| Leo Tolstoy’s last novel, The Forged Coupon, is the story of the multiplying and layering effects that one single action can have, and how those effects can in turn be answered by and turned around through other actions. Destiny is not set, fate is always being determined by our own acts and through our own responsibility. In the novel, it is the instance of a father’s harsh and judgmental words to his son that sets off a reaction of increasingly negative actions, beginning with a forgery and continuing with cheating, lies, perjury, thievery, vengeance, oppression, and culminating in revolt, hangings, and murders. Only when the evil swilling forth from the myriad of affected persons (peasants, overseers, religious representatives, land owners, shop owners, and professional men) is faced head on with absolute goodness in the form of Mariya Semenovna, does it begin to dissipate, losing power and force. The goodness of the murdered women survives her death and causes the conversion of her murderer from bad to good, and then we see the multiple and layering impacts of goodness passing through the people. One by one, those who sought only to oppress or steal or live falsely, turn away from their evil ways and begin to care for others, give to others, and forgive others, an example held up in the life of Mariya, and in the life of Jesus Christ, as reported in the gospels.
The novel’s characters display the virtuosity of Tolstoy in creating very genuine characters from every walk of life, and infusing them, both in personality and in action, as examples of universal goodness and evil. His characters are both unique individuals and deeply familiar types: as new and fresh as they are, they are yet recognizable and understood in their ordinariness, their ability to commit bad acts, and their ability to reform, change, and become better people. Tolstoy is asserting that within each person there is capacity for good and evil, and that the choice to be one or the other is a choice freely carried: you are responsible for your actions and fate, no matter if born in a hut or in a palace (the Tsar makes an appearance in this novel as well). Tolstoy is not making a simplistic argument that one bad action leads to a chain reaction of evil, growing stronger and more evil as the reaction spreads. Instead, what he demonstrates through this novel of wonderfully interwoven events and lives that evil actions do not necessarily lead to more evil. Tolstoy rejects the vision of ripple effect of the bad stone thrown in the pond of life, with circles of evil inevitably spreading out, but instead he offers up two powerful ideas: first, that evil can be stopped, the ripples diverted, by being met by a larger stone and stronger ripples, of goodness. Secondly, that evil is not the stronger of the forces at battle within ourselves: even good intent is enough to repel the evil, to redirect lives towards positive connections with other lives. This is because our inherent human nature rejects negative connections of destruction, oppression, and misunderstanding; we thrive on cooperation, understanding, and production. Tolstoy also demonstrates in this novel that institutions that seek to control our human nature, including most prominently over-arching and controlling government (including justice systems) and religion, stunt the goodness inherent in human nature, and lead to corruption and oppression, begetting evil. Nothing I have ever read by Tolstoy is less than great: his short stories, Anna Karenina, and his shorter novels, like The Kreutzer Sonata (I have yet to tackle War and Peace). The Forged Coupon, his last novel, completes his works of engaging writing that moves beyond just great story telling into the realm of telling readers how to live and what to live for. Tolstoy’s novels, as I argue all great novels, demonstrate the need for connection between humans. Connection is necessary not only for survival but to make life worth living, enjoyable, challenging, exciting and fulfilling. In my own life, I know that is the connections I make that keep me on keel and moving forward. I am someone who loves to be alone, to have time to myself, but underlying my ability and need to be alone, are all the connections, the live wires of existence, that I have with other people. As unique as each individual is, and as little as I can know the inner workings of another human being (their challenges, dreams, struggles), I do know that if I meet a person with kindness and acceptance (which is a form of forgiveness), I can forge a sustaining connection. That connection can be sustaining to me and to the other person, it can last a lifetime or just a limited period of time, but it will be real, and it will be unique. Regardless of religious, political, gender, or class associations, the connection can be made, a bridge between me and others, a bridge that allows my safer, happier, and richer passage through life. |
