War and Peace: Volume 4, Part 1: Chapters 9–13 Summary & Analysis

The officers who arrested Pierre treat him respectfully at first. The next morning, however, after the shift changes, the soldiers see him as just another Russian. The other prisoners, who are all from the lower classes, mock Pierre because he’s a French-speaking gentleman.

A few days later, Pierre is questioned in relation to the charge of arson. It’s clear that the interrogators have made up their minds, and they ignore any statement that isn’t incriminating. Pierre feels completely in their power. He sticks to his story, but he won’t reveal his identity. He spends several difficult days waiting blindly for a decision.

On September 8th, Pierre and the other 13 prisoners are led from the shed where they’ve been kept and through the charred remains of Moscow. Except for the Kremlin and some churches, the city is unrecognizable. Pierre is struck by the French army’s smooth, confident operation of business; they seem to be right at home in what once was Moscow.

Pierre and the other prisoners are taken to the house of Prince Shcherbatov, which Pierre used to visit and which is now being occupied by the French marshal. Eventually, Pierre is led inside to General Davout, who’s known for his cruelty. When Davout asks Pierre’s name, he feels frozen with fear and does not respond. Davout looks up at him and coldly claims that he is a Russian spy. Pierre energetically denies this. He tells Davout his name. When their gazes meet, Pierre is saved. There’s a mutual, tacit recognition of shared humanity between them.

Just then, however, Davout is distracted by good news from an adjutant. He orders Pierre taken away. With the others, Pierre walks numbly, believing he’s going to be executed. He wonders who has ordered this, who is depriving him of his life, and feels it is just the impersonal order of things.

The prisoners are taken to Devichye field, which Pierre knows to be the place of executions. In a garden, there’s a post and a freshly dug pit. There’s a crowd of French soldiers and other Napoleonic troops, as well as some Russians. The prisoners are placed in order—Pierre is sixth—and led to the post. Pierre can no longer reason; he only sees and hears and wishes that whatever is about to happen would end quickly.

Pierre hears some French soldiers debating about how to shoot them. The sentence is read in Russian and French. Then the first two criminals are brought forward. The solders blindfold them with sacks and then tie them to the post. Twelve soldiers step forward, and Pierre looks away while they fire. When the next two are led forward, Pierre sees their pleading, disbelieving looks. When the fifth man is led forward alone, it doesn’t register in Pierre’s mind that he’s going to be spared. He doesn’t look away as the man is shot. He sees the haste and fear in the Frenchmen’s movements as they bury the bodies in the pit, and he believes they know they’re doing something criminal. “That’ll teach them to set fires,” one of the soldiers says.

After the executions, Pierre is left alone for a while in an abandoned church. Later, some soldiers come and inform Pierre that he’s been pardoned and will now be taken to the barracks. Pierre doesn’t understand them and, when taken into the crowded, makeshift prison, can’t make sense of anything around him. After witnessing the executions, carried out by unwilling men, he feels that something in his soul has broken. He no longer has faith in God, life, or in anything good.

Next to him, barely visible in the darkness, a little man with a gentle, melodious voice is watching Pierre. When he asks Pierre, “So you’ve seen a lot of misery, master?” Pierre almost starts to cry. The man tells Pierre not to grieve; there are both good and bad people in the world.

They exchange stories; the other man was taken prisoner in a hospital, where he was suffering from a fever. He introduces himself as Platon Karataev. A peasant, he was sent into the army for going into another man’s grove. While this seemed a great grief at the time, he explains, it turned out to be a joy, because it spared his younger brother, who had many children, from having to go to the army. Then the man prays and lays down to sleep. Pierre lies awake for a long time, feeling that a new, beautiful world has arisen in his soul.

Pierre is held prisoner for four weeks. Though much of this remains a fog in Pierre’s mind, he always remembers Platon Karataev, who seems to Pierre “the embodiment of everything Russian.” What Pierre remembers most is the older man’s quick, persuasive speech, which Platon seems never to have to think about in advance. He keeps himself busy with menial tasks all day long and talks and sings in the evenings before falling into a contented sleep. He offers a steady flow of wholesome folk proverbs which Pierre finds profound, even when the sayings contradict one another.