Tolstoy and his message
Leo Tolstoy is one of the greatest writers of the last two hundred years. His novels tend to convey an insight on life; whether it be about suffering, death, religion, art, or education. Tolstoy was a man with many strong beliefs, and one must understand these beliefs to fully understand the meaning of his works. He was a deeply religious moral philosopher who used his religious beliefs to shape our understanding on issues of life. He stresses the inequality of social classes and, as apparent in The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the suffering in life. Tolstoy was so strong in his beliefs that he actually attempted giving away his material possessions. He believed that that this practice was necessary to live in accordance with his moral and religious views. To fully grasp Tolstoy's message, one must examine his views on religion, art, and life. Religion is the most important subject to look at with Tolstoy because it shapes his views on the other topics. He followed a list of religious principles that he found important during his life. These principles included avoiding anger and lust, neither taking oaths or resisting evil, and loving everyone including your enemies. Tolstoy found that these characteristic
Despite dying and being ridiculed by his family and society over his illness, Ilyich is presented in a heroic sense at the end of the story. Tolstoy does this by showing us how his family and friends are caught up in the materialism and social standing in life but Ilyich himself had abandoned these ideas. In a sense, Tolstoy shows us that it is the others who have dies because they do not live their lives as true Christians would. Instead, it is Ilyich who, despite having nothing, becomes the more righteous character through the help of Gerasim. This view parallels Tolstoy's belief that it is the poor peasants who exhibit the principles and the upper classes who abandon their religion for personal pleasure. Now Tolstoy's message becomes clear. The meaning of life is to help others and live a morally Christian life because religion is present in all things from art to education. Those who live life like this will not suffer because they will be free from sin and at peace with God. Religion played a major role in shaping Tolstoy's view on art. He believed that art was meant to connect or unify humanity with God by reproducing the same feelings between artist and viewer. From Prof. Banach's lecture, he invites us to realize Tolstoy's view on art. "The destiny of art in our time is to transmit from the realm of reason to the realm of feeling the truth that well-being for men consists in their being u
Some common words found in the essay are:
Ivan Ilyich, Prof Banach's, Religion Tolstoy, Instead Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy, XX Tolstoy, Yasnaya Polyana, Russian Orthodox, death ivan, tolstoy's view, religion art, meaning life, Death Ivan, religion art education, tolstoy's view art, tolstoy strong, strong beliefs, portrays view, death ivan ilyich, tolstoy believed, prof banach's lecture, life ilyich, tolstoy strong beliefs, prof banach's,
Approximate Word count = 949
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
