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... at will be written off as a valiant effort as he fought for his country. He dies an unhappy and barren man. The double-edged sword of Russian society claimed two more victims. Russia in the eighteen hundreds was filled with social gatherings and gossip. Yes, it may sound stereotypical, but work was not a major part of life for the socialites.
A woman's goal was to marry well, have children, and live a convenient life. Much like this, a man wanted to be rich so that he could marry a beautiful woman and have children while leading a life of convenience. This atmosphere triggered curiosity among both men and women. As in the Garden of Eden, the forbidden fruit looked better every other piece of fruit in the garden. Thus, like eating the apple, these men and women cheated on their spouses. Because of all the cheating, there had to be rules.
Women got the short end of the stick, as they would not be accepted in society if they were married and seeing another man. Men, on the other hand, could do as they pleased with whomever they pleased. This double-edged sword caused pain and death in many hearts during this novel. Tolstoy writes in third person as an observer of each character.
This provides the reader with knowledge of all characters, not just the point of view, which comes with first person novels. He also uses the literary device of interior monologue. The reader knows, essentially, the past, present, and future aspirations of each character. This brings the reader down to each character's level so that they feel a bond with each one.
The most famous interior monologue of the novel is when Anna is driving to the train station with intentions of killing herself. Three different languages are represented in this book: Russian (which we read in English because of translation), French, and German. The reader is mainly dealing with English, but the other uses of languages provide insight into the characters speaking them. French is spoken by the snobs who find it fashionable to speak a language of romance.
German is spoken by scientists, representing the scientific achievements that Germany was famous for at the time of this novel. Anna Karenina is written like two twisty roads that sometimes cross paths during their course. Anna is on one of those roads, making her way through the trails and tribulations that come with love. Levin is traveling on the other, beginning alone, but ending with his wife Kitty at his side. Tolstoy weaves the two stories together so that the reader could simultaneously be in the middle of two different aspects of Russian society. Length is a major part of this book, as millions of teenage readers gripe about the 900 + pages they encounter when they open their summer reading book.
Russian writers were paid by the length of their stories, thus this one would have made Tolstoy a pretty penny. It is also written like a soap opera, where pages could be filled with the description of one split-second event. There are two major themes in this novel: marriage and the rules of Russian society, and reason and chance. The first has already been explained throughout this report. Reason and chance is illustrated throughout the novel, beginning with the man being run over by the train. This foretells Anna's death.
Although this was a chance situation, it still predicts what will happen at the end. Symbolism comes into play, and goes along with reason and chance. Examples of symbolism are the painting, the accident on horseback, and the accident at the train station. When writing the dialogue in the book, Tolstoy uses an apostrophe sign ('). These are used when there is dialogue inside of dialogue. This suggests that he is telling a story.
This literary technique adds to the style in the way that the reader feels like they are listening to the story while it is unfolding before their eyes. "All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. " (page 1, narrator) Tolstoy deals with many unhappy families in this novel, and the story is built by the way that they are unhappy. " 'Home soit qui mal y pense!' " (page 54, Oblonsky to Vronsky) This is an example of the French dialect used in this story. The two men are joking around and Oblonsky says he is meeting a beautiful woman at the station, and Vronsky thinks he is cheating. Oblonsky then reveals that it is his sister, Anna. "A watchman, either tipsy or too much muffled up because of the severe frost, had not heard a train that was being shunted, and had been run over... 'What is the matter with you, Anna?' he asked. 'It is a bad omen', she replied. " (pages 59 - 60, narrator explaining accident, then Oblonsky speaking to Anna) This is the event that foretells Anna's death. "She knew the feeling and knew it's symptoms, and recognized them in Anna - she saw the quivering light flashing in her eyes, the smile of happiness and elation that involuntarily curled her lips, and the graceful position, the exactitude and lightness of her movements... but Vronsky. bewilderment and humbled submissiveness, like the expression of an intelligent dog when it has done wrong. " (page 74, narrator) When Anna and Vronsky first met, she fell in love with him. He, on the other hand, saw her as a trophy. "but hoping to win by a distance, began working the reins with a circular movement, raising and dropping the mare's head in time with her stride.
He felt she was using her last reserve of strength; not only her neck and shoulders were wet, but on her withers, her head, and her pointed ears the sweat stood in drops, and she was breathing short and sharp... He himself, without knowing it, had made the unpardonable mistake of dropping back in his saddle and pulling up her head. The mare had broken her back and it was decided to shoot her. " (page 182, narrator) Vronsky realized that he had pushed the mare too hard at the exact second that he ultimately killed her. This horse, a beautiful black mare named Frou-Frou, is representative of Anna because he did the same thing to her. "Levin followed, and often thought he would certainly fall when climbing a mound with his scythe in his hand - a mound so steep that it would have been hard to climb it and to do all that had to be down; and he felt as if some external force were urging him on. " (page 233, narrator) Levin picked up his scythe and went into the fields to work side by side his peasants.
This made him realize what a good man he really was, and set him at peace. " 'No, 's aid he to himself. 'Beautiful as is that life of simplicity and toil, I cannot turn to it. I love her!' " (page 253, narrator speaking of Levin's inner monologue) Levin loved Kitty so much that he would give up his country life for her. "Vronsky as particularly fortunate in that he had a code of rules. The code categorically determined that though the card-sharper must be paid, the tailor need not be; that one may not lie to a man, but might to a woman; that one must not deceive anyone, except a husband... " (page 278, narrator) The text in bold is very significant because it illustrates Vronsky's view on life, and also the Russian society rules. A man can do as a he pleases, but a woman cannot. "Levin, gazing at this time piteous being, vainly searched his soul for some indications of paternal feeling, He felt nothing for it but repulsion. " (page 650, narrator) Levin had not found peace, and he looked into his child's eyes and felt dislike for the little boy. "The candle, by the light of which she had been reading that book filled with anxieties, deceptions, grief, and evil, flared up with a brighter light than before, lit up for her all that had before been dark, flickered, began to grow dim, and went out for ever. " (page 695, narrator) Tolstoy compares Anna's life to a candle - it had once been bright, but had grown so dim that at her death there was not very much light left to go out at her death. "Throughout the whole day, amid most varied conversations in which he took part only with what one may call the external side of his mind, Levin, despite his disillusionment with the change that should have taken place in him, did not cease to be joyfully aware of the fullness of his heart. " (page 736, narrator) Levin had an epiphany during a storm that ended his struggle for meaning - he had found peace. Bibliography: my own head
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