Leo Tolstoy free essay sample

What if there was a man who could influence the course of history, from writings he produced hundreds of years after he lived? What if this man had visionaries of a revolution that would change his country forever, before it was thought in the back of anyone else’s mind? What if I told you that there was a man who lived and did all those things, then what? His name was Leo Tolstoy. Born on August 28, 1828, and raised in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia. At the age of nine, he became an orphan, and was sent to live with his aunts. His aunts privately tutored him, which was a primitive source for education none the less. But at the age of 16, he was sent to the University of Kazan to study law and language. Shortly after he became bored with his classes, and moved back to Yasnaya without a degree. While there he struggled to try and educate the serfs, without much success. Eventually, Leo and his older brothers went to study at the University of Kazan in Tatarstan Russia. He studied oriental languages before switching to law but ultimately Just dropped out due to his excess partying and lack of desire to impress is teachers. He would often set goals to teach himself things throughout periods of time but would ultimately fail in light of all of his visits to friends of his in Moscow. Eventually Tolstoy developed a keen ability to think and philosophize about life, leading him to become the writer and intellectual famously known as Leo Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy had a huge gambling problem. Leo Tolstoy was a man of many problems, and of these problems the most self-destructive one he had was gambling. Throughout much of his early life Leo loved to drink and gamble, the two kind of ame together like bread and butter for him. He eventually played so much and gathered such a mass amounts of debt; it led Leo to have to sell much of his familys estate which he had inherited. The fact that he was losing valuables left to him by his parents didnt seem to impede Tolstoy from enjoying the game, for he continued to collect debt to the point where he had to sell items on his person to cover some of the costs. He was very unable to live the virtuous life he wanted and didnt really stop drinking and gambling until his involvement with the Russian military. Tolstoy olunteered for the army. Leo Tolstoy was a huge Russian patriot; his brother was a soldier in the Crimean War against the Ottoman Empire and during a visit convinced Leo to Join himself (Ernst J. Simmons, 1973). Much persuasion wasnt needed because Leo had already fantasized about the glory that came from fghting in battle. When put on the front line, serving in an artillery regiment, Leo Tolstoy showed courage and valor and won many awards for his efforts. Tolstoy was asked to write a study of the artillery action during the final assault and report it to the authorities in St. Petersburg. This proved to be a great success and Leo Tolstoy was accepted into the Russian literary society and treated as a star due to his wonderful stories. Tolstoy Tolstoy had many peasants working on his 4,000 acres of land. He established schools for peasants all across his land in Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy didnt give them homework and didnt force them to learn or anything of that nature, he wanted them to take an interest in learning and educating themselves. For his goal was to alter the state of the Russian educational system. But this shows the two faced nature of Tolstoy because he also shows bitterness towards established order and the attempt to improve Russian society. Tolstoy was a very conflicted man. Leo Tolstoy was very adventurous. In February 1857, Leo Tolstoy after having slept with a neighbor, he decides to skip town and avoid the gossip and repercussions of his little debacle and go to experience Europe. He spent his time doing things like looking at art, attending lectures, going to the opera and the theater. Throughout his stay he also learned English and Italian. In Paris he sees his first public execution and gathers ideas about ow flawed the governments are that use capital punishment. On this vacation Tolstoy, in good faith, convinced a musician to serenade people at his residing hotel. When People gathered to see the musician play, no one tipped the man, disgruntled Tolstoy brings the man into the hotel bar so that they may drink. This would later be the subject of the short story Lucerne. Leo Tolstoy definitely knows how to have a good time but for what he really doesnt know is when to call in the cards. His trip comes to an unexpected halt when Tolstoy gambles all of his money away. After Being bailed out by his friend Ivan Turgenev, Leo Almost immediately loses the money to his addiction and returns back home to Russia (Troyat, 1967). Leo Tolstoy proved himself mightier than a bear. In December 1858 Leo and his brother Nicholas are hunting in the woods with many other at the invitation of the writer AA Fet. Walking through the forest Leo sees a bear running straight after him, he attempts to shot it but misses a first time and hits the bear in the mouth the second. The bear lunges for his face, clawing him and leaving him bloody before someone cared the