Russian character! - for a short story, the title is too significant. What can you do - I just want to talk with you about the Russian character.

Russian character! Go ahead and describe him ... Should you tell about heroic deeds? But there are so many of them that you are at a loss as to which one to prefer. So one of my friends helped me out with a little story from his personal life. How he beat the Germans - I will not tell, although he wears a gold star and half of his chest in orders. He is a simple, quiet, ordinary person - a collective farmer from the Volga village of the Saratov region. But among others, it is noticeable by a strong and proportionate build and beauty. Sometimes, when he crawls out of the turret of a tank, you peep in - the god of war! He jumps from the armor to the ground, pulls off the helmet from his wet curls, wipes his grimy face with a rag and will certainly smile from sincere affection.

In war, constantly revolving around death, people do better, all nonsense peels off them, like unhealthy skin after a sunburn, and remains in a person - the core. Of course, for one it is stronger, for another it is weaker, but those who have a flawed core stretch, everyone wants to be a good and loyal comrade. But my friend, Yegor Dremov, was of strict behavior even before the war, he respected and loved his mother, Marya Polikarpovna, and his father, Yegor Yegorovich, extremely much. “My father is a sedate man, firstly, he respects himself. You, he says, sonny, will see a lot in the world, and you will visit abroad, but be proud of your Russian title ... "

He had a bride from the same village on the Volga. We talk a lot about brides and wives, especially if there is a calm, cold at the front, a light smokes in a dugout, a stove bursts, and people have supper. Here they will put on this - you will hang your ears. They will start, for example: "What is love?" One will say: "Love arises on the basis of respect ..." Another: "Nothing of the kind, love is a habit, a man loves not only his wife, but his father and mother and even animals ..." - "Ugh, stupid! - the third will say, - Love is when everything boils in you, a person walks like a drunk ... "And so they philosophize for an hour or two, until the foreman, intervening, in an imperative voice determines the very essence ... Yegor Dryomov, it must be being ashamed of these conversations, he only casually mentioned to me about the bride - she is, they say, a very good girl, and if she said that she would wait, she would wait, at least he would return on one leg ...

He also did not like to rant about military exploits: "I don't want to remember such deeds!" Frowns and lights a cigarette. We learned about the combat affairs of his tank from the words of the crew, in particular, the driver Chuvilev surprised the listeners:

- ... You see, as soon as we turned around, I looked, crawling out from behind a mountain ... I shout: "Comrade lieutenant, a tiger!" - “Forward,” he shouts, “full throttle! ..” And let me camouflage myself around the fir-tree - to the right, to the left ... The tiger is driving the trunk like a blind man, he hit it past ... , - spray! As soon as he gives it to the tower, - he lifted his trunk ... As he gives it to the third one, - smoke poured out of all the cracks at the tiger, - the flame rushes out of it a hundred meters up ... The crew climbed through the spare hatch ... Vanka Lapshin led the way with a machine gun - they just lay there, twitching with their feet ... You understand, the path has been cleared for us. In five minutes we fly into the village. Then I just became dehydrated ... The fascists in every direction ... And - it's dirty, you know, - the other one will jump out of his boots and in some socks - porsk. They all run to the barn. Comrade lieutenant gives me the command: "Come on - move around the barn." We turned off the cannon, at full throttle I ran into the shed and ran over ... Fathers! The beams rumbled on the armor, boards, bricks, the Nazis who were sitting under the roof ... And I also ironed it - the rest of my hands up - and Hitler was kaput ...

This is how Lieutenant Yegor Dremov fought until misfortune happened to him. During the Kursk massacre, when the Germans were already bleeding and trembling, his tank - on a hillock, in a wheat field - was hit by a shell, two of the crew were immediately killed, and the tank caught fire from the second shell. The driver Chuvilev, who jumped out through the front hatch, again climbed onto the armor and managed to get the lieutenant out - he was unconscious, his overalls were on fire. As soon as Chuvilev pulled the lieutenant away, the tank exploded with such force that the tower was thrown about fifty meters. Chuvilev threw handfuls of loose earth on the lieutenant's face, on his head, on his clothes in order to bring down the fire. Then I crawled with him from funnel to funnel to the dressing station ... “Why did I drag him then? - Chuvilev told, - I hear his heart is beating ... "

Yegor Dryomov survived and did not even lose his sight, although his face was so charred that bones were visible in places. For eight months he was in the hospital, he underwent one after another plastic surgery, and restored his nose, lips, eyelids and ears. Eight months later, when the bandages were removed, he looked at his and now not his face. The nurse, who handed him a small mirror, turned away and began to cry. He immediately returned the mirror to her.

“It can be worse,” he said. “You can live with it.

But he no longer asked the nurse for a mirror, only often felt his face, as if he was getting used to it. The commission found him fit for non-combatant service. Then he went to the general and said: “I ask your permission to return to the regiment.” “But you are an invalid,” said the general. "No, I am a freak, but this will not interfere with the matter, I will fully restore my combat capability." (The fact that during the conversation the general tried not to look at him, Yegor Dremov noted and only grinned with purple lips, straight as a slit.) He received twenty days' leave to fully recover his health and went home to his father with his mother. It was in March this year.

At the station he thought to take a cart, but he had to walk eighteen miles. There was still snow all around, it was damp and deserted, a chilly wind blew the hem of his greatcoat, whistling in lonely longing in his ears. He came to the village when it was already dusk. Here is the well, the tall crane swayed and creaked. Hence the sixth hut - parental. He stopped suddenly with his hands in his pockets. He shook his head. I turned diagonally towards the house. Tied up knee-deep in the snow, bending over to the window, I saw my mother - in the dim light of the tilted lamp, over the table, she was getting ready to supper. All in the same dark shawl, quiet, unhurried, kind. She got old, her thin shoulders stuck out ... "Oh, I should know - every day she would have to write at least two words about herself ..." I gathered a simple thing on the table - a cup of milk, a piece of bread, two spoons, a salt shaker and thought, standing in front of the table, his thin arms folded under his chest ... Yegor Dremov, looking out of the window at his mother, realized that it was impossible to frighten her, it was impossible for her old face to tremble desperately.

Okay! He opened the gate, entered the courtyard, and knocked on the porch. Mother answered outside the door: "Who is there?" He replied: "Lieutenant, Hero Soviet Union Gromov ".

His heart pounded so hard - he leaned his shoulder against the lintel. No, his mother did not recognize his voice. He himself, as if for the first time, heard his voice, which changed after all the operations - hoarse, deaf, indistinct.

- Father, what do you want? She asked.

- Marya Polikarpovna brought a bow from her son, senior lieutenant Dremov.

Then she opened the door and rushed to him, grabbed his hands:

- Is my Yegor alive? Are you healthy? Father, go into the hut

Yegor Dryomov sat down on a bench by the table, in the very place where he sat, when his legs still did not reach the floor and his mother used to stroke his curly head and used to say: "Eat, Idiot." He began to talk about her son, about himself - in detail, how he eats, drinks, does not tolerate the need for anything, is always healthy, cheerful, and - briefly about the battles in which he participated with his tank.

- Tell me - is it scary in the war? She interrupted, looking into his face with dark, unseeing eyes.

- Yes, of course, scary, mother, however - a habit.

Father came, Yegor Yegorovich, who had also passed over the years - his beard was showered like flour. Looking at the guest, he stomped on the threshold with his broken felt boots, slowly unwound his scarf, took off his short fur coat, walked over to the table, shook his hand - oh, it was a familiar, wide, fair parental hand! Without asking anything, because it was already clear why there was a guest in the orders here, he sat down and also began to listen, half-closing his eyes.

