- The next day, the emperor stays home, sick with feelings. He’s feeling feelings about the dead soldiers he saw and the feelings feel sad enough for him to need a doctor.
- Meanwhile, Napoleon sends over an envoy to talk peace. The Russians send Dolgorukov. Dolgorukov comes back that night to say no dice.
- The army marches. Oh, how the army marches! Like a clock.
- OK, Shmoopy brain snack time: check out the long, long, long simile comparing the army to the innards of a clock. This kind of extended comparison is called a Homeric simile. Why? Um, because Homer used them a lot. This is one of the ways this novel takes on the epic genre. Go read all about it in the “Genre” section. We’ll wait right here.
- Back? Good. Andrei sees that General Kutuzov is in a major huff about something. Turns out that no one in command is listening to him.
- The big choice of strategy is this:
- 1. Dolgorukov thinks Napoleon was negotiating for peace because he’s scared of a big attack. So Dolgorukov is all, let’s attack ASAP.
- 2. Kutuzov thinks they should wait some more and not go on the offensive, since they don’t know how his army is positioned, so it’s hard to figure out a battle plan.
- Meh, no one listens to him, and the plan to attack is all set.
- Kutuzov predicts the battle will be lost.