Philosophy of life in the time of Tolstoy: war and peace
Tolstoy is amazing since its beginning frivolous and social, in elegant halls of St. Petersburg and Moscow, the meetings that were held at the house of the aristocratic families of Russia having as the topic of talk the war and the Napoleonic invasion the characters with each reading revive,They splurge vitality, when they break into duel, when they love, hunt hares or dance;that he seems to have lived for the detailed way he tells.
But León Tolstoi not only emphasizes custom. It also separates the Russian social pyramid, the complex history of classes and social types, acquiring different concerns the characters of how this affects them because they belonged to a status and did not want these conflicts caused by man who at the time hadAn aggressive and destructive thought for believing a superior being full of pride and arrogance harm them, from the princes and generals to the vassals and farmers. Also referring to marriage commitments, a way in which Russian families were linked and the importance they had for society.
Guerra y Paz represents a great epic mural about how the Russian people rejected the imperialist efforts of Napoleon Bonaparte, "the enemy of humanity", philosophy, religion, the search for a truth that allows clearly distinguishing the good of evil and actingConsequently, it is the central concern of the main characters, even military hierarchs such as General Kutúzov, dazzling character his Odyssey of General Kutúzov (an eminently moral man, devoid of hatred). A nationalist novel, war novel, tradition and the supposed warrior virtues of the Russian people.
In those times, military preparation also highlights was not very dominant, but in such a way that for the future preparation of the different conflicts that may arise serving as a basis. Throughout the novel, the accidents that will happen will mold their conscience until they reach the long -awaited peace.
Tolstoy’s ingenuity, its silences are always communicative, encourage you to keep the reader entertaining its curiosity, while staying more eager to discover its outcome.
‘You never marry, never, my friend;I advise you. Do not get married before you can tell yourself that you have done everything possible to stop loving the chosen woman, Prince Andrei Bolkonski tells him, Pierre Bezujov, (the very coveted young aristocrat of the city, who with hisawkwardness prevents him from quadling within the Russian organization chart taking him to marriage with a sad and superficial woman).This conversation between Andrei and Pierre develops in an elegant hall in Moscow shortly before Russia’s Napoleonic invasion .
Eager to know if Prince Andréi will finally declare Natasha (a beautiful young woman, the female protagonist), if the agreed wedding or the irritated prince Nikolái would be held, she will be able to frustrate her. Not only love is to participate in this change also death being part of misfortunes, awareness of good and evil ..
It is really extraordinary how in such a diverse novel, of so many characters is led by that omniscient narrator who does not lose control, which is giving everyone time and space due to everything seems to move forward as life progresses, sometimes very slowly, sometimes very fast, with his daily doses of joys, dreams, honor, love, fantasies;subjecting the reader with a role of prominence in history. There is practically no episode in the novel that is not halfway to tell, without removing the reader any decisive data or information, so that their attention does not decline, always remains eager and alert.
This novel reflects, both in the role of each character with in the narration of it, that hope always subsists in oneself that at any time will float and that life, including war, is the result of chance and nothingplus. It also reflects the antipathy that the characters feel for the war, while at the same time describes that going to a war and even returning from one having lost, it is an honor, death or living;shows the suffering seen from two different social classes
The novel does not present a story of all the virtuous experience of a war the novel exposes it in all its horror, showing the Russian army in Europe, in each of the battles (and the battle of Austerlitz);peace;the Russian War of 1812 and the defeat of the French armies after the occupation of Moscow;The inhuman bleeding and infinite hardships and injustices that hit the common and currents who constitute the vast majority of their victims are the same as human to them that the only fact that differentiates them is their status, did they want to be tyrants?;and the macabre and criminal stupidity of those who unleash these catastrophes, speaking of honor, patriotism and civic values, words whose emptiness and insignificance become patents barely burst the cannons.
Tolstoy describes the good and bad of each character, identifying each character. And what I liked most about this novel is the story of Natasha endowed with brilliant ideals. The ideals of obedience, humility believing in their own strength and in the enjoyment of living, provides benefits such as understanding the foreign nature, for which ingenuity and sensitivity are needed, making it mature with suffering and its struggle to move forward withEach event that surrounds it, a character that captivates from the first moment, a well -built character.
Pointing out that the reader is a person who has the ability to judge well in a negative or positive way and part in this novel that the author raises. It is gradually becoming an abstract difficult to understand capable of finding definitions for love, war, death ………, which does not allow you to close the pages that shortly before you did not dare to open. In other words: Tolstoy found philosophy in the simple narration of facts where no one finds it.
It exposes a series of thoughts capable of changing the fate of a person, a couple, a surname and even a nation. But, as much as each fact of the characters is narrated as no one did before, this is not the way of understanding. The key to the novel is to understand why a certain character decides to act as he does so.
‘War and peace’ apprehends us because it contains those eternal philosophical problems that concern all men: what love or what is evil means, like when Bezujov asks why bad people groups so quickly and good people do not?, I doubt someone gets sad or bored after reading it. On the contrary, the novel leaves us the feeling that, despite everything in life, the good are more numerous than the evil, the occasions of enjoyment and serenity, although it is not always evident, humanityHe leaves behind, little by little, he is improving and redeemed.
For me, the world is divided into two parts: she, and with it happiness, hope;The other part, all that is not: sadness, darkness, the end.
The words with which Prince André has started this section, soon I understood that the Russian author immerses us in that duality that already floats in the work from the Tolstoy title points to us that there are two levels of existence, two levels of understanding of understandingLife: war and peace, understood not only as the absence of war, but as an understanding between people. Or we are faced with ourselves, with people and with the world or we are reconciled with him or them;And in this case man feels happy.
‘Guerra y Paz’ is a therapy for the soul. His advice are mocked in their pages (enjoying moments of happiness, try to love you, love, start with yourself to be able to love! ) Are we facing the most profitable self-help book in history?, of reflections or meditations (‘I only know two real ills in life: remorse and disease,’ says Andrei).The individual’s commitment to the destiny of the world ‘not to try absolutely to seek individual comfort, but to see what they can do for humanity, for everyone; not their own benefit but a benefit for all’.
Leave feedback