The longer Lieutenant Dremov sat unrecognizable and talked about himself and not about himself, the more impossible it was for him to open up - to get up and say: yes, you recognize me, you freak, mother, father! .. He felt good at his parents' table and hurt.

- Well, let's have supper, mother, collect something for the guest. - Yegor Yegorovich opened the door of an old cupboard, where in the corner to the left lay fishhooks in a matchbox - they lay there - and there was a teapot with a broken spout, he stood there, where it smelled of bread crumbs and onion husks. Yegor Yegorovich took out a bottle of wine - just two glasses, sighed that he couldn't get it anymore.

We sat down to supper, as in previous years. It was only at dinner that Senior Lieutenant Dremov noticed that his mother was watching his hand with a spoon especially closely. He grinned, his mother looked up, her face trembled painfully.

We talked about this and that, what the spring will be like and whether the people will cope with the sowing, and that this summer we must wait for the end of the war.

- Why do you think, Yegor Yegorovich, that this summer we must wait for the end of the war?

- The people got angry, - answered Yegor Yegorovich, - you crossed over death, now you can't stop him, the German is kaput.

Marya Polikarpovna asked:

- You did not tell when he will be given leave - to visit us on leave. For three years they did not see him, he has grown up tea, he walks with a mustache ... Commercials - every day - near death, tea and his voice became rough?

- Yes, when he comes - maybe you won't know, - said the lieutenant.

He was taken to sleep on the stove, where he remembered every brick, every crack in the log wall, every knot in the ceiling. It smelled of sheepskin, bread - that familiar comfort that is not forgotten even in the hour of death. The March wind whistled over the roof. Father snored behind the partition. Mother tossed and turned, sighed, did not sleep. The lieutenant was lying on his face, his face in the palm of his hand: “Really I didn’t admit it,” I thought, “didn’t it? Mother Mother..."

The next morning he was awakened by the crackling of wood, his mother carefully fiddled around the stove; his washed footcloths hung from an outstretched rope, and his washed boots stood by the door.

- Do you eat millet pancakes? She asked.

He did not answer at once, got off the stove, put on his tunic, tightened his belt and - barefoot - sat down on the bench.

- Tell me, do you have Katya Malysheva, Andrey Stepanovich Malyshev's daughter living in your village?

- She finished courses last year, we have a teacher. Do you need to see her?

- Your son asked me to bow to her without fail.

The mother sent a neighbor's girl for her. The lieutenant did not even have time to put on his shoes when Katya Malysheva came running. Her wide gray eyes glittered, her eyebrows flew up in amazement, a joyful blush on her cheeks. When she threw the knitted shawl over her broad shoulders, the lieutenant even groaned to himself - to kiss that warm blonde hair! became golden ...

- Did you bring a bow from Yegor? (He stood with his back to the light and only bent his head, because he could not speak.) And I am waiting for him day and night, so tell him ...

She came close to him. She looked, and as if she had been slightly hit in the chest, leaned back, was frightened. Then he firmly decided to leave - today.

Mother baked millet pancakes with baked milk. He again talked about Lieutenant Dremov, this time about his military exploits, - he spoke cruelly and did not raise his eyes to Katya so as not to see the reflection of his ugliness on her sweet face. Yegor Yegorovich was about to bother to get the collective farm horse - but he went to the station on foot as soon as he came. He was very depressed by everything that had happened, even, stopping, hitting his face with his palms, repeating in a hoarse voice: "What can be done now?"

He returned to his regiment, which was stationed deep in the rear on replenishment. Fighting comrades greeted him with such sincere joy that something that did not allow him to sleep, eat, or breathe fell off his heart. I decided so - let the mother no longer know about his misfortune. As for Katya, he will rip this thorn out of his heart.

Two weeks later, a letter came from my mother:

“Hello, my beloved son. I'm afraid to write to you, I don't know what to think. We had one person from you - a very good person, only with a bad face. I wanted to live, but immediately packed up and left. Since then, son, I have not slept at night - it seems to me that you came. Yegor Yegorovich scolds me for this, - he says, you, the old woman, have gone crazy: if he were our son - wouldn't he open up ... Why should he hide if it was him - such a face as of this, who came to us, you need to be proud. Yegor Yegorovich will persuade me, and the mother's heart is all his own: he is, he was with us! .. This man was sleeping on the stove, I took his greatcoat out into the yard - to clean it, but I will fall to her, but I will pay, - he is, his this! .. Yegorushka, write to me, for Christ's sake, if you think about me - what happened? Or really - I'm crazy ... "

Yegor Dremov showed this letter to me, Ivan Sudarev, and, telling his story, wiped his eyes with his sleeve. I told him: “Here, I say, the characters collided! You fool, you fool, write rather to your mother, ask her for forgiveness, don't drive her crazy ... She really needs your image! This is how she will love you even more.

On the same day he wrote a letter: "My dear parents, Marya Polikarpovna and Yegor Yegorovich, forgive me for my ignorance, you really had me, your son ..." And so on, and so on - in four pages in small handwriting, he would have written twenty pages — it would have been possible.

After a while, we were standing with him at the training ground, - the soldier comes running and - to Yegor Dremov: "Comrade captain, they are asking you ..." We went to the village, we approach the hut where Dremov and I lived. I see - he is not himself, - all coughs ... I think: "Tankman, tankman, but - nerves." We enter the hut, he is in front of me, and I hear:

“Mom, hello, it's me! ..” And I see - the little old woman fell on his chest. I look around, it turns out there is another woman. I give my word of honor, there are beauties somewhere else, she is not the only one, but personally I have not seen.

He tore his mother away from himself, approached this girl - and I already remembered that with all his heroic build it was the god of war, “Katya! - he says, - Katya, why did you come? You promised to wait for that, not for this ... "

The beautiful Katya answers him, - and although I went into the hallway, I hear: “Egor, I'm going to live with you forever. I will love you truly, I will love you very much ... Do not send me away ... "

Yes, here they are, Russian characters! It seems that a person is simple, but a severe misfortune will come, in big or small, and a great power rises in him - human beauty.

The work of A. Tolstoy "Russian character", summary which is given in the article, has the subtitle "From the" Stories of Ivan Sudarev ". Thus, the author uses the “story within a story” technique, in which his friend, a fellow soldier, told the reader about the Russian warrior. And although the action takes place in the early forties, the focus is not on the valiant exploits of the protagonist, but on what happened to him after a serious injury. The author's task is to show how powerful and amazing a person is.

An ordinary guy - Egor Dryomov

A. Tolstoy begins the story "Russian character", the summary of which you are reading, with an acquaintance with the main character. This is a quiet, simple tanker who lived on a collective farm before the war. He probably differed from his comrades in appearance. Tall, with curls and certainly with a warm smile on his face, he resembled a god. Dremov loved and respected his parents very much, spoke with respect about his father, who was an example for him. Yegor also had a girlfriend, whose feelings he did not doubt at all: he would wait, even if he happened to return on one leg.

Dremov did not like to boast of his military exploits. Such is the real Russian character. A summary of the stories of his driver, meanwhile, shows that they were not uncommon for him. Chuvilev recalled with pride how their tank had fought against the German tiger and how Lieutenant Dremov was able to defuse the enemy.

So everything went on as usual, until misfortune happened to the hero. It also showed how strong and firm the Russian character can be.

The crew had a chance to participate in the Battle of Kursk. By the end of the battle, the tank was knocked out. Two died immediately, and the driver pulled the burning lieutenant out of the car just before its explosion. Yegor received big burns: bones were visible in places under the charred skin. The face was badly damaged, but the vision was preserved. The guy underwent several plastic surgeries, and when the bandages were removed, a completely unfamiliar person was looking at him from the mirror. But he reassured his sister, saying that you can live with it. And he himself often felt his face, as if getting used to a new look - continues the story "Russian character" by Tolstoy.

