The mass movement of the novel now accelerates as Tolstoy impels his characters to face the imminent national crisis. We see Petya, the coming generation, emerging into an early manhood and eager to participate in saving his nation. As Petya is caught up in the excited mob outside the Kremlin, Tolstoy conveys to us a sense of the tide of history that causes men to forget their immediate problems and unite in a common effort. By the same token, Pierre prevents himself from speaking to Natasha of his love as if postponing his personal life to a time in the future. When he decides to await his"ultimate mission" we realize he is directing his love energies toward a more cosmic goal involving the coming trials of history.
Pierre is again the transition figure as Tolstoy goes from the plane of the personal to the national. He is among the multitude thronging the palace halls, a group of nobles, merchants, and others of the"third estate" gathered together by the tsar to deliberate with the monarch. The mob scene here not only illustrates how men sublimate their personal needs to respond to national needs, but illustrates a subtle change in the ancient system of government.
The divine-right sovereign, in this moment of crisis, has convened even the third estate to advise him — to"deliberate" with him. In other words, the national emergency demands the response of its citizens as free men, not as servants of the king, in order to overcome the threat to their existence. Tolstoy shows how the old order gives way to the new through historical necessity, masses of men who must act as free individuals who define themselves through a mass goal.
