How does courage show up in everyday life? What is the difference between real courage and posturing and boasting? About this in our article.

What does it mean to be a brave person? When it comes to courage in war or saving lives in an emergency, it may seem that in everyday life there is no place for courage and exploits. If there is no specific opponent, and life goes on as usual, then how does courage manifest itself?

What is courage: definition, arguments

In fact, courage in everyday life is an independent choice of each of us in favor of decisiveness in actions, the ability to fight for the truth, and victory over our own fears.

• Bravery, boldness is a quality of character, but not everyone is given it from birth. The ability not to stop in the face of difficulties, to take the side of the weak must be nurtured from a very early age.
• Fear and cowardice are not the same thing. Fear is an absolutely normal human condition, laid down by nature itself - each of us is afraid of something.

Courage is not the absence of fears, but the need for a daily struggle with them, confrontation with oneself, injustice, meanness.

• It is always easier to remain silent, to remain in the shadows, to say that you cannot do something than to overcome yourself. This is what is called cowardice. A cowardly person, with his silence and non-intervention, remains on the sidelines, but sometimes this is the real betrayal.

Do not confuse courage and empty bravado. When a person consciously takes risks in order to show off in front of others, to prove his superiority - this cannot be called true courage, courage.

Real courage is manifested in situations where you have to overcome much more serious obstacles, remain a decent person, never changing your principles.

True courage is overcoming your own fear for the sake of another.

The theme of courage and cowardice in literary works: review, arguments

The theme of courage and cowardice is touched upon in many literary works. The essence of human nature, its moral component lies in the ability to distinguish bad from good, decency from unscrupulousness, truth from lies. It is even more important to be able to defend this truth, despite the consequences.

"One of the greatest human vices is cowardice"

So it is said in the work of M. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita".

• The description of Bible times tells of Pontius Pilate, who was unable to show courage and justify Yeshua. The procurator was afraid of ruining his career, so he acted against his conscience. For this, he was severely punished - for more than 2 thousand years he was tormented by the consequences of guilt.
• Echoing in a common theme with the events of the 30s, one of the main thoughts of the work is: "Cowardice is the main cause of meanness on earth." One cannot but agree with this statement of the author. It is cowardice, cowardice, opportunism that become the causes of the tragedies of human lives at all times.

Everyone must cultivate courage and perseverance on their own. As soon as the child enters the team, he constantly has to deal with manifestations of both good and bad qualities of his peers.

In V. Zheleznyakov's story "Scarecrow" the question of children's courage, meanness and cruelty is sharply raised.

• When society dictates its own rules, the main fear of a still fragile character is to be different, to be different from everyone else, to go against the team. This is exactly what the heroine of the story, Lena Bessoltseva, does when she takes on someone else's fault. It is indeed a courageous act to protect another. But, having acted nobly, the girl does not even imagine what she will have to go through - betrayal, boycott of classmates, persecution, moral destruction.
• Somov, the same boy whose fault she took upon herself, the leader of the class, because of cowardice, goes to a mean act - she is afraid to protect her friend, become an outcast, lose her position in the team.
• In fact, this is the first test in the life of children for the qualities of character and soul. It is cowardice that leads the hero to the first meanness in life, the opportunity to step over human principles.

Zheleznyakov's work helps each reader to look at himself from the outside - do we always act honestly, what human qualities we cultivate in ourselves, does our non-intervention lead to tragedy.

Shot from the film "Scarecrow"

The world around us is becoming more and more indifferent. The experiences and difficulties of the people around us dissolve before our own needs - the desire for popularity, success, material well-being.

The question of courage in ordinary life is the daily choice of every person. For the fact that a person kept silent, passed by, closed his eyes to injustice, only his own conscience will judge him.

Video: Final essay. Courage and cowardice. Arguments.

Heroic images in the early romantic works of Maxim Gorky.

The image of a heroic, courageous person, ready for a selfless feat in the name of the people, we find in the early works of Maxim Gorky.

