After much of the philosophizing on war at the beginning of Volume III, we finally see Napoleon making headway in his invasion of Russia. The invasion comes as a surprise: “No one even dreamt that the Russian provinces were in danger of being invaded, or imagined the war might be carried beyond the frontiers of the Polish provinces.” The invasion inspires a number of varied reactions, and Tolstoy presents us with a variety of perspectives—from the top of the military and down to the peasants and serfs. He frames the invasion with essays questioning the role of "Great Men" in causing such events. The Old Prince Bolkonsky's death also frames Napoleon's invasion and echoes the theme of forgiveness in this part of the novel.
Peasants Revolt Against Princess Marya
During the discussion, many people were curious about the peasants’ anger towards Princess Marya as she was trying to offer them grain and a chance to leave the Bogucharovo estate for Moscow. Sara pointed out that the Bogucharavo peasants are different from those at Bald Hills. According to the narrator, “They differed in speech, dress, and attitude. The claimed to be from the steppe… The Old Prince applauded their stamina, but he didn’t like them because they were an uncivilized lot.” They are “more wild” than the peasants at Bald Hills because Bogucharovo never had an owner living on the estate. Prince Andrei, the absentee landlord, only drops by and leaves whenever he pleases. The peasants would be compelled by a “force” to move to different locations, and then they would return at will. Perhaps because of the low-literacy rate among these “unsupervised” peasants, they are superstitious and highly subject to rumors on the war, Napoleon, the end of the world, and complete freedom. A few people pointed out the elder Dron’s belief that Alpatych, the Prince’s steward, is a wizard who could “see three yards” under any person—Dron fears him because of it! The narrator also describes how the French persuades the peasants to tolerate their presence. The French claim that they would provide refuge against the Cossacks, who destroy deserted villages. So, the peasants make vague connections between tolerating the French and having freedom from their Russian landowners—hence their hostility to Princess Marya’s suggestion that they take her grain and move out with her to Moscow. A participant made the observation that the serfs “are panicky about the invasion since they are kept isolated, uninformed, and uneducated—so they react badly."
Someone asked whether the peasants thought themselves as “middle-class” after Prince Andrei provided schools and hospitals to the Bogucharovo peasants. In fact, his changes to improve their position have the opposite effect! “Prince Andrei’s last stay at Bogucharovo, and his innovations—hospitals, schools, and rent reductions—far from mollifying them, and intensified those aspects of their character that the Old Prince had identified as uncivilized.” Such reforms were common in the 1860s, but in this particular moment, Tolstoy seems to find faults in such efforts! Sara mentioned that later in the 1870s, revolutionary students tried to go to “the people” to teach them and preach revolutionary ideals, but the peasants failed to understand. Their ultimate loyalties were with the Tsar.
Many also noted the divide between the upper classes and the peasants. Even in language they were divided—the peasants and “more natural” characters speak Russian, and high society speaks French. Sara also brought up the point that peasant rebellions were very prevalent since “that was often the only way for serfs to express their dissatisfaction, because at various points they were legally forbidden from bringing a complaint against their masters, unless someone was killed or died at the master's hand.”
At the time of Napoleon’s invasion, there were rumors of emancipation—and the Bogucharovo peasants definitely react to Princess Marya with these rumors in mind. However, Tolstoy depicts the peasants as inconsistent in what they actually want. Someone in the discussion even mentioned, “Freedom is not an easy thing and can even be scary,” suggesting that the peasants may claim to want freedom without understanding what that would really entail. The peasants in this scene even go back on their demands for emancipation. The village elder Dron asks Princess Marya to be set free, and the mob refuses to accept her grain, thinking that she’s trying to trick them into further enslavement. When Nikolai rides into the village, however, they obediently follow his orders—even “one or two of them even take off their own belts so that they can be tied up!”
The Death of the Old Prince Bolkonsky
Princess Marya is left to fend for herself and deal with the peasants on her own because of her father’s death. Within the novel, Tolstoy places the Old Prince’s death at an interesting place—right in the midst of the French invasion. Without him around, she realizes that she will have to take up new responsibilities making decisions about what to do in the impending war.
