War & Peace Podnotes, A Study Guide

We have reached the pivotal chapter involving the death of the Little Princess and birth of the Andrei’s son.Andrei was the one thought lost. Yet Tolstoy has him return home as his wife endures child labor.  Her suffering is a subject personal to Tolstoy as his own mother succumbed five months after the birth of his sister, when Tolstoy was nearly two years old.   This loss can be viewed as a punishment for Andrei’s vanity even though Andrei acknowledged and is trying to overcome his impiety. A lesson may be: there is no sin without consequence.The Bolkonsky household had been overwhelmed with despair by Andrei’s status –– he is a symbolic good man, who was thought lost in a vain war. When Andrei has the brief opportunity to see his wife, they dramatically take one another in.  Lise is ailing. She is in need of the Lord’s grace and a medical miracle. To her, Andrei must appear out of a vision. Andrei, who has rarely been affectionate to Lise, recognizes what he should have valued is right before him.He is fi