Penguin edition - Briggs translation - Black cover w/ chandelier:
Volume III, Part III, pp 911-1033, chapters 1-34. This concludes Volume III.
Signet edition - Dunnigan translation - tan cover w/ flag:
Book 3, Part Three, pp 953-1081, chapters 1-34. This concludes Book 3.
Modern Library - Garnett translation - Olive cover w/ gold stripe:
Part Eleven, pp 1267-1435, chapters 1-34. This concludes Part Eleven.
Amazon edition - Maude translation - light blue cover:
Book Eleven (1812), 1337-1519, chapters 1-34. This concludes Book Eleven.
In all versions, this will complete a major section. The good news is Week 14 will be a catch-up week before we dive into the last book/volume + the two epilogues. Iâm not even gonna ask about whether or not itâs needed, since Iâm woefully behind and I know last week was a long one.
The last bit reads:
The French patrol was one of those sent out through the various streets of Moscow by Durosnelâs order to put a stop to the pillage, and especially to catch the incendiaries who, according to the general opinion which had that day originated among the higher French officers, were the cause of the conflagrations. After marching through a number of streets the patrol arrested five more Russian suspects: a small shopkeeper, two seminary students, a peasant, and a house serf, besides several looters. But of all these various suspected characters, Pierre was considered to be the most suspicious of all. When they had all been brought for the night to a large house on the ZĂșbov Rampart that was being used as a guardhouse, Pierre was placed apart under strict guard.
Analysis, courtesy of GradeSaver.com:
Analysis
The destruction of Moscow may seem like an inhumane event â one of the great sites of human culture is surrendered to fire and pillaging. However, this unlikely event forms a backdrop for Tolstoyâs exploration of how people come to do good things. This theme first comes up as the Rostovs prepare to evacuate Moscow and (somewhat accidentally) volunteer their carts as medical transports. This proves to be a significant act of charity; while the other noble families have fled the city weeks ago, the Rostovs have stayed and are now transporting nearly 100 wounded officers. However, their altruism doesnât come from any generous feeling. Natasha impulsively volunteers the carts when she gets bored packing her clothes, and the weak-willed Count Rostov feels obliged to follow through on his daughterâs offer.
The Rostovsâ ambiguous generosity is consistent with the way they were portrayed earlier in the novel. Count Rostov maintains his gentle and resigned demeanor, and the scene in which he allows all the familyâs carts to be given to the military echoes the one when he takes responsibility for Nikolaiâs gambling debts to Dolokhov. Both incidents have they same result: they further strain the Rostovsâ already precarious finances, but are a result of the familyâs gentleness.
Pierreâs acts of generosity are similarly ambiguous. When the French first invade Moscow, he believes that he can best help humanity through assassinating Napoleon and getting himself killed in retaliation. If the violence of Pierreâs ambitions isnât questionable enough, he seems entirely fixated on the idea of heroic âsuicide by cop.â He doesnât seem to care if he succeeds in killing the emperor, as shown when he chooses to use a dagger instead of a pistol despite his doubts about whether it will get the job done. Ironically, scenes of violence are what rouse Pierre from his fantasies of bloody heroism. The sight of a hysterical woman and a burning house inspire him to rescue the little girl, after which he decides that itâs better to help the people around him than to try to kill the emperor. He is even more inspired when he sees a French soldier about to rape a young woman.
Unlike the Rostovs, whose self-sacrifice is mostly accidental, Pierreâs generosity is intentional. However, he is only able to help those around him because he matures quickly. He starts out indulging his childish fantasies of heroism, but when he sees the horrifying reality of violence, he gallantly throws himself into the fray in order to help others â and in doing so, ceases to think about himself in romantic or heroic terms. This narrative parallels the experiences that Prince Andrei and Nikolai Rostov have when they go to battle for the first time.
And indeed, Pierreâs decision to help others rather than pursue his idealized heroism reveals his maturity in terms of the conflict between spiritual and material existence. Before, when confronted with the petty, material world of society, Pierre has been pushed to disappear into his spirituality. Here, he chooses to act in the opposite way; he has a spiritual goal, but when confronted directly with suffering in the world around him, he chooses to engage the world and thereby reveals the true depths of his morality.
At the end of the chapter, Tolstoy includes a small coda to his exploration of how individuals become heroes. When Pierre rescues the girl from the burning house, a French soldier helps him find her. âFaut ĂȘtre humainâ (928), he explains â that is, âone must be human.â This comment suggests that regardless of what inspires people to commit heroic acts, compassion is a universal human quality. And by default, patriotism is potentially a ruse behind which true humanity ebbs and flows.
Finally, one should consider how interesting Tolstoyâs depiction of Moscowâs desertion would be to his contemporary reader, for whom the event was not so far removed historically. Rastpochin, a real historical figure who might have been responsible for ordering the city burnt to the ground, is one who would have inspired strong responses from a reading audience, and his villainy here is clear. Watching the nobility flee the city in such droves, even as some of them pretend to maintain the same air of civility, makes this the point in the novel when âwarâ and âpeaceâ have most coincided. There will be no more detached political discussions at parties, but instead, everyone is being touched by war, a fact that Tolstoy might argue was always the case whether the people involved knew it or not.
. I have had the exact feeling. I have often wondered how you are progressing because you (?) mentioned the âwe are womenâ encouraging quote.
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