After finishing Book 7, I can't help but think these marriages within the Rostov family are NEVER going to happen. Nicholas with the help of Natasha guilted his parents into allowing his marriage with Sonya. He does this by questioning wether they would have him marry for money, pulling on the consequence of Count Rostov since he foolishly lost the family money (though with Nicholas' help) and the heartstrings of his mother. Yet, he goes back to war and with distance once again from Sonya he's hesitant. I mean for goodness sakes it took him till he saw Sonya dressed up as a Circassian with a mustache for him to realize that he wanted to marry her! What does that say about him? Like Sara's post it seems as though he is just highly immature and although he took a long time to come to this decision it does not seem as though it is logically thought out. How does he expect to support her? His family is broke and losing ground fast this marriage will just create a larger burden.
In the case of Natasha the distance with Prince Andrew seems to be negatively affecting her mood and attitude. She talks with Nicholas about being depressed and although her actions don't necessarily always reflect that, by the end of Book 7 she seems especially cross. This marriage is also a sense of worry within the Rostov home. Her mother worries that this marriage won't end up well but they also worry it won't happen because they need the money. There is a pull between what is best for their daughter and what is best for the family. The marriage and money problems are intertwined. And the weight of these problems lay heavy on the household. The usually happy cohesive family seems disjointed and out of sorts. It makes me wonder if these marriages will ever actually occur, and if they do will it help solve their problems?
I can certainly see your reasoning, and it is a shame to see the Rostov family become unsettled. Again, just like the debate we had in class, I feel that regardless, Andrew would be a good match for Natasha. Considering both of their paths and histories, I feel like they would be good together, and Natasha would regret ever breaking off their engagement.
ReplyDeleteThank you :) We'll see what happens!
The worries that you have here are valid and I have had the same worries myself. I feel like Tolstoy doesn't quite believe in happy marriages and is hinting that they will all end badly. This also supports that good marriages cannot succeed because the Rostovs have the only good marriage in the book but they still cannot marry their children well. I do believe that the Rostovs' money problems would be solved by marrying their children off, although it may not bring the children happiness.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Tolstoy's hinting at some inverse correlation between happiness and prosperity. Are there any happy, rich families left in the book? It could come back to his opinion on peasants and how they've got it right. Then again, I guess we don't really see any happy peasants (yet) either. But I feel like he's being telling us throughout the book that being wealthy inextricably links you to society, which controls then controls you like a puppeteer.
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