The story "Old Woman Izergil" is a clear example of what attracted Gorky in a person, what character traits he wants to see in him.

The hero of one of the legends told by the old woman Izergil is a brave, noble young man Danko. He loved his people with pure sincere love and did not imagine them in grief and torment. That is why the young man sacrificed his bright heart, his life for the happiness of others, even being sure that no one would thank him. Danko is courageous and fearless, he is attracted to a feat by a noble goal - to be useful to the people. In his eyes "a lot of strength and living fire shone." Tearing his burning heart out of his chest, he "cast a joyful look at the free land and laughed proudly", because "he loved people more than himself."

The image of Danko is accompanied by the image of a burning heart: “His heart burned as brightly as the sun, and brighter than the sun ...” He emphasizes the heroic aspiration of a beautiful young man, gives the whole work a special emotional intensity. Danko's love for people and desire to serve them, his bold aspirations merge with his beauty, strength and youth. “Danko… a handsome young man. The beautiful are always brave."

The whole legend about Danko, about his heart, burning with great love for people, is perceived by the reader as a bold call to heroic deeds.

We find another heroic image in another work by M. Gorky “The Song of the Falcon”. The plot, artistic devices and language of the "Song" emphasize the heroism of the Falcon. The words: brave, proud, fought bravely, a free bird and a number of others help to present the image of the Falcon, capable of high suffering, insane joy and bold, decisive actions.

The image of a fearless bird is opposed to the image of the Uzh, incapable of action, stupid and self-satisfied. These images are perceived as symbols, with the help of which the author answers the main question: “How should one live, what is the meaning of life?” He doesn’t dream of anything and justifies his life, devoid of any aspirations, with the words: “Fly or crawl, the end is known: everyone will fall into the ground, everything will be dust ...”

Quite different attracts the Falcon. Dying and looking back at his life, he proudly exclaims: “I lived a good life! .. I fought bravely! .. Oh, the happiness of battle!” And Gorky, following his hero, exclaims: “We sing glory to the madness of the brave! The madness of the brave is the wisdom of life!”

Such heroic images as the fearless Danko and the brave Falcon are indeed "a living example, a proud call to freedom, to light." Creating exceptional characters, the author glorifies proud, strong-willed, fearless people, he calls people to an active life position, seeks to strengthen the will of a person, arouse the desire to resist an empty, aimless life. It is in this that I see the value and significance of the romantic works of M. Gorky.

Courage and cowardice are two different, opposite qualities, manifestations of character, which, meanwhile, are closely related. In the same person, both a coward and a daredevil can live. This issue has been raised frequently in the literature.

So, real heroism and courage were shown by the girls in the work of Boris Vasiliev "The dawns here are quiet ...". All the characters in the story - five fragile girls: Zhenya Komelkova, Rita Osyanina, Sonya Gurvich, Galya Chetvertak, Liza Brichkina and foreman Vaskov - are depicted in the struggle, giving all their strength in the name of saving the Motherland.

It is these people who brought the victory of our country closer in this terrible war.

Another literary example is the story of Maxim Gorky "Old Woman Izergil", namely the third part of it - the legend of Danko. He was a brave and fearless young man who sacrificed himself for the sake of the people. He decided to help his people and took leadership over them in order to lead them out of the impenetrable forest. The path was not easy, and when people, having lost their fortitude, fell upon Danko, he tears his heart out of his chest to illuminate the path and give people the warmth and goodness that came from a burning heart. And when the goal was achieved, no one even noticed his death and that "his brave heart is burning next to the corpse of Danko." Danko saw the meaning of life in helping people.

And secondly, this is the problem of cowardice. In the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" Pontius Pilate, out of fear, fear of condemnation, commits a terrible act, he sent an innocent man, the philosopher Yeshua Ha-Nozri, to be executed. The procurator did not listen to his inner voice. And cowardice in making the right decision became a punishment for Pilate. He will look for justification in his act, but will not find it.

