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We will be reading three short works of Leo Tolstoy: Family Happiness, Father Sergius, and What Men Live By.

### Father Sergius

Prince Stepan Kasatsky abandons high society after a humiliating betrayal and becomes the monk Father Sergius, seeking holiness through extreme asceticism and spiritual discipline. Yet even in isolation, he cannot escape pride, vanity, and temptation. Tolstoy’s story is a powerful meditation on the difference between performing holiness and living it.

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### Family Happiness

A young woman, Masha, falls in love with and marries her older guardian, Sergey. Their early marriage is filled with idealism and romantic intensity, but as life unfolds—through society, routine, and changing desires—the relationship evolves into something quieter and more complicated. Tolstoy explores how love transforms over time.

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### What Men Live By

A poor shoemaker named Simon discovers a mysterious stranger freezing in the snow and brings him home. The stranger, Michael, becomes his apprentice, and through a series of encounters gradually reveals three truths about human life: what dwells in man, what is not given to man, and what men truly live by. Tolstoy’s answer is simple yet profound.

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