Staying in exile in France and immensely dreaming of returning to his homeland, Count Alexei Nikolayevich Tolstoy created his very poetic work, Nikitaâs Childhood.
A summary of this autobiographical story covers the long past last year of the authorâs carefree childhood.
The idea of ââan autobiographical work
He lived in the estate of his stepfather A.A. Bostrom, whom he loved as his own father, near Samara, in the estate of Sosnovka. The main character - the boy Nikita - the writer endowed with his own rich imagination and impressionability. The writer created the images of his parents according to the type of his own. Moreover, Nikitaâs mother is called the same as Aleksei Tolstoyâs mother - Alexandra Leontievna. The image of the teacher Arkady Ivanovich was created, also based on a real person - a tutor of Arkady Slovoakhotov. The author, without renaming, introduced the story of his childhood friends - Mishka Koryashonka and Stepka Karnaushkin. The story "Nikita's Childhood" is rich in various characters. The summary of the work can be expressed very briefly as the immersion of the reader in the fabulous world of childhood.
The fascinating world of Nikita
The child perceives himself to be a part of a manor sweet to his heart, located in the middle of the steppe. This reminds Nikita himself a miracle: hundreds of miles of bare space, and around the parent's house there is a large and dense garden, a pond. Poplars grow , insinuating, branches, lindens.
The work gives a detailed description of the house itself, its outbuildings, not empty barns and stables, gardens, ponds, dams.
A children's enthusiastic description of his mysterious rooms and the cramped bindings of old books in the library is given. This house keeps family legends about the great-grandfather of African Afrikanich, tormented by unhappy love. He, according to the stories of mother Nikolina, led a strange way of life. I read and wrote at night, and slept during the day. Grandfather abandoned the farm, the yard ran away from him, grass grew in the fields ...
Decorated with many colorful and juicy scenes of contemplation of nature, the work "Childhood of Nikita." The summary of the story can be reduced to this unity of the boy with nature. He not only feels himself a part of it, but also perceives it through images pre-fantasized by himself. For example, the starling in Nikita's perception is endowed with human qualities to such an extent that he received the nickname Zheltukhin. The main character calls Kota nothing more than Vasily Vasilich, he poets both his stepfather's horses and every bird he sees, be it a bright Oriole or a loud-voiced lark.
The beginning of the story
With the chapter "Sunny Morning," begins Nikita's Childhood. The summary of the story is stories about games with a village children in the middle of the charm of snowdrifts, covering the huts to the chimneys; a sluggish stream of spring water; a dark garden illuminated by July lightning; September fogs are dense like milk. The boy saw how the whole life of people in the midst of this repeating round dance of the seasons passes organically and naturally, and birth and death are like sunrise and sunset.
The specific childish logic of the narrative in this work cannot fail to be noted by our brief summary. Tolstoyâs âNikitaâs Childhoodâ, while working on it, himself introduced into a special enthusiastic and nostalgic mood, which he himself noted in his memoirs. The author very reverently tells the story of how he, who is not indifferent to Lilyâs sister, found with her in the empty room of the estate the ring that his great-grandfather once gave to his beloved. The ring lay inside a vase with lion heads, standing on the wall clock for several decades. Moreover, Lily herself (Nikita put a little ring on her finger) surprisingly looked like a great-grandmother with facial features , whose portrait in an Amazon with a veil hung on the wall in a secret room. Penetratingly wrote about this episode, Alexei Tolstoy.
Autobiographical work
What do we notice if we select from the authorâs narrative of the most romantic year of the protagonistâs life a concise, concise summary? Tolstoy's âNikitaâs Childhoodâ, following the rules of the genre, continued the tradition of Leo Tolstoy (âChildhood, adolescence, youthâ), M. Gorky (âChildhoodâ, âIn People.â), S. Aksakova (âChildhood years of Bagrovâs grandsonâ )
All of these books are valuable for reading by adults, especially parents. They are autobiographical and help to realize how the child thinks, explain the motives of his actions. However, if we talk about the author's style of these artistic autobiographies, it should be noted that Alexey Tolstoy is the only one of all the above-mentioned classics who narrated his childhood from a third person.
Boy poetization of the seasons
Summary of the story "Nikita's Childhood" introduces us to the hospitable Christmas celebrations in the estate. Children of yard peasants, like the children of the owner, make toys for the Christmas tree. And when it is decorated and lit by dozens of candles, all the kids, happy from the gifts received, meet this bright holiday in the landlord's house. The main character of the story loves this holiday more than others.
A description of spring and awakening nature is also included in the summary of the book âNikitaâs Childhoodâ, since it occupies a significant place in the book. After all, the protagonist himself identifies himself with nature, sincerely believing at the behest of the soul that all the natural riches around are native to him. Tens of thousands of streams delight him from the snow melting in March in the steppe. He, enjoying, breathes deeply in the spring "sharp and clean" air. And something very significant seemed the icebreaker on the river, when she showed her violent temper, rising above the dam, and with a noise fell into the whirlpool.
And then Alexey Tolstoy writes childishly enthusiastically about May Oriole honey trills. About the steppe eagle floating in the sultry summer sky, tells us "Nikita's Childhood". A very brief content of this work invariably indicates the connection of the emerging personality of the protagonist with the world around him. Is this not a defining feature of childhood? Perhaps Alexey Tolstoy brings us to the realization of this nuance?
The boyâs need to feel this unity is extremely important for his personality. Therefore, even the teacher Arkady Ivanovich does not chide him when he escapes from the lesson to look at the river. It is no coincidence that the author used the following romantic comparison in the chapter âOn a cartâ: âOn a cart, as if in a cradle, Nikita swam under the stars, looking at distant worlds.â
Conclusion
The original title of the work sounded like "A Tale of Many Excellent Things." Obviously, it was written by the author in a single creative impulse, on one inspiration.
The last chapter of the story has a short title - "Departure". Her ending begins with a message that Nikita managed to pass the exam for admission to the second grade. And the book ends with a sad phrase: "This childhood ends with this event."