Tolstoy and Sofia are flash marriages. On September 16, 1862, Tolstoy proposed to Sofia, and they married on the 23rd.
Sophia is the daughter of a Moscow court doctor. She has a wealthy family, is spoiled and well-educated. On the eve of the wedding, Tolstoy forced Sophia to read the diary of his relationship with other women. The details were lewd and unsightly. Sophia wrote in her diary after marriage that Tolstoy’s diary made her feel terrified and nauseous. Newly married Yaner, Tolstoy is full of passion, but Sophia’s heart is always full of grievances and pain, saying that Tolstoy gave her “vicious love.”
After Sophia got married, she changed from a slim noble lady to a trivial housekeeper in Tolstoy’s manor. Since marrying Sofia, Tolstoy resigned as the butler. In Sofia’s daily life, in addition to busy with purchasing and accounting, the chef was drunk and let her make up for vacancies. Before going to bed every night, she had to transcribe Tolstoy’s manuscripts of the day, copied out the words of the dragon and phoenix neatly, and handed it to the publishing house. Intolstoy likes to revise the manuscript at any time, and even alters the transcript in the transcript, which makes her transcript several times. Sophia copied the manuscript of “War and Peace” four times.
Sophia has many complaints about her marriage. She paid a lot after marriage, but she didn’t hear Tolstoy’s words of gratitude, and she never received a gift from him during the Chinese New Year. The thing she couldn’t stand the most was Tolstoy’s psychopath. They gave birth to a total of 13 children, of which 5 died. Sophia wrote in his diary that Tolstoy was content to see the child die. Tolstoy himself admitted in his diary that his happiest moment is to watch people die.
Sofia said that Tolstoy is very concerned about the misfortune and suffering in the world and has deep sympathy. He enjoys the pleasure that sympathy brings to him, which will make him feel a strong sense of satisfaction. Tolstoy could not tolerate Sophia’s happiness. When she showed joy, Tolstoy always had a gloomy face. On the contrary, when she was sad, Tolstoy became gentle and kind, and his eyes showed happiness.
In 1872, their sixth child, their son Peter, was born. The doctor reminded Sophia that she was too weak to get pregnant again. Tolstoy was unhappy when he heard the news. He said to Sophia: “If you want to have a baby, what do I want you to do?” To please her husband, Sophia had to continue to be pregnant. After that, the couple watched the deaths of their three children, Peter, Nikolai and Varvara. In 1906, his daughter Maria died of pneumonia. Tolstoy carefully observed the whole process of the death captive going to her, and then showed a satisfied expression. The moment Maria closed his eyes, he turned and left without even saying goodbye to his daughter, which was exactly the same as his behavior when his younger son Ivan died in 1895. Tolstoy also wrote this extreme psychological experience in his diary.
In September 1906, Sophia suffered from a malignant tumor. Daughter Alexandra wrote in her diary that apart from Tolstoy, her family was very anxious, and they asked a doctor to come home to treat Sofia. Tolstoy watched his wife dying ecstatically. After the diagnosis, the doctor told Tolstoy that the tumor should be surgically removed as soon as possible, otherwise it would be life-threatening. Tolstoy was unhappy after hearing this and expressed his opposition. In the end, under the persuasion of the doctor and other relatives, Tolstoy agreed to the operation. The doctor showed Tolstoy the tumor cut off by the operation, he just glanced coldly and turned away…
Tolstoy’s view of death is also reflected in “Anna Karenina”. The ending he set for Anna was that she threw her husband’s son for her new love, suffering in her heart, and finally tragically dying under the wheels of the train. Tolstoy admired Anna after death in his unique way: curly hair, handsome face, half-opened red lips, eyes widened for life…In Tolstoy’s heart, Anna was guilty , Must not be forgiven. I can imagine how satisfied he was after writing “Anna Karenina.”
