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Maybe what Tolstoy is doing here with Dron and Maria is that we’re not supposed to know why the peasants won’t help or leave. Maybe he’s showing us the divide between rich and poor and also how even as good as Maria is, she has no idea how the people really suffer. And maybe Dron has been stealing from the commune this whole time and just wants to escape. Maybe Tolstoy really can’t write peasants very well.