Book 12, Chapters 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

CHAPTER 10

Pierre is interrogated by the bloodthirsty, French marshal, Davout. Davout accused him of being a Russian spy and Pierre can't say anything to make him believe otherwise. Pierre feels as though some unseen system is killing him off.

Important Quotes

"Davout looked up and gazed intently at him. For some seconds they looked at one another, and that look saved Pierre. Apart from conditions of war and law, that look established human relations between the two men. At that moment an immense number of things passed dimly through both their minds, and they realized that they were both children of humanity and were brothers."

"A system of some sort was killing him—Pierre—depriving him of life, of everything, annihilating him."

CHAPTER 11

Pierre watches as several of the other Russian prisoners he had been taken in with are killed. The acts seem unnatural to him and everyone around him seems to feel guilty for what they're doing.

Important Quotes

 "Two more prisoners were led up. In the same way and with similar looks, these two glanced vainly at the onlookers with only a silent appeal for protection in their eyes, evidently unable to understand or believe what was going to happen to them. They could not believe it because they alone knew what their life meant to them, and so they neither understood nor believed that it could be taken from them."

"The body collapsed. The soldiers dragged it awkwardly from the post and began pushing it into the pit. They all plainly and certainly knew that they were criminals who must hide the traces of their guilt as quickly as possible."

CHAPTER 12

Pierre meets another solider named Platon in the shed that the French locked them in. Platon tells Pierre of his past and tells him that fate is in God's hands.

Important Quotes

 "But now [Pierre] felt that the universe had crumbled before his eyes and only meaningless ruins remained, and this not by any fault of his own. He felt that it was not in his power to regain faith in the meaning of life "

Platon: "I say things happen not as we plan but as God judges."

CHAPTER 13

 Pierre notices Platon's way of life and his cheery attitude and his roots as a peasant. Platon provides a sense of security and hope for Pierre.

Important Quotes

"But [Platon's] life, as he regarded it, had no meaning as a separate thing. It had meaning only as part of a whole of which he was always conscious."

CHAPTER 14

Princess Mary goes to see Andrew who is with the Rostovs after Nicholas tells her that he is ill. She sees Natasha, but instead of hating her, they are bound together by a common grief over Andrew.

Important Quotes

"But hardly had the princess looked at Natásha's face before she realized that here was a real comrade in her grief, and consequently a friend. She ran to meet her, embraced her, and began to cry on her shoulder. "

CHAPTER 15

Mary sees the critical condition that Andrew is in. He, however, receives her in a cold, detached manner as he is plagues by thoughts of death and remarks that the living cannot understand the thoughts of a dying man. He son comes to visit him and dares not cry in front of him. However, little Nicholas cries in front of Natasha once he has left the room.

Important Quotes

 Mary: "But in what am I to blame?" she asked herself. And his cold, stern look replied: "Because you are alive and thinking of the living, while I..."

"When little Nicholas was brought into Prince Andrew's room he looked at his father with frightened eyes, but did not cry, because no one else was crying. Prince Andrew kissed him and evidently did not know what to say to him."

CHAPTER 16

Prince Andrew once again contemplates what death and the afterlife really is as he lays dying. He concludes that death is love. Everything is made up of love. Finally, he dies in front of Mary and Natasha.

Important Quotes

Andrew: "When he came to himself after being wounded and the flower of eternal, unfettered love had instantly unfolded itself in his soul as if freed from the bondage of life that had restrained it, he no longer feared death and ceased to think about it."

 "This suddenly happened," had occurred two days before Princess Mary arrived. It was the last spiritual struggle between life and death, in which death gained the victory. It was the unexpected realization of the fact that he still valued life as presented to him in the form of his love for Natásha, and a last, though ultimately vanquished, attack of terror before the unknown."

Andrew:  "Love hinders death. Love is life. All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. Everything is, everything exists, only because I love. Everything is united by it alone. Love is God, and to die means that I, a particle of love, shall return to the general and eternal source."

Andrew: "When they brought his son to him, he pressed his lips to the boy's and turned away, not because he felt it hard and sad (Princess Mary and Natásha understood that) but simply because he thought it was all that was required of him"