The scenes at Bleak Hills are excellent examples to show how Tolstoy works his materials on two levels. A bastion of the old order, the Bolkonsky estate seems a working model of the Russian aristocracy, with the old prince as tsar of an isolated Russia that will cease to exist after the coming war. Imperious and rigid though he is, the old man conveys to his children a pride of heritage, personal integrity, and love of the land which are among the Tolstoyan virtues. Princess Marya's religiosity and Prince Andrey's intellectual coldness equally derive from their father's character. Both children are representative types of the Russian temperament.
On the personal level, we see the interaction among the individual members of the Bolkonsky family. Princess Marya provides the sentiment and emotional content in the family relationship that her godless father and brother are too emotionally restrained to express. In this respect she fulfills the Tolstoyan function of the female: to hold the family together and provide it with emotional richness. In her talk with Prince Andrey, we see how her Christian fidelity and depth of feeling contribute to express her familial love. The childlike Liza clearly lacks Marya's emotional intensity.
Another outstanding feature of Tolstoy's technique is his smooth transition between scenes. Although the author brings us deep into the country, he maintains continuity with previous settings through Julie's letter, which contains news of Moscow previously withheld from us — Pierre's inheritance, for instance — and Liza's prattle about Petersburg soirées.