The summary of the conversation between the lieutenant and the general, to whom the tanker came after he was recognized as fit only for combat, is as follows. Yegor asked to return him to the regiment and specified that he was a freak, not an invalid: "... This will not interfere with the matter." Trying not to look at him, the general accepted the arguments and ordered to give twenty days of leave to recover. Then the hero went home.

Meeting with relatives

He came to the village in the evening. Having made my way through the snow to the window, I saw how my mother, unhurried, kind, but thin and aged, was gathering on the table. And then she thought, folding her arms across her chest. Yegor realized that he could not frighten her with his appearance, and knocking on the door, called himself a friend of his son, Lieutenant Gromov. He entered a house where everything was painfully familiar. The mother looked at him and asked about her son. Their father soon joined them. And the more Dremov sat, the harder it was for him to admit to the old people that he was their son.

This is how the first meeting of the hero with his parents is described in the story "Russian Character". Summary (Alexey Tolstoy in every possible way emphasizes how hard it was for both the hero and the mother) conversations at dinner can be reduced to questions about what spring will be like and how the sowing will go when the war ends. The old woman was also interested in when they would give her son a leave.

Meeting with the bride

The next day, Yegor wanted to meet with the bride of their son, Katya, to convey his bow. The girl came running instantly: joyful, radiant, beautiful ... She came very close to the guy, looked at him and staggered back. At that moment, Yegor decided: he had to leave today. Then they ate and the lieutenant talked about Dremov's exploits (it turned out, his own). And he himself tried not to look at Katya, so as not to see the reflections of his ugliness on her beautiful face.

So ended the meeting with the past, pre-war life, for the main character of the story "Russian character". The summary of the meeting suggests what decision Yegor made: to hide the truth from his mother as long as possible and try to forget Katya forever.

Letter from home

Meeting with his comrades in arms, Dremov felt relief. And two weeks later he received a letter about his mother, forcing him to change his decision. Such is the Russian character. The summary of the letter is as follows. Marya Polikarpovna told how a man came to them. A mother's heart suggests that it was Yegor himself. The old man scolds, says that if there were a son, he would certainly open up. After all, you need to be proud of such a face. Therefore, she asked to judge whether she was right or

Yegor came with a letter to Sudarev, who advised him to give an answer as quickly as possible and confess everything.

The story "Russian character" gets an unexpected denouement, the summary of which you have read. After some time, Dremov was summoned by the captain, and Sudarev went with him. So the narrator witnessed Yegor's meeting with his mother and Katya. The latter was really a beauty, but to the lieutenant's words that she shouldn't wait for him like that, she replied: "... I'm going to live with you forever ...".

"It seems that a simple man, but a severe misfortune will come ... and a great power rises in him - human beauty," Tolstoy ends the story "Russian character".

The artistic task of Alexei Tolstoy consisted in the study of those traits of the Russian character that, throughout history, made it possible to withstand and win. The end of the cycle "Stories by Ivan Sutsarev" (1942-1944) was a story with the significant title "Russian character" (1944).

An employee of the newspaper "Krasnaya Zvezda" told Tolstoy about the fate of the tanker who nearly burned out in the tank. This particular story acquired a generalizing meaning, grew into the writer's thoughts about the strength of the spirit of the Russian man, the courage of a soldier, the love of a mother, and the loyalty of a woman.

In the image of Yegor Dremov, first of all, the typical character of the hero is emphasized. He was, according to the narrator, a "simple, quiet, ordinary" person. He is endowed with the most widespread biography: before the war he lived in a village, treated his mother and father with respect, worked conscientiously on the ground, now he is fighting heroically. Dremov, like his father and grandfather, bears the name Yegor, which means "cultivating the land", and with this detail the author emphasizes the connection between generations, the continuity of the moral values \u200b\u200bof the people.

It is this "ordinary" person who is aesthetically singled out by the writer against the background of others, placed in circumstances that, for all their reality, cannot but be recognized as exceptional. Even outwardly, Yegor is especially noted for his heroic build and beauty: “It used to be, you peep how he crawls out of the tower of a tank - the god of war! He jumps from the armor to the ground, pulls off the helmet from his wet curls, wipes his grimy face with a rag and will certainly smile with affection. " The motive of "heroism" resounds in the story of Yegor's deeds, who is one of the few! - marked with an "asterisk" ("Golden Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union).

But the main thing in the story is not the combat episodes with the participation of Lieutenant Dremov (they are shown in the presentation of other characters). In the center of the work is a seemingly personal situation related to the feelings of the hero after being seriously wounded during a tank battle on the Kursk Bulge.

Dremov's face was almost completely burned, after operations his voice changed. A number of the details emphasized by the author allow to show the process of exposing the deep essence of the character. Yegor lost his visual appeal (the motive of "ugliness" in the second part of the story varies in the instinctive reaction of people to the appearance of a burned tanker). But all the more clearly the inner beauty and strength of the hero is manifested.

She is in an effort to stay in the ranks, in a real fighting brotherhood that connects Yegor with his comrades in arms, in his love for loved ones and caring for them.

The culmination of the story was a scene in his home, when the most dear people did not recognize Yegor in a man with a disfigured face, and he decided not to be a burden for them with his misfortune and called himself a false name. But now his relatives are giving Yegor a lesson in true humanity and love. A mother who felt in her heart that this son was in his own home.

Father, as always, said the main thing in a laconic way: “You should be proud of a person like this one who came to us” (the epithet “fair” used in relation to the father is not accidental). Katya Malysheva, who forever connected her life with Yegor ("beautiful Katya", in whose image the harmony of the internal and the external is emphasized). “Yes, here they are, Russian characters! It seems that a person is simple, but a severe misfortune will come, in big or small, and a great power rises in him - human beauty. "

Story Alexei Tolstoy "Russian character"through the prism of graduates

And if so, what is beauty?
And why do people deify her?
She is a vessel in which there is emptiness,
Or a fire flickering in a vessel?
N.A. Zabolotsky

For a very long time I have been worried about the question, what are the guides of those who determine what to get into the list of useful, acceptable, desirable for reading works of the school curriculum?

Very often, our teacher gives out-of-class reading works that were not included in the compulsory program. Reading "The Story of a Real Man" by Boris Polevoy, I asked myself the question: "Why is there still no such wonderful work in literature readers?" I couldn't find the answer. Recently I read the story of Alexei Tolstoy "Russian character", which did not leave me indifferent. I walked for a long time under the impression of Yegor Dremov's story. How can one not be surprised at the spiritual beauty and strength of character of this simple tanker ?!

For me, the question remains about how the school curriculum will be changed? Is it necessary at the age of sixteen to try to delve into the torment of the unfaithful wife - Anna Karenina or try to understand the reasons for the murder committed by Rodion Raskolnikov? (We read them in the 10th grade.) "Oblomov" by IA Goncharov, "Thunderstorm", by A. Ostrovsky, "What to do?" NG Chernyshevsky, AM Gorky's "At the Bottom" ... - can and should a teenager read this? How close is this to his vision of life? And what will be offered to read in return? Will the works not included in the school curriculum be restored? At least some of them? So far there are more questions than answers ...
The main directions of the school curriculum were laid down in the Soviet era - the era that glorified social conflicts, class struggle, that is, the school curriculum for literature had a certain ideological role in the education of the fighters of the "class front", even if these "fighters" are still in the childhood. or adolescence, and because of this they still cannot understand the depth of the intention of the authors of "adult" works.

