A Spark Neglected Burns The House Essay

According to the Judge in “A Spark Neglected Burns the House” by Leo Tolstoy, “the first of all laws is to obey God” and God said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” which means you should treat your neighbor as you would yourself (Tolstoy 91; Matthew 22:38-40 KJV). In this essay, I am going to pose the question whether or not society as a whole would be better if we followed Gods law as opposed to following the court law. My position on this argument is that we would, as a society, be better off if we followed Gods law, better known as the Ten Commandments. To prove why my position is better than the opposing position I will use Tolstoy’s “A Spark Neglected Burns the House” to argue how bringing personal matters to the court only makes …show more content…
In the story, strife began over an egg that led to the exchange of harsh words, hair pulling, and fighting. Rather than handling the matter between the men of each household, Gabriel, of one household, took the matters to court to have Ivan, of the other household, condemned, and sent to Siberia. While Ivan was never condemned, nor sent to Siberia, the act of going to the court was the beginning a seven-year old feud between the two families. Whenever a member of Ivan’s family did something to a member of Gabriel’s family, or vice-versa, they would take the matter to the District Court, where the Judge would give a punishment to the neighbor in the wrong. Instead of just accepting their punishments, their anger for one another grew and this created a revenge cycle that not only affected the members of their households, but the members of the community as well. The courts recognized this cycle and did nothing more but help them gain revenge, instead of figuring out what the issue was to help the two neighbors come to some sort of agreement that would allow everyone to be happy. In theory, they added fuel to the fire that in the end burnt down the entire