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Imagery
Definition of Irony
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this seems like a loose definition... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how they actually are. If this... read full definition
Irony is a literary device or event in which how things seem to be is in fact very different from how... read full definition
Volume 3, Part 2: Chapters 15–18
Explanation and Analysis—More Light-Minded:
Tolstoy highlights the ironically festive atmosphere that settles over Moscow in the face of immediate invasion by Napoleon's troops:
After the sovereign’s departure from Moscow, Moscow life flowed on in its former, habitual way, and the course of that life was so habitual that it was hard to remember the recent days of patriotic rapture and enthusiasm, and it was hard to believe that Russia was actually in danger [...] With the enemy’s approach to Moscow, the Muscovites’ view of their situation not only did not become more serious, but, on the contrary, became still more light-minded, as always happens with people who see great danger approaching.
Even after the Emperor departs from Moscow for his own safety, the people of Moscow continue with the mode of life that is "so habitual" for them that they can barely remember any alternative. Even with danger close at hand, few in Moscow, at this point, truly believe that they are "actually in danger" and so they go about business as usual, oblivious to the dark times ahead. As Napoleon's troops get closer and closer to their city, the Muscovites become, ironically, increasingly "light-minded" about their situation, rather than "more serious." Here, Tolstoy suggests that this surprising reaction is in fact common under such circumstances, as people often try to push away or avoid uncomfortable realities.
Related Themes:
Volume 4, Part 2: Chapters 8–14
Explanation and Analysis—Happiness and Privation:
In a passage that exemplifies situational irony, Tolstoy writes that Pierre finally found the "peace and harmony" that he has spent much of his life searching for while imprisoned under horrific conditions by the French army:
In devastated and burnt Moscow, Pierre experienced almost the final limits of privation that a man can endure, but [...] he bore his situation not only lightly, but joyfully. And precisely in that time he received the peace and contentment with himself that he had previously striven for in vain. In his life he had long sought in various directions for that peace, that harmony with himself [...] And, without thinking, he had received that peace and harmony with himself only through the horror of death, through privation, and through what he had understood in Karataev.
Pierre, Tolstoy writes, suffered "almost the final limits of privation that a man can endure" during his imprisonment by the French in the burnt ruins of Moscow. Ironically, however, he looks upon his imprisonment as a period of "peace and contentment with himself," an inner peace that "he had previously striven for in vain" in his life as a wealthy man of privilege and luxury. Stripped of the material comforts to which he has been accustomed, Pierre is able to better appreciate the basic pleasures of life, despite the almost unsurvivable conditions of his imprisonment. Throughout the novel, Tolstoy often dismisses the extravagances of the Russian aristocracy in favor of a more humble mode of life that he regards as spiritually clarifying and enriching.
Related Themes:
