1070 Tolstoy, Leo
without it” (The Fellowship of the Ring)—another
phrase that recurs throughout the novel. Sam, one
of the wisest characters in the novel, cites the tru-
ism “where there’s life there’s hope” (Two Towers).
He also has perhaps the most crucial hope-related
insight as he and Frodo make their way through
the bleak landscape of Mordor, when he looks to
the stars, realizes they are untouchable by evil, “and
hope returned to him” (The Return of the King).
Regardless of his fate or Frodo’s, there is reason for
hope, and therefore reason to go on. This is a key
turning point.
By contrast, characters who fall or ally them-
selves with Sauron are depicted as lacking in hope.
Saruman sees no hope in the forces arrayed against
Sauron, for instance, but attempts to tempt Gan-
dalf to join Sauron with him, by arguing, “There
is hope that way” (Fellowship), to influence events
from the winning side. Here, “hope” is used as a
rationalization for the desire for power. Boromir’s
fall is similarly linked to hope and the desire for
power. Though Frodo argues that there is no hope
if the ring is not destroyed, Boromir sees the power
represented by the ring as the only hope for victory,
and he attempts to seize it. False hopes are central to
the corruption of these two characters.
Théoden and Denethor are images of the dangers
of despair, though only one overcomes it. Théoden
has been led to despair by the whisperings of Worm-
tongue and the death of his son. As the resurrected
Gandalf represented unexpected hope to Aragorn,
so does he explicitly bring hope to Théoden. Gan-
dalf uses no magic to restore the fading king; it
is clearly the hope Gandalf represents that brings
about Théoden’s regeneration. Denethor, by con-
trast, has suffered similar influences in the supposed
truths revealed to him by Sauron and in the death
of Boromir. Unlike Théoden, however, he does not
respond to the hope Gandalf represents. Instead, he
clings to his grief and despair. Explicitly despair-
ing, as his words reveal, he attempts to kill himself
and his other son. Despair here serves clearly as a
weapon for Sauron, who has led Denethor to this
state. As its consequence, the forces allied against
Sauron suffer greater losses than necessary.
Hope permeates the novel. The extent to which
characters are able to persevere in hope, even when
reason rebels against it, determines their fitness
to prevail. By contrast, the characters who reject
hope—because they trust reason, because they desire
power, because they are misled, or for other rea-
sons—fall themselves and impede the progress of
the heroes.
Dominick GraceToLSToy, LEo War and Peace (1869)
More than 50 years after Russia went to war with
Napoleon’s armies, Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) began
his epic novel War and Peace. Covering a span of 15
years, the majority of the novel, part 1, is set during
the war with France, starting with rumors of war
and its onset in 1805 and ending with the defeat
of Napoleon in Moscow in winter 1812. Tolstoy
weaves history with fiction as he intertwines the
lives of his characters and situates them in the con-
text of the Napoleonic wars.
Replete with military history, characters, and
facts, Tolstoy’s novel paints a graphic and complex
picture of the war effort, the Russian military, and
the Russian government. But it is the successful
blending of information with intriguing and com-
plicated characters that makes this work a master-
piece of historical fiction. The author’s descriptions
and the circumstances he depicts reveal to the reader
much about the lives of the Russian aristocracy dur-
ing the 19th century, making this text a wonderful
teaching tool of military and domestic history. War
and Peace is an entertaining and riveting read, as
well as an informative one, because of the universal
appeal in the story lines and emotions of Tolstoy’s
diverse cast of characters. Whether reading War and
Peace to learn about Russia’s war with France, for a
peek into the lives of the upper-crust families of the
Russian aristocracy of that era, or for the enjoyment
of a beautifully crafted story, the reader is certain to
come away with more than he or she anticipated.
Melody MarlowLove in War and Peace
Love, a small word that encompasses a large spec-
trum of emotion, is one of the predominant themes
in Leo Tolstoy’s epic work War and Peace. There
are many variations of love illustrated in the lives