HiThereDear

This is for a Critical Thinking class -

Tolstoy's War and Peace :

"In the eyes of the world Pierre was a great gentleman, the rather blind and absurd husband of a distinguished wife, a clever crank who did nothing but harmed nobody and was a first-rate, good-natured fellow. But a complex and difficult process of internal development was taking place all this time in Pierre's soul, revealing much to him and causing him many spiritual doubts and joys" (Book Six, Chapter 4, p.483 - Norton Edition).


There are many passages in War&Peace that express similar ideas. Your assignment is to select an idea, or cluster of ideas, from this passage and relate it (or them) to the novel as a whole. Points you might consider are the nature of war and peace as historical phenomena, the relation of public and private life to war and peace, and the nature of personal and social development in the context of war and peace -- and the links between all these points.

You are not limited to a discussion of Pierre. I.e., I chose this passage not because it was about Pierre, but because in it Tolstoy concisely presents a model or pattern to which characters and events throughout the novel may be usefully related.

In your essay, please develop an analysis that draws on materials from each third of the novel, but -- above all -- do not summarize and do not rely on footnotes or secondary sources.

I am looking for a complx but SUSTAINED argument, with adequate and varied specific illustration in support; further, I am looking for evidence of thought in depth -- including consideration of opposing ideas.

Recapitulation:
1st - think about the passage, clarifying the idea(s) and their implications generally -- and for the novel;
2nd - relate the model to specifics chosen from throughout W&P
3rd - write a sustained and detailed argument in which you explain the significance of this model or pattern for the novel as whole in its meditation on the processes of war and peace.

There is no right or wrong answer; deep thought about the passage ought to yield lots of ideas and insights. Connect those ideas and insights into a continuous argument about the novel.

You are not expected to do the impossible, to come up with a "final word" on the book or "explain" this enormous novel as a whole. Focus on the significance of the pattern(s) you discover.

Thanks!

eyeronic

One thought: Tolstoy often has characters that experience a revelation. That's the way the book ends if I'm not mistaken. This usually is a long, slow, painful process that only comes to fruition as the man(and it's almost always a man) gets into his later years and has made a few mistakes in getting there. Along the way there is a questioning of God, but in the end, Tolstoy puts across a pretty strong pro-God(not necessarily religious although he was Christian(I think)) message. [You might want to think about how Tolstoy himself plays God in getting into so many characters heads and the ways their lives run their courses.] It's the spiritually enlightened who find true happiness. Love, power and wealth do not make their posessors happy in War and Peace.

That's kind of long and rambly, but I haven't read the book for a few years. When it come down to it you have to write the essay. Hopefully you can get a spark or two from this. Good Luck!

__________________
I hold with those that favor fire.