Also not the best quality was shown by the hero of Nikolai Gogol's story "Taras Bulba" - Andriy. For the love of a woman, he was able to renounce everyone. Not forgiving his son for betrayal and cowardice, Taras Bulba kills him himself. Payback for Andriy was too expensive - his own life.

Updated: 2017-09-12

Attention!
If you notice an error or typo, highlight the text and press Ctrl+Enter.
Thus, you will provide invaluable benefit to the project and other readers.

Thank you for your attention.

.

Useful material on the topic

• Is it possible to argue that courage and cowardice are two sides of the same coin? Courage and cowardice. Composition of the Unified State Examination Arguments, examples from the literature

Topic: "Courage and cowardice"

Introduction: The theme of courage and cowardice is truly inexhaustible. These qualities become especially noticeable and important in the most difficult times for this or that state and society. It could be, say, a drought. According to ancient Egyptian myths, it is at such a difficult moment that the god Set is treacherously killed.

Only his resurrection saves people. This, with some reservations, can be considered the first literary treatment of the aforementioned topic. However, there was also a Sumerian legend about Gilgamesh. But let us recall in more detail the immortal "Iliad" of Homer. There are many interpretations of the work of the blind storyteller. In one of them, the Trojans are reckless brave men, but the Greeks are such only with big reservations. After all, if you think about it, what is their notion with a wooden horse?

You can call this a military cunning, or you can just mean meanness, the need for which is caused by the fear of the soldiers of the besieged city. But these are things of bygone days. Let us recall the 19th century, taking for example the work of N.V. Gogol. It will, of course, be about Taras Bulba. In contrasting the two sons of the old Cossack, we mean not only Andrei's preference for love, but Ostap's for loyalty to his comrades.

The brother who became a traitor did not just give vent to feelings. He wanted comfort and honor in a more civilized society for those times. Life in the Cossack camp cannot be compared, of course, with that which he knew in a Polish castle. Love became in this case an excuse for cowardice. Maybe a controversial point of view, but having the right to exist. After all, Nikolai Vasilievich was not a romantic to confine himself to describing a love story. He reflected in the mirror of his work a reality that is woven from very different aspects of life.

Argument: Cowardice and betrayal can be considered different sides of the same coin. One leads to another. Quite a recent, tragic and heroic history provides any number of examples. This refers to the Great Patriotic War. Those who voluntarily surrendered to the Germans had no choice. They were simply forced to join the police units, and even the army of General Vlasov, who fought on the side of the Nazis. However, there was a choice.

Here we can recall an episode from Konstantin Simonov's novel The Living and the Dead. This work, completely undeservedly forgotten now, was in many ways a turning point for its time. The trilogy covers three years of the war, but the main thing there is the description of the tragic year 1941. Probably only Simonov, given his authority, could dare to write the truth about this time.

The retreat, the confusion of the first months, the stupid orders of the generals. And at the same time - people like Serpilin. Undeservedly convicted in 1937, he did not hold a grudge, but became one of the best military leaders, thanks to whom the Germans' dreams of a lightning victory did not come true. In a short episode, Serpilin is opposed to another hero, Baranov. This is exactly the one who once wrote a denunciation of him. He is not a coward in the traditional sense of the word. But opportunism and readiness for any meanness for his own safety and career brought him to cowardice.

But Serpilin did not even take revenge, he simply demoted his former friend. And he, unable to stand it, shot himself. Not even because of injured pride, but because of a coward. In the novel, thus, one more person took his own life. This is Kozyrev, who headed the USSR Air Force shortly before the war. The recent lieutenant made so many mistakes in high office that, realizing this, he found no other way out than a bullet in the temple. The choice, it would seem, is the same, but the reasons that led to this are completely different.

