How does a person live? Leo Tolstoy, "What makes people alive": a summary and analysis

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Let's try to answer the question of how a person lives. Leo Tolstoy thought a lot about this topic. It is somehow touched upon in all his works. But the most immediate result of the author's thoughts was the story "How people live." This work tells how an angel of God descended to earth in search of the meaning of human existence. He is trying to find out what the person is alive. Leo Tolstoy passes his ideas through this hero. Let us first describe the summary of the work, and then analyze it.

The story of the shoemaker

The story begins with the fact that a poor shoemaker living with his wife in a hired house, having earned money for his work, went to the village to buy sheepskin for a fur coat. He really needed this fur coat, since the winter was harsh, and the spouses had one quilted jacket for two. However, circumstances so developed that he did not buy a sheepskin, but only drank vodka for 20 kopecks and went back. On the way, the shoemaker talked about the fact that he needed a drink to warm himself, and his wife would now scold him.for the fact that he returned drunk, without money and a sheepskin. At the church, he noticed a naked man sitting crouched, but he passed by, fearing that he had died. However, the shoemaker's conscience tortured him for leaving the unfortunate person to freeze on the street. He returned and noticed that this man was alive, with a pleasant face, without abrasions and beatings. Semyon (that was the name of the main character) asked the stranger what he was doing here and where he was coming from. He said that he was not from here, God punished him. Semyon then gave the unfortunate boots, a quilted jacket and took this man to his home.

Matrona's behavior

The shoemaker's wife (Matryona) thought, having finished her household chores, that she should not serve the last loaf of bread to the table, it would be better to leave it for later. The travelers then returned. Matryona, seeing her husband without a sheepskin and drunk, began to scold him for everything that she could remember, in particular, for the fact that he brought a stranger when they themselves had nothing to eat.

She wanted to leave home, tearing off her husband's quilted jacket, but he reproached the woman for forgetting God. Matryona came to her senses and looked at Semyon's companion, silently sitting on the edge of the bench.

Baba became ashamed, began to set the table, even served bread to the men. The woman fed the wanderer, after which she sheltered him for the night and gave him clothes. He smiled and looked at her so that the woman's heart jumped. Subsequently, she regretted both the given clothes and the last bread, but she remembered this bright look, and released Matryona's greed.

Mikhailaremains an apprentice in the house

Mihayla, a wanderer, began to live in a peasant's house, learned to work and became an apprentice. He was very quiet, joyless and wordless, he kept looking up and working. He smiled only once, when the woman brought them to the table for the first time. The craftsmen worked together so well that prosperity appeared in the house.

The story of the master

We continue to describe the work "What makes people alive" (Tolstoy). This essay consists of the following further events. Once a rich gentleman came to the shoemaker in a troika and brought very expensive leather for boots. He kept telling me what needed to be sewn in such a way that there would be no demolition, and also that they would certainly be ready on time. Mikhail looked carefully behind the master's back, as if peering into something, and then he suddenly smiled, brightened his face and said that they would be in time just in time. The master left, and Mikhail sewed and tailored barefoot shoes from his material, not boots. When Semyon saw this, he almost fainted from horror, he was about to scold the master, when suddenly there was a knock on the door. It was the servants of the master who came running to inform that he had died the day before, and now barefoot shoes were needed, not boots. Mikhail immediately submitted them.

An elderly merchant woman talks about herself

He lived in care and work for six years in a shoemaker's house. One day a merchant's wife came to them with her two daughters, one of whom was lame. The woman told her story that these girls were not her relatives, but adopted. They lived with their husband for 6 years in the peasantry, and they had a little son. In itAt the same time, two girls were born with neighbors, but soon their father died, and then their mother was buried, so the woman decided to take the orphans to her. Her boy died, and only these two girls remained. Mikhail looked at them and smiled.

Angel reveals who he really is

One day this worker took off his apron and explained why he only smiled three times in 6 years. He told Semyon that he was an angel in heaven, and one day God sent him to take the soul of a young woman. Mikhail flew to her and sees that she has two newborn girls. The woman asked to be left alive to take care of the children. The angel took pity and returned without a soul to heaven. The Lord was angry with him, ordered to take away the soul from this woman, and ordered the angel to go to earth in order to understand what people have, what is not given to them, and how a person lives.

Leo Tolstoy continues the story of Mikhail. The hero says that this is how he ended up at the church, where the shoemaker found him. When Matryona began to swear, Mikhail felt that now this woman would die of anger, but she came to her senses, and the angel smiled, as he saw God in her and understood that there is love in people.

When he looked at the rich gentleman, he saw a mortal angel behind his back and realized what people were not given to know. And when he saw a woman who raised orphans, he understood the third truth - people live in love. God forgave the angel, wings grew, and he ascended to heaven.

Brief analysis

So, how does a person live? Leo Tolstoy believes that people are alive with love. This story depicts this feeling in the first place. A shoemaker takes in a beggar, a woman takes two orphans. This beggar turns out to be an angel, and girls are the best daughters for this woman. Tolstoy depicts not only external actions in the story "How people live," people's souls are also analyzed - what happens in them. Extraordinary deeds and sacrifices are not performed in the work. And the characters of the story "What makes people alive" (Tolstoy), a summary of which is presented in this article, have nothing heroic. Semyon is a simple fellow, albeit a kind one, who sometimes likes to drink, like all representatives of his profession. Matrena is a talkative, economic, a little grumpy, curious woman - like everyone else. The merchant's wife also differs only in gentleness and good nature from the rest of the characters in the story "What makes people alive" (Tolstoy).

A summary of the work, its analysis suggests that it makes us a little better. It opens our eyes to many things. It makes you think, carries eternal ideas - kindness, love for your neighbor, compassion - the story "What makes people alive" (Tolstoy). The analysis of the work was carried out by us briefly - we singled out only the main points. You can complete it yourself by including quotes and your own thoughts.