A Talk among Leisured People

A talk among leisured people is a short excerpt exhibiting the conversation among people with different perspectives. After reading the title, one might acknowledge the sense of the story as a talk among people who are on vacation or merely having a relaxed time. However, Tolstoy is actually indicating the wealthy people who are not obliged to work, but who are living in a lifestyle that is envied and convenient. Consequently, the intention of this story was written to challenge the leisured people. Because he was part of this “world”, he had a better understanding of how leisure people view life and are ignorant towards truth. He also criticizes them by writing how they are ruined by their luxury, their effeminacy, their riches and their pride; in the end, they are filled with boredom and regrets.

Tolstoy has a distinct style of manifesting the message in his writing so it wouldn’t be too difficult for normal people, the bourgeois, to understand while they are reading. Because not all people had the opportunity to receive full education, Tolstoy considered the fact of the circumstance and attempted to write effectively by arranging the themes, morals, motifs and symbols clearly. At the end of the first paragraph, the theme of the story is presented so the people would have a better idea of what they are reading. It says, “All confessed that they were living worldly lives concerned only for themselves and their families, none of them thinking about their neighbors, still less of God.” The notion of the story is the dissatisfaction of the wealthy not living a godly life but living with egotistic minds and attitudes. The moral of the story is placed at the end, “So it seems that none of us may live rightly: we may only talk about it.” Both theme and moral summarize the writing that wealthy people actually do realize the true meaning of life and are directed toward the satisfaction of loving each other and living for God. However, even if people came up with different ideas and opinions on how they should or should not take actions, excuses relating to families and traditions hinder as soon as it becomes realistic. So all they do is to talk about it.

There are seven different people who have participated in this conversation. The group is composed of people with different ages and genders, which demonstrated varied perspectives. The first person who opened the conversation was a dogmatic young man, who strongly believed that there should be changes in their lifestyles. He questioned the living of a leisured people and censured the ungodliness filled with transient amusements and satisfaction. He stated, “I don’t want to live in that old way! I will abandon the studies I have begun…I will renounce my property and go to the country and live among the poor. I will work with them, will learn to labor with my hands…by living with them in a brotherly way.” It may seem a little impulsive to abandon everything and start a new life, but he surely does understand the notion of Christianity of how people should love and support each other in a brotherly way.

The second person who comes into the picture is the father of the young man. This time, the differences of thoughts in ages exhibits in a very opposite way. The father discourages the idea of his son by incessantly reminding his son that he doesn’t understand life because he is too young and inexperienced. Also he states, “It’s hard enough to walk well on a beaten track, but it is harder still to lay out a new one.” He meant that it is a bit of a rush to start a new life when the present life is already complicated itself. Unlike his son, the father is being pragmatic and traditional to suppress his son’s quixotic and radical passion. Also, he advises that his son should acquire more knowledge and experience through education, and be independent to make his own decisions.

The third person seemed to be more neutralized obtaining both ideas of limitations and righteousness. He is censuring the ungodly lives of people and how their sins are sinking even more. The phrase, “get more and more sink in sins” contains emphasis with consonance, alliteration, repetition and personification to highlight the significance that their sins are more and more deteriorating and repelling from the conscience and will of Christianity. He also stated that he has often thought of changing his whole life without being bothered about his wife and children but to think about his soul. Personally, it seemed a bit ironic because the previous discussion involved how people are so egotistic and self-centered.

After the man’s statement, his wife attacked him with an opposite opinion that the man shouldn’t even think about abandoning the family for the sake of the future of the children and it’s a cowardly act of a father. In this perspective, it’s quite different from the old and the young, because women are so used to being dependent on men. When the other man agreed with the woman’s husband, his family members opposed with clear sinister motives to receive money from him. Finally, one of the visitors close the conversation by saying, “but as soon as it comes to practice it turns out that the children must not be upset and must be brought up not in godly fashion but in the old way.” And all they do is to talk about it. This combination of different opinions reflects on the mind sets of the people in the world viewing one thing with diverse backgrounds, characteristics and motives.

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