War On War essays

War On War essays Leo Tolstoys writings inspired Mahatma Gandhi, a 20th century pacifist leader who avoided war and changed the fate of India. On August 28th of 1828, Tolstoy was born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia, to Nikolay and Marya. His mother died when he two years of age, giving birth to a younger sister who was also named Marya. The Tolstoy brothers included Nikolay, Sergey, Dmitry, and Leo. Tolstoy was extremely sensitive, often called Leo Crybaby (Rowe 2). He was very self-conscious, but also impassioned with imagination from the very first part of his youth. At age eight, or 1837, the family was sent to Moscow to undergo a more rigorous education. However their father died within months of their arrival. Their grandmother died in 1838, so Auntie Alexandra, second cousin of the father, became the legal guardian of all five children. She was an avid supporter of Tolstoys interest in writing. A new tutor, Saint-Thomas, took over family education. He began as an aggressive, often brutal disciplinarian. His anger instilled in Tolstoy a sense of hatred for violence, which later occupied his writings. When previous methods proved unfruitful, Saint-Thomas tried complementing Tolstoy and using positive reinforcement. His attempt must have been trite because historians, such as William W. Rowe, believe that it only created an ambivalence, or paradox of acceptance and rejection, in Tolstoys perception of Saint-Thomas that would disturb him throughout his adult life (3). Tolstoy was thoughtful well beyond his years, despite his poor academic performance. He began to think deeply at the age of twelve, to question the world around him, and even the world inside of him. This gave him a certain inappropriate awareness to his age. His questioning stopped halfway and found neither clarity nor resolution, thus creating even more ambivalence. On one set of days, he would perform tasks to develop his self-discipli...