Today, the controversy that has flared up around the change in the school curriculum in Russian literature has already reached the Kremlin. It is not known what will eventually be included in the school curriculum for literature, and what will remain outside of it, but I would like to think that this reform is aimed at raising the educational level in educational institutions in Russia. We can only hope that innovation in school curriculum will not further "disgust" students from reading serious literature and will not push today's adolescents in the not too distant future into a "web of tabloid" novels "and other gaudy writings that are so widespread and popular today.

Next, I will try to reveal to you why it would be necessary to include A. Tolstoy's story "Russian character" in the school reader on literature. I’m not arguing that it was only read in high school, no. The story, in terms of its content and the issues raised, is suitable for any age: both for the middle management and for the senior. The main thing is to be read.

It seems to me that this work is significant and relevant precisely as a story-memory, a story-dedication to those who more than seven decades ago fought against fascism for the freedom and independence of our country. And he won, won, despite the hardest 4 years of cruelty and hatred, blood and misery, but at the same time love and mercy. What helped our people defeat the fascist horde, survive in the rear and remain the strongest and most courageous country. And this is what a Russian person has, this is our character, amazing and unpredictable, when necessary - tough, when necessary - merciful. But always steadfast and courageous.
"Russian character" -last thing (May 7, 1944) significant work

A.N. Tolstoy - included in the cycle "Stories by Ivan Sudarev". The cycle consists of seven short stories, united by one theme (the image of the Great Patriotic War), one idea (a description of the heroism of the Soviet people), one storyteller (the experienced cavalryman Ivan Sudarev). Each story has its own main characters: Red Army soldiers who found themselves in the German rear and created a partisan detachment ("How It Began"); repressed kulak, who agreed to become burgomaster under the Germans and reported the most important information about the occupiers to the partisans ("Strange Story"), Blacksmith Hussar, who before the war was listed as a lone handicraftsman and a bummer, in a primitive rural smithy made excellent tools for repairing tanks, and surprisingly tankers He reacted venomously: "Your opinion about the Russian man is antiresno ... A lone handicraftsman, a drunkard ... No, comrades, you hurried to judge the Russian man" ("Seven grimy"). The headmaster of the school, Vasily Vasilyevich, talks about Russian culture, which, retreating, the Russians allow the Nazis to destroy: “We are all to blame for not grooming it enough, taking care of it a little ... The Russian character is wasteful ... Nothing ... Russia is big, hard, hardy ... "(" How it began "). The neat SS man, who received the order to establish German "order" in the occupied territory, also expresses his opinion about the Russians: “the Russians do not know how to work; we Germans do not like this - a person must work from morning to night, all his life, otherwise he will die ... ”(“ Strange story ”). This fascist cannot understand in any way why the hungry Russians, even for bread, do not want to diligently bend their backs on the invaders. Each story contains a discourse about the Russian character, which manifests itself especially clearly at critical moments in history.

The story "Russian character" completes the cycle "Stories by Ivan Sudarev" and sums up the original reasoning about the Russian people. The theme "Russian character" is indicated by the author at the very beginning: "I just want to talk to you about the Russian character." The idea of \u200b\u200bthe story is clarified thanks toring composition
Although the time of the story is the war spring of 1944, this is a story not so much about war as about love. The story consists of two main episodes and two or three secondary episodes, with the minimum number of characters involved. So Tolstoy avoided the fragmentation of the plot and achieved a strong dramatic effect.
On display scanty information about Yegor Dremov (his family and military exploits) is given, his portrait is given and such traits of his character as restraint and modesty are indicated. Although Ivan Sudarev recognized Yegor after the injury and plastic surgeries, he never mentions the physical deformity of his comrade, but on the contrary, admires the beauty of the protagonist: “He jumps from the armor to the ground, pulls off his helmet from his wet curls, wipes his grimy face with a rag and will certainly smile out of sincere affection. "Plot tie Climax scene is his arrival home after the hospital. It is clear that after a serious injury and several plastic surgeries, which saved his life, but disfigured his face and voice beyond recognition, Yegor went home to his closest people. But pity and real filial love to old parents did not allow him to immediately open up: “Yegor Dremov, looking out of the window at his mother, realized that it was impossible to frighten her. It is impossible for her old face to tremble desperately. " In addition, he hoped that the father and mother would guess without explanation that their son had come to them. Mother's behavior at dinner seems to confirm Yegor's expectations. Noticing the smallest details, Maria Polikarpovna seems to be beginning to suspect the truth: a guest withoutinvitations He sat down exactly at the place where his son had been sitting all his life, and his movements during the meal were seemingly familiar: “It was only during dinner that senior lieutenant Dremov noticed that his mother was watching his hand with a spoon especially closely. He grinned, her mother looked up, her face trembled painfully.
Egor did not dare to confess to his bride Katya: “She came close to him. She looked, and as if she had been slightly hit in the chest, leaned back, was frightened. " This frightgirls (Yegor thought she was horrified by his terrible mask-face) became the last straw; the hero was determined not to open up and leave as soon as possible. After leaving his home, Yegor felt resentment (even his mother did not feel the truth), despair (Katya said that she was waiting for him day and night, and she herself did not recognize the groom in the disfigured senior lieutenant) and bitter loneliness (he sacrificed his feelings so as not to frighten relatives, and involuntarily fenced off from them). In the end, the hero decided this: “Let his mother no longer know about his misfortune. As for Katya, he will rip this thorn out of her heart. "
Sacrificial love, so appreciated by the Russians, is characteristic not only of Egor Dremov, but also of his relatives, who by their actions unleash a tangled everyday situation. The mother still guesses that the visiting officer was her son. The father believes that the wounds received on the battlefield for the freedom of the Motherland only adorn the soldier. Katya Malysheva, together with Maria Polikarpovna, comes to the regiment to visit Yegor and by this act proves her love and loyalty to the groom without further ado. Such a happy ending of the plot affirms the idea of \u200b\u200bthe primacy of the inner, not the outer beauty of a person.
Summing up, we can recall the well-known aphorism of A.P. Chekhov: everything in a person should be beautiful: clothes, face, soul, and thoughts. No one will argue with the above statement, but if it is necessary to choose, then the Russian will rather choose inner beauty (soul and thoughts), this is exactly what Ivan Sudarev and the author himself do. They both approve of Yegor Dremov's deed, his generosity towards relatives. Lieutenant Dremov's heart was not hardened in the war, so he is afraid to excite his relatives with his appearance. The narrator and the author see the beauty of the protagonist's character in this spiritual subtlety and sensitivity.
The beauty of a human (including Russian) character is manifested primarily not in physical attractiveness, but in spiritual generosity. Egor with his face disfigured with burns does not arouse disgust either from his relatives or from his comrades in arms, who pay attention not to Dremov's face, but to his smile, which glows with sincere affection. In other words, the human beauty of the hero shines through through the deathly terrible face, conquering those around him.
The denouement in the story The "Russian character" is happy, life-affirming - it shows the wonderful characters of the Soviet people. The relatives unraveled Yegor's involuntary deception and forgave him that he doubted their love; friends greeted her with joy in the regiment. The beauty of the soul of a mutilated soldier, ready to sacrifice himself in the name of loved ones, is not opposed, but is consistent with the spiritual beauty of the people around him, especially women who are overweight selfless love to the hero.

But thinking about the Russian character,story within story.

1 APPENDIX (from student essays and feedback)

The family of Yegor Dremov. Katya Malysheva.

The family of Yegor Dremov lived in the Volga village of the Saratov region. Yegor himself said this about his father: "My father is a sedate man, first of all, he respects himself. You, he says, son, will see a lot in the world and will visit abroad, but be proud of the Russian title ...". About the mother, we can say that she was a simple peasant woman, burning all her love and suffering, poured out her grief in a letter to Yegor.

