Chapter 12: We flashback to when Nekhyludov first met Katusha, which was when Nekhlyudov was working on his thesis about land ownership. Much like the Anna Karenina plot is the main plot of the book bearing her name with Levin and his relationship with the peasants occupying a secondary and then final section of the book, Nekhlyudov's relationship with Katusha is clearly the main moral and plot thrust of the book, his relationship with land ownership and this political and practical development for Nekhlyudov seems to operate the same space and function (in War and Peace, this resembles the Pierre and Andrei arcs, though especially for the former, his love life and eventual marriage to Natasha is devoted a very small space). "Nekhlyudov experienced that rapturous state of exaltation when a young man discovers for himself, without any outside recommendation, all the beauty and significance of life, and the importance of the task allotted in life to every man; when he sees the endless perfectibility of himself and the whole universe; and devotes himself not only hopefully but in complete confidence to attaining the perfection he dreams of." Instead of sleeping or studying regularly, he is too happy and spends his time outside. We don't get a lot of "good" or "ideal" characters in Tolstoy's fiction, mainly focused on tortured protagonists and vapid side characters, but similar to Pierre when he gets back from being saved from the French retreat, we get to see how Tolstoy imagines a person should live and carry themselves, which is a little hard to see in his nonfiction (which, like his fiction, is mostly negative, mostly critiquing society rather than detailing how it should be run, since he isn't a systematic or utopian thinker) because it works in generalities, so I think it is important to look closely at these kinds of moments. Notice that happiness and moral clarity comes from inside of oneself rather than from anything outside of him. Instead, everything outside and all the people around him only serve as moral corrupters (we'll see this with more clarity later). This obviously plays with the idea of the "noble savage" for those who think reading Rousseau into Tolstoy is helpful, but it is also very "existentialist" and meshes with even modern motivation speaking (depending on the variety of "self-help"). You can't look for happiness in heroes (like Pierre does with Napoleon), marriage (as with Helene), wealth or philanthropy (see the money problems and his attempt to help the peasants), religious beliefs (the Masons), or in thinking you are doing something historically significant (such as his attempt to assassinate Napoleon). It only comes from your inner state and your reaction to the suffering around you. It is also significant that, even though Tolstoy made his money as a novelist, he made a point of working outside with the peasants, Nekhlyudov finds happiness outside, rather than staying inside and engaging in intellectual pursuits.
"If a woman figured in his dreams at all it was only as a wife. All the women who, according to his ideas, could not be his wife, were not women but just people."
There are a couple ways to take this important quote and which way you take it will probably tell a lot of how you view Tolstoy's work and the relationship it can have with a Western 21st Century progressive. Much like Nikolai Rostov in War and Peace, who views all women in relationship to possible marriage, except the one he does eventually marry, women are seen by young men in relationship to sex (and this is the key critique of The Kreutzer Sonata, though that novel does it in the worst possible way) and true equality comes from men loving women outside of the prism of sex (I think we should just substitute "wife" with "potential sexual partner") and this is where a positive reading of the passage could lie (I don't think you can say that Tolstoy doesn't endorse the statement, as this is clearly the ideal person possessing the innocence of a young person, just as Natasha does at the beginning of War and Peace, or really until she meets with Anatole). The negative viewpoint would most likely claim that this is still a narrow and low hurdle of equality and that you don't get anything better than this from Tolstoy.
After playing an childish game with her, Nekhyludov kisses Maslova, but their relationship remains "innocent". Tolstoy is going to contrast this kiss with later kisses and it most closely mirrors the kiss that Natasha witnesses between Nikolai and Sonya early in War and Peace, a kiss that is completely about young love and from two people who care deeply for each other and have a solemn promise to each other (though it is somewhat broken late in the book in order to get Nikolai to marry the person he needs to marry to give the protagonists, which Sonya is not one and she slips in moral standing throughout the book to make it work, the "happy", i.e., comedic, ending.)
