Culture in Hajid Murat Essay - 957 Words

Imagine coming upon a land that you have never before visited, and encountering not one but two completely different cultures. Looking at these two cultures one would not expect them to have any similarities. Leo Tolstoy did something to this affect. He took two cultures, the Russian as well as the Chechen, and was able to show their similarities as well as differences, in his book Hajid Murad. In Hajid Murad, the main characters name is Hajid Murad. He has become a fugitive in the Chechen culture, and is now struggling to contain the conflict that is going on between the Russian and Chechen cultures. He keeps on switching sides during the conflict. Hajid Murad becomes a unique individual during this time period. Murad is a†¦show more content†¦In contrast to Hajid Murad, Tolstoy creates a character named Peter, who is a Russian who left his family in order to fight in the Russian army for his brother, who had a bigger family and therefore couldnt leave. Peter decides to risk his life and go fight rather then live the safe life within his own home. In the end he like Hajid Murad, Peter made the final sacrifice for what they believed in was right and died. Later in the book, Tolstoy wants to show us how these two cultures differ, so he writes how Hajid Murad is welcomed to the palace of Prince Voronstov. There is a celebration and many women dancers are dancing in front of Hajid Murad, with exposed breasts. During and after the celebration most of the men walk up to Hajid Murad and ask him how he enjoyed it, he replies to them by saying, We have a proverb; the dog gave meat to an ass, and the ass gave hay to the dog, and both went hungry. (pg 117 paragraph 7). This shows us the difference between the two cultures. The quote states that what one culture, in this case the Russian, views as necessary the other does not need and does not fair any better then it would with out it. Now for the leaders of these two cultures. The Russians were under the control of Nicholas I and the Chechens were under their Imam, Shamil. These two leaders spoke different languages and practiced different religions, one was a Muslim the other an Orthodox Christian, that is almost where their