Literary Analysis #2

Anna Karenina by: Leo Tolstoy

GENERAL
1. A brief summary for the plot line of Anna Karenina can either be really long or a mere sentence so I'll try for something in between. I believe it is about a choice between love or the things that are expected of you. It seems that throughout almost every marriage has gone wrong in some way or another so what does Anna decided to do? She finds someone she, for a period of time, truly loves and wants to be with despite the marriage and children she was already invested in. This era that she lived in was very different from ours: one was scorned for committing adultery, divorce was unheard of, and different social classes did not mix, even in the slightest. However Anna didn't seem to care. She fell for Vronsky and then quite literally fell to her death.
2. I believe the author's purpose of writing this story was to show that people are not perfect and that they can surprise you. This is showed in the ending of this book when Levin suddenly realizes he loves his son because of what the peasant mentioned to him, "...But whether it is faith or not-I don't know what it is-but that feeling has entered just as imperceptibly into my soul through suffering and has lodged itself there firmly." This is something Anna Karenina didn't have and the that's the reason I believe she died. She didn't believe in herself, Vronsky, or the mere goodness in people. All she saw was the heartache in herself and the sad life she was given after her affair became public. All one needs is a little faith to get through the 'dark and scary' parts of life.
3. "All happy families are like one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This quote really spoke to me and I think it was a great way to begin the story of Anna Karenina. This is sad in a way because it is so true, there can be a million things wrong that makes a family not want to be a family and so few things to make them want to stay together. From this I think the author showed a slight darkness to him, but only a speaker of the truth. "[Vronsky] felt like a king, not because he believed that he had made an impression on Anna-he did not believe that yet-but because the impression she had made on him filled him with happiness and pride." The way the author had this come across was that Anna was everything. She was the desirable one, the one everybody stared at; women were jealous and men wanted to be her lover. Again it shows what we can only visualize as true, or at least how everyone perceived this truth. "At every step he found that he was disappointed in his former dreams and discovered new and unexpected enchantments." This is then when the author finally becomes 'light' in a way. He shows there is belief that life can be good. This shows growth in the author, but also that he really knew what he was talking about.
4.

• Zeitgeist - The author really gave you the feel of this 'victorian' era by including the clothes, how people treated one another, the social classes, etc.
• Tragedy - Anna Karenina went through so much to get to the life she wanted to live, but in the end couldn't handle the pressure and killed herself.
• Thesis - The quote I stated at the beginning of Q. #3 clearly shows a statement that is going to be challenged.
• Foreshadowing - Anna knowing the person who was killed by the train, which is eventually what led to her same demise.
• Romanticism - I think the author was fighting for this cause by having Anna do everything she wasn't supposed to do during this era.
• Pathos - I felt sad for Levin at the beginning of the story because Kitty didn't reciprocate his feelings.
• Inference - Anna 'fell' in front of the train, but it is to be clearly believed that she jumped.
• Imagery - It was very easy to picture everything going on because the author was very descriptive.
• Dogma - Shown by the author by having all the people scorn and ridicule Anna after her adultery was known by all. (It wasn't accepted at all at this time)
• Conflict - I believe the only part in the story that didn't contain conflict was when Levin finally realized his love for his son.

CHARACTERIZATION 

1.

• Direct: (1) We are told the exact looks and persona of Anna Karenina making us want to like who she is. (2) After Levin is married to Kitty it clearly states that he is happy. (He is the type of man that knows how to love and do things correctly)
• Indirect: (1) When Kitty blushes after meeting Levin. (She never says she likes him, but it becomes known through her facial expressions that she does) (2) The need Anna had to see her son. (This showed that no matter the mistakes she made, she was still committed-in a way- to her family)

I believe the author uses both to keep things interesting and not give everybody's feelings away.

2. I think the way the author says things is the same throughout the book, but the content and the deepness of what he says when focusing on a different character. Levin is a character that grows, starting as a dark person wanting everything but not knowing how to attain it, to a cheerful fellow married with a son and content with his life. Whereas Anna is the opposite. She begins all pompous and cheerful, but then is dragged down by the weight of her terrible marriage and the disrespect from the people around her.

3. The protagonist, Anna Karenina, is a dynamic and round character in a sort of backwards way. Instead of growing into the great woman she could have become she instead started out as great as she could be and then had a serious falling out. She became disheveled, bothersome, and no longer the woman that everyone looked at and wanted to be with.

4. I definitely felt like I read a character. This is nothing against the way Tolstoy wrote it, but considering the era this woman lived in, I would find it very hard to believe to have her show up in my home town. Also I didn't find her all that appealing and when that happens I tend to not want to get to know that person. "...Dolly looked thinner, but remembering that her own looks had improved and that Dolly's eyes had told her so, she sighed and began talking about herself." Anna was so self absorbed and didn't seem to have a care for anyone else.