Summary
After Anna Mikhaylovna leaves to visit the dying Count Bezukhov, Countess Rostova sits alone, deeply affected by her friend's poverty and desperation. Her distress manifests in irritability toward her servants—a common pattern where personal stress gets displaced onto those with less power. When she asks her husband for money, we see the casual wealth of the Rostovs contrasted with Anna Mikhaylovna's struggles. The Count immediately agrees to give 500 rubles (she asks for 500, he orders 700), showing both his generosity and his disconnection from financial reality. His comment that 'everything is possible' with their steward Dmitri reveals how wealth creates a bubble where money problems simply don't exist. The chapter's emotional climax comes when Anna Mikhaylovna returns with news of Bezukhov's terrible condition. The Countess, moved by guilt and friendship, gives Anna Mikhaylovna the money for her son Boris's military outfit. Both women cry—not just from relief or gratitude, but from the painful recognition that money has intruded into their lifelong friendship. Tolstoy captures a universal truth: how financial inequality can strain even the closest relationships, creating awkwardness and obligation where there should be simple affection. The tears are 'pleasant' because they allow both women to express their complex feelings about this uncomfortable transaction disguised as generosity.
Coming Up in Chapter 18
The focus shifts to the Bezukhov household, where the dying count's condition creates a tense atmosphere of waiting and scheming among potential heirs.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
After Anna Mikháylovna had driven off with her son to visit Count Cyril Vladímirovich Bezúkhov, Countess Rostóva sat for a long time all alone applying her handkerchief to her eyes. At last she rang. “What is the matter with you, my dear?” she said crossly to the maid who kept her waiting some minutes. “Don’t you wish to serve me? Then I’ll find you another place.” The countess was upset by her friend’s sorrow and humiliating poverty, and was therefore out of sorts, a state of mind which with her always found expression in calling her maid “my dear” and speaking to her with exaggerated politeness. “I am very sorry, ma’am,” answered the maid. “Ask the count to come to me.” The count came waddling in to see his wife with a rather guilty look as usual. “Well, little countess? What a sauté of game au madère we are to have, my dear! I tasted it. The thousand rubles I paid for Tarás were not ill-spent. He is worth it!” He sat down by his wife, his elbows on his knees and his hands ruffling his gray hair. “What are your commands, little countess?” “You see, my dear... What’s that mess?” she said, pointing to his waistcoat. “It’s the sauté, most likely,” she added with a smile. “Well, you see, Count, I want some money.” Her face became sad. “Oh, little countess!” ... and the count began bustling to get out his pocketbook. “I want a great deal, Count! I want five hundred rubles,” and taking out her cambric handkerchief she began wiping her husband’s waistcoat. “Yes, immediately, immediately! Hey, who’s there?” he called out in a tone only used by persons who are certain that those they call will rush to obey the summons. “Send Dmítri to me!” Dmítri, a man of good family who had been brought up in the count’s house and now managed all his affairs, stepped softly into the room. “This is what I want, my dear fellow,” said the count to the deferential young man who had entered. “Bring me...” he reflected a moment, “yes, bring me seven hundred rubles, yes! But mind, don’t bring me such tattered and dirty notes as last time, but nice clean ones for the countess.” “Yes, Dmítri, clean ones, please,” said the countess, sighing deeply. “When would you like them, your excellency?” asked Dmítri. “Allow me to inform you... But, don’t be uneasy,” he added, noticing that the count was beginning to breathe heavily and quickly which was always a sign of approaching anger. “I was forgetting... Do you wish it brought at once?” “Yes, yes; just so! Bring it. Give it to the countess.” “What a treasure that Dmítri is,” added the count with a smile when the young man had departed. “There is never any ‘impossible’ with him. That’s a thing I hate! Everything is possible.” “Ah, money, Count, money! How much sorrow it causes in the world,” said the countess. “But I am in great...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Displaced Stress - When Your Pain Finds the Wrong Target
When overwhelmed by problems we can't control, we take out our frustration on safer, less powerful targets instead of addressing the real source.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how stress about one problem often gets taken out on unrelated, safer targets.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you feel irritated—ask yourself 'What am I really upset about?' and redirect your energy toward the actual source instead of innocent bystanders.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Displaced aggression
When someone takes out their frustration on people who didn't cause the problem, usually those with less power. The Countess is upset about her friend's poverty but snaps at her maid instead.
Modern Usage:
When you have a bad day at work and come home irritated with your family, or when a manager gets chewed out by their boss and then micromanages their team.
Financial awkwardness
The uncomfortable tension that money differences create between friends. Even close relationships get strained when one person always needs help and the other always gives it.
Modern Usage:
When you're always the friend picking up the check, or when someone constantly asks to borrow money but never pays it back.
Wealth bubble
When rich people are so insulated from money problems that they can't understand financial stress. The Count casually spends 1000 rubles on a cook while his friend desperately needs 500.
Modern Usage:
CEOs who think workers should just save more money, or politicians who think a banana costs ten dollars.
Performative politeness
Using exaggerated manners to show displeasure or maintain social distance. The Countess calls her maid 'my dear' when she's actually angry.
Modern Usage:
Saying 'Have a blessed day' in a tone that clearly means the opposite, or customer service reps being extra polite when they're fed up.
Guilt generosity
Giving money or help primarily to relieve your own uncomfortable feelings rather than pure kindness. The Countess gives Anna money partly to ease her own guilt about their different circumstances.
