蘇俄作家杜斯朵也夫斯基Fyodor Dostoyevski（1821~1881）擅長以心理寫實呈現故事主角的思想與感受。

在《天堂的耶誕樹》中一開始他這樣寫：我是個小說家，這個故事是虛構的，但是我卻認為在耶誕夜一場可怕的冰雪中，這個故事一定發生在某個小鎮一個六歲男孩的身上。I am a novelist, and I suppose I have made up this story. I write "I suppose," though I know for a fact that I have made it up, but yet I keep fancying that it must have happened on Christmas Eve in some great town in a time of terrible frost. I have a vision of a boy, a little boy, six years old or even younger.   

在溼冷的地窖，男孩的母親躺在木板上，角落裡一個八十歲的老太婆痛苦的呻吟咒罵，其他的人都不見了。從早到黃昏，男孩只喝一點水，連麵包皮都沒得吃；他不斷地搖著母親，母親卻像牆一樣冰冷。他吹了一口氣讓手溫暖，安靜地拿著帽子走出地窖。天啊！好冷！街上有燈光、有馬車，好多人好吵，而他只想有一點東西吃。有一棟屋子亮著絢爛的燈光，巨大的玻璃窗內有一棵高及天花板的樅樹，裝飾著燈炮、金黃的紙、小娃娃和小馬。盛裝打扮的小孩在屋內奔跑，吃喝玩樂。他看得入神，忘了凍僵的手指和腳趾一移動就好痛。There were children clean and dressed in their best running about the room, laughing and playing and eating and drinking something...... The boy looked and wondered and laughed, though his toes were aching with the cold and his fingers were red and stiff so that it hurt him to move them

有一群人圍在另一棟屋前，透過玻璃窗可以看見三個會拉提琴的玩偶，好像真人。他看得津津有味但想到自己孤單一人好想哭。突然一個大男孩從後面打他，搶走他的帽子還將他絆倒。他爬起來一直跑，跑進一戶人家的院子，躲在一堆木材後面。他縮著身體嚇得不敢喘氣；突然他覺得好快樂，手腳都不痛了。耳邊有很輕柔的聲音對他說：「來看我的耶誕樹，小東西。」他看見一棵光亮的耶誕樹，許多玩偶般的小孩飛過來親吻他，他也飛起來，母親在一旁愉快地笑著。他們說這棵樹是耶穌為沒有耶誕樹的小孩準備的。They all came flying round him, they all kissed him, took him and carried along with them, and he was flying himself, and he saw that his mother was looking at him and laughing joyfully...... "This is Christ's Christmas tree," they answered. "Christ always has a Christmas tree on this day, for the little children who have no tree of their own." 天亮了，清潔工發現小男孩凍死在木材堆上，他的母親也死了，母子倆人在天堂重逢了。我一直認為發生在地窖和木材堆這部分是真的；至於耶穌的耶誕樹，我就不知道了。

杜斯朵也夫斯基一生貧困潦倒，對窮人的悲慘境遇觀察入微，也更能感同身受。他準確地掌握故事中小男孩的思緒與心情，寫出他悲天憫人的情操，也激發出人類靈魂深處的道德責任感。