At the core storyline story by L.N. Tolstoy's "After the Ball" is a real-life story that happened to an eyewitness to the events. The image and characterization of the Colonel at the ball and after the ball will reveal the duplicity of the main character, revealing his true essence. The characterization of Colonel B occurs through the prism of Ivan Vasilyevich’s perception of him. He focuses on how strikingly different appearance and the colonel’s actions at the ball and after it.

Colonel B - Pyotr Vladislavovich B. Central character story. Varenka's father.

Family

His family is his wife and daughter Varenka. They lived in a provincial town, in a good-quality house. The colonel doted on his daughter. All the money went to her. Balls and expensive clothes required considerable financial investments. Denying himself everything, he tried to ensure that his daughter did not need anything. An exemplary father and family man. He seemed like a role model, causing involuntary envy.

Appearance

A tall, stately aged man. A ruddy face with a curled mustache. Neat sideburns. There was always a gentle smile on his face. The gaze of the shining eyes is open. The gait is firm and confident. He endeared himself to himself, causing involuntary respect and veneration.

Cloth

Pyotr Vladislavovich always wore a uniform. Seeing him in civilian clothes is very rare. The colonel's uniform is impeccable. The boots are good, but have long gone out of fashion. Knocked down, without heels. With pointed, square toes. Black suede gloves on hands.

At the ball

At the next ball, where the colonel brought his daughter, he, as always, was gallant and courteous. It was clear what kind of relationship he and his daughter had trusting relationship. He seemed sincere, showing love for Varenka with all his behavior and appearance. As they circled the hall, they couldn't take their eyes off them. This couple was a pleasure to watch.

The Colonel loved to dance. Despite his advanced age, he tried not to miss such events. Ivan Vasilyevich, the narrator, at the first meeting with the brave military man, was fascinated by him, like the others. Everything changed when he had to see the colonel during his service. This meeting took place after the ball.

After the ball

The holiday is over. The guests left. After the ball there was no sleep. Ivan Vasilyevich was overwhelmed with emotions. He headed towards Varenka’s house and unwittingly witnessed an unsightly sight, where the main role was assigned to the colonel. This time, already without a ceremonial uniform, he carried out his immediate duties.

The changes were dramatic. He changed not only externally, but also internally. There was nothing human left in him. A soldier who tried to escape was punished. The colonel remained deaf and dumb to his pleas for mercy. It seemed to him that he was not punished enough. His anger turned to his subordinates. He yelled at them, humiliated them, forcing them to inflict even more pain on the offending soldier.

Seeing Ivan Vasilyevich, the colonel pretended that he did not recognize him. He turned away and continued his dirty work. It’s hard to imagine that just recently he chatted tenderly with his daughter, was gallant with the ladies, joked and laughed, enjoying life. Taking off the mask from his face, he took on his true appearance, which he carefully concealed.

Who is to blame for what happened

What kind of person is the Colonel really? Sadist or victim of current circumstances? Pyotr Vladislavovich did not consider himself guilty. He was doing his job. At that time, cane discipline was the norm for the army. This was the way it was accepted. The character of this man was shaped by the society around him. The cruel age with its morals crippled the souls of people, turning them into moral invalids.

Pyotr Vladislavich is a character in L.N. Tolstoy’s story “After the Ball,” an elderly colonel, the father of Varenka B. He was a handsome, stately and fresh old man with a ruddy face, white sideburns and a curled mustache. A gentle smile, the same as Varenka’s, never left his face. At the ball, he danced the mazurka with his daughter so gracefully that everyone present admired it. What happened after the ball did not fit in with his image of a loving father and well-mannered gentleman.

In the morning the narrator found a completely different picture. At Varenka’s house they were leading a poor Tatar, who was being beaten with sticks by soldiers, and Pyotr Vladislavich himself walked next to him and made sure that they were beaten properly. If the soldier missed, then he hit him in the face. This was a man who could hold his beloved daughter’s waist with his hand in a suede glove and then hit a soldier in the face with the same glove. For the narrator, who managed to develop respect for the gray-haired warrior at the ball, such a split was a complete surprise. Neither before nor after this incident, he could not understand whether it was right to smile an angelic smile in one circle, and brutally beat people in another.

