L.N. Tolstoy, "Youth", summary

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

Tolstoy's story "Youth" is included in the autobiographical trilogy and is the final book after the parts "Childhood" and "Adolescence". In it, the author continues to talk about the life of the Irtenev family. The focus of the writer is still Nikolenka, already matured, a 16-year-old boy.

Revolts and storms of a young soul in the story "Youth"

L. N. Tolstoy finished "Youth", a brief summary of which we will now consider, in 1857, 5 years after writing the first story of the cycle - "Childhood". During this time, the writer himself has changed: he grew spiritually, reworked a lot in his soul and in his mind. Together with him, his beloved hero, Nikolenka, went through a deep and difficult path of self-knowledge and moral self-improvement: from a sensitive, kind little boy, he turned into an intensely thinking, persistently looking for his own way young man.

Tolstoy begins "Youth" (a brief summary of it before us) with a description of the state of mindNikolenki. He is preparing to enter the university and dreams of the future and his high appointment. Having set himself the task of moral development, the hero writes down in a special notebook his thoughts, actions, duties, rules that he must follow if he wants to become a truly spiritual person.

During Passion Week, confessing to his confessor, Irteniev experiences a feeling of deep cleansing, closeness to God and special love for him, for people and for himself. Nikolenka is happy that he is so wonderful, enlightened, and he wants all his family and relatives to know about it. And at night, remembering another incident, he is tormented for a long time, as soon as it is light he jumps up and rushes to a new confession. Having again received forgiveness and remission of sins, he is unusually happy. It seems to him that there is no one cleaner and more enlightened in the world, but when, in a spiritual outburst, a young man shares his experiences and feelings with a cab driver, he does not share his emotions. Nikolenka's joy gradually fades, and his impulse ceases to seem so important.

L. N. Tolstoy's "Youth", a summary of which we recall, builds as a kind of dialogue between the hero and himself. The young man is constantly busy introspection, condemnation or approval of himself. He is persistently looking for answers to the questions “what is good?” and “what is bad?”. But growing up, entering a new life, is perhaps the most difficult stage in the fate of every person.

Nikolenka becomes a student - this is a kind of pass to the world of adults. And the young man, of course,can't help but back down. He is friends with Nekhlyudov, a young man more mature than himself, serious, sedate. Not devoid of observation, Irtenyev understands that it is Dmitry who is the person he should look up to, being among the “golden” youth: he does not drink, does not smoke, does not behave rudely and cheekily, does not boast of victories over women. And the behavior of Nikolenka's other friends, Volodya and Dubkov, is completely opposite. However, it is they who seem to Nikolai a model of “youthfulness” and “comme il faut”: they behave at ease, do what they want, go on a spree and hang out, and they get away with everything. Nikolenka imitates her friends, but it doesn't end well.

Tolstoy continues "Youth", a brief summary of which makes it possible to understand the essence of the work, with the following "test" of Nikolenka: as an independent and adult person, he must pay secular visits to family friends, behave solidly, at ease, confidently, lead pleasant conversations, etc. Such visits are given to the hero with difficulty, he is bored in secular living rooms, and people seem mannered, unnatural, false. The hero does not so much understand as instinctively feels the essence of people, therefore it is really easy and sincere for him only with Nekhlyudov. He knows how to explain a lot, avoiding a moralizing tone, keeping himself with Nikolenka on an equal footing. Under the influence of Dmitry, Nikolai realizes that the stages of growing up that he is now going through are not just physiological changes in his body, but the formation of his soul.

Leo Tolstoy "Youth" created withspecial love, seeing in Nikolenka his dearly older brother - the namesake of the hero, as well as himself. Hence the warmth and severity with which the author treats the main character, his inner world. For example, when Irtenyev sincerely admires nature in the village, he feels it deeply and subtly - this is dear to the author, because such a feature speaks of the rich inner world of the hero, of his aesthetic vigilance.

In its final chapters, Tolstoy's "Youth" makes you think a lot. Having started his studies, having found himself in a new, student environment of noble youth, Irtenyev at first begins to live according to its laws, moving away from Nekhlyudov. However, pretty soon the hero begins to see clearly: in the world there is no place for sincere feelings, impulses, relationships. Everything is replaced by conventions, secular decorum and restrictions. This torments Nikolenka, he is disappointed in himself, his beautiful, naive dreams, and the people who surround him.

But when one day he takes out a notebook, which is signed "Rules of Life". Sobbing, the hero decides that he will write new rules for an honest, clean life and will not change them. He is looking forward to the second half of his youth, which must be much happier than the first.