War and Peace, Book 12: 1812, Chapter 11 summary

What happens

1. The prisoners reach a garden with a post and an open pit, and Pierre takes sixth place in the line.
2. An official reads the sentence, and French soldiers shoot two convicts, then a household serf and a peasant.
3. The fifth prisoner, a young factory worker, clutches Pierre in terror before soldiers drag him to the post.
4. Pierre watches the worker being shot, approaches the pit, and sees his body still convulsing as soldiers throw earth over it.
5. The troops march away, but a pale young sharpshooter needs an older officer to pull him back to his company.
6. The crowd disperses silently, and a soldier's attempt to justify the executions brings him no relief.

In this chapter

What to notice

The sentence presents the burial as concealment of wrongdoing. It makes explicit the guilt expressed through the soldiers' frightened faces and awkward movements.

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