The image of the colonel in the story “After the Ball” will be helped to reveal quotes and descriptions of his appearance.

“After the Ball” description of the colonel’s appearance

“Look, dad is being asked to dance,” was the first mention of the colonel.

“...a tall military man walked with a firm, trembling gait. It was her father, with his ruddy face and white mustache and sideburns...”

“...Varenka’s father was a very handsome, stately, tall and fresh old man. His face was very ruddy, with a white curled mustache a la Nicolas I*, white sideburns drawn up to the mustache and with temples combed forward, and the same affectionate, joyful smile, like his daughter’s, was in his shining eyes and lips . He was beautifully built, with a wide chest, sparsely decorated with orders, protruding in a military manner, with strong shoulders and long, slender legs. He was a military commander, like an old campaigner of Nicholas’s bearing...” (*mustache like Nicholas I)

Actions develop at the ball. Colonel - loving father, trained in social manners and pleasant to talk to. He simply shines while dancing with his daughter. He danced with great desire and diligence, because he did not want to lose his authority in front of a sophisticated and impressive audience. Ivan Vasilyevich admires and admires them. He is overwhelmed with feelings raging in his heart, the world around him seems pink, and life is cheerful and carefree.

L.N. Tolstoy draws the readers’ attention to the colonel’s modest boots: “to take out and dress his beloved daughter, he does not buy fashionable boots, but wears homemade ones”. Not only the colonel, but also the ball itself, its guests, the hosts, Varenka, Ivan Vasilyevich’s feelings - everything seemed exalted and beautiful, happy and perfect.

The colonel's behavior at the ball and after the ball is radically different.

After the ball, the colonel, whose aristocratic manners everyone admired at the ball, beat one of the soldiers with his strong hand in a white suede glove. Why did he beat the soldier? Because, in the colonel’s opinion, the young undersized soldier did not hit the Tatar’s mutilated back with a stick.
The colonel appears before us beating a powerless and innocent soldier, a helpless prisoner. Ivan Vasilyevich sees the colonel’s boundless hatred for the Caucasians, the merciless blows of sticks and rods, the man-executor.

The terrible, savage massacre shocked Ivan Vasilyevich so much that his joyful feeling gave way to disgust.
The most important detail of the piece is the suede glove. At the ball - “gave it to the helpful young man, and pulling a suede glove over right hand…. took his daughter’s hand and stood up a quarter turn.” Morning - “and I saw how he, with his strong hand in a suede glove, hit the frightened little man in the face...”
Comparing the colonel's behavior at the ball and after the ball, we can say that this man is two-faced. With his daughter he is soft and affectionate, with guests he is polite and courteous, but with soldiers he is cruel and unfair...
On the other side.. . in both situations he is sincere and loyal to his home. Nor can he be considered absolutely inhuman; shame and embarrassment in front of Ivan Vasilyevich are proof of this.

Colonel at the ball and after the ball essay 8th grade

Plan

1.L.N. Tolstoy - psychologist of the human soul

2.Acquaintance with the main characters of the story “After the Ball”

3.Peter Vladislavovich is a two-faced person: .

a) a loving and caring father, ready to go to great lengths for his daughter

B) a cruel tyrant incapable of empathy

4. The colonel’s act that changed the life of Ivan Vasilyevich

Leo Tolstoy is not only a talented writer, but also an expert in psychology and philosophy. In each of his works, the author strives to reveal the characters as much as possible and “convey” a certain problem to the reader. The story “After the Ball” was no exception, despite being small in size, it contains deep thoughts.

The main characters: Ivan Vasilyevich - the person from whom the story comes and Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich. To construct the story, the author uses contrasting episodes - a social ball and the punishment of a soldier. And only thanks to these episodes can one understand what idea lies at the heart of the work.

The first acquaintance with Colonel Pyotr Vladislavovich, Varenka’s father, takes place at a ball. Tolstoy describes him as a handsome and courageous man who has secular manners and knows how to win people over. He has the same “... affectionate, joyful smile, like his daughter...”, it is reflected in his eyes and on his lips. The colonel does not at all look like a soldier of the Nicholas era. At the ball he behaves so impeccably and easily; in his behavior, gestures and words there is none of the rudeness and rigidity that is usually characteristic of military servants. The fact that he is a military man is indicated by his dress uniform, sparsely decorated with orders.

