Tolstoy's novel "Youth" is included in the autobiographical trilogy and is the final book after the parts of "Childhood" and "Adolescence." In it, the author continues to talk about the life of the Irtenyev family. The focus of the writer is still Nikolenka, already matured, a 16-year-old boy.
The riots and storms of the young soul in the story "Youth"
LN Tolstoy graduated from “Youth”, a summary of which we will now consider, in 1857, 5 years after writing the first novel of the cycle - “Childhood”. During this time, the writer himself also changed: he grew spiritually, reworked a lot in his soul and consciousness. Along with him, his beloved hero, Nikolenka, walked a deep and difficult path of self-knowledge and moral self-improvement: from a sensitive, kind little boy, he turned into a hard-thinking, persistently seeking young man his way.
Tolstoy begins “Youth” (a brief summary of it before us) with a description of the mental state of Nikolenka. He is preparing to enter the university and dreams of the future and his high appointment. Having set himself the task of moral development, the hero writes down his thoughts, accomplished actions, duties, rules, which he must follow if he wants to become a truly spiritual person in a special notebook.
During Holy Week, confessing to the confessor, Irteniev experiences a feeling of deep purification, closeness to God and a special love for him, for people and for himself. Nikolenka is glad that he is so wonderful, enlightened, and he wants all his family and friends to know about it. And at night, remembering another incident, he suffers for a long time, a little light jumps up and rushes to a new confession. Having again received forgiveness and remission of sins, he is unusually happy. It seems to him that there is no one cleaner and more enlightened in the world, but when a young man shares his feelings and feelings with a cab driver in an emotional outburst, he does not share his emotions. The joy of Nikolenka gradually fades, and his impulse ceases to seem so important.
L.N. Tolstoy's “Youth”, the brief content of which we recall, builds as a kind of dialogue between the hero and
himself. The young man is constantly engaged in self-analysis, condemnation or approval of himself. He persistently seeks answers to the questions “what is good?” and "what is bad?". But growing up, entering a new life is perhaps the most difficult stage in the fate of every person.
Nikolenka becomes a student - this is a kind of pass to the adult world. And the young man, of course, cannot help but stumble. He is friends with Nekhlyudov, a young man more mature than himself, serious, sedate. Not devoid of observation, Irteniev understands that it is Dmitry who is the person whom he should look up to, being among the "golden" youth: he does not drink, does not smoke, does not behave rudely and cheekily, does not boast of victories over women. And the opposite is the behavior of other friends of Nikolenka - Volodya and Dubkov. However, it seems that they seem to Nikolai a model of “youth” and “comme il faut”: they behave at ease, do what they want, wrap themselves around and hang out, and everything gets away with it. Nikolenka imitates her friends, but it doesn’t end with anything good.
Tolstoy continues the “Youth”, the brief content of which makes it possible to understand the essence of the work by the following “test” of Nikolenka: as an independent and adult, he must pay secular visits to family friends, keep solid, relaxed, confident, have pleasant conversations, etc. d. Such visits are given to the hero with difficulty, he is bored in secular living rooms, and people seem mannered, unnatural, false. The hero is not so much versed as instinctively feels the essence of people, therefore it is really easy and sincere for him only with Nekhlyudov. He knows how to explain a lot, avoiding a moralizing tone, keeping himself and Nikolai equal. Under the influence of Dmitry, Nicholas realizes that the stages of growing up that he is going through now are not just physiological changes in his body, but the formation of his soul.
Leo Tolstoy created “Youth” with special love, seeing in Nikolenka his dear older brother - the namesake of the hero, as well as himself. Hence the warmth and severity with which the author relates to the main character, to his
inner world. For example, when Irteniev in the village sincerely admires nature, he feels it deeply and subtly - this is dear to the author, because a similar trait speaks of the rich inner world of the hero, his aesthetic vigilance.
In his last chapters, Tolstoy's “Youth” makes you think a lot. Having started his studies, having fallen into a new, studently environment of the noble youth, Irtenyev at first begins to live according to its laws, moving away from Nekhlyudov. However, pretty soon the hero is seeing: in the world there is no place for sincere feelings, impulses, relationships. Everything is replaced by conventions, secular decencies and restrictions. This torments Nikolenka, he is disappointed in himself, his beautiful, naive dreams, and the people who surround him.
But when one day he takes out a notebook, which is signed "Rules of Life." Having sobbed, the hero decides that he will write new rules for an honest, clean life and will not change them. He is waiting for the second half of his youth, which must necessarily be much happier than the first.