Dan’s Reviews > War and Peace > Status Update
Dan
is 93% done
342of364
I think it's important not to feel sorry for the Rostov's after the death of the Count. They had all lived so well, so happily and on so much credit that this "poverty" is deserved. Living within ones means is a virtue, too and now Nicholas is learning that lesson. His pride, however, his stubbornness is just as bad and he could save himself much misery by not indulging his mother and by asking Pierre for $
— Apr 08, 2016 07:37PM
I think it's important not to feel sorry for the Rostov's after the death of the Count. They had all lived so well, so happily and on so much credit that this "poverty" is deserved. Living within ones means is a virtue, too and now Nicholas is learning that lesson. His pride, however, his stubbornness is just as bad and he could save himself much misery by not indulging his mother and by asking Pierre for $
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Dan
is 97% done
354of364-the end
I'm not re-reading the second epilogue because it's a waste of time. For me the only purpose it serves is to show that even a genius like Tolstoy can make a major blunder. Nothing in the second epilogue serves any other purpose than to review what we've learned much more elegantly from the novel preceding. Tolstoy must think his readers are idiots to have ever thought this was a good idea.
— Apr 11, 2016 06:13PM
I'm not re-reading the second epilogue because it's a waste of time. For me the only purpose it serves is to show that even a genius like Tolstoy can make a major blunder. Nothing in the second epilogue serves any other purpose than to review what we've learned much more elegantly from the novel preceding. Tolstoy must think his readers are idiots to have ever thought this was a good idea.
Dan
is 96% done
353.1of364
Pierre's and Natasha's conversation mirrors a few themes of the novel. First, and most important are how interconnected everything is. They just let the conversation flow along, contrary to logic because they know what the other is really saying. It also mirrors the court conversation of the first chapter with its intrigue and banality, but here it's put to good use, not for cold society.
— Apr 11, 2016 06:09PM
Pierre's and Natasha's conversation mirrors a few themes of the novel. First, and most important are how interconnected everything is. They just let the conversation flow along, contrary to logic because they know what the other is really saying. It also mirrors the court conversation of the first chapter with its intrigue and banality, but here it's put to good use, not for cold society.
Dan
is 96% done
353of364
So while we have learned over the course of the novel to never worship any man or believe any man is great, little Nicholas has not learned this. He looks up to Pierre and he thinks of the men in Plutarch (the ultimate catalog of "great men"), Even his father is a god-like figure to him. So what could the future hold for this boy who is still afraid of the dark? Can any generation learn from the previous?
— Apr 11, 2016 06:07PM
So while we have learned over the course of the novel to never worship any man or believe any man is great, little Nicholas has not learned this. He looks up to Pierre and he thinks of the men in Plutarch (the ultimate catalog of "great men"), Even his father is a god-like figure to him. So what could the future hold for this boy who is still afraid of the dark? Can any generation learn from the previous?
Dan
is 96% done
352.1of364
I thought of the misogyny because here at the end of the novel he is fair to everyone. He shows all their sins and graces side by side because he has finally assembled, by the end, a collection of good people. None of them are stupid, but they are also imperfect like all people. Pierre is considered apart by little Nicholas (the warning of worship is here) but Tolstoy does not criticize this family.
— Apr 10, 2016 07:17PM
I thought of the misogyny because here at the end of the novel he is fair to everyone. He shows all their sins and graces side by side because he has finally assembled, by the end, a collection of good people. None of them are stupid, but they are also imperfect like all people. Pierre is considered apart by little Nicholas (the warning of worship is here) but Tolstoy does not criticize this family.
Dan
is 96% done
352of364
I started thinking about the criticism of Tolstoy and his view of women. He's been accused of being a misogynist and I also tend to think he might have been one, but above that I think he just didn't like stupid people. The novel is filled with his contempt for Napoleon, the generals, the government, and silly men who do stupid things, so why can't he also criticize women who do idiotic things. All's fair.
— Apr 10, 2016 07:14PM
I started thinking about the criticism of Tolstoy and his view of women. He's been accused of being a misogynist and I also tend to think he might have been one, but above that I think he just didn't like stupid people. The novel is filled with his contempt for Napoleon, the generals, the government, and silly men who do stupid things, so why can't he also criticize women who do idiotic things. All's fair.
Dan
is 96% done
351of364
"You ought not to have been here at all," There's a double meaning here in what Nicholas says to his nephew. One meaning is that the boy really shouldn't be exposed to the radical ideas being spoken of (it's dangerous), but also had Andrei lived the boy really would not have been there, and maybe there is some resentment, some reminder of that man whom he didn't get along with in life.
— Apr 10, 2016 06:57PM
"You ought not to have been here at all," There's a double meaning here in what Nicholas says to his nephew. One meaning is that the boy really shouldn't be exposed to the radical ideas being spoken of (it's dangerous), but also had Andrei lived the boy really would not have been there, and maybe there is some resentment, some reminder of that man whom he didn't get along with in life.
Dan
is 96% done
350of364
Anna Makarovna's trick for knitting two stockings at the same time - one inside the other and them pulling them apart - represents the whole family and its generations, as well as all of society. The government is changing (for the worse in this case) born of intrigue and mistrust, and the old are passing the responsibility of the family on to the young: just as one event is tied to a million others.
— Apr 10, 2016 06:41PM
Anna Makarovna's trick for knitting two stockings at the same time - one inside the other and them pulling them apart - represents the whole family and its generations, as well as all of society. The government is changing (for the worse in this case) born of intrigue and mistrust, and the old are passing the responsibility of the family on to the young: just as one event is tied to a million others.
Dan
is 95% done
349of364
Tolstoy does not paint a rosy picture of what it will be like to be old. Andrei's father went mad, The old count was embittered and died ashamed, Pierre's father (lion that he was) had a stroke. And the Countess played her part and is relegated to go on living onlu because her body insists on it, and not because she has any reason to.
The glances the young people make about her are for us someday, too.
— Apr 10, 2016 06:29PM
Tolstoy does not paint a rosy picture of what it will be like to be old. Andrei's father went mad, The old count was embittered and died ashamed, Pierre's father (lion that he was) had a stroke. And the Countess played her part and is relegated to go on living onlu because her body insists on it, and not because she has any reason to.
The glances the young people make about her are for us someday, too.
Dan
is 95% done
348of364
Pierre and Natasha are no longer the delicate, French-ified society that is insulated from the rel world. Natasha breastfeeds and Pierre can put up with a baby relieving itself in his hand.
Personally I identify more with Nicholas. I'm not a fan of infants - in fact I don't want to deal with them until they are about 5 or 6 years old.
I never picked up before that Denisov doesn't really care for Pierre.
— Apr 09, 2016 08:13PM
Pierre and Natasha are no longer the delicate, French-ified society that is insulated from the rel world. Natasha breastfeeds and Pierre can put up with a baby relieving itself in his hand.
Personally I identify more with Nicholas. I'm not a fan of infants - in fact I don't want to deal with them until they are about 5 or 6 years old.
I never picked up before that Denisov doesn't really care for Pierre.
Dan
is 95% done
347of364
The most important thing to take away from this chapter is how like a peasant woman Natasha has become. She's become natural, she's "let herself go" (which I think is a terrible expression), and she nurses her own children unlike any other Russian woman of her class at the time. She is, in essence, Tolstoy's idea of a perfect wife. Maria is more realistic.
— Apr 09, 2016 08:00PM
The most important thing to take away from this chapter is how like a peasant woman Natasha has become. She's become natural, she's "let herself go" (which I think is a terrible expression), and she nurses her own children unlike any other Russian woman of her class at the time. She is, in essence, Tolstoy's idea of a perfect wife. Maria is more realistic.