At the same time, though, she experiences a sense of “impending liberation,” but “feels guilty for wishing her father to die in order to free her of her misery.” She starts thinking about marriage but is overcome by guilt at the thought of wishing her father dead so that she can live her idealized life. After he has his stroke, she avoids visiting him because of this guilt. When she does end up visiting him, his words of affection and forgiveness surprise her. He tells her, “'Dear girl!’ Or was it, 'darling'? ‘Thank you... my dear daughter.. forgive me...’" It almost seems out of character for the Old Prince to forgive her—just a few pages back he calls Princess Marya a “tormenter” and blames her for his unhappiness! Being so close to death the Old Prince. He becomes physically weak (I mean, he had 2 strokes!), and somehow with physical deterioration he becomes meeker: “even as he spoke a look of childish shyness and uncertainty came over his face.” Tolstoy describes the death of the Old Prince through Princess Marya’s eyes, so as readers, we have no idea what is going through his mind as he dies. Already, we know that forgiveness is a huge part of what’s going on inside him. As a participant observed, “The Old Prince is only able to admit his horrible treatment of his daughter at his death bed, as if he has to confess and ask forgiveness in order to pass to the other side, to move on to the next world.”
Many considered his death a type of “liberation” for Princess Marya—it lets her fall in love with Nikolai and frees her from her father’s torment. Princess Marya herself calls Nikolai’s appearance “an act of Providence” herself. Her desperate situation heightens Nikolai’s “romantic imagination,” and there’s always the chance that if he didn’t meet Princess Marya under such circumstances, he would have never recognized her beauty or felt such a strong connection with her.
Tolstoy’s Depiction of “Great Men”
A participant noted that Tolstoy’s essays imply that “great men don’t control events but they certainly shape them or influence them.” So a few people wondered—how would Tolstoy explain figures like Stalin who forced things on the population, like collectivization and industrialization? At the beginning of Part II of Volume III, Tolstoy claims, “It was Providence that compelled all those men, striving for the realization for their own personal ambitions, to work cooperatively towards an outcome of immense significance, of which no single individual (not Napoleon, not Alexander, even less anybody actually involved in the fighting) had the slightest inkling.” It seems like Tolstoy would consider Stalin to be one of those men who “strove for the realization of his own personal ambitions” that played a single role, no more and no less than everyone else around him, to work “cooperatively towards an outcome of immense significance.” As someone noted, “according to LT, historical events are shaped by multiple factors, influences, and unpredictable interplay of a variety of things.” Individuals, so-called “great men” and “little men” alike, play their own roles in the larger scheme of things whether they are aware of it or not—and one’s role is no less significant than another’s. So who controls “the larger scheme of things”? (One participant wondered, “So God gave LT the manuscript?”) As the creator of the novel, obviously, Tolstoy does know the larger scheme of things, what will happen, what his characters know and don’t know, and what we as readers know and don’t know. “One of the benefits of being a novelist is being able to create a world and BE God!” Even his narrative point of view reflects a God-like omniscience, as it changes from making big and lofty statements (like in the historical essays) to explaining “the smallest stirrings in a person’s soul.”
Someone observed, “Tolstoy seems to have a nonchalant attitude towards Napoleon and Alexander.” Many found that Tolstoy is clearly critical of Napoleon, but towards the Tsar, he is depicted with “human weakness and lacking judgment, but also caring, compassionate, and emotional.” He was seen as “feeble and at times clueless. He wants no part of being commander in chief and lets others appoint one.” Another observed, “Alexander sometimes seems to be something of a non-entity, he stands around and the crowd or the nobles project onto him what they expect the Tsar to be.” Alexander doesn’t avoid Tolstoy’s critical eye towards great men. “Tolstoy had to deal with censors when he dealt with the Tsar,” as someone noted. With Napoleon, Tolstoy isn’t so subtle in criticism. “Napoleon is depicted as a megalomaniac, with no care or concern for the average man. Just in love with himself and his vision of what he will accomplish.” Both men are revered, and both inspire sometimes irrational, reckless behavior. Someone noted, “What people feel towards these ‘great men’ seems based on the superficial but is passionately felt.” A crowd will almost trample a young boy, Petya, to death just to see the Tsar. Such brutality isn’t too different from soldiers willing to swim across a river and drown to death in order to display their love for Napoleon.
Tolstoy and…Calculus?
Many pointed out that they noticed Tolstoy likes to drop mathematics (and sometimes physics) references. Pierre cheats on his numerology experiment, trying to force his prediction of the future to fit what he wants it to be (not unlike grade school marriage prediction games…). I remember a physics reference, where Tolstoy compares Nikolai’s excitement of coming home for the first time since he left for the war to the classical gravitational force equation. The closer he was to home, the stronger the force that compelled him to go home, out of nostalgia. Anyone catch more math/physics references?
If we let D be the distance between the center of Nikolai and and the center of Otradnoye in meters, m1 be the mass of Nikolai in kilograms, m2 the mass of Otradnoye in kilograms, and G be the gravitational constant, then F is “the desire to return home” in Newtons. The smaller D is, the larger F will be.
See you all on Wednesday!
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