Literature Analysis #1

Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy

1. The story is filled with many emotions and twists and turns. In the beginning, it begins Stevin Oblonsky and his wife Dolly are to be separated because Stevin sleeps with his children's French governess. Then Stevin's sister Anna Karenina comes to fix the relationship, and ends up falling in love with Dolly's sister Kitty's boyfriend, Vronsky.

Kitty turned down another man, Levin because she chose Vronsky, but she gets sick because Vronsky fell for Anna as well. Anna eventually tells her husband, Karenin, that she is having an affair with Vrosnky, because she wants a divorce. Anna is pregnant, but Vronsky doesn't know what to do about. Karenin refuses her request ti divorce, so Anna leaves to be with the man that she loves. 

Kitty finds her way back to Levin, her previous suitor, and the two marry. Together they have a son, whom Levin is clueless as to why he doesn't love him unwillingly.

Back with Anna and Vronsky, they get into fights, which Anna more often than not starts. Anna seems depressed, but is unsure why. She goes to meet Vronsky at the train station after his errand, but ends up throwing herself in front of a train and dies tragically. 

Kitty and Levin are with Dolly when a storm hits, and they take cover. Soon Levin realizes that Kitty and their son are still in the storm, and when he finds them, Levin finally feels immense love for his son.

2. I think one theme that runs throughout the story that most people don't recognize is the radical change of social acceptance through the years. Before Anna Karenina's time period, most people found it absolutely unacceptable to ever perform adultery. They would shun anyone who tried to get away with it. In this story, it happened more often than it should in this time period. Today, many people do it, and it is a shame because it is not considered as remorseful as it used to. Too many people do it today, and it should always be wrong, whether more people do it or not. Just because everyone else does it, doesn't make it okay.

3. The tone of the story is somewhat indifferent. Tolstoy is still quite sympathetic for the characters, but not as supportive as most authors are, making it obvious who they are rooting for.

"Dolly's agitation affected Karenin. He got up and obediently followed her to the schoolroom." It's difficult to show how Tolstoy is indifferent, but here, he shows that even though a tense subject is being discussed (Anna's affair) he remains indifferent and does not show sides.

"Karenin smiled contemptuously. He had long known all that, but it could not be applied to his case." Here, Karenin is being confronted by Dolly, and all that Tolstoy says is how Karenin feels, not himself.

"All happy families are like one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." This is the very first sentence from the entire novel, and it is one of the only sentences that takes a greater look on everyone in the world and connects to everything in the story in its own way. Tolstoy creates a greater perspective with this point, and it is the only opinion from the novel that I noticed.

4. Symbolism: Trains were used throughout the story and were used often. The most tragic use was when Anna Karenina was killed when she jumped in front of one, copying the death of a railway worker's death in the beginning of the story. (pg 760)
Imagery: The most emotion I have felt is when Anna's death is described. "And the candle, by the light of which she had been reading the book filled with anxieties, deceits, grief, and evil, flared up with a brighter light than before, lit up for her all that had hitherto been shrouded in darkness, flickered, began to grow dim, and went out forever." This whole entire paragraph (this being the last sentence) couldn't  get me to stop reading, it tugged at my heart strings. (pg 760)
Foreshadowing: Anna Karenina's death was a big twist in the story, and it was paralleled in the beginning of the story when a railroad worker was accidentally killed by a train. Anna believes that the death of the worker is an "evil omen", which was right. (pg 760)
Personification: "To the left carts were already rumbling over the bare meadow and the haycocks disappeared one after another..." (pg 282)
Aphorism: "All happy families are like one another; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." (pg 17)
Characterization: "He was wearing a short coat. His hands and bony figure seemed bigger than ever. His hair was getting sparse. The same walrus mustache drooped over his lips, the same eyes looked at the newcomer strangely and naively. (pg 100)
Foil: Anna Karenina's foil is Dolly because Dolly is the person who was betrayed as a spouse, just as Anna's husband was. (pg 17)
Diction: Tolstoy uses his diction to add as much description to the story as possible. He really tries to bring the story to life so it is easier to picture. Example- "He did not enter from the front steps in the street, but went through the yard." (pg 196)
Motif: One motif in the story is adultery, constantly used throughout the novel. Dolly is betrayed by her husband and governess, and Karenin is by Anna and Vronsky. (pg 17)
Tragedy: The worst and final tragedy to me, in the novel, is Anna's death. The death of the main protagonist makes the reader realize that the story has come to its final pages, and that the main point of the novel is fleeting from the book as you read on. (pg 760)