Tears of imagination (allegory)
Nikolenka has saved an image of his mother and his childhood in vivid details, and turns to these images with deep affection. As he assures he remembers everything, his recollections of the past are vivid, but any attempt to evoke a vision of his mother’s face turns into a failure. As the narrator says: “when I try to recall Mamma as she was then, I see her brown eyes, expressive always of love and kindness, the small mole on her neck below where the small hairs grow, her white embroidered collar, and the delicate, fresh hand which so often caressed me, and which I so often kissed; but her general appearance escapes me altogether.” Her general appearance appears to him only through a mist of tears, which are tears of imagination. This shows how much he loved her, as her vision always appears with tears on his eyes. Thus, the presentation of his memories of the mother is performed allegorically.
Mother’s death (symbol)
Period of life of a person is filled with instances, which acquire some special meaning and become lessons or just important events. In Nikolenka’s life, during the period of his childhood such an event is his mother’s death, as it becomes a crucial point when his childhood is to its end, and Nikolenka enters a period of boyhood. The death of Nikolenka’s mother acquires a symbolic meaning in the story, and Nikolenka is going to carry its mark all his life. His childhood was happy, but its end was the most dreadful.
Religion (motif)
Leo Tolstoy’s works very often investigate the place of religion in lives of ordinary people, and Childhood is not an exception. Nikolenka’s mother is a religious woman, she accepts her fate peacefully, and on her deathbed she asks God to be good to her children and husband. But the most sincere and pious person in the story is a fool Grisha. His devotion and faith in God edges with madness, and the way he prays reminds the children convulsions of a sick one. The author’s message is that everything is good at a reasonable extent.
