Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Pierre’s Dreams

In book eleven Pierre has a dream and this got wondering whether or not it is related to the other dreams that Pierre had earlier in War and Peace.
Pierre keeps a dairy book 6 and in it he records three dreams. First, Pierre dreams of being attacked by dogs. Pierre interprets this dream and decides the dogs represent his passions. In his second dream Pierre sees Joseph Alexeevich, his benefactor, and the two talk about Pierre’s greatest vice and Pierre’s "conjugal duties.” The message of the dream is clearly what is discussed in the dream. In his third dream Pierre again sees Joseph Alexeevich and is then shown a book of drawings which Pierre later interprets as representing the Song of Songs.
In book eleven Pierre has another dream. Pierre imagines the he hears the sounds of war and is awakened in a fright. Pierre considers himself cowardly for this and thinks of the soldiers who fed him and how brave they are. Pierre then goes back to sleep. This time Pierre dreams of being in the Masonic lodge and seeing his benefactor and friends. Pierre refers to these people as “they”, which Pierre defines as being a people who have no fear. The message of this dream is Pierre is working on being fearless.
Pierre’s recent dream is similar to his previous dreams in that is reflects a moral goal that Pierre is aiming for. I think this recent dream show that Pierre is still struggling to find what he wants in life.

1 comment:

  1. I think the reason that we only read about Pierre's dreams is that the is the main character who thinks about life and his thoughts are reflected in his dreams. I think in all his dreams he is searching for his purpose in life, as David suggests.

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