Most obviously, courage and cowardice are contrasted by Vasil Bykov. Although his Sotnikov in the story of the same name does not look like a hero. On the contrary, on the first pages, his antipode, Rybak, seems to be a candidate for heroes. He is strong, adapted to a difficult life, resourceful. Yes, and he does not leave his comrade, although he can give them away with his cough at any moment. But Bykov's prose is different in that he pushes his characters to the limit. Their essence is exposed when there remains the possibility of the last choice: death, or meanness, betrayal.

Sotnikov - battery commander, son of a civil war hero. But in the story he is an ordinary fighter of a partisan detachment. A weak, sick intellectual, he stopped being afraid of death only among the partisans. Because he was already "afraid". And before that, at the front, he had to "hide in himself a quiet satisfaction that the bullet had passed him." He was ashamed of such an understandable feeling. He was also afraid of "quietly and imperceptibly die in battle." Another fear is caused by the unwillingness to become a burden for their own. That is why he is embarrassed when Rybak drags him, unhealthy and wounded, to the forest. But he never experienced a simple, animal fear of death.

The reason for Rybak's betrayal was precisely this fear. The desire to save life at all costs. He understood everything. When he ran to the bushes, leaving Sotnikov, who was covering him, he suddenly felt uneasy. But he thought not about duty, but about what he would say in the detachment when he got to the camp. However, even this did not stop him from leaving his friend. By chance, he survived, and they met again. But captivity could not be avoided. Sotnikov also recognizes it as the worst thing that could happen. But he, wounded, even funny, not at all like a soldier, is unbending. He even dares to laugh in the eyes of the policemen beating him.

He had come to terms with his imminent death. All thoughts are focused on the fact that it is necessary to die in such a way that it would be indicative of the villagers, who were usually forced to watch executions. The true essence of Rybak is revealed gradually. He is a fitter. Perhaps, fighting at the front, in the regular part, if he had not got into a critical situation, he would even have been in good standing. But now, already making his way to his own with the wounded Sotnikov, he begins to think about whether he will be able to "get out" or not.

Fate put him before an even more difficult choice. After being interrogated and tortured, his comrade tries to save the life of another. He says that Rybak is not guilty, he shot. Yes, and in the house where they were hiding, they climbed without the knowledge of the owners. This will not save the peasants. The fisherman would probably not have been saved either. But when the time comes to choose, he gives up immediately, without hesitation. His consent to the offer to become a policeman is no longer surprising to the reader. This is natural, given the behavior of this person earlier.

He leads Sotnikov to the gallows, still as if not believing that he will have to do this. But knocks out the stand from under his feet. When the body of a recent friend hung in a noose, he is confused, but soon he is relieved to hear the order to stand in line. “Step march,” and Rybak thoughtlessly stepped in time with the others. “One might have thought that he was in a detachment, among his own.” This person does not care whose commands to execute, as long as it does not make him think.

Vasil Bykov knew what he was writing about. He went through the war from the first to the last days. Was wounded three times. Among the names of those buried in one of the mass graves is his name. Fortunately, this turned out to be a mistake. In any case, he understood the experiences and feelings of the characters in his books. Surely more than once I saw manifestations of both courage and cowardice. The characters of his novels and short stories are always nondescript, they do not look like epic heroes. To overcome his weakness and understandable fear, to remain a man to the end, this is a feat for Bykov, and not at all the pathos of the situation. In this, Sentsov, the main character of The Living and the Dead, is similar to them. He is a random person at the front, a war correspondent who voluntarily remained in Serpilin's encircled regiment.

Conclusion: Courage ... Can you call Sotnikov like that? He doesn't seem to throw a grenade under a tank. But it is precisely the people who, despite all their weaknesses, are capable of finally fulfilling their duty, deserve the right to be positive with Vasil Bykov. His death, with thoughts that it must necessarily mean something, looks like propaganda. But she is depicted with restraint and realistic, without any glorification. In fact, thousands of such feats were performed, for that war they were commonplace. Otherwise, there would not have been May 1945.

