The first work with which the literary activity of Leo Tolstoy began is a short story Childhood, which is the first part of the trilogy Childhood. Boyhood. Youth. Tolstoy wanted to write the fourth part and name his work The History of the Four Eras, but he did not write this final fourth chapter, which obviously would speak of the “maturity” of the hero.
The main interest in the story Childhood focuses on the personality of its protagonist - Nikolenka Irteniev. The author follows, step by step, the development of his child's soul - for every, even small, but characteristic, manifestations of it. Thus, the work is primarily psychological. But, in addition, it can be called “moral” to the same extent — since the author judges his character from an ethical point of view — he tries, using psychological analysis, to determine in him the moral side of his rich, developing nature.
No other work of Russian literature has made such observations of the soul of a growing person. Tolstoy leads his character day after day, from his nursery to the university, and everything characteristic is gradually determined and clarified in his soul.
The time period with which the action of the story Childhood is connected are 1830 - 1840s. The environment in which its content unfolds is a rich noble, landowner. It was a time when in Russian life, after the events of December 14, 1825, those few glimpses of public self-consciousness, which in some places flickered in the provincial noble environment in the hearts of the best Russian people of that time, with few exceptions, almost completely disappeared. At such time and in such an environment there were no serious, spiritual interests, the thought subsided, and therefore there was no any need for spiritual food. Time was filled with a strictly measured order of life, established by etiquette, which was erected almost to the degree of unshakable laws - so even a dinner in the Irteniev family was some kind of “daily family joyous celebration”.
Life in the story invariably flows along the direction that has been perceived by the parents — it is all built in such a way as to fill the idle time of the provincial rich nobility with its little things. In the upbringing of children, exceptional attention was focused on appearance, on manners; attention was not paid to the development of the mind and heart. There was never talk about books here, and education was not taken seriously: if children were sent to universities. Believing the whole purpose of bringing up and preparing a child for an idle, social life, parents considered their task accomplished if caring for external education was crowned with success. It never occurred to them that it was their responsibility to develop a healthy moral feeling in a child, a strong will, energy, love and ability to work, and many other positive qualities necessary for a good and happy life.
Many Russian adults were the results of such education. But this was not the way Nikolenka Irteniev came out, thanks to his strong and rich nature, which freed himself from environmental influences. This is explained by the fact that Tolstoy, in Nikolenka, did not at all want to portray the type of a young barin, but an individual. This is precisely the fundamental difference between Tolstoy and other portrayers of childhood. He understood and painted Nikolenka quite individually and introduces to the smallest details of his inner world, in which there are a lot of features that are completely independent of any environment.
There are two main characters in the story: Nikolenka Irteniev and an adult who recalls his childhood. The conflict is the very comparison of the views of the child and the adult author. This distancing allows Tolstoy to make events significant and important for modern life, to analyze Russian life as a whole.
Tolstoy’s prose instantly became part of Russian culture because it was, on the one hand, innovative, and on the other, absorbed the best of Russian literature: masterfully created portraits of characters, landscapes painted to the smallest details, descriptions of the atmosphere of an old manor estate, and its life.
