1 / 6

Tolstoy, Folk Tales, and Theme

Tolstoy, Folk Tales, and Theme. “What Men Live By”. Folk Tales. Folklore can be divided into four areas of study: Artifacts Oral Tradition Culture Behavior/Rituals

dinos
Download Presentation

Tolstoy, Folk Tales, and Theme

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Tolstoy, Folk Tales, and Theme “What Men Live By”

  2. Folk Tales • Folklore can be divided into four areas of study: • Artifacts • Oral Tradition • Culture • Behavior/Rituals • Popularity springs from their imaginative characters, their supernatural elements, their focus on action, their simple sense of justice, their happy endings, and the fundamental wisdom they contain • We want to draw connections to how Tolstoy uses folklore to validate cultural norms

  3. Folk Tale Focus • Characters • Characters are either completely good or entirely evil-and those characteristics are clear • Motivation is singular-one overriding desire overwhelms them (greed, love, fear, hatred, jealousy) • The main character is often isolated or left alone to handle challenges on their own

  4. What’s It All About? • Themes are generally simple-but pack a punch! • Detail the virtues of compassion, generosity, and humility • Can also show the dangers of vices like greed, selfishness, and excessive pride • Connection to Greek tragedy all falling back to the universal idea that wisdom comes through suffering (For every benefit there is a condition, nothing in life comes without strings attached, responsibilities to be met, and bargains to be kept

  5. Beauty is in the Details • Language is economical • Dialogue is used to convey emotion rather than description • Motifs (recurring thematic elements) are everywhere! • Powerful visual images • Element of supernatural, magic, or otherworldliness

  6. And How Does This Relate to Tolstoy? • We are always aiming to draw connections between the text we are reading to ourselves, the world or other pieces/types of literature • Knowing his inspiration-why would folktales inform his style of writing? • What is the role of folklore in Russian culture? How would they influence Tolstoy? • Drawing comparisons-how universal are the pieces of folktales and of Tolstoy’s writings? • Why are these motifs, themes, and moral explorations so important to have repeated? • What are the connections that you see?

More Related