Reasoning about courage and cowardice can lead very far. This is understandable, because many works have been written on their theme throughout the history of the development of literature. One can even recall the downtrodden and humiliated Akaky Akakievich from Gogol's "Overcoat". And this man found the courage to rebel when he was deprived of the most valuable thing he had. But such courage comes at a price. It is much more correct to recall in conclusion once again about Ostap from Taras Bulba.

His cry to his father before his death is carried, it seems, in many Russian and Soviet books. But could the son of a Cossack die like Sotnikov? Without spectators, not for show, doomed to complete oblivion, knowing only that it is impossible otherwise? This is the greatness of the feat of people like the partisan from the story of Vasil Bykov. Serpilin also died in Simonov's trilogy. Accidentally, from a shell fragment, imperceptibly. He did his job. As well as any person whose courage helps others to realize their destiny.

The problems we found related to cowardice are often found in texts for preparing for the Unified State Examination in the Russian language. Arguments from domestic literature, selected for these problems, will help graduates write a high-quality essay-reasoning. All of these examples are available for download in table format. Link at the end of the article.

1. In the novel by M.A. Bulgakov "The Master and Margarita" Pontius Pilate was the victim of his own cowardice. Before him was a choice: listen to reason or heart, save the poor philosopher Yeshua or doom him to death, while maintaining authority and balance in the city. The fear of the Sinendrion and the high priest Kaifa turned out to be stronger than his own will and desire to save the innocent. Because of cowardice, Hegemon's fear of his future, Ha-Notsri is subjected to unfair punishment. After the execution, Pontius Pilate is tormented by remorse and does not find peace of mind for two thousand years.
2. Main character novel by A.S. Pushkin "Eugene Onegin" despite his inconsistency and ambiguity, it can be quite called a cowardly person. Eugene could easily refuse a duel with his close friend, Vladimir Lensky, but did not. He, as a secular man, was afraid to shake the respect of society by his refusal to duel. The protagonist could not present himself in secular circles as a weak, weak-willed person who was afraid of battle. He did not want to be the object of ridicule and gossip. Actually, because of his cowardice in front of society, quite another person died. Eugene himself did not know how to forgive himself for this, therefore he did not find happiness in life.
3. If your problem concerns cowardice in love, then we have a whole one for it.

Fear in War

1. In the story of V. Bykov "Sotnikov" the antipode of the protagonist - Rybak, being a coward, agrees to join the ranks of the policemen - henchmen of the invaders. Hoping to return to the partisan detachment at an opportunity, he made a deal with his conscience. “There is an opportunity to live – this is the main thing. Everything else - later, ”the partisan reasoned. Without thinking at all about the future fate of his homeland, he does everything to survive. Survive by any means. It does not wake up a sense of patriotism, duty and responsibility to the fatherland. The fisherman lost faith, failed to accept suffering for his people, as Sotnikov did. Shameful cowardice and cowardice - these are the main features of this hero, which led him to a moral decline.
2. Main character V. Rasputin's story "Live and Remember" also unable to cope with the difficult period of the war. He deserts from the front. Passing by his native home, an honestly fought soldier cannot stand it. He succumbs to the fear of death, becomes a deserter and a coward, dooming to death all those for whom he went to fight: his wife Nastya and the child they had been waiting for so long. And the girl, whose soul is too pure and innocent, cannot withstand the weight that has fallen on her fragile shoulders. Deep morality and spiritual strength do not allow her to hide the deserter, to betray the Motherland with him. And she goes under the waters of the Yenisei with an unborn child.

Consequences of cowardice

1. AT the work of A.S. Pushkin "The Captain's Daughter" one of the defenders of the Belgorod fortress - Alexei Shvabrin - turns out to be a coward and a traitor. At the first opportunity, he goes over to the side of Pugachev in order to save his life. Shvabrin is ready to kill those whom until recently he could have considered friends and allies.
   The price of his own life becomes for him higher than the life of his comrades, higher than the oath and the fate of the fatherland. Because of the fear of possible death, he completely abandons any moral principles and easily goes over to the side of the enemy.