Did L. N. Tolstoy create his novel autobiographical? "Childhood" in its content does not at all follow the chronological sequence of real life events. The writer considered it much more important to create a felt personal psychological portrait of a child in the image of a ten-year-old child - Nikolenka Irtenyev. This is really a creative work, because not every adult person manages to reflect so characteristically the unconscious emotional impulses of a child, his feelings, sensations. We ask the professionals: what did L.N. Tolstoy create? “Childhood” is a brief but reliable statement of the thoughts and feelings of the child, ”psychologists will say. And they will be right. Add only: multiplied by the talent of the classic.
At the beginning of the story, the father informs Nikolenka and his brother Volodya that the next day they will leave for Moscow to continue their studies there. The author subtly describes the excitement, sadness of the child, his feeling that this small world of childhood will soon end, the image of his mother, surrounded by a special halo, will not be far away, and the housekeeper Natalya Savishna, who is devotedly devoted to their family, will not be nearby. Here, in this little world, one day a sincere prayer echoed by the boy was heard, uttered from the bottom of the heart to the holy fool Gregory, who left a feeling of touching spirituality, “tenderness”. So the last games of Nikolenka are sad because of the understanding that all this, including an unclear feeling for Katya, will soon inevitably be left somewhere behind.
L. N. Tolstoy also reflected deeply personal impressions of the childhood years of his studies in Moscow. "Childhood" (short summary) talks about how a father and his sons are at a constant stand with their grandmother. They are accompanied by the tutor Karl Ivanovich. This is a kind person, sincerely loving children. It should be noted that his image is not developed by Lev Nikolaevich “in depth”. Children can play a trick on him, but never on mom and Natalya Savishna. Secular life expands the boy’s social circle with new acquaintances — Prince Ivan Ivanovich, Countess Kornakova, relatives — the boys Volodya and Seryozha Iviny. We see his desire to resemble the charismatic Seryozha. At the same time, Nikolenka intuitively feels the wrongness, dishonesty of some of her actions, caused by the desire to "seem good" in front of her idol. Nikolenka Irteniev sympathizes with Sonechka Valakhina, a charming twelve-year-old girl with dark blond curls.
Suddenly, the climax of the story comes. The author notifies that the mother became seriously ill, having caught a cold during a walk. The woman, feeling her demise, called her sons to her. Volodya and Nikolenka arrive six days before the death of the disease. The last words of an unhappy woman who no longer sees anything beside herself is a blessing to the children. A year later, the housekeeper Natalya Savishna, the former nanny of her mother, dies. Stoically, meekly, she suffers the terrible torment brought by "water sickness." Resignedly, Christianly accepts death, smiling, uttering the last name of the Lord. This feat of life, a real lesson in humanity, was not just noticed by Nikolenka, but absorbed by him, his soul forever.
Is it about the intuitive search for the Highest Truth by the child’s soul that L. N. Tolstoy wrote “Childhood”? The summary indicates: sequentially depicting the images of the mother, as well as her housekeeper, Lev Nikolaevich lifts them to the heights of true spirituality, beauty.
The death of her mother for Nikolenka was at the same time the stunning event that drowned in his soul the ringing of the crystal bells of childhood. The world for him somehow immediately changed, ceased to resemble Andersen's fairy tale. So logically concludes Leo Tolstoy's “Childhood”. The summary can only superficially convey the feelings of the protagonist.
Generally speaking, the image of mother for the author is infinitely holy. His mother died when the future writer was only 2 years old. He did not remember her, however, thoughts about her, about his son’s lack of warmth, an intuitive representation of her mother’s image go through all the work of Lev Nikolaevich. Such a feeling of emptiness was a real, keenly felt writer as early as childhood, who responded with a mental wound. Subsequently, he completely recreated his mother in the image of Princess Mary from the novel "War and Peace." This appearance of a woman with kind, smart radiant eyes became for the writer the most beloved of thousands created by him.
About close to himself, deeply personal, Leo Tolstoy wrote "Childhood." The summary of the story is spiritual development, the formation of Nikolenka. Recall also that this is the very first work of the writer, which brought him fame, as well as recognition of his talent. The story was published by N. A. Nekrasov in the journal Sovremennik. Tolstoy's contemporaries, for example N. G. Chernyshevsky, noted the brush of a real master in depicting the subtle nuances, movements of a child’s soul. A reading work invariably leaves a feeling of touching something really childishly clean, open, direct. At the same time, it is piercing, like a pure high note sounded in silence.