Welcome to Week 3 of December’s discussion of Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, covering Parts 4 and 5.
Part 4
Anna and Karenin are estranged, living in the same household but barely interacting. Karenin is so concerned with the optics of their household and relationship that he is willing to remain married to Anna as long as she and Vronsky don’t humiliate him with making their affair obvious in society and their household staff. Anna disregards Karenin’s wishes and invites Vronsky over to their home when she knows Karenin will be at work, but he returns early and runs into Vronsky.
An infuriated Karenin decides to proceed with getting a divorce on grounds of infidelity, but his lawyer convinces him to go the easier route that will not involve the church and could end up not going in Karenin’s favor. He sees Anna’s brother Stiva at a party he and Dolly are throwing, alerting Stiva (who is giddy about his new affair with a ballerina) about the divorce.
What are your opinions of Karenin? Can you understand where he’s coming from, or is his reasoning weak? As I read the novel my opinions about him change, but I’m at the point where I don’t have any empathy for him.
Vronsky struggles during a difficult week having to entertain a foreign dignitary, and Anna beings to show her jealousy with him for one of the first times, as she dislikes him being away with other people along with the possibility of being around other women. She is unwell during her pregnancy and announces she’s had a dream where she was told she would die during childbirth.
Anna’s mood and character begins to obviously change here; we see little charm in her interactions and she makes two references to her own death. Do you think it’s the pregnancy, mental illness, or the stress of her marriage and affair?
While away, Karenin learns Anna’s given birth to a girl also named Anna and is expected to die of a fever. When they’re reunited at her bedside, Vronsky comes over and Anna begs Karenin to forgive both her and Vronsky, which he does. Vronsky is so upset that he attempts to shoot himself when he returns home, but a servant finds him in time and sends for doctors who help save him. When Anna makes a miraculous recovery she and Vronsky leave together for the countryside.
As someone who loves reading about drama and is really enjoying this book, even I am starting to get tired of the back-and-forth divorce conversations concerning Anna and Karenin. To me, it’s a big stretch that Karenin is so moved by Anna’s recovery that he once again tells her he’s okay with their affair if she wants to continue seeing Vronsky. I don't see forgiveness having that big of an impact on these characters. What do you think?
Lenin and Kitty are reunited at Stiva and Dolly’s party and they still have feelings for each other!! In the midst of the party they begin to play a word game on a chalkboard and it is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated romantic scenes in literature. They open themselves up to be vulnerable with each other explaining their past mistakes and reasoning, ending with Levin again asking Kitty to marry him. She says yes, and fireworks in the shape of hearts burst from our book pages.
The next morning Levin returns to Kitty’s home to finalize their engagement and alert her parents to the news. He also wants to be honest with her and shares the journals he’s kept, telling her the fact that he is not religious as she is and had not been chaste. While upsetting to Kitty, she forgives him and remains engaged.
These scenes with Levin and Kitty are some of my favorites in the whole novel. The people around Levin are so happy for him they want to be the one to drive him to Kitty’s home and hear all about it. Kitty has shown how much she’s matured since she and Levin last met, and they’ve formed a quick bond of love and understanding with each other.
Part 5:
Anna and Vronsky are living together in the countryside and Anna’s mood appears to be back to normal; she is happy away from Russia and being free to be with Vronsky in public. (Girl, why won’t accept Karenin’s divorce offer and get it over with?!) However, now Vronsky is the one struggling. He seems to be unhappy now that he has everything he’s wanted. He begins painting again, painting a portait of Anna, and she whisks them off to go see a famous painter in the area. When Vronsky sees his work, he abandons his own portrait of her and hires him to do it.
With Vronsky hating their life in Italy, the two eventually make their way back to St. Petersburg but are not met with open arms from their former friends in society. Anna sneaks into Karenin’s home to see her son on the morning of his birthday, which is possibly the saddest scene in the novel. She and Karenin run into each other, and Anna is left in another downward spiral as she begins to resent her daughter and Vronsky for her life ending up this way.
Though Vronsky begs her not to go, Anna insists on attending the opera that evening with her elderly aunt. He understands that Anna will be ridiculed if she goes, and that’s exactly what happens. Distraught, Anna pleads to leave again.
Do you think Anna has parental love for her son? She is brought to tears when she visits him, but she’s also choosing to live away from him by running off with Vronsky and her daughter.
Levin and Kitty get married and leave for Levin’s home in the countryside. Kitty begins to invest all of her time and effort into housekeeping duties, and Levin begins to show more of himself below the surface with her, becoming agitated and, at times, quick to anger. When he learns of his brother Nikolai being on his deathbed, Levin is annoyed at Kitty’s insistence on traveling with him. However, when they arrive, Levin admires her even more when he sees how kind and selfless she is when taking care of his brother. Levin sees his own personal failings compared to Kitty’s strength, and his love for her grows even more. Which is good, because we find out Kitty is pregnant!
What I liked about reading these parts were the comparisons between the “honeymoons” of both sets of characters. While Anna and Vronsky aren’t married, they escape to glamorous and luxurious Italy when their relationship is renewed after both survived near-death experiences. Levin and Kitty’s wedding is followed by a trip back to a much more modest and humble home than Kitty is used to, but she instantly takes on the role as the head of the house. While Anna is constantly running away from something, Kitty is taking the next steps to the rest of her life with confidence and with Levin.
Come back next week when we’ll be around the final third of the book and discussing Parts 6 and 7!
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