Progress Report Number 4
May 24, 1998
Having now finished Book IV, it is sad that I've come to the end of this truly great epic novel. My Signet Classic's Book IV (pp 1115-1456) comprises Part 12-Epilogue 2 of the Great Books edition.
Pierre really got himself into a lot of trouble at the end of Book III. The French idea of justice in the empty city of Moscow was not the most fair. Dressed as he was in a porter's coat, Pierre was lucky to escape death. He did, in fact, end up as number six in a group of prisoners among whom some (numbers one through five) were led to a firing squad as the others watched. Even after escaping that fate, he spent over a month in very deprived conditions, including a forced march with the French as they departed Moscow in the winter. Many prisoners died in these conditions. Pierre met someone during this time who he really admired. The man's name was Platon. This man was a peasant who spoke with simplicity and a generous sprinkling of Russian folk proverbs. It was during this time that Pierre became content with the meaning of life as a reflection of the glory of God. After his release, we was a changed man. He was also a free man. His wife, Ellen, had died of an overdose of medicine the doctor had given her for her heart. She had angina pectoris. She had taken more than she should have while frustrated at not hearing from her husband following her request for a divorce.
Prince Andrei's sister, Princess Marya, heard of his survival and encampment with the Rostov's. She took the extraordinary step of traveling around occupied Moscow with her nephew, Nikolushka, to go to her brother's aid. There she found Natasha tending his recovery which had been going well until the last couple of days. He seemed to have become so convinced that he would die that he was looking forward to the next world with yearning. He'd been given a book of the Gospels, and he was certain of where he was going and was almost in a hurry to get there. His son took one look at him and knew that his father would not live. Prince Andrei told Natasha that she should not bind her soul to a dying man. Shortly after Princess Marya's arrival, the Prince died while being attended by Princess Marya and Natasha.
It seemed Book IV would never stop being a tale of tragedy. Next came the news of the death of Petya. Countess Rostova was so shaken by this news concerning her youngest son, refusing to believe it at first, that she had to be physically restrained and constantly attended. The only one who could do this was Natasha; the old Count had to yield this duty to his daughter. In a way, this duty brought Natasha out of her very deep grief that came upon her when Prince Andrei died. The story of the death of Petya was indeed the saddest story told throughout the book. The old Countess was long in recovering, and when she did, she was an old woman beyond her years.
Princess Marya became very close friends with Natasha during this time, and when Natasha started to grow ill from her constant care of her mother, Princess Marya insisted that Natasha accompany her to Moscow to get medical attention following the exit of the French army from that city. After Pierre's release from being a prisoner of the French, he visited Princess Marya and Natasha in Moscow. Because Natasha was so much changed from her sorrow and illness, she was not even recognizable to Pierre, at first. When Princess Marya asked him if he didn't know her companion, it took a while for Pierre to realize that this was Natasha. When the recognition did occur, however, he was unable to conceal his love for her. She was likewise transformed by his admiration, and it was not long before they were married.
This marriage was the last happy event in the life of old Count Ilya Rostov. He had become almost feeble after so much tragedy--the family's financial ruin, their having to flee from their home with the burning of Moscow, the news of Petya's death and the inconsolable grief of the Countess that followed. Unfortunately, he died leaving the family in debt amounting to twice the value of his estate. Everyone advised Nikolai, his son, not to accept the inheritance, but he did not want it to be a slur on his father's name. Nikolai resigned his commission with the hussars and took a job in Moscow as a clerk. He was barely able to make ends meet, housing his mother and Sonya, his cousin and erstwhile fiancé for whom he seemed to have lost affection.
Although Nikolai Rostov was very slow to pay court to Lisa Bolkonsky because of his pride and his reduced financial and social circumstances following his father's death, in the end, he does marry her. This relieves his family of its financial burdens and proves to be a very happy and fruitful marriage.
The narrative concerning the French invasion and capture of Moscow is interspersed throughout the life stories of these main characters. The Russian Commander-in-Chief, Kutusov, was certain that they had won the 1812 battle of Borodino, just west of Moscow, even though the Russians lost half their army there. So many casualties resulted from that battle, on both sides, that it was physically impossible for either side to regroup and continue the fighting there the next day as originally intended. After hot debate with all his generals, Kutusov decided it was necessary to pull further back east, even beyond Moscow. That allowed the French to march into Moscow, even if it had been almost completely evacuated. Tsar Alexandr I was in Petersburg at the time, and he was highly displeased with Kutusov for this non-defense of Moscow. The French stayed there only about a month, looting and burning. After two unsuccessful attempts at offering peace to the Russians, the French decided to depart. When they did this, Kutusov knew he had been right about Borodino; the French had lost after all.
It was nearly impossible for Kutusov to restrain his generals from staging battles against the departing French at different places. It was also impossible to stop the Russians from making guerilla attacks against the French. The French found themselves without food, trying to carry out all their stolen booty, in the midst of a cruel winter. Their forces were vastly diminised by these harsh conditions alone. They even chose to go back through Smolensk which they had burned on their way to Moscow, rather than taking an alternate route which would have provided them with food and necessities far better than their choice of the Smolensk road.
Tolstoy devoted Epilogue 2 to an essay on history and how it can never give reasons for events with accuracy. He contends that man's free will is always influenced by time and circumstances so that he is not really as free to act as he thinks that he might be. Heros are often merely the people who happen to be where events occur that demand ordinary decisions and actions. So, what is it that moves men to act? In the end, Tolstoy described this as a power that men and women give to their leaders. Sometimes the leaders use that power for the purposes and in the manner for which it was intended, and sometimes they do not.
Copyright 1998, Herman Fontenot
Go forward to another of the four articles on, or ‘extraordinary quotations' from, War and Peace: 1, 2, 3, 4, Extraordinary Quotations
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