood.
Julie did not have any special external data. The girl was chubby and ugly. But she dressed fashionably and always tried to smile. Because of her red face, poorly covered with powder, and wet eyes, no one wanted to marry her. Julie is a bit naive and very stupid. She tries not to miss a single ball or a theatrical performance.
By the way, Countess Rostova dreamed of marrying Nikolai to Julie. But for the sake of money, Boris Drubetskoy marries her, who hates Julie and hopes to see her very rarely after the wedding.
Another minor female character in Leo Tolstoy's novel "War and Peace" is Vera Rostova. This is the eldest and unloved daughter of Princess Rostova. After her marriage, she became Vera Berg. At the beginning of the novel, she was 20 years old, and the girl was four years older than her sister Natasha. Vera is a beautiful, intelligent and well-mannered and educated girl with a pleasant voice. Both Natasha and Nikolai believed that she was too correct and somehow insensitive, as if she had no heart at all.
Sonya in Leo Tolstov's work "War and Peace" appears to the reader as a pretty and graceful girl, well-mannered, with inculcated manners and unbending principles. Once in the Rostov family by the will of fate, she keeps them faithful and devotion throughout her life. Absolutely not conflict and excessively correct girl, oddly enough, remains almost unnoticed by other characters in the story.
Having experienced unrequited love for the one with whom she grew up in the same house, Sonya refuses a potential groom and remains an old maid until the end of her days.
(Sonya - the Rostovs' niece, illustration by artist Konstantin Rudakov)
From the first lines of Sonya's description, Tolstoy presents the heroine as a positive girl from all sides. She studied well along with the other children of the Rostovs, and in everything pleased her foster parents. She is obedient, meek and reasonable.
According to external data, she was in no way inferior to Natalya Rostova. She had beautiful long dark hair, an expressive look, a thin figure and graceful hands. The girl moved plastically and resembled a kitten, which will turn into a beautiful and seductive cat.
The process of blossoming of the beauty of the heroine occurs for the period from her first appearance at the ball and further up to more than 20 years. Having put on a dress appropriate for the event, Sonya, along with Natalia, appears at a social event and looks no less impressive.
The paradox is that no one notices her. This happens throughout the novel. As a child, foster parents do not praise her for her successes, they are taken for granted. No one communicates with her at the ball, and in the description of all subsequent events she is present, but, as if, she keeps aloof from everything.
The reason for such a nondescript image in the presence of positive internal qualities and a pretty appearance of the girl is the lack of spontaneity, playfulness and lightness in her. She's not romantic at all. Her practicality and integrity shine through in everything. She does everything as expected, and without unnecessary emotions.
The heroine is calm about the lack of attention to her own person, it does not bother her. Perhaps this view of the girl was formed by gratitude to the foster family for an equal position with the rest of the children, superimposed on Sonya's innate personality traits.
The girl is so true to her principles that she refuses to marry Dolokhov, although he is a profitable party for her. All her life she has been faithful to her feelings for Nikolai, not wanting to betray them.
(Irina Gubanova as Sonya from Sergei Bondarchuk's movie "War and Peace", USSR 1966)
In fact, Tolstoy described the life of an empty flower girl, who, with all the initial data, could have lived it much brighter, more useful and more interesting for herself. This could happen if Sonya knew how to adapt a little to changing circumstances.
Seeing that her feelings do not evoke a reciprocal and equal sympathy from Nikolai, she could switch to other suitors, but the girl does not want to do this. As a result, Sonya stays in her beloved's house, takes care of his elderly mother and watches how happily he lives life with his beloved wife.
(Secret conversation between Sonya and Natasha)
Communicating closely with Natalia and seeing how events boil around her, Sonya does not even take over from her sister even a modicum of spontaneity. When she, in the care of the wounded, refuses to carry things on carts, Sonya is perplexed why this is necessary. She was packing things for the road, which means they should load them, not the wounded. It is in such descriptions that the author conveys to the reader that it is impossible to always act in favor of the rules. They, like worldview, can change throughout life, and there is nothing to worry about.
It is Sonya's lack of ability to take into account changing circumstances and her own interests that prevents her from creating her own family.