We see that the mother cannot be fooled, and Marya Polikarpovna felt with her mother's heart that this was her son. This is a real Russian woman who endured all the hardships and hardships of the war on her shoulders. And, of course, Katya Malysheva is one with Yegor's family. A girl who loves not for her beautiful appearance, not for her wealth, but for her spiritual beauty. She is loyal to her fiancé, no matter how handsome or ugly he is. And these people, who lived in the rear and brought the victory closer, had their persistent courageous character, a real Russian. They also have the core that Ivan Sudarev spoke about.

Narrator Ivan Sudarev in the work of A.N. Tolstoy "Russian character"

Ivan Sudarev, author of the story about Yegor Dremov, friend of Yegor, the same fighter, a person you can rely on. He is an accomplice in this story. Ivan Sudarev comments on many events, gives an assessment, in the story he tells not only about Yegor Dremov, but also about himself. For example, he talks about the life of people at the front and says that "... constantly revolving around death, people do better, all nonsense peels off them, like unhealthy skin after a sunburn, and remains in a person - the core. Of course - for one it is stronger, for another it is weaker, but those who have a flawed core stretch, everyone wants to be a good and loyal comrade. "

It is immediately clear from this that Ivan Sudarev- a man with a core. Yes, and the opinion of Sudarev about the story with Yegor at home (when Yegor tells him everything, he says a lot: “You fool, you fool, write to your mother as soon as possible, ask her for forgiveness, don't drive her crazy ... She really needs your image! That is how she will love you even more. ")

But thinking about the Russian character, which ends the story, shows us that both the author Tolstoy and the narrator Ivan Sudarev have a real Russian character. Such works in Russian literature are called a story within a story.

2 APPENDIX

FROM "STORIES BY IVAN SUDAREV"

A. Tolstoy "RUSSIAN CHARACTER"

Russian character! - for a small story, the title is too

meaningful. What can you do - I just want to talk with you about the Russian character.

Russian character! Come describe him ... Should you tell about heroic

exploits? But there are so many of them that you will be confused - which one to prefer. Here is me

and a friend of mine helped out with a little story from his personal life. I won’t tell how he beat the Germans, although he wears a gold star and

half of the chest in orders. He is a simple, quiet, ordinary man -

a collective farmer from the Volga village of the Saratov region. But among others, it is noticeable by a strong and proportionate build and beauty. Sometimes, when he crawls out of the turret of a tank, you peep in - the god of war! He jumps from the armor to the ground, pulls off the helmet from his wet curls, wipes his grimy face with a rag and will certainly smile from sincere affection.

In war, constantly revolving around death, people do better, every

nonsense peels off them like unhealthy skin after a sunburn, and

remains in the person - the core. Of course - one has it stronger, the other

weaker, but those who have a flawed core stretch, everyone wants to be

a good and loyal companion. But my friend, Yegor Dremov, was of strict behavior even before the war, he respected and loved his mother, Marya Polikarpovna, and his father, Yegor Yegorovich, extremely much. "My father is a sedate man, first of all, he respects himself. You, he says, son, will see a lot in the world, and you will visit abroad, but be proud of your Russian title ..."

He had a bride from the same village on the Volga. About brides and wives

they talk about us a lot, especially if there is a calm, cold, in a dugout at the front

the fire smokes, the stove bursts, and the people had supper. Here they will put on this - you will hang your ears. They will start, for example: "What is love?" One will say: "Love arises on the basis of respect ..." Another: "Nothing of the kind, love is a habit, a person loves not only his wife, but his father and mother and even animals ..." - "Ugh, stupid!" , - love is when everything boils in you, a person walks like a drunk ... "And so they philosophize for an hour or two, until the foreman, intervening, in an imperious voice determines the very essence ... Yegor Dremov, must be embarrassed , he just casually mentioned to me about the bride, - a very, they say, a good girl, and if she said that she would wait, she would wait, at least he would return on one leg ...

About military exploits, he also did not like to rant: "About such

i don't want to remember anything! "He frowns and lights a cigarette. We learned about the combat affairs of his tank from the words of the crew, especially the driver Chuvilev surprised the listeners.

You see, as soon as we turned around, I look, from behind the mountain

gets out ... I shout: "Comrade lieutenant, tiger!" - "Forward, shouts, full

gas! ... "I and let's disguise myself on the fir-tree - to the right, to the left ... Tiger

he drives the barrel like a blind man, hit it - by ... But Comrade Lieutenant as he gives

in his side - spray! As soon as he gives to the tower, he lifted his trunk ...

in the third, - smoke poured from all the cracks at the tiger, -

just a hundred meters up ... The crew climbed through the spare hatch ... Vanka

Lapshin led the machine-gun, - they lie, twitching with their feet ...

you understand, the path is clear. In five minutes we fly into the village. Then I just became dehydrated ... The fascists in every direction ... But - it's dirty, you know, - another one will jump out of his boots and in some socks - porsk. They all run to the barn. Comrade lieutenant gives me the command: "Come on - move around the barn." We turned off the cannon, at full throttle I ran into the shed and ran over ... Fathers! The beams rumbled on the armor, boards, bricks, the Nazis who were sitting under the roof ... And I also ironed it - the rest of my hands up - and Hitler was kaput ...

This is how Lieutenant Yegor Dremov fought until misfortune happened to him.

During the Kursk massacre, when the Germans were already bleeding and trembling, his tank - on a hillock, in a wheat field - was hit by a shell, two of the crew were immediately killed, and the tank caught fire from the second shell. The driver Chuvilev, who jumped out through the front hatch, again climbed onto the armor and managed to get the lieutenant out - he was unconscious, his overalls were on fire. As soon as Chuvilev pulled the lieutenant away, the tank exploded with such force that the tower was thrown about fifty meters. Chuvilev threw handfuls of loose earth on the lieutenant's face, on his head, on his clothes in order to bring down the fire. Then I crawled with him from funnel to funnel to the dressing station ... "Why did I drag him then?" Chuvilev said, "I hear his heart is beating ..."

Yegor Dryomov survived and did not even lose his sight, although his face was so

charred that bones were visible in places. For eight months he lay in

hospital, he underwent one after another plastic surgery, and restored his nose and lips, and eyelids, and ears. Eight months later, when the bandages were removed, he looked at his and now not his face. The nurse, who handed him a small mirror, turned away and began to cry. He immediately returned the mirror to her.

It can be worse, - he said, - you can live with it.

But he no longer asked the nurse for a mirror, only often felt

his face, as if getting used to it. The commission found him fit for non-combatant service. Then he went to the general and said: "I ask your permission to return to the regiment." “But you’re an invalid,” said the general. “No, I’m a freak, but this will not interfere, I’ll fully restore my combat capability.”! [(That the general tried not to look at him during the conversation, Yegor Dremov noted and only grinned with purple lips, straight as a crack.) He received twenty days' leave to fully recover and went home to his father with his mother. It was in March this year.

At the station, he thought to take a cart, but he had to walk

eighteen miles. There was still snow all around, it was damp and deserted, a chilly wind blew the hem of his greatcoat, whistling in lonely longing in his ears. He came to the village when it was already dusk. Here is the well, the tall crane swayed and creaked. Hence the sixth hut - parental. He stopped suddenly with his hands in his pockets. He shook his head. I turned diagonally towards the house. Tied up knee-deep in the snow, bending over to the window, I saw my mother - in the dim light of the tilted lamp, over the table, she was getting ready to supper. All in the same dark shawl, quiet, unhurried, kind. She got old, her thin shoulders stuck out ... "Oh, I should know, - every day she would have to write at least two words about herself ..." I collected a simple thing on the table - a cup of milk, a piece of bread, two spoons, a salt shaker and thought standing in front of the table, his thin arms folded under his chest ... Yegor Dremov, looking out of the window at his mother, realized that it was impossible to frighten her, it was impossible for her old face to tremble desperately.

