:: french, russian, and andrei ::

whassup: I'm reading through tolstoy's war & peace and taking exhaustingly extensive notes. then I pick through them to discuss recurring themes, great passages, and looooooooove, and report back here. also, there are a lot of spoilers. this is your only warning.

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BOOK 1, PART 2

part two of war and peace switches from glittering society to the war front, following mostly prince andrei and nikolai rostov (with a few appearances of dolokhov and some minor characters, like captain tushin and “the handsome artillery soldier”. tolstoy’s name, not mine).

the marked emphasis on french vs. russian really stood out to me, and not just in the context of battles. I still don’t have it pinned down, but I’ve noticed some interesting things.

after general mack brings news of austria’s defeat, an officer named zherkov makes a joke about it that angers prince andrei, who snaps at their mutual friend nevitsky, “‘40,000 men massacred, our ally’s army destroyed, and you find this a cause for jesting,’ he said, reverting to French, as if to give force to his opinion.” he adds an insult in russian, but having noticed zherkov could still hear him, he “pronounced the words with a French accent.”

“He went on this way, speaking French, and saying in Russian only those words to which he wanted to give a scornful emphasis.” ouch.

when andrei goes to brunn to report to the emperor about schmidt’s death and the russian victory, he meets with the russian diplomat, bilibin. there he is “glad to speak, if not Russian (they were speaking French), at least with a Russian who would, he presumed, share the general Russian antipathy…to the Austrians.”

I noticed french is always associated with society and people of status. tolstoy specifically says that bilibin is a good diplomat, beyond needing “only to speak French and to avoid certain things.” in connection with diplomacy, this implied to me a certain level of artifice or posturing; of shrewdly working something for your own ends, and evidenced in the russians consistently pulling through by sheer bluff.

for example, when tushin’s group is firing their four cannons at the french, they aren’t overrun “only because the French could not conceive of the temerity of anyone continuing to fire from completely unprotected cannons.”

this also drew my attention to some interesting things about andrei. when he is angry with zherkov, he shows what he thinks of the seriousness of war and the respect due those fighting it. he has ideals: gallant and honorable ideals, even if they’re somewhat impossible.

bagration thinks he is “one of those ordinary little staff dandies sent to earn a cross”—perhaps because andrei is well-educated, well-dressed, well-looking. he has a momentary foil in his tour guide: “a handsome, foppishly dressed man with a diamond ring on his forefinger, who spoke French readily but very badly.” he’s kind of an andrei wannabe (…aren’t we all).

            of course, though, we know there’s more to him than a staff dandy looking for the little participation badge and getting out early. when tushin’s group is bravely struggling in the face of defeat—and one staff officer is too scared to stay—andrei goes above and beyond the requirements of his position. he delivers his message (requirement) and stays (above and beyond). he isn’t a respecter of persons; he is brave; he is faithful in his execution of duty. when bagration later questions tushin’s obedience, andrei sharply stands up for him—because that’s who he is, and because he has those ideas and ideals for what war should be.

andrei doesn’t accept tushin’s thanks. he walks away without saying anything, “distressed and sad. It was all so strange, so unlike what he had expected.”

this is almost all that part 2 covers. a few small things—in particular rostov's character—I believe are being developed, but I'll recap if I need to. school starts in three short weeks and I don't want to drag this out.

relationship tracker:
IN LOVE
boris + natasha
nikolai + sonya
vera + berg

IN PROCESS
marya + anatole

IN MARRIAGE
andrei + lise
NEW pierre + helene

SUNK SHIPS
0

death count: still 1. wait for it.