Tolstoy, as he is wont to do, then discusses contemporary literature and has it put into the narrative in a way that is noticeable but not incredibly intrusive since it is more reference than stopping the plot to have discussions about it.
"Nekhlyudov gave her Dostoyevsky and Turgenyev, whom he had just finished reading himself. She liked Turgenyev's A Quiet Nook best."
I have not read A Quiet Nook, which is also known as A Quiet Spot, which is how Briggs translates it, though Strahan translates it as Calm. It is also unclear what title you are supposed to find it under as well and internet searches haven't been particularly helpful. If you are an expert on Russian literature, then please let me know below and discuss the book and why Tolstoy mentioned it in the narrative.
Chapter 13: We cut to three years later, where Nekhyludov and Maslova haven't seen each other since the summer discussed in the previous chapter. Nekhyludov is now in the army and this colors a lot of the change he has undergone between the chapters. He is now selfish and worries more about the people around him than the world around him. He has lost his innocence and, repeated throughout the chapter, runs through money and supported by his family, who completely encourages his new behavior and become enablers. Tolstoy makes the emphasis that he has rejected the spiritual version of life and embraced the animal one. These contrasts all mashed together and the rapid change he has gone through in just a chapter needs to be broken down a little. For one, there seems to be a theme in Tolstoy's work where the early teenage to late teenage transition comes with a lost of innocence and embrace of society that corrupts the person (Natasha has already been discussed, and though Petya is tempting to discuss here, it seems that his character arc is set up from his introduction, where he is already obsessed with honor and patriotism, but the evolution of Sonya and Nikolai through his loss of innocence on the battlefield could be mentioned) that most people would probably say is at least apparently true. The focus on how the army strips away morality is something that is fully developed in The Kingdom of God is Within You, as the army rips away the moral and family center of the person and resets the entirety of the worldview of the person. His running through of money and the encouragement he gets reminds readers of Anatole, as does his rejection of his spiritual self. The animal analogy is fully developed in War and Peace and plays a rather prevalent role in this novel as well. Here Tolstoy's set up reminds one of Greek thought of the material versus the immaterial or the Pauline thought of spirit struggling against the flesh. The physical world is set with sin while the spiritual world not only exists but is something that has to be embraced, but playing off the previous chapter, it seems that embracing one's own soul and happiness, something intangible, is just as important as embracing some concept of God.
One sticking point with his family is Nekhlyudov's giving of the land to the peasants, which they argue will only make their lives worse because they will avoid doing work. This alienation of his principles from his family is matched by Nekhyludov's eventual alienation from them, including the embracing of smoking, drinking, and gambling. This rejection of the conservatism of his family followed not by a progressive mindset but an "animal" mindset is extremely interesting as a framework that still has a lot of relevance to our time, where teenagers often reject the authorities around them but rather than embracing something that will or could make their lives better, they embrace rebellion in the forms of self-destruction. Instead of spiritual, moral, or intellectual fulfillment being discovered by the necessary rejection of generational conservatism, so many young people find themselves searching for meaning or gratification in ways that are destructive to their inner and outer life.
"Military service always corrupts a man, placing him in conditions of complete idleness, that is, absense of all intelligent and useful work, and liberating him from the common obligations of humanity..."
Much of the war sections in War and Peace revolve around either the squabbling of different commanders or, especially in the pre-1812 sections, what the soldiers do in their free time. War and Peace can certainly be said to hold back in this regard considering Tolstoy's later descriptions of the military, as there is much less decadence from the soldiers than one might expect from the above quote, but there is still threat of rape, greed, and violence. Tolstoy and other writers have channeled this idleness into literary output, but the vast majority of it is/was spent on pursuits that people would find strange in the real world ("where a civilian would not be able to help being secretly ashamed of such conduct, a soldier thinks it is the proper way to live"). This is heightened by the fact that Nekhyludov serves with other rich guard officers. Again, the most depraved class for Tolstoy is not the ignorant peasant, but the noble, which is incredibly borne out in War and Peace and Anna Karenina.
