Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors
used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.
The Battle of Borodino
The Battle of Borodino is far more than a decisive military
turning point in the clash between Napoleon and the Russians. Abundantly overlaid
with Tolstoy’s philosophy of history and free will, Borodino becomes
a symbol of the conflict between two very different conceptions
of human life and action. The French imagine that they obey reason
and strategy in maneuvering troops and plotting battles, and they
are confident that they will win because of their logical advantages,
such as their superior manpower and supplies. The Russians, by contrast,
follow more instinctive and less rational principles. They fight
spiritually, with their whole beings, just as Kutuzov is said to
lead them spiritually. When Kutuzov kneels before an icon after
the Battle of Borodino, we see that faith, rather than reason, is
his guiding light. Tolstoy depicts this spiritual victory at Borodino
as a kind of minor miracle, inexplicable in rational terms—an event
that, for Tolstoy, illustrates the superiority of Russian spirit
to European reason.
The French Occupation of Moscow
On a basic level, the French occupation of Moscow is a
tragic event in the history of the Napoleonic wars. Tolstoy, however,
makes the occupation of the city into a symbol of the European cultural
invasion of Russia, using it to criticize Russian dependency on
foreign styles and institutions wrongly deemed superior to native
ones. In cultural terms, the French takeover of Russia was underway
long before Napoleon burst onto the historical scene. We see that
the French-Russian conflict is a deep and complex one, as Tolstoy
opens War and Peace with a conversation between
two Russians chatting in French about their fears of a war with
France. The threat is both external and internal, as the Russian
nobility, in many ways, appears far closer to the French than to
their own Russian peasantry. Though we hear of Prince Golitsyn taking
Russian lessons to avoid speaking French, we sense that this measure
will not be enough to give the Russian gentry a truly native cultural
identity. Therefore, it is highly symbolic that Pierre—referred
to using the French form of “Peter” rather than the Russian “Petr”—receives spiritual
illumination not from a Western source, but from a homegrown Russian
peasant, Platon Karataev. The answer to the French occupation of
Russia, Tolstoy implies, lies in greater appreciation of native
Russians like Platon.
Nicholas’s Rebuilding of Bald Hills
At the end of the Napoleonic wars, Nicholas’s finances
are in ruins: his father is dead and has left huge debts, while
his mother expects to live in the same luxury she has always enjoyed.
Nicholas’s Moscow home was left to French marauders, and it is doubtful
whether anything of value will remain after the Rostovs return.
Nicholas’s marriage to the wealthy Mary Bolkonskaya, then, comes
as a sweet relief—both an emotional and a financial regeneration.
His rebuilding of Mary’s family’s old estate, Bald Hills, is symbolic
not just of the restoration of his own financial well being, but
of the continuing prosperity of the old Russian spirit. The Rostovs
may have appeared to be in decline, but at the end of the novel
they are stronger than ever, enriched by Natasha’s Pierre and Nicholas’s
Mary. The old Russian aristocracy may be less grand than before—Nicholas rebuilds
Bald Hills on a smaller scale and with simple peasant-made furniture—but
at least the estate continues, as a symbol of the indomitable old
Russian traditions.