bear away. The bear was able to gash his left check and trip some flesh from his forehead. He later writes in his diary that on December 21, he killed a bear and on December 22 a bear took a piece out of him too. Two weeks later, Leo Tolstoy walked into the forest in search for the bear that had wounded him. He would then walk out of the forest with three bears and his prize, the bear that had attacked him and would soon be his new fancy rug. Leo Tolstoy watched his brother die in his arms. Leo on another trip to Europe, accompanied by Marya (Leos sister) and her hree children are in the perfect situation to go and visit Nicholas (Leos older brother) whom is very ill with tuberculosis in the German spa town of Soden. Plans are made to go see Nicholas but Leo got too sidetracked with visiting German educationalists that two weeks have gone by without them visiting Nicholas. By the recommendation of doctors Leo, Marya, and her children move with Nicholas to the south of France and within a fortnight Nicholas died in Tolstoys arms. In July 1860 Leo Tolstoy watched his brother slowly slip within the absorption of himself into othing leaving him to feel that in death there is nothing to cling to. had Trouble with the females. Tolstoy never thought of himself as a very attractive fellow. He always had distaste for his physical self and didnt have too much of an outgoing personality either. With a thick brow, small eyes, big nose, and oversized why he lost his virginity to a prostitute but nevertheless, Leo Tolstoy ran a very interesting life. A life that eventually led him to become a very promiscuous man, looking for passion and love but only being able to appreciate it and never truly rasp its satisfaction. Leo Tolstoy Proposed with a letter. One night while visiting the home of a childhood friend Lyubov and Andrey Behrs. Their daughter Lisa and Sophia Behrs were very fond of Leo as he would of play word games with them. Leo quickly fell in love with Sophia and had to gain the courage to ask her to marriage. He couldnt do it and eventually Just wrote a letter to her explaining his feelings and desire to wed her. After some consideration Sophia accepted and was married within the week. On 23 September 1862 Leo Tolstoy married Sophia Andreevna Behrs (Maude, A. 1901). Leo Tolstoy had thirteen children. After his marriage to Sophia Behrs the couple moved to his familys estate Yasnaya Polyana. Their relationship full of love and passion is quickly ignited and their first child was born in June 1863 and is named Sergey, after Tolstoys surviving brother. Many children follow after: Tanya (1864), Ilya (1866), Leo (1869), Marya (Masha, 1871), Pyotr (1872, died from croup aged 14 months), Nicholas (1974, died of meningitis aged 10 months), Varvara (1975, who survived for less than an hour), Andrey (1877), Michael (1879), Alexis (1881, died of uinsy aged four years), Sasha (1884) and Vanichka (1988, died of scarlet fever aged seven years). Five of the thirteen children dont survive and Masha is the first adult to pass when she was his with pneumonia in her mid-30s. Leo Tolstoy was an anarchist. He believed that anarchy is a better system of government for people to live in, making a person more of an individual and ultimately act out of morality. Tolstoy did not believe in a violent revolution against government, for it would only cause a greater reaction making it a failed attempt every time. Joining the ranks of overnment doesnt work either in the eyes of Leo Tolstoy because one would only become its tool. Tolstoy expresses that the only impactful way of fighting government is through thought, speech, and actions, never yielding to government or Joining its ranks. Leo Tolstoys religious views are closely related to Buddhism. Tolstoy began to study religion some time before his spiritual awakening in his fifties. He studied religion not only for intellectual interest but also in search for the meaning of life. He then lives his life with his own Christian moral values thought to be ultimately orrect as a simple leading principle. He looked at many similar aspects in all religions that coincide with one another in an attempt to understand each distinct feature. When studying Buddhism he writes Read about Buddhism†its teaching. Wonderful. He continues to remark that it is the same as his teachings and that it more than wonderful. Leo Tolstoy was excommunicated. With such in depth views on the world and philosophies on life it was really only a matter of time for Tolstoy to be excommunicated. In the 1880s Tolstoy wrote essays that criticized the churches uthority, ultimately aggravating the higher placed members of the church. Leaving it at that until in 1901 when the Holy Synod nails posts to the door of all the churches signed by one archbishop, three bishops, and many others stating his removal from the church. Unfortunately for the church, kicking Leo Tolstoy out of the church only set people off. During a time when people are struggling to gain their freedoms from such a government, abolitionists can only look to Tolstoy in admiration. In a hailed as the devil in human form. Leo Tolstoy Wanted to go out with on last adventure. His wife Sophia grew much resentment of Leos religious views and it caused much hostility in the home.