Chapter 14: Tolstoy implies that Nekhyludov may have went to his aunts to see Katusha with the intent on seducing her already on his mind, but that he wasn't conscious of the fact. This further plays into the idea of humanity, when it is not spiritually free, acting as unconscious animals, driven by motives that they cannot fully understand. It is Good Friday and the ceremony around Easter will play a large role in the next chapter. There is even a bit of a gag where one of the characters is tired because of the fasting and the standing in church, which really sets up the way church services will be described in the novel and drawing a parallel to the court scenes. Tikhon (the same name of the character who plays the same function for the Bolkonskys in War and Peace) acts in a way that is both "respectful" and "stern" that causes Nekhlyudov to forget about himself for a minute and ask Tikhon polite questions about his family. Tolstoy again, while reflecting on Nekhyludov's love for Katusha, emphasizes the animal and spiritual side of every man. Petersburg and the army being attached to the animal nature, while his love for Katusha elevated to the spiritual. This juxtaposition I think is helpful in looking back at Nikolai's character arc or, rather, considering the epilogue, character makeup, with his love for Sonya and then Marya seen as a high view of life while his time in the army and his patriotism being seen as a low view of life. Nekhyludov makes the fateful decision to stay for a couple more days and goes to the midnight Easter service.
Chapter 15: This Easter service is seen by Nekhlyudov as the happiest memory of his life. While the book is famous for its portrayal of the church, the negativity really isn't here and it is attached to the happiness of Nekhlyudov, even though his happiness lies not in the religion but his relation to Katusha. The service and church gets a long description, "but best of all was Katusha in her white dress....here, and in the whole wide world, too - existed solely for Katusha". Tolstoy sees the love Nekhlyudov has for her that night as "unconscious, unreasoning and with nothing sensual about it."
This is the key for Tolstoy and why the innocent childhood, and even frivolous, love of Nikolai and Sonya and Natasha and Boris early in War and Peace is idealized. True love is asexual for Tolstoy, which is why Pierre and Andrei can have a truly deep love that isn't even hinted as being homosexual (and why Pierre can be disappointed with Boris as the novel moves on, though this subplot is unsatisfactorily developed). The statement itself, even if attributed as just the belief of Nekhlyudov, would probably seen as blasphemous by the Orthodox Church as Katusha is seen as higher than the service (Easter even!) itself. I don't think that Tolstoy is going with Nekhlyudov as making a mistake by putting her before God, though this might be a traditional Christian perspective.
Chapter 16: Nekhlyudov tries to get Katusha to stay in his room and even grabs her. She pleads with him not to do this, cementing what is now legally called sexual assault. He has a battle of conscience but decides to "behave as everybody else did." And this is where the animal, may we even say "herd" mentality, part of him takes over. Society's expectations, as we have seen with the way his family encourages his immoral behavior, leads to an animal life, showing how the public opinion that Tolstoy values so much in his political thinking has not reached the moral conception necessary for progress, instead making him embrace a low and anti-human view of life. He kisses her in a kiss that is contrasted with his previous kisses with her. And despite how anti-sex Tolstoy can get, I think this is an important emphasis. There is innocent contact based on love and then there is contact based on force or animal lust, which I think is an important distinction we can make if we want to "save" Tolstoy's philosophy as relevant for the person living today. She tries to avoid him, and Nekhlyudov's sneaky behavior is compared to a person preparing to commit a crime, which of course, at least in our culture (and rape was illegal in 19th century Russia as well), it is. Another important distinction a modern reader might make as well is the sexual life that is accepted openly and the sexual life that people try to hide. What kind of sexual life is allowed into public life depends on both the society and the individual itself and current sexual politics emphasizes the unshackling of shame and acceptance of sexual life that does not harm others (though with Nekhlyudov here, we do not have consent and it would not be accepted in progressive circles). Tolstoy here uses a conservative guilt-based approach to differentiate sexual life that is open and acceptable versus hidden and shameful. This has its flaws of course, since societal conditions (which Tolstoy discusses all the time) shape how the individual will approach sex and find shameful or acceptable. Two contrasting voices are personified in Tolstoy's description of his thoughts. This divided nature is done a little simplistically and may remind the reader too much of the angel and devil cliche rather than the divided modern-self (Tolstoy's hard generalizations do not allow for deep psychological portraits here, but more proverbial and allegorical). He tells her he will come to her that night when she is alone and we get this passage: "'What are you saying? On no account! No, no!' she said but only with her lips: the tremulous confusion of her whole being said something quite different." This is a slightly weirdly worded passage and may smack of "her mouth said yes, but her body said yes", but this is how Tolstoy shows Katusha's aversion and the way that Nekhlyudov is the active member, making her non-complicit.
