“As both a student of history and a man devoted to living in the present, I admit that I do not spend a lot of time imagining how things might otherwise have been. But I do like to think there is a difference between being resigned to a situation and reconciled to it.”-Amor Towles, A Gentleman in Moscow
note: A Gentleman in Moscow is the book I am currently reading and enjoying it immensely.
I recently read in another place someone saying the same thing, about the difference between resigned and reconciled…. but what the difference consists of, I haven’t read. Does Towles go on to say more about this? I will have to start thinking about it on my own pretty soon 😉
I interpreted resigned means acceptance and reconciled not acceptance but adaptation. Towles did not elaborate after that statement. The gentleman in Moscow has accepted his position and lived accordingly. Other readers might see the reverse.
The explanation is at the early part of the novel. The Count says he has to master the circumstances just like Robinson Crusoe which he did amazingly.