The Colonel is a loving and caring father. So that his daughter has the opportunity to attend balls and buy outfits, Pyotr Vladislavovich himself wears shoes that have long gone out of fashion and are homemade. Here his power of love and willingness to give everything for her well-being is revealed. His dance with his daughter Varenka shows how much he respects and appreciates her, he is even ready to dance mazurkas with her, although he has long forgotten how. And after the dance, he gently and lovingly hugged his daughter and kissed her forehead.

The next morning, Varenka's father appears before the readers in a completely different form. As it turned out, Pyotr Vladislavovich is not a gentle and good-natured man at all. He turns into a cruel dictator who not only obeys military laws, but also experiences some kind of wild sense of superiority over his employees. One could try to justify the colonel, to say in his defense that he followed the law and served the Motherland. But how can you remove the blame from a person who not only controls the execution of the order, but also is an overseer, making sure that the poor Turk is hit harder. When one of the soldiers did not hit him hard and felt sorry for the poor fellow, the colonel reacted instantly, he hit him in the face and exclaimed that he should not hurt him. This act cannot justify the girl’s father, because you can be a good soldier and always remain human. The scary thing is that this man has no compassion at all for the Tatar, who with a martyr's look and a plea in his voice asks his comrades to show mercy: “Brothers, have mercy!” The poor guy is scary to look at, his back has turned into something unnatural, red and wet with blood. His back no longer looked like a human body! But the colonel still showed no pity.

Leo Tolstoy was concerned about the influence of circumstances on a person. In his story, the insensitivity and duplicity of Pyotr Vladislavovich is striking. Who revels in his power and knows that no matter what he does to the soldiers, no punishment will follow. At home he is a loving father and a caring husband, but among his subordinates he turns into a despot. The writer focused on the fact that society and its structure influence the individual. If it were not for the cruelty of the colonel, then Ivan Vasilyevich could also become a military man and throw in his lot with Varenka. It happens in life too; one episode can change your whole life.

>Essays on the work After the Ball

Colonel at the ball and after the ball

The story that formed the basis of the story “After the Ball” was heard by L. N. Tolstoy from his brother. She impressed him so much that he definitely wanted to write a story about it. IN student years The writer's elder brother, Sergei Nikolaevich, was in love with the daughter of a military commander. When he learned of her father's cruel treatment of the fugitive soldiers, his feelings instantly disappeared. Moreover, he changed his mind about joining the army. So one event radically changed the fate of the young man.

The main problem addressed in the story is human duplicity, which the hero has not previously encountered. The narration is told in the first person. Despite the fact that the events actually happened, the names of the characters are fictitious. So, main character Ivan Vasilyevich talks about what happened to him in his youth. He was then very much in love with Varenka B., the daughter of a local colonel. Once at a ball, he managed to win her attention for the whole day, and therefore he was infinitely happy. There he met the girl’s father, who seemed to him a worthy man.

Colonel Pyotr Vladislavich showed himself at the ball not only as a caring father, but also as a gallant person. He was polite and courteous, gracefully danced the mazurka circle with his daughter, and smiled kindly and sweetly at everyone. The narrator involuntarily fell in love with this cheerful man beyond his years and was happy to meet him. Ivan Vasilyevich returned in the morning and could not fall asleep. Then he decided to walk around the city a little. His feet themselves led him to Varenka’s house, and there an extraordinary picture awaited him.

Soldiers in black urged and beat the fugitive Tatar under the leadership of Varenka’s father. And he calmly walked next to him and made sure they didn’t miss. Those who hit poorly received a slap in the face from the colonel. What he saw shocked Ivan Vasilyevich so much that his feelings for Varenka quickly cooled. For himself, he decided never to go to service. So the event of one morning forever changed the life of a young student.

Ivan Vasilyevich was worried about one circumstance: how a person could be so two-faced. He didn't even fully understand whether this was good or bad. After all, at the ball the colonel was almost showered with pleasantries and tried to seem so kind-hearted. And after the ball, the narrator saw his true essence, which greatly disappointed him. Therefore, when his interlocutors talked about what could change a person’s life, he confidently answered - chance.