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Unit 5: The Spark Neglected Burns the House by Leo Tolstoy

Self Assessment Notes

Choose the correct option:
1. Tolstoy’s second popular drama was
(a) The First Distiller (b) The Imp and the Crust
(c) The Power of Darkness (d) None of these

2. Ivan’s daughter-in-law had a
(a) Goat (b) Hen
(c) Cow (d) None of these
3. Ivan pulled a handful of hair from the beard of
(a) The old man (b) Judge

(c) Gabriel (d) None of these
4. Ivan remembered his old father’s command to obey
(a) God’s law (b) Law from conscience
(c) Judges (d) None of these

5.5 Summary

• The story opens with the family of Ivan Stchevbakof; a generally harmonious family
that does rather well for itself. They were on good terms with their neighbours, the
family of Gabriel Chormoi, until one day when a hen that belonged to the Stchevbakof
family flew into the yard of the Chormoi family and laid an egg. Later that day, Ivan’s
daughter-in-law went to retrieve the egg, but grandmother Chormoi takes offense at
being accused of stealing. A huge uproar ensues that embroils every member of each
family.
• Against the advice of the family elders to seek quick reconciliation, the families bring
cases against each other in court, and they blame each other for every little mishap that
happens to befall them. Every accusation makes the enmity grow, the children learn
from the example of their parents, and the feud goes on for six years.
• The elders urge for the families to forget their differences, but the feud continues. A
drunken Gabriel strikes one of Ivan’s daughters-in-law, and Ivan eventually sees to it
that he is sentenced to flogging. Gabriel is shocked, and he curses his neighbour. The
magistrate urges the two to reconcile, but Gabriel refuses.
• Ivan eventually begins to feel sorry for Gabriel, but he refuses to see his own wrongdoing
in the quarrel. Ivan’s father urges him to reconcile, and to stop wasting his time and
money going to court, and to stop setting a bad example for his family. Ivan still
refuses to reconcile.
• Eventually Gabriel sets Ivan’s house on fire. No neighbours help Ivan save his belongings,
and eventually the fire overtakes Gabriel’s house as well. Ivan’s father was burned in
the fire, and, on his deathbed, Ivan’s father asks his son whose fault the fire was. Ivan
finally realizes that it was his fault, and asks forgiveness from his father and from God.
His father urges Ivan never to tell that it was Gabriel that had set the fire, and Ivan
agrees.
• Gabriel and Ivan again become good friends, and their families live together as their
houses were rebuilt. The families then go on to become more prosperous than ever, all
for following the elders’ advice: to quench a spark before it becomes a fire.

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