Short Story Analysis
I. INTRODUCTION
Leo Tolstoy, one of the world's greatest writers, is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s in Russia, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His moralistic principles had been evident in his writings especially in his short stories. It had awaken the ethical standards of late Russia into a more monotheistic nation. Stories like “God Sees the Truth, But Waits”, “The Three Questions” and “What Men Live By” have deep-rooted principles that are trying to tell everyone how to live a good life. This study will try to analyze Tolstoy’s stories like God Sees the Truth but Waits, a story of a merchant Aksionov who was accused of murder and suffered a life sentence even if he is not liable for it; “The Three Questions” a story of a king who was puzzled by three questions and only the poor hermit was able to answer it with sense; and the last is What Men Lived By which discussed the story of a poor shoemaker, Simon and a fallen angel, Michael and their quest to answer the questions of what men lived by.
Leo Tolstoy was one of the great rebels of all time, a man who during a long and stormy life was at odds with Church, government, literary tradition, and his own family. Yet he was a conservative, obsessed by the idea of God in an age of scientific positivism. He brought the art of the realistic novel to its highest development. Tolstoy's brooding concern for death made him one of the precursors of existentialism. Yet the bustling spirit that animates his novels conveys, perhaps, more of life than life itself.
II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of this study is to analyze the similarities among elements of Leo Tolstoy’s work such as “God Sees the Truth, But Waits”, “The Three Questions” and “What Men Live By”. The analysis of such will bring about the realization of
Leo Tolstoy, one of the world's greatest writers, is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s in Russia, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His moralistic principles had been evident in his writings especially in his short stories. It had awaken the ethical standards of late Russia into a more monotheistic nation. Stories like “God Sees the Truth, But Waits”, “The Three Questions” and “What Men Live By” have deep-rooted principles that are trying to tell everyone how to live a good life. This study will try to analyze Tolstoy’s stories like God Sees the Truth but Waits, a story of a merchant Aksionov who was accused of murder and suffered a life sentence even if he is not liable for it; “The Three Questions” a story of a king who was puzzled by three questions and only the poor hermit was able to answer it with sense; and the last is What Men Lived By which discussed the story of a poor shoemaker, Simon and a fallen angel, Michael and their quest to answer the questions of what men lived by.
Leo Tolstoy was one of the great rebels of all time, a man who during a long and stormy life was at odds with Church, government, literary tradition, and his own family. Yet he was a conservative, obsessed by the idea of God in an age of scientific positivism. He brought the art of the realistic novel to its highest development. Tolstoy's brooding concern for death made him one of the precursors of existentialism. Yet the bustling spirit that animates his novels conveys, perhaps, more of life than life itself.
II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The purpose of this study is to analyze the similarities among elements of Leo Tolstoy’s work such as “God Sees the Truth, But Waits”, “The Three Questions” and “What Men Live By”. The analysis of such will bring about the realization of