Anna Karenina - Week 13 / Part 7, Chapters I- XXXI

[Gem , Moderator]

Week 12 covers the Part 7 (Chapters I - XXXI).

1. When Levin and Anna finally meet, what did you think of their interaction? Is it as you expected it might be, or different? How do you feel about the fact that Levin pities Anna?

2. From the descriptions the author uses, Levin's life seems to lose purpose when he goes to Moscow. How does this relate to his happiness at other times? What messages does the author seem to be sending about city life?

3. What do you think of Levin's fascination with Kitty's process of childbirth. Does this seem like a normal reaction to you?

4. Stiva's financial circumstances worsen as the novel progresses. Do you feel his choices with money mirror his other choices or his morality?

5. What do you think about the fact that Seryozha has grown to consider his memories of his mother "shameful?" What impact do you expect this has on Karenin and Anna?

6. At the beginning of Chapter XXIII, Tolstoy writes: "In order to undertake anything in family life, it is necessary that there be either complete discord between the spouses or loving harmony." Do you agree?

7. Talk about Anna's extreme jealousy. Do you feel it is founded, or is it a reflection of other things going on in her life?

8. What are your feelings about Anna's death. Talk about her reasons for doing it, her choices surrounding it, and what you expect the reaction to her death to be.

[Alice]

Gem wrote: "1. When Levin and Anna finally meet, what did you think of their interaction?

3. What do you think of Levin's fascination with Kitty's process of childbirth. Does this seem like a normal reaction to you?

8. What are your feelings about Anna's death. Talk about her reasons for doing it, her choices surrounding it . . . "

I am liking this book less and less. I feel like Tolstoy's point is simple: Anna is bad--wrongheaded, confused, pitiable, sinful--while Levin and Kitty are good. When Levin and Anna meet, Anna attempts to seduce him because she is now 100% corrupt, with no guiding moral compass.

If Anna's "secret" from the previous section is involuntary infertility resulting from a medical complication after her daughter's birth--well, I'm just done with Tolstoy. This is so facile, and so maddening. How dare he set a situation up in which infertility can be interpreted as a divine judgment, a consequence of Anna's sin . . . while the innocent and "good" couple, Kitty and Levin, experience perfect reproductive health.

If on the other hand her secret is a choice to have her tubes tied by the doctor--well, this is also maddening, as only she, the "bad" one, makes this choice. This is Tolstoy passing judgment on a woman's decision to manage her own body and her life.

If the situation is one of involuntary infertility, I do feel that this would have an impact on Anna's mental health, particularly since she feels compelled to keep quiet about it. Anna's lack of interest in her daughter (apart from its role as a device to further demonstrate her badness) could result from a toxic mix of disenfranchised grief: grief she is not able to openly acknowledge or discuss. If involuntarily infertile, Anna would grieve new children that could no longer come into being, as well as her own identity as a woman with a functioning body. This, in my opinion, could easily contribute to the sort of downward spiral we see leading up to her death: with a lack of self-confidence driving her to constantly seek reassurances from Vronsky.

But, it's probably the other way; my first reading of the conversation between Dolly and Anna last week did leave me thinking that Anna had a choice.

Levin's interest and involvement in his first child's birth feels like a direct contrast to me, something Tolstoy deliberately sets up in order to demonstrate Levin's goodness, in contrast to Anna's badness.

[Charlotte]

Alice wrote: I feel like Tolstoy's point is simple: Anna is bad--wrongheaded, confused, pitiable, sinful."

I don’t agree with this - I had the opposite impression. She did not actively flirt with Levin. He was just taken in by her himself. Her demeanor and ways of talking are just her natural language. She doesn’t meet a lot of people. I don’t think she is cunning. No, I just think that Levin found himself involuntarily smitten by her.

I feel that Tolstoy up until this point shows us that the men and women are unequal when it comes to romantic or sexual relations: Stiva and Anna want the same, act the same, but the outcome is so different for each of them.

I thought it was excellent (by Tolstoy) how Kitty was shattered by all this too. I thought chapter 10 and 11 were superb.

[Francis]

Charlotte - Your last word sums up this novel as a whole - superb. Anna Karenina is a superb study in contrasts and circumstances. Following Levin's faith journey was a pleasure.

[Alice]

Charlotte wrote: "I don’t agree with this - I had the opposite impression. She did not actively flirt with Levin. He was just taken in by her himself. Her demeanor and ways of talking are just her natural language. She doesn’t meet a lot of people. I don’t think she is cunning. No, I just think that Levin found himself involuntarily smitten by her."

Maybe you're right. I was basing this on a memory of Tolstoy somewhere in here explaining that Anna had reached a point where she would automatically attempt to interest/flirt with any man under a certain age, with Levin falling into that category . . . but I can't find the passage now. And, I also agree about what a good job Tolstoy did portraying how devastating this all was to Kitty.