Friday, September 19, 2014

Philosophy in War and Peace

Tolstoy employs social aspects of human life in his writing which make his works extremely relatable to readers. Philosophy is generally a large part of human lives whether it is faced explicitly or implicitly. Nobody knows what the correct way to live is and characters such as Pierre, Andrew and Nicholas are young and in their prime,only beginning that journey. Whether success is medals and glory as viewed by Andrew or loyalty to the Tsar and being a valiant soldier as seen by Nicholas, it is all relative. As a social writer, Tolstoy expressed some of his views on life and self betterment through the plot and characters in the novel. It is largely known that he was intrigued by the complex and largely ambiguous concept that is life and death. It is no surprise then that as Andrew is in the dividing line between the two he gains some insight into what is important in life. Andrew is said to think about " the insignificance of greatness", " the unimportance of life" and " greater unimportance of death". It is interesting to view the contrast in the situation. The one who gave so much importance to glory now views greatness as trivial. Andrew now views his previous hero as " little insignificant Napoleon". It is a great lesson on the futility of pride and how what humans think is important really isn't and what is taken for granted is what truly matters. One would only wish to be as lucky as to get closer to figuring out the ambiguities and mysteries surrounding life. Tolstoy's writing therefore shows the interconnectedness of human beings, how our differences are nothing in comparison to our similarities.

5 comments:

  1. I think your observation of Andrew's change of opinion is really good! Do you think this is partly because going to War made him realise that battle is actually barbaric and not glorious or heroic?

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  2. I think not only looking at him going to war, what is particularly interesting and important is that exact moment of his " epiphany" so to speak. The way Tolstoy formulated that moment is brilliant. It is not only his opinion of war but of life as a whole. A new outlook on life not only war. What is the meaning of life- why are we here- why do we live the way we do- why is any of this important?

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  3. I think it is interesting that war provides a source of purpose for Andrew, yet eventually, one of the driving forces behind the war, Napoleon, becomes insignificant to him. Perhaps Tolstoy means to communicate that the larger, more abstract concept of War itself can always give soldiers purpose but the trivial, finite characteristics of a given war are ultimately insignificant.

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  5. I think a possible take home message though slightly pessimistic is if you truly look at life abstractly and at that moment in particular for Andrew nothing matters. Yes, soldiers find war as an opportunity to succeed and make a name for themselves but the fact that there are things in life that remain unknown and we hardly ever get to see what is really going on is the reason Andrew seems to stop caring. At the face of death does anything truly even matter?

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