What to Do? Thoughts Evoked By the Census of Moscow

"What to Do? Thoughts Evoked By the Census of Moscow" by Leo Tolstoy considers the massive differences between the wealthy and the impoverish after the author experiences participating in a census in Moscow. Through poignant observations of Moscow's urban landscape, the essay centers around important themes: social duty, moral necessity, and questioning the very structures of society that allow wealth and poverty to exist side by side, as well as contemplating the real causes of the anguish that people experience. Tolstoy's work shows his transformation from life in the countryside to experiencing the complicated urban poverty in Moscow, and his early feelings of confusion transform into a goal of charitable action after interacting with the city's poor; as his idealistic ideas meet the harsh realities of their lives, he internally debates the usefulness of charitable kindness.