Okay! He opened the gate, entered the courtyard and on the porch

knocked. Mother answered outside the door: "Who is there?" He replied: "Lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union Thunders."

His heart pounded so hard - he leaned his shoulder against the lintel. No,

Father, what do you want? she asked.

Marya Polikarpovna brought a bow from her son, senior lieutenant

Dremova.

Then she opened the door and rushed to him, grabbed his hands:

Alive, my Egor! Are you healthy? Father, go into the hut.

Yegor Dremov sat down on a bench by the table in the very place where he sat when

even his legs did not reach the floor and his mother used to stroke him on

curly head, used to say: "Eat, iris." He began to talk about her

son, about himself - in detail, how he eats, drinks, does not tolerate the need for

than, always healthy, cheerful, and - briefly about the battles where he participated with

with your tank.

Tell me - is it scary in the war? she interrupted, looking into his face

dark, unseeing eyes.

Yes, of course, scary, mother, but a habit.

Father came, Yegor Yegorovich, who also passed over the years - a beard at

he was showered like flour. Looking at the guest, stomped on the threshold broken

boots, unhurriedly unwound the scarf, took off his sheepskin coat, went to the table,

greeted his hand - oh, she was familiar, wide, fair

parental hand! Without asking anything, because it was already clear why there was a guest in the orders here, he sat down and also began to listen, his eyes half-closed.

The longer Lieutenant Dremov sat unrecognizable and talked about himself and

not about himself, the more impossible it was for him to open up - to get up, say: yes

recognize me, ugly, mother, father! .. He felt good for

parental table and offensive.

Well, let's have supper, mother, collect something for the guest. -

Yegor Yegorovich opened the door of an old cabinet, where in the corner to the left

there were fishhooks in a matchbox - they were there - and there was a kettle with a broken spout - it stood there, where it smelled of bread crumbs and

onion peel. Yegor Yegorovich took out a bottle of wine - just two

a glass, sighed that he couldn't get it anymore. We sat down to supper, as in the past

years. And only at dinner, Senior Lieutenant Dremov noticed that his mother

especially closely watching his hand with a spoon. He chuckled, mother

raised her eyes, her face trembled painfully.

We talked about this and that, what the spring will be like, and whether the people will cope with

sowing, and that this summer we must wait for the end of the war.

Why do you think, Yegor Yegorovich, that this summer we must wait for the end

wars?

The people were angry, - answered Yegor Yegorovich, - we passed through death,

now you can't stop him, the german is kaput.

Marya Polikarpovna asked:

You have not told when he will be given leave - to visit us on

leave. I haven't seen him for three years, tea, he's grown up, he walks with a mustache ...

Every day - near death, tea, and his voice became harsh?

But when he comes - maybe you won't find out, - said the lieutenant.

They took him to sleep on the stove, where he remembered every brick, every crack in

log wall, every knot in the ceiling. It smelled like sheepskin, bread - that

familiar comfort that is not forgotten even at the hour of death. March wind

whistled over the roof. Father snored behind the partition. Mother tossed and turned, sighed, did not sleep. The lieutenant was lying on his face, face in the palm of his hand: "Really I didn’t recognize it,” I thought, “didn’t it? Mom, mother ..."

The next morning he was awakened by the crackling of wood, his mother carefully fiddled with

ovens; his washed footcloths hung from an outstretched rope, and his washed boots stood by the door.

Do you eat millet pancakes? she asked.

He did not answer at once, got off the stove, put on his tunic, tightened his belt and -

barefoot - sat on the bench.

Tell me, Katya Malysheva and Andrey Stepanovich live in your village

Malysheva's daughter?

She graduated from courses last year, we have a teacher. And you her

do you need to see?

Your son asked me to bow to her without fail.

The mother sent a neighbor's girl for her. The lieutenant did not even have time to put on his shoes,

how Katya Malysheva came running. Her wide gray eyes glittered, her eyebrows

they flew in amazement, a joyful blush on their cheeks. When she threw the knitted shawl over her broad shoulders, the lieutenant even groaned to himself:

to kiss those warm blonde hair! .. Only such a friend seemed to him - fresh, tender, cheerful, kind, beautiful so that she came in, and all

the hut became golden ...

Did you bring a bow from Yegor? (He stood with his back to the light and only

bent his head, because he could not speak.) And I'm waiting for him both day and night,

tell him so ...

She came close to him. She looked, and as if she had been lightly hit in

chest, leaned back, frightened. Then he firmly decided to leave - today.

Mother baked millet pancakes with baked milk. He again talked about Lieutenant Dremov, this time about his military exploits, - he spoke cruelly and did not look up at Katya so as not to see the reflection of his ugliness on her sweet face. Yegor Yegorovich was about to bother to get the collective farm horse - but he went to the station on foot as soon as he came. He was very depressed by everything that had happened, even, stopping, hitting his face with his palms, repeating in a hoarse voice: "What can be done now?"

He returned to his regiment, which was stationed deep in the rear on replenishment.

Fighting comrades greeted him with such sincere joy that he

that which did not allow me to sleep, eat, or breathe fell off from my soul. I decided

so - let the mother no longer know about his misfortune. As for Katya,

He will rip this thorn out of his heart.

Two weeks later, a letter came from my mother:

"Hello, my beloved son. I'm afraid to write to you, I don't know what

and think. We had one person from you - a very good person, only

bad face. I wanted to live, but immediately packed up and left. Since then, son, no

i sleep at night - it seems to me that you came. Egor Egorovich scolds me for

this - absolutely, she says, you, old woman, have gone crazy: if he were our son -

wouldn't he open up ... why should he hide if it was him - so

a face like this one who came to us should be proud. Yegor will persuade me

Yegorovich, and the mother's heart is all his own: he is, he was with us! .. Human

this one was asleep on the stove, I took his greatcoat out into the yard - to clean it, but I

her, yes, I'll pay - he is, this is his! .. Yegorushka, write to me, for Christ's sake,

you think me - what happened? Or really - I'm crazy ... "

Egor Dremov showed this letter to me, Ivan Sudarev, and, telling

his story, wiped his eyes with his sleeve. I told him: "Here, I say, the characters

collided! You fool, you fool, write rather to your mother, ask her forgiveness,

don't drive her crazy ... She really needs your image! So and so she still you

will love more ".

On the same day he wrote a letter: "My dear parents, Marya

Polikarpovna and Yegor Yegorovich, forgive me for my ignorance, you really had me, your son ... "And so on, and so on - on four pages

small handwriting - he would write on twenty pages - it would be possible.

After some time, we are standing with him at the training ground, - the soldier comes running

and - to Egor Dremov: "Comrade Captain, they are asking you ..." The soldier has such an expression, although he stands in all his uniform, as if a man is about to drink. We went to the village, we approach the hut where Dremov and I lived. I see - he is not himself, - all coughs ... I think: "Tankman, tankman, but - nerves." We enter the hut, he is in front of me, and I hear:

"Mom, hello, it's me! .." And I see - the little old woman fell to

on his chest. I look around, it turns out, there is another woman, I give my word of honor, there are beauties somewhere else, she is not the only one, but personally I am not

seen.

He tore his mother away from him, approaches this girl - and I already remembered,

that with all his heroic build it was the god of war. "Katya!" He says.

Katya, why did you come? You promised to wait for that, not for this ... "

The beautiful Katya answers him, - and although I went into the hallway, I hear: "Yegor, I

i'm going to live with you forever. I will love you truly, I will love you very much ...

Don't send me away ... "

Yes, here they are, Russian characters! It seems to be a simple man, but will come

severe trouble, big or small, and a great power rises in him -

human beauty.

