Anna Karenina Book Report Part 1

Anna Karenina Book Report

By Tarani

January 22, 2016

The first part of eight parts in Anna Karenina takes place in Moscow. Stephen Oblonsky (Stiva) has just cheated on his wife Dolly, and she won’t speak to him. He tells his friend Levin about his problems, but Levin has problems of his own. He had proposed to Dolly’s sister Kitty, but Kitty is in love with Vronsky so she refused him. Vronsky has feelings for Kitty but does not plan to marry her. When Stiva’s sister Anna comes to help out with Stiva’s marriage, she and Vronsky meet. Although Anna is married already she cannot help but fall for Vronsky.  When Kitty finds out, she becomes very upset. Anna attempts to fix Siva’s marriage and returns home, but everything seems dull.

Love is a big, big deal in Anna Karenina. It is both a destructive and a productive force in the novel, and is understood inside and outside the context of marriage. Another big part of Anna Karenina is the forgiveness. Dolly has to find it in her heart to forgive Stiva, as she says. “If one forgives, it must be completely.” As with Levin he has to forgive Kitty for rejecting him. “So it had to be, and I can’t blame anyone but myself.” He says this after Kitty rejects his proposal. The families in the book are quite important as well. You’ll notice that everybody has some kind of family, and they all have conflicts. When Stiva and Dolly’s marriage is coming to end, the entire family would have been torn up. In Kitty’s family, her parents are always arguing about who Kitty should marry. The problems in Anna’s family are what make her want Vronsky even more.

Tolstoy's style in Anna Karenina is considered by many people to be transitional, forming a bridge between the realist and modernist novel. The novel is told from a third-person-omniscient perspective, shifting the narrator's attention to several major characters, though most frequently focusing on the opposing lifestyles and attitudes of its central protagonists of Anna and Levin. Also of significance, is Tolstoy's use of real events in his story. Characters talk about significant issues affecting Russia in the nineteenth century, such as the place and role of the Russian peasant in society, education, and women's rights. Tolstoy's description of the characters in these debates allows him to communicate his own political beliefs. Characters often attend social functions similar to those Tolstoy attended. His tells ideas of Russia through the thoughts of Levin1