As the adults continue their conversation, a little girl, count Rostov's daughter, rushes into the room, unable to control her laughter. She blabbers something about a doll, Mimi, that she has tucked under her skirts. We see the divide among the youth and the elders as the younger generation seems bored with all the talk of families and weather and such, relieved when the little girl (Natasha) runs is and eases the boredom. At the end on the chapter, Natasha runs back out of the room, Boris running after to find her.
Important Quotes
"[Natasha was] that charming age when a girl is no longer a child, though the child is not yet a young woman."
CHAPTER 12
The attention of the chapter turns to the youth, where there is some sexual tension between the cousins Sonya and Nicholas. The count talks about how Boris, Anna's son, has become an officer in the army and how now his son, Nicholas, is planning on leaving him for the army as well. (Throughout the chapter, the young Sonya is referred to as a 'kitten', full of youth and poise). When the younger people leave the room, a 'brightness' seems to vanish from it. Countess Vera, the count's oldest daughter, is present and is a kind of sore, dull presence in the room.
Important Quotes
Nicholas: "But I know I am no use anywhere except in the army; I am not a diplomat or a government clerk.—I don't know how to hide what I feel."
"How plainly all these young people wear their hearts on their sleeves!" said Anna Mikhaylovna, pointing to Nicholas as he went out. "Cousinage—dangereux voisinage;" * she added.
*cousinhood is a dangerous neighborhood
"'People are always too clever with their eldest children and try to make something exceptional of them,' said the visitor."
CHAPTER 13
While little Natasha is hiding in some flowerpots, waiting for Boris to find her, she spies on Nicholas and Sonya. Sonya is distressed that Nicholas was flirting with another woman at the table and she cries, asking him if he truly loves her. He says he does and settles it with a kiss. Natasha, after seeing the two kiss, finds Boris and asks him to kiss her doll, Mimi. He looks confused and that's when Natasha asks him to kiss her. He doesn't right away but doesn't refuse when she kisses him. He then tells her that he loves her but they must wait four more years before they can do anything about that (since she is just a minor).
Important Quotes
[Natasha]: "Suddenly she jumped up onto a tub to be higher than he, embraced him so that both her slender bare arms clasped him above his neck, and, tossing back her hair, kissed him full on the lips.
Then she slipped down among the flowerpots on the other side of the tubs and stood, hanging her head."
CHAPTER 14
When Anna Mikhaylovna and the countess (old friends) want to have a private chat, the countess rudely tells her eldest daughter, Vera, to leave them. Vera, knowing that she's not wanted, gets up and leaves, running into the two couples-- Boris and Natasha and Nicholas and Sonya. Vera is bitter and scolds them all for being meddling children. She tells Natasha and Boris that it's obvious about their secret of being in love and that there's no point in keeping secrets. Natasha gets back at her by reminding her about her own secret love (Berg). The four children leave the room, frightened off by Vera's disagreeable mood. Vera complains that they were being mean to her (although she really started it). In the dining room, the adults discuss how Boris is leaving for the army and how he has no funds to support him. Anna Mikhaylovna wonders if Pierre's father, Count Cyril Vladimirovich, will leave Boris (his godson) any of his money, being that he is rich. In the end, Anna and the countess decide to invite Pierre to dinner-- probably to see if they can get a read on where his dad's money is going when he dies.
Important Quotes
Natasha [to Vera]: "You'll never understand it, because you've never loved anyone. You have no heart! You are a Madame de Genlis and nothing more" (this nickname, bestowed on Vera by Nicholas, was considered very stinging), "and your greatest pleasure is to be unpleasant to people!"
Anna M: "I need five hundred rubles, and have only one twenty-five-ruble note. I am in such a state.... My only hope now is in Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov. If he will not assist his godson—you know he is Bory's godfather—and allow him something for his maintenance, all my trouble will have been thrown away.... I shall not be able to equip him."
Anna M: "...that here lives Count Cyril Vladimirovich Bezukhov so rich, all alone... that tremendous fortune... and what is his life worth? It's a burden to him, and Bory's life is only just beginning...."
No comments:
Post a Comment