3 APPENDIX.

(26 slide): We got acquainted with the story "Russian character", with the main character Yegor Dremov. But Yegor is not alone. How many of them, tankers who burned in tanks, pilots who burned and died in planes, infantrymen, scouts, signalmen, heroes who gave their lives for our happiness. This is what the song from the movie "Officers" is about. (This song is performed on the last 27th slide).

Oleg Gazmanov "Officers"

Gentlemen officers, on tense nerves
I sing this song with chords of faith,
To those who quit their careers, not sparing their belly,
She substitutes her breast for her Russia.

Those who survived in Afghanistan without spoiling their honor,
Who did not make a career from soldier's blood,
I sing to the officers who took pity on mothers
By giving them back living sons.
Chorus:

For Russia and freedom to the end.

Gentlemen officers, how can you preserve your faith?
On dug graves, your souls wheeze ...
What have we brothers done - we could not save them,
And now they always look into our eyes ...

The guys are leaving again, dissolving in the sunsets,
Russia called them, as happened more than once.
And again you leave, maybe straight to heaven?

So where do you go? Maybe straight to heaven?
And from somewhere above you forgive us ...
Chorus:
Officers, officers Your heart is at gunpoint
For Russia and freedom to the end.
Officers, Russians, may freedom shine in you,
Making hearts sound in unison.
Chorus:
Officers, officers Your heart is at gunpoint
For Russia and freedom to the end.
Officers, Russians, may freedom shine in you,
Making hearts sound in unison.

REFERENCES:

1.Artistic text of the story "Russian character" by AN Tolstoy.

2. Stills from the film "Russian character" based on the story of the same name by AN Tolstoy.

3. Lesson materials extracurricular reading "Disasters most of all reveal forces in the character of the Russian people" (N.M. Karamzin), conducted by the teacher Khairullina M.F.

4. Presentation for the lesson of extracurricular reading teacher Khairullina MF.

5. Battle of Kursk. (Great Soviet Encyclopedia in 30 volumes. Volume 14-41-42 pp., Columns 111-114, third edition, 624 pp.)

6. Pages of the life and work of AN Tolstoy, associated with the history of the creation of the story "Russian character".

7. Battle of Kursk - a radical turn in the Great Patriotic War (grade 9 textbook).

SPEAKING THESIS:

1.Some undeservedly forgotten works of Russian writers and poets of the 20th century.

Much in our life is changing, much is being altered. Established values \u200b\u200bare changing. Sometimes these changes are in the better side and are justified, and sometimes vice versa. This happened with some works of Russian literature of the 20th century.

The question remains, how will the school curriculum be changed?

2. Disclosure of the ideological content of the story "Russian character" by AN Tolstoy.

Although the time of the story is the war spring of 1944, this is a story not so much about war as about love. The story consists of two main episodes and two or three secondary episodes, with the minimum number of characters involved. So Tolstoy avoided the fragmentation of the plot and achieved a strong dramatic effect.

Let us recall the well-known aphorism of A.P. Chekhov: everything in a person should be beautiful: clothes, face, soul, and thoughts. No one will argue with the above statement, but if it is necessary to choose, then the Russian will rather choose inner beauty (soul and thoughts), this is exactly what Ivan Sudarev and the author himself do. They both approve of Yegor Dremov's act, his generosity towards relatives

3. Analysis of the composition of the story "Russian character" by AN Tolstoy.

The idea of \u200b\u200bthe story is clarified thanks toring composition: both at the beginning and at the end of the work are discourses about the beauty of the human character, which the author sees in the actions of each hero: Yegor Dremov, his parents, bride, tank driver Chuvilev, narrator Ivan Sudarev.
On display scanty information about Yegor Dremov (his family and military exploits) is given, his portrait is given and such traits of his character as restraint and modesty are indicated.

Plot tie - Yegor was wounded in a battle near the Kursk Bulge.Climax scene is his arrival home after the hospital

The denouement in the story The "Russian character" is happy, life-affirming - it shows the wonderful characters of the Soviet people.

Reflection on the Russian character,which ends the story, shows us that both the author Tolstoy and the narrator Ivan Sudarev have a real Russian character. Such works in Russian literature are calledstory within story.

MBOU "Dubyazskaya secondary school of the Vysokogorsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan"

lll Republican competition of scientific research and creative works of schoolchildren "Aksakov Readings"

(municipal stage)

"Human beauty and strength of character" based on the story of A.N. Tolstoy "Russian character"(Nomination" Forgotten literary works 20th century ")

Work completed

Batrkhanova Leysan,

11th grade student

(head:

Khairullina M.F.)

One of the first editions of the story by A.N. Tolstoy "Russian character" (library of the Red Army)

The War Years During the First World War, Tolstoy was a war correspondent. After the October Revolution, he left Russia and settled in France. In exile, he published the autobiographical novel "Nikita's Childhood" (1921), and a year later the science fiction novel "Aelita". In 1923, Tolstoy returned to Russia. On March 30, 1943, there was a report in the newspapers that Alexei Tolstoy was transferring a prize of one hundred thousand rubles awarded to him for the construction of the Grozny tank. During the Great Patriotic War, Tolstoy published a collection of articles "Motherland", and on May 7, 1944, the story "Russian Character" was published in the newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda.

Alexei Tolstoy's awards Tolstoy's creative work has received many awards, including three Stalin prizes - for the trilogy "Walking in Torment", for the novel "Peter the First" and for the play "Ivan the Terrible".

Soldier Ivan Sudarev, storyteller

Tanker Egor Dremov

The Battle of Kursk occupies a special place in the Great Patriotic War. It lasted 50 days and nights, from July 5 to August 23, 1943. In its ferocity and stubbornness of the struggle, this battle has no equal.

To implement their plans, the enemy concentrated powerful strike groups, which numbered over 900 thousand people, about 10 thousand guns and mortars, up to 2,700 tanks and assault guns, about 2,050 aircraft. Great hopes were pinned on the latest Tiger and Panther tanks, Ferdinand assault guns, Focke-Wulf-190-A fighter planes and Heinkel-129 attack aircraft.

The Soviet command decided to first bleed the enemy strike forces in defensive battles, and then go over to the counteroffensive. The battle that began immediately took on a grand scale and was extremely tense.

Our troops did not flinch. They met the avalanches of enemy tanks and infantry with unprecedented fortitude and courage. The offensive of the enemy strike groups was suspended.

Finally, Hitler's operation "Citadel" was buried, the largest oncoming tank battle near Prokhorovka in the entire Second World War. It happened on July 12th.

1200 tanks and self-propelled guns participated in it from both sides at the same time. This battle was won by the Soviet soldiers. The Nazis, having lost up to 400 tanks in a day of battle, were forced to abandon the offensive.

On July 12, the second stage of the Battle of Kursk began - the Soviet counteroffensive. On August 5, Soviet troops liberated the cities of Orel and Belgorod.

On the evening of August 5, in honor of this major success, a victorious salute was given in Moscow for the first time in two years of war. Since that time, artillery salutes have constantly announced the glorious victories of Soviet weapons.

On August 23, Kharkov was liberated. So the battle on the Kursk fiery arc ended victoriously.

During it, 30 elite enemy divisions were defeated. The Nazi troops lost about 500 thousand people, 1500 tanks, 3 thousand guns and 3700 aircraft.

For courage and heroism, over 100 thousand Soviet soldiers - participants in the Battle of the Arc of Fire, were awarded orders and medals. The Battle of Kursk ended with a radical change in the Great Patriotic War.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of August 1, 1939, a special distinctive sign was introduced for the Heroes of the Soviet Union - the “Hero of the Soviet Union” medal. Another Decree of October 16, 1939 approved the appearance of the medal, which was named "Gold Star"

Mother and father of Yegor Dremov

Katya Malysheva, Egor's bride

Character is the totality of all mental, spiritual properties of a person, found in his behavior.

