Pierre Bezukhov In 'The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn'

Ryan Chianese

Mrs. Walton

3rd English

8/24/2014

Throughout the War and Peace novel, elements of the past heavily influence characters lives, thus influencing the novels plot line as a whole. Specifically, Pierre Bezukhov and his past inherited fortune influence his marriage, his duel, and his eventual spiraling depression. This element is also present throughout The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, shining through whenever Huck makes a decision. The majority of his decisions are based on either his past education or past experiences or more specifically, his lack thereof.

Pierre Bezukhov, before his inheritance, is a man of nothing noteworthy. His past is one of bumbling and not good decisions, and he is described as a "pity to see, he was so crushed" after his
fathers death. This past event in his life, where he was bequeathed a fortune, would irreparably change him. Being thrust forward into the spotlight, this foolish young man soon falls prey to the beautiful but unfaithful Helene. They get married in a drunken stupor, causing Pierre to regret his decisions. After they are married, Helene has an affair with a man named Dolokhov, who mocks Pierre publicly.
Enraged, and not having any experience to make a decision from, Pierre challenges the ruthless veteran to a duel. Surprisingly, Pierre wins, nearly killing his opponent, which immediately causes Helene to deny her affair. At this point Pierre is overwhelmed, and before becoming violent makes the decision to divorce her. Broken and battered emotionally and even more so spiritually, he branches out to the Freemasons and begins to learn from them. Because of these previous hardships, his future life is changed. Whenever Pierre is traveling, “at such moments one reviews the past”, he is packing an extra bag, his past which he relies on so fully. Pierre allows the past to influence his future heavily, most of the time in a negative way. During a conversation, Prince Andrew “listened to Pierre, especially when he spoke with joyful animation of the past”. Pierre continuously draws conversations back to the past, staying closely intertwined with it. His inability to understand his life prior to his massive inheritance holds him back, as he is unable to progress past that pivotal moment. Hung up on a piece of the past will ultimately lead to
his downfall, notably when the past becomes so important to Pierre that he enters a “state of borderline insanity” when he “remembered nothing of the past” after 2 days of solitude following Napoleon’s takeover of Moscow. He is unable to unravel the “intricate tangle of life's demands that enmeshed him” when he loses his grip on the past. For Pierre, the past is a double edged sword: being unable to understand it allows him to live his life with passion and without care, but for that very same reason it weighs him down and makes him unable to move forward to anything productive.

In Huckleberry Finn, Huck is also influenced by his past. As an uneducated young boy and essentially orphaned at birth, Huck doesn’t trust the societal standards that have left him out all of his life. Because of this mistrust, he forms his own ideas of society. Huck follows Tom Sawyer, who justifies his actions based upon stories he has read. His dangerous adventures lead Huck through life, taking his attention away from his past. However, Jim brings Huck back from this fantasy land, and makes him realize“ though I ain't had no experience, and can't say for certain.” that Huck can still make his own choices. Huck forms his own opinions of the past, because of his apprehension about accepted society he formed during childhood. He has been taught about some things, and has had the racism and slavery ingrained in his head. Because this was one of the few things he has been taught, Huck often chooses to take the unexpected path as supposed to following with the past teachings. He uses his own moral compass to base his decisions, as evidence by his friendship with Jim. Away from hypocritical Southern culture, and able to make his own rules on his raft, Huck makes his decisions unencumbered. Through his personal thought process, he creates his own experience, not what the past has taught him.

Huck and Pierre both view their past in different lights. Pierre chooses to allow the past to weigh him down and influence the rest of his life. Because of it, looking forward into the future and even the present becomes nigh impossible for him to ever achieve. Pierre’s past influences his storyline to the point of his marriage to Natasha, the culmination of his moral and spiritual questioning life. This differs from Huck, who allows the past to slip behind him. Not having much education creates a potential vacuum for Huck to be sucked into, something that could hold him back. However he makes a decision to move on, and guide himself to greater things. Huck and Pierre share essentially the same thing growing up: not noble, uneducated, stereotyped people. They both also share a pivotal moment, for Pierre it is being bequeathed a massive fortune, and for Huck meeting Jim. Pierre allows his past and pivotal moment to drag him down, where as Huck moves forward using his past as a carte blanche, creating his own opinions in the process. Both characters view of the past heavily influence their lives, just in different ways.

Works Cited