The plot of the road in L.N. Tolstoy’s “Resurrection”

The article examines the mechanism of the plot of the road that opens up the possibility of a new birth for Nekhlyudov, the hero of the novel “Resurrection”. He goes to Siberia after a woman sentenced to hard labor, who, through his fault, leads a sinful lifestyle. The road, as the author of the article proves, tests the hero’s ability to fulfill the self-redemptive mission he has assigned to himself. It is on the road, which has significant plot potential from the point of view of the novel’s problems, that the truly moral potential of his personality is revealed. To get out of a moral impasse, he is required to make an independent decision without regard to the opinions of others. He perceives the road that awaits him as an opportunity to overcome the automatism of the existence that has developed and is now devoid of any meaning for him. The decision to set off on the road after Maslova also opens up the opportunity to choose one’s own destiny. Only in this way, by going beyond the boundaries of the usual way of life and showing readiness for internal changes, he can rediscover himself. Having replaced immobility as a way of life with movement that is unpredictable in its consequences, he becomes a man of the road, where he is expected not only to move in space. The road brings with it a real opportunity for serious internal changes. The completion of the plot of the road prompts Nekhlyudov to look for a new form of movement, which becomes the path, a symbol of moral resurrection. The narratively motivated appeal to the Gospel concretizes the transition of the road into the path of the soul. The finale of the novel, as shown in the article, highlights the ontological problems that have become the main ones for the hero, who has discovered a personal connection with the absolute and realises himself as a man of the way.