Chapter 17: The sounds of melting ice introduce the chapter. "There on the river, in the mist, a slow and tireless labour was going on, and he could hear sounds as of something wheezing, cracking, showering down, and thin bits of ice tinkling like glass." The thematic background description is a classic novel trope of course and Tolstoy was a big fan of it, situating his scenes in highly specific contexts that help color the scene (in a way, all of War and Peace is this, a romance plot and philosophical novel set in the background of Russia and the French). The ice also stands in as a metaphor of innocence melting away and the noises mimicking the words and deeds of Nekhlyudov as he crosses a horizon is nearly unforgivable and usually the worst action a character can commit in a work of fiction: rape.
"She smiled only when he smiled - smiled as it were in submission to him: there was no smile in her heart, only fear."
Again we get the contrast of what she is feeling on the inside versus what she is displaying on the outside, the forced insincerity caused by her lack of freedom in this situation. Nekhlyudov eventually carries her to his room, despite her protestations. The novel cuts directly after this to his reflections after she left. It is tough to see the scandalous nature of the writing here and how this would have offended anyone at any time as being graphic (the only offense one can take is having a protagonist rape someone, even if it is portrayed as unequivocally negative as it is here, fiction rape politics can get tricky and have several different sides to them.)
"'What is the meaning of it all? Has a great happiness or a great misfortune befallen me?' he wondered. 'It happens to everybody, everybody does it,' he said to himself, and went to bed."
As often happens in Tolstoyan fiction, we have a male protagonist reflecting on meaning around the time of going to or rising from bed. Here, we get the emphasis on the emptiness of sex in its relationship to happiness and the fleeting nature of it. The shallow defense of societal expectations of toxic masculinity serves as what literally helps Nekhlyudov sleep at night.
Chapter 18: We are introduced to his friend Schonbock who is exaggeratedly generous despite owing money he cannot pay, a character trait that reminds us of Anatole. Nekhlyudov realizes that his rape of Katusha did not fulfill his happiness the way he thought it would and only thinks of his own feelings rather than hers. Again, this reminds us of Anatole, who gets almost no comeuppance (other than the cosmic one of his apparent death) for his attempted kidnapping of Natasha and doesn't seem to feel any guilty conscience, including his marriage to the Polish woman.
"he gave her a sum of money - as much as he thought proper according to their respective stations."
Classism and the meaningless of money and society is on full display here, showing the emptiness of all of Nekhlyudov's actions and just how meaningless they all have to be after his rape of her. Nothing, other than perhaps begging for forgiveness and a redemption arc (we'll talk about the controversy of it as we get there), can possibly have any meaning or be justifiable, so Tolstoy chooses to parody his actions, especially since we know that this money will be wasted by Katusha since she does not understand the value of money. Again he tries to defend his actions to himself by saying everyone else does it, but this does not work. He decides to not think about it in order to continue with his life. This serves as important theme throughout the book, as characters try not to think of difficult moments, but mental, spiritual, and moral growth only comes through confronting those moments directly.
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