War and Peace Ch. 153: The Theater of Social

Summary

That evening the Rostóvs go to the Opera in a box Márya Dmítrievna has taken expressly for Natásha, who does not want to go but cannot refuse. Dressed, she sees in the ballroom glass that she is very pretty, and feels a sweet sadness. If he were here she would not be silly and afraid; she would cling to him and make him laugh. His father and sister do not matter. She cannot understand how Sónya can love Nicholas so calmly and wait. In the carriage, watching lamps flicker on frozen glass, she forgets where she is going.

They join the line of carriages; wheels squeak over snow. An attendant opens their box on the overture. Hundreds of eyes on Natásha's bare arms and neck call up old memories. Everyone knows vaguely of her engagement to Prince Andrew, one of the best matches in Russia, and looks with curiosity at a fiancée who has lived in the country. She crumples her program in time to the music, indifferent to the crowd. The count and Sónya name Alénina, stouter Michael Kirílovich, Anna Mikháylovna's headdress. Julie sits with pearls on a powdered neck; Borís leans to her ear; Anna Mikháylovna wears green resignation. Shinshín confirms the proposal. Natásha thinks they are talking about her and him, and how little she cares.

In the stalls Dólokhov stands in Persian dress, curly hair in a huge shock, dominating Moscow's brilliant young men. The count nudges blushing Sónya toward her former adorer. Shinshín says he ran from the Caucasus, served a Persian prince, killed the Shah's brother, and that Moscow ladies are mad for Dólokhov the Persian and Anatole Kurágin. Countess Bezúkhova rustles into the next box, plaited hair, exposed shoulders, double pearls. She nods to the count, glances attentively at Natásha, and says Pierre meant to look in. The count whispers that she is handsome. Natásha answers that she is a woman one could easily fall in love with. The conductor taps. The curtain rises. Natásha, too, looks at the stage.

In this chapter:Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Pacing After Humiliation

Pain does not respect the social calendar. Natasha is sent to the opera still raw from the Bolkonskis and wishes Andrew could see her now.

If someone you love was just wounded, do not rush them into the spotlight for appearances.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Natasha

Natasha does not want the opera, then sees in the glass that she is very pretty and feels a sweet sadness. If he were here she would cling to him and make him laugh, and his father and sister would not count. She cannot understand Sonya's calm waiting: the box already asks whether a self can sit still inside a delay.

Continue this thoughtNatasha Cannot Stay Inside the Waiting Period

Coming Up in Chapter 154

From her box Natasha looks at the stage: smooth boards for a floor, painted cardboard trees at the sides, a cloth stretched over boards at the back. In the centre sit girls in red bodices and white skirts. One very fat girl in a white silk dress sits apart on a low bench with green cardboard glued to its back.

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Chapter 153

The Theater of Social Performance

That evening the Rostóvs went to the Opera, for which Márya Dmítrievna had taken a box. Natásha did not want to go, but could not refuse Márya Dmítrievna’s kind offer which was intended expressly for her. When she came ready dressed into the ballroom to await her father, and looking in the large mirror there saw that she was pretty, very pretty, she felt even more sad, but it was a sweet, tender sadness. “O God, if he were here now I would not behave as I did then, but differently. I would not be silly and afraid of things,…

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The Theater of Social Performance

Summary

Why This Matters