Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy

[anastasia]

Anna Karenina is one of the two main characters in the novel she is an aristocrat from St. Petersburg, Russia. This story takes place in the 1800s, where adultery and divorce was illegal. She captures the attention of everyone in society by the way she carries herself. She commits adultery; she cannot live without her lover. She is well mannered and outspoken. She is a young married woman, who has one young son. Unfortunately she sees a very handsome young man, named Vronsky, and she instantly becomes attracted to him, when their eyes meet. Vronsky is wealthy, he is a military officer. He is passionate, and caring for Anna. He becomes charmed by her beauty upon meeting her. She has an affair with him and commits adultery. She cannot live without her lover, even though her husband tells her to leave him. She is now pregnant with her lovers child, and her husband loves her so much that he is willing to raise the child as his own, as long as she leaves her lover, Vronsky. Her husband Karenin is a high-ranking Government Minister, who forgives her of committing adultery.


Anna is the beautiful, passionate, and educated wife of Alexei Karenin, a cold and passionless government official. Her character is rich in complexity: she is guilty of desecrating her marriage and home, for instance, but she remains noble and admirable nonetheless. Anna is intelligent and literate, a reader of English novels and a writer of children's books. She is elegant, always understated in her dress. Her many years with Karenin show her capable of playing the role of cultivated, beautiful, society wife and hostess with great poise and grace. She is very nearly the ideal aristocratic Russian wife of the 1870s.


Her affair throws her into social exile, misery and eventually makes her commit suicide, because her love moves on with someone else.


The other main character is Levin. He is independent-minded and socially awkward. He is truly an individual character who fits into none of the obvious classifications of Russian society. Levin is his own person. He follows his own vision of things, even when it is confused and foggy, rather than adopting any group's prefabricated views. Moreover, Levin prefers isolation over fitting in with a social set with which he is not wholly comfortable. In this he resembles Anna, whose story is a counterpart to his own in its search for self-definition and individual happiness.


He falls in love with Kitty, Anna's friend, despite that they are from different social classes. Kitty being a Princess, and Levin being a Peasant. The two, struggle to find each other and happiness as they create a life together. . She gives up being a princess because she loves him, and she moves to his farm and becomes a peasant.




[THEMES]
Adultery

Social issue
Society will react negatively to this adultery
Karenin > willing to overlook Anna's affair as long as she doesn't want to get a divorce
Anna tries to escape society in Italy and on the country side
Social criticism/marital betrayal


Forgiveness

Forgiveness are sometimes compromised >Dolly forgiving Stiva for cheating
When Anna begs Karenin [has little effect> Anna continues loving Vronsky]
Ongoing process that may grow or diminish
Anna begs for forgiveness before committing suicide
Overall, I really enjoyed both the novel and the film. I usually don't read novels in this genre, but I really liked this one. If you get a chance, you should definitely check this book out! I highly recommend it!

Happy Reading!

-Ana @SoManyBooksSoLittleTime

This review will is also posted on my blog