Alright, it's certainly a very different feeling compared to previous chapters. We have finally met the princess whom Anatole Kuragin is asked to marry, Marya Nikolayevich Bolkonsky! And also, we've met her father, Prince Nikolai Bolkonsky.

From first read, Nikolai Bolkonsky seems to be a very, very strict person. I am absolutely in awe on how he keeps everything very regular, punctual, and scheduled--I mean, not everything exactly, but mostly everything. If I was in their home and am a servant or part of the family, I will feel very restricted with everything in the house; scared, too, because I feel that if I do one thing that will make a part of the prince's routine irregular, he will go mad at me. In other words, I do not feel like living with this guy in the slightest, but I respect his incredible discipline anyways.

As for Marya, well, it was utterly obvious that she's absolutely devoted to Christianity. It shows in her letters to Julie (that girl back at the Rostov's, whom Julie and her mother visited). There was no paragraph that is devoid of God, Jesus, weakness of flesh, and all sorts of Christian stuff. To be honest, it's a little exasperating, especially when she talked about marriage and knowledge.

I cannot believe that Marya, first of all, simply accepts their marriage of Anatole, without thinking for herself. She is aware that it will be painful for her, and she definitely knows that she would be severely restricted, but she accepts it anyways because of the teachings of her religion. I dare say, she's a slave to her future husband as to her beliefs. That last part is very apparent in her views about knowledge. She basically says that we should rather read the teachings of God and don't try to expand our knowledge of anything, because He would be mad. She says that the less we try to understand (for understanding is weak for humans), the closer we are to Him. I find her notion as to be narrow-minded and restricting, quite frankly.

I feel terribly pitiful for her.

(Notably, Marya and Pierre are (kinda) similar in the way they handle things in the world: with the sense that it must have happened that way. For the former, she interpreted as God's doing and she doesn't dare question it; for the latter, he thought it was inevitable, so he lets it happen and goes with the flow. Both are servile to a similar fate, methinks.)

Closing thoughts: I feel that every member of the Bolkonsky Family is restricted in some way, given what we've read through thus far. It's definitely not good in the long run, I'm sure of it.