The paper's thesis is well supported, that there is a strain of Platon's life throughout the novel, however I agree with Caitlin that Platon's life does not represent the "central spirit" of the novel. I believe the paper does a good job of showing how the model of Platon's life can be seen to be a part of the improvement of the main characters in the novel, however the paper does not convince me that to live as Platon is Tolstoy's overarching message in the novel. The novel certainly does not explain, for instance, Andrew's epiphany, as it were, at his death to be simply a direct result of giving up reason and forsake any attempts to understand, and ultimately accepting something beyond human understanding. Where Platon merely accepts that he cannot understand, the journeys of Pierre, Nicholas and Andrew seem to emphasize the importance of that journey to the end, and suggest that just skipping to the end result leaves the character with an empty and incomplete shell of the potential reward found in that end. Other than that, the paper felt slightly short in terms of explaining the main characters' trials and even Platon's brief existence in the novel.
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