Modern Usage:
Overtipping when you feel bad about complaining, or donating to charity mainly to feel better about your own privilege.
Social obligation tears
Crying that serves a social function - allowing people to express complex emotions about uncomfortable situations. Both women cry because it's the only acceptable way to acknowledge the weirdness of money changing their friendship.
Modern Usage:
Crying at weddings when you're actually stressed about the expense, or tearing up when someone pays you back because the whole situation was awkward.
Characters in This Chapter
Countess Rostova
Conflicted friend
She's genuinely upset about Anna's poverty but doesn't know how to help without making it weird. Her irritation with the maid shows how stress travels downward through power structures.
Modern Equivalent:
The friend who feels guilty about her comfortable life when others are struggling
Count Rostov
Oblivious provider
He immediately offers more money than requested and casually mentions expensive purchases. He's generous but completely disconnected from what money stress actually feels like.
Modern Equivalent:
The spouse who says 'just put it on the credit card' without checking the balance
Anna Mikhaylovna
Desperate friend
Returns from visiting the dying Bezukhov in distress, needing money for her son's military outfit. Her tears mix gratitude with the humiliation of having to ask for help.
Modern Equivalent:
The friend who has to ask for help with rent after a medical emergency
The maid
Scapegoat
Gets snapped at for keeping the Countess waiting, even though she did nothing wrong. Represents how people with less power absorb the stress of those above them.
Modern Equivalent:
The retail worker who gets yelled at by customers having a bad day
Key Quotes & Analysis
"Don't you wish to serve me? Then I'll find you another place."
Context: She's taking out her frustration about Anna's poverty on her innocent maid
This shows how stress and guilt travel downward through social hierarchies. The Countess can't fix her friend's problems, so she creates problems for someone with even less power.
In Today's Words:
When you can't control the big stuff, you micromanage the small stuff.
"The thousand rubles I paid for Tarás were not ill-spent. He is worth it!"
Context: Bragging about his expensive cook right before his wife asks for money to help their struggling friend
The timing reveals how disconnected wealthy people can be from others' financial reality. He's proud of spending twice what Anna needs on a cook.
In Today's Words:
Complaining about gas prices while posting vacation photos from Europe.
"I want a great deal, Count. I want five hundred rubles."
Context: Asking her husband for money to help Anna, but framing it as her own need
She can't directly say it's for Anna because that would highlight the awkwardness of their financial inequality. She has to make it about herself first.
In Today's Words:
When you ask your partner for money to help a friend but don't want to admit how often you're helping them.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
The stark contrast between Rostov wealth (casually ordering 700 rubles) and Anna Mikhaylovna's desperate poverty creates tension and awkwardness in their friendship
Development
Introduced here as a source of relationship strain
In Your Life:
You might feel this tension when friends have very different financial situations—success can create distance even in loving relationships.
Power Dynamics
In This Chapter
The Countess displaces her stress onto servants who cannot fight back, while being deferential to her wealthy husband
Development
Introduced here as unconscious behavior
In Your Life:
You might catch yourself being short with people who can't push back when you're really frustrated with someone who can.
Money and Relationships
In This Chapter
Financial inequality intrudes into the friendship between the two women, creating obligation and awkwardness where there should be simple affection
Development
Introduced here as a corrupting force
In Your Life:
You might notice how money—having it or needing it—can complicate even your closest relationships.
Emotional Displacement
In This Chapter
Both women cry 'pleasant tears' that allow them to express complex feelings about the uncomfortable financial transaction disguised as generosity
Development
Introduced here as a coping mechanism
In Your Life:
You might find yourself having emotional reactions that are really about something else entirely—the tears aren't always about what just happened.
Privilege Blindness
In This Chapter
Count Rostov's comment that 'everything is possible' with their steward reveals how wealth creates a bubble where money problems simply don't exist
Development
Introduced here as unconscious assumption
In Your Life:
You might not realize how your own advantages—financial, social, or otherwise—make certain problems invisible to you.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Why does the Countess become irritable with her servants after Anna Mikhaylovna leaves?
analysis • surface - 2
What does the Count's casual offer of 700 rubles (when asked for 500) reveal about the Rostovs' relationship with money?
analysis • medium - 3
Think about a time when you were stressed about something you couldn't control. Who did you end up taking it out on, and why?
application • medium - 4
How could the Countess have handled her anxiety about Anna Mikhaylovna's situation without displacing it onto her servants?
application • deep - 5
Why do both women cry at the end, and what does this reveal about how money affects friendships?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Track Your Stress Displacement
For the next week, notice when you feel irritated or short with someone. Before reacting, pause and ask: 'What am I really upset about?' Write down three instances where you caught yourself about to take stress out on the wrong person. What was the real source of your frustration in each case?
Consider:
- •Look for patterns in who you target when stressed (family, coworkers, service workers)
- •Notice if the real source of stress feels too risky or overwhelming to confront directly
- •Pay attention to how power dynamics influence where you direct frustration
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when someone took their stress out on you unfairly. How did it feel? What do you wish they had done instead? How can this memory help you break the displacement pattern in your own life?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 18: The Art of Social Performance
What lies ahead teaches us people use conversation to reveal their priorities and values, and shows us the power dynamics that emerge when strong personalities enter a room. These patterns appear in literature and life alike.