Friday, February 28, 2014
Bednaya Sonya (Poor Sonya)
Near the beginning of our discussion of War and Peace, Kelly said in class that she feels bad for Sonya. At first, I was not in a position to relate, because we had hardly seen anything from this character. During Book Eleven, however, my sympathetic feelings for Sonya really came alive. When the Rostovs are packing to leave Moscow, the Rostovs treat Sonya almost as their servant girl, asking her to do, for lack of a better word, the bitch-work. Meanwhile, Petya and Natasha run merrily through the walls, clearly not recognizing the weight of what is happening around them. This scene solidified my notions that Tolstoy intends for our sympathy of Sonya. Right before describing Sonya's hardworking attitude compared to Natasha's and Petya's lack thereof, Tolstoy gives us minimal, but present, access to Sonya's feelings about Nicholas's potential engagement with Princess Mary. There is no connection between Sonya's feelings about Nicholas and her doing all of the packing other than the fact that she is simply a pitiable character. This proximity of what I've come to think of as "Bednaya Sonya" moments solidifies any strong assumption to identify Tolstoy's intention to make us feel bad for Sonya. If this is the case, I am somewhat upset with Tolstoy for granting us so little access to Sonya's feelings, while Natasha's frivolous feelings are all over the damn place. Where are we in terms of Sonya and Natasha? I have felt increasingly sympathetic toward Sonya, but my feelings toward Natasha have wavered between sympathy, pity, annoyance, and sometimes a simple lack of respect. At this point, Tolstoy will have to do a lot for me to gain confidence in Natasha as well as Tolstoy's portrayal of female characters. I'm right on the edge, but haven't jumped off yet. I'm pretty damn close, though.
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I definitely understand what you mean about Sonya and Natasha. I'm not exactly sure how Tolstoy feels women and their emotions should be shown or characterized. I would say that focusing on Natashas feelings rather than Sonyas suggests that those feelings are more prevalent or significant for women but that would be oversimplifying. I guess the better question is why does Tolstoy tends to portray the main female characters as either beautiful and popular but not always sympathetic for the reader or fairly sympathetic but ignored and mistreated?
ReplyDeleteI think Logan makes an excellent point in questioning Tolstoy's ability to write female characters (strangely enough, I recently heard a similar criticism leveled at Dostoevsky in a different class). However, I have a little more faith in Tolstoy on this point than I do in Dostoevsky. Even if Tolstoy doesn't show us Sonya's perspective enough, I think that he has certainly created a very engaging "Stoical" character in Sonya, given what she endures from those around her. From this perspective, it seems almost fitting that the narrator ignores Sonya, as this is only heaping one more injustice upon her.
ReplyDeleteRegarding Alex's point, I think that, in general it is easier for us to be sympathetic toward unfortunate characters than fortunate ones. Also, there is the issue of the difference between someone seeming sympathetic to an outside observer of a situation and someone being likeable within a situation. We as readers evaluate the characters completely differently from how the characters would actually evaluate one another.
I definitely agree with Logan's frustrations. To Alex's last question, I do think it would be worthwhile to go through all the females in the novel to understand how Tolstoy presents them. I'm starting to realize that I'm not really cheering for any of the women in this novel. But I do think Chris has a point in that Sonya is meant to be engaging and pitiful. When Tolstoy first introduces Sonya and Natasha, they kind of start off in the same situation- they both have beau's, they both revel in their childhood and act childish, and their life seems good. However, as the novel has progressed, they are no longer on an equal footing. This isn't because Natasha has managed to succeed. Natasha's advantage over Sonya simply comes from her position within the immediate family. Were it not for that, Natasha's decisions would have definitely left her in a worse position than Sonya. I think Tolstoy definitely wants us to pity Sonya.
ReplyDeleteAspects of Sonya remind me of Mary (self-sacrifice, selfless devotion to God or another male character) which is ironic since the two women are competing with each other for Nicholas's affection. I think that Tolstoy wants us to recognize the benevolence and devotion of both women and commend them for their selflessness; at the same time, I do think that he portrays both women, Sonya especially, as pathetic since she does not have any agency in her life.
ReplyDeleteSonya is stuck between a rock and a hard place; if she marries Nicholas, she essentially ruins her adoptive parents' financial prospects and her relationship with the countess but if she allows him to marry someone else she resigns herself to a lifetime of serfdom in the Rostov household. However, I found the way Sonya dealt with the return of Andrew as a turning point for her character. Against the countess's wishes, she informs Natasha of Andrew's presence and only after she is certain that their love is renewed does she write Nicholas and tell him he is free, knowing full well that Nicholas and Mary would not be permitted to marry if Andrew and Natasha renewed their engagement (which seems likely if Andrew lives). This is the first time we see Sonya operating with an ounce of self-interest and I was happy to see this new side of her because it humanizes her character; most people cannot relate to continuous self-sacrifice.
I can't wait to see what you all think about Sonya, Natasha, and Mary at the end of the novel :)
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