Yes, here they are, Russian characters! It seems that a person is simple, but a severe misfortune will come, in large or small, and a great power rises in him - human beauty. A.N. Tolstoy

Disasters most of all reveal forces in the character of the Russian people N.M. Karamzin

We got acquainted with the story "Russian character", with the main character Yegor Dremov. But Yegor is not alone. How many of them, tankers who burned in tanks, pilots who burned and died in planes, infantrymen, scouts, signalmen, heroes who gave their lives for our happiness. This is what the song from the film "Officers" is about.

In the story "Russian character" A.N. Tolstoy described one of the episodes of the Great Patriotic War. There was still a whole year before victory.

The story is not about the military feat of tanker Yegor Dremov, but about his relationship with his parents and fiancée. The Russian character in this work is made up of the individual traits of the characters of all the heroes, major and minor.

The main character is Yegor Dremov, a tank commander who received severe burns in a battle on the Kursk Bulge. He is rescued from a burning tank by a driver who was himself wounded, but pulled out the commander, who had lost consciousness. Thus, the tank driver Chuvilev (this minor character will once again appear in the story to describe the military exploits of a tank crew under the command of Yegor Dremov) at a dangerous moment he thinks not only about his own life, but, at the risk of himself, saves a comrade in arms. In his conscientiousness, one can see a character trait that is highly valued by Russians.

Yegor Dremov shows a Russian character both in battle and in relations with his parents and fiancée. Arriving home on vacation after being injured, he felt sorry for his old parents, he was afraid to upset them. It seemed to Yegor that his ugly face would frighten them: after all, it had become a lifeless mask, and only his eyes remained the same. Thus, the character of the protagonist manifested modesty, restraint, even sacrifice, which Russian people value: a real person cares least of all about himself, but first of all he thinks about his loved ones, about their happiness.

Yegor Dremov was wrong, thinking that he was sparing his parents when he did not admit that he was their son. His parents are already happy that their son is alive - after all, everyone around receives a "funeral" from the front. Yegor Yegorovich and Maria Polikarpovna love their son not for his appearance, but because he is a son. Of course, old people are proud that their Yegor is a hero, but above all they value in him not beauty, but courage and honesty. Here another feature of the Russian character is manifested - the main attention is paid not to appearance, but to mental qualities. After all, the soldier's burnt face testifies to the fact that he took part in terrible battles and did not spare himself, defending his homeland. Such a person evokes respect and admiration in Russians, despite the outward ugliness. Therefore, Father Yegor Yegorovich believes that such a face as the front-line soldier who came to them "should be proud." This idea is formulated by the elder Dremov, a Russian himself.

The mother of the hero also has a Russian character. Maria Polikarpovna recognized her son, although his face changed beyond recognition after operations. With her heart, with some sixth sense, she guessed that her son was visiting her house, and showed an extraordinary sensitivity, so dear to the Russian heart. Since the Russian person is usually restrained in the manifestations of his feelings, the attention and observation of those around him become very important qualities, who themselves must guess about the experiences of a loved one. It is very good if friends and relatives understand each other without words.

In Katya Malysheva, Yegor Dremov's bride, the Russian character is also revealed: in a woman, Russians value loyalty and devotion, which is demonstrated by the heroine, who twice (seeing off to the front and visiting after being wounded) declares to Yegor that she will wait for him from the war and love him faithfully. But Katya is the protagonist's bride, not his wife, that is, so far she is connected with Yegor only by word.

Ivan Sudarev, a friend of Yegor and a benevolent storyteller, himself has a Russian character, reasonable, restrained, thoughtful. He evaluates the actions of all the characters who appear in the little story, and notes the different facets of the Russian character in each character.

Thus, Tolstoy creates a Russian character, combining the features of different heroes, and, thanks to this technique, presents the image of a Russian person as complete, versatile and generalized sublime.

Such an image national character distinguishes Tolstoy's story from the works of other Soviet authors who wrote about the war. For example, AT Tvardovsky in the poem "Vasily Turkin" concentrates the traits of the Russian character in one main character.

According to artistic principles - the conflict between good and the best and edification (instructive) - "Russian character" should be attributed to the leading direction soviet literature - socialist realism... In the story, the conflict between Yegor Dremov and his family is far-fetched, because it exists only in the head of the modest protagonist, but in fact, the characters in the story are each better and nobler than the other. The edifying nature of the "Russian character" was expressed in the fact that through Ivan Sudarev, who assesses in the work of all actors, the writer teaches: just like Yegor Dremov, a Soviet soldier should behave; just as his parents and fiancée should be done by the soldier's relatives. At the end of the story, the author tells the reader how to correctly understand the idea of \u200b\u200bthe work: “Yes, here they are, Russian characters! It seems that a person is simple, but a severe misfortune will come, in large or small, and a great power will rise in him - human beauty. " So, the story about Yegor Dremov ended happily. There could be no other ending, given that all her characters have noble characters. During terrible war such a story becomes necessary: \u200b\u200bit gives hope, saves from despair, and therefore, the "Russian character", one might say, reflects the perception of the war era and in this sense becomes a monument to the era.

But if there are conflict-free stories with a happy ending, real lifethen only as exceptions. How does a soldier and his family usually meet? Remembering the millions of Soviet people who died on the fronts and during the occupation, tragic dates can be expected rather.

Isakovsky's poem "Enemies burned down his native hut" (1945) depicts the return of the victorious soldier to his native ashes: all his relatives died during the German occupation, the long-awaited meeting with his relatives turned into a commemoration at his wife's grave.

Another tragic situation is described by MA Sholokhov in the story "The Fate of a Man" (1956). Back in hometown after the fascist captivity. Andrei Sokolov learns that a German bomb hit his house when his wife and two teenage daughters were there. As a result, the beloved relatives of the protagonist do not even have graves - in the place of the house there is a funnel with rusty water.

It is impossible to equate an entire nation with one, even the correct model. A dramatic version of the meeting of a soldier with his family is presented in the story of A.P. Platonov "The Return" (1946). After the victory, Captain Alexei Alekseevich Ivanov arrives in his hometown, where his wife Lyuba, eleven-year-old son Petrushka and five-year-old daughter Nastya are waiting for him. On the very first evening at dinner, the victorious warrior demands from his wife an account of how she lived without him. The writer does not talk about Ivanov at the front, although his orders and medals testify to military exploits. But the author describes in detail the life of the Ivanov family in the rear: Lyuba worked at a brick factory all four years of the war, took care of two small children, was constantly worried about her husband at the front and, in order to escape from everyday melancholy, once succumbed to the tenderness of some trade union instructor ... Captain Ivanov cannot forgive his wife for this, although he easily forgives himself such liberties: he himself a couple of days ago, on the way home, stayed at a friend of the front-line soldier Masha. The ending of the story about Yegor Dremov is predetermined in advance, given the wonderful Russian characters of all the characters in this story. What will the imperfect Platonic hero do? Outraged and offended by Lyuba's confession, Alexei wants to go to Masha the next morning, but when he saw his children Petrushka and Nastya running towards the train from the window of the car, he suddenly softens his soul and gets off the train: yesterday he assessed his family circumstances from the point of view of “pride and self-interest ", and now I understood them with a naked heart. There is no teaching in Platonov's story, and the happy ending is explained not by Ivanov's exemplary nobility, but by the feelings of a normal person - love for his family. Therefore, the story "Return" is closer to life than "Russian character": Plato's story shows the real world as complex as it is, and not as correct as it should be, according to the writer A. N. Tolstoy.