Aksyonov’s Voice and Singing Symbol Analysis

Tolstoy uses Aksyonov’s voice, or singing, as a symbol of his spirit. Over the course of the story, changes in Aksyonov’s use of his voice call attention to the reorientation of his spirit from worldly to spiritual and to the role that persecution and suffering play in this development. In the first few lines of the story, the narrator characterizes Aksyonov as “a singer without equal,” and just moments before the arrival of the police inspector and soldiers who detain Aksyonov, he “took his guitar and started playing.” That Aksyonov’s singing at the moment of his arrest is symbolically important is confirmed later on in the story, when Aksyonov (now in Siberia) “recalled how he had sat in the porch of the inn where he had been arrested playing the guitar. How light-hearted he had been then!” Here, singing (accompanied by the guitar, implying distinctly secular music) is a clear manifestation of Aksyonov’s youthfulness and shows that Aksyonov nourishes his spirit by enjoying earthly pleasures.

Following his interrogation and wrongful imprisonment, Aksyonov’s voice (and worldly light-heartedness) is taken away from him; Tolstoy repeatedly emphasizes that Aksyonov stammered before the district police inspector and that “his voice kept breaking.” This marks Aksyonov’s lowest point, when his spirit (or hope) has been crushed by his wrongful accusation and by the loss of his liberty. Yet during his imprisonment in Siberia, Aksyonov resurrects his beautiful voice, this time as a manifestation of his faith: “he would go to the prison chapel […] and sing in the choir—he still had a good voice.” Aksyonov now nourishes his spirit through the practice of spirituality and devotion, rather than through earthly indulgences. Tolstoy makes it clear that the carefree, worldly lifestyle of Aksyonov’s youth has been annihilated by his suffering, and in its place Aksyonov has formed a new personality as a strictly devout holy man.