War and Peace Ch. 142: Memories, Dreams, and

Leo Tolstoy

Memories, Dreams, and Winter Magic

0:00

0:00 / 0:00

0:00

Summary

In the sitting room Natásha asks Nicholas whether he ever feels that everything good is past. He answers with the sudden sadness he knew in the regiment when music played without him, and the thought that they must all die. They recall her punishment over plums, a Negro in the dark study of the old house whom their parents say never existed, hard-boiled eggs rolling in the ballroom, two old women spinning on the carpet, and Papa firing a gun in the porch. Sónya cannot quite keep pace except when they remember her first arrival and the nurse's warning about cords. A maid whispers that the cock has come; Natásha sends it away.

Dimmler uncovers the harp. The countess calls for her favourite Field nocturne. The young people discuss dreams and metempsychosis by moonlight after Natásha carries out the candle. She is certain they were angels somewhere and have been here, which is why they remember; Nicholas objects that they have not fallen lower. The countess calls Natásha to sing. Standing where the resonance is best, she sings as she has not sung in a long time. The count blunders in his talk with steward Mítenka. Sónya feels the immense difference between herself and her cousin. The countess, blissful and afraid, thinks there is something unnatural in the coming marriage to Prince Andrew. Dimmler says it is a European talent. Fourteen-year-old Pétya rushes in about mummers; Natásha screams idiot, throws herself sobbing on a chair, then tries to smile.

House serfs dressed as bears, Turks, innkeepers, and ladies crowd in from the cold. The young people disappear and return: Nicholas as an old lady in a hooped skirt, Pétya a Turkish girl, Dimmler a clown, Natásha a hussar, Sónya a Circassian with burnt-cork mustache. The countess forbids a visit to Uncle and a bad leg keeps the count home. Madame Schoss consents to chaperone a drive to widow Melyukóva, three miles away. Four troykas race through moonlit snow. Nicholas sees a new sweet face under Sónya's sable hood, overtakes Zakhár on the highroad, and finds the familiar Kosóy meadow turned enchanted before maids with candles run out at Melyukóvka.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Holding Two Moods

A single evening can carry grief about time and sudden joy that feels truer than the grief. Natasha and Nicholas mourn what is past, then sing, weep, and race disguised through snow until the road looks enchanted.

When life offers both registers in one night, do not apologize for either.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Nikolai

Nikolai looks at Sonya in sable and moonlight and thinks that used to be Sonya. The costume lets him see a woman he has been missing on purpose. He needs the road to be enchanted so a choice made in frost feels larger than the ledger waiting at home.

Continue this thoughtPeace Is Not a Crown

Coming Up in Chapter 143

Pelageya Danilovna Melyukova, a broadly built, energetic woman in spectacles, sits in the drawing room in a loose dress, trying to keep her daughters from feeling dull. They quietly drop melted wax into snow and watch the shadows the wax figures throw on the wall, when steps and voices of new arrivals sound in the vestibule.

PreviousPrevious Chapter NextNext Chapter

Original text

3,098 wordscomplete

Chapter 142

Memories, Dreams, and Winter Magic

“Does it ever happen to you,” said Natásha to her brother, when they settled down in the sitting room, “does it ever happen to you to feel as if there were nothing more to come—nothing; that everything good is past? And to feel not exactly dull, but sad?” “I should think so!” he replied. “I have felt like that when everything was all right and everyone was cheerful. The thought has come into my mind that I was already tired of it all, and that we must all die. Once in the regiment I had not gone to some merrymaking…

Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.

Master this chapter. Complete your experience

Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature

Buy atAmazon.com

Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy

Also by Leo Tolstoy

The Idiot

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Explores love & romance

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

Victor Hugo

Explores love & romance

Moby-Dick

Herman Melville

Explores mortality & legacy

Power & Corruption Love & Relationships Identity & Self-Discovery

Lessons from War and Peace

Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.

Deep diving the literary elements.

Memories, Dreams, and Winter Magic

Summary

Why This Matters