Hello, and welcome to my blog. Today, I'll be reviewing a world renowned classic, Anna Karenina, written by a world renowned author, Leo Tolstoy.
Synopsis: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy is a tragic novel that follows the rise and fall of the love affair between Anna Karenina and Count Vronsky. The main premise of the eight-part novel as portrayed by its main characters such as Dolly, Kitty and Stiva is the conflict between human desires and societal roles. (citation: study.com )
This book has been a part of my life since March, and since it's long and slow, i'm taking a long time to slowly read this. I am also annotating every nook and canny of the book, and I just reached the halfway point of the book, so in this post i'll be reviewing the first part (1 of 8) of the book. Buckle up, for it's gonna be a long, spoiler filled ride!
More than Anna and Vronsky, Levin has enthralled me. He is introduced as a lovestruck, hopeless romantic, who is deeply in love with Kitty. I personally adore and admire him so much. His thought process is highly relatable and understandable. His silly thoughts make him seem human, which makes the reader connect to him instantly.
What are you doing? What's the matter? Be quiet, stupid! he said to his heart. But the more he tried to be calm, the more laboured his breath grew.
Honestly, me.
There seemed to be nothing striking in her dress or attitude, but it was easy for Levin to recognise her in that crowd, as to find a rose in the nettles. Everything was lit up by her. She was the smile that brightened everything around.
Reading this made me think of a quote by Austen,
We are all fools in love.
Perhaps my most favourite line about Levin & Kitty:
He stepped down, avoiding any long look at her as one avoids long looks at the sun, but seeing her as one sees the sun without looking.
Speaking of the couple, I do not like the character of Kitty, for she is bland and doesn't have much to her.
Now, let's come to the main character, Anna. The way she was introduced is honestly, the most powerful character introduction I have ever read, but as I kept reading, her character ceased to be one I am not enjoying. I was expecting a bold feminist character, who bows down to no one, especially not men, but instead, was met with a lovestruck fool, who is ready to give up everything and everyone for a man who has no emotional connection with her.
Vronsky followed the guard to the carriage and had to stop at the entrance of the compartment to let a lady pass out. The trained insight of a Society man enabled Vronsky with a single glance to decide that she belonged to the best society. He apologised for being in her way and was about to enter the carriage, but felt compelled to have another look at her, not because she was very beautiful nor because of the elegance and modest grace of her whole figure, but because he saw in her sweet face as she passed him something specially tender and kind. When he looked round she too turned her head. Her bright grey eyes which seemed dark because of their black lashes rested for a moment on his face as if recognising him, and then turned to the passing crowd in search of someone. In that short look Vronsky had time to notice the subdued animation that enlivened her face and seemed to flutter between her bright eyes and a scarcely perceptible smile which curved her rosy lips.
WOW. Tolstoy really knows how to make a character instantly fall in love with a character.
Let's come to the themes. In this post, the themes I'll be talking about are vanity, and societal roles.
Vanity
Although Kitty's gown and coiffure and all her other adornments had given her much trouble and thought, she now entered the ballroom in her complicated dress of white net over a pink slip, as easily and simply as if these bows and laces and all the details of her toilet had not cost her or her people a moment's attention, as if she had been born in this net and lace and with that high coiffure and the rose and its two leaves on the top.
Throughout the book, a raw portrayal of the importance of vanity is being shown to the reader by Leo Tolstoy in a beautiful manner. It shows how in order to get suitors, in order to attract suitors, Kitty had to go through a great deal of agony and hardship. But it is also a paradox, if one looks at this situation closely. In the same party for which Kitty worked so hard on her vanity, the readers observe the romance blooming between Vronsky and Anna, while Kitty went through all the trouble to attract Vronsky, whom she was going to marry, for whom she rejected my poor little Levin.
Societal Roles
In the depths of his heart he did not respect his mother and (though this he never acknowledged) did not love her, but in accordance with the views of the set he lived in, and as a result of his education, he could not imagine himself treating her in any way but one altogether submissive and respectful; the more submissive and respectful he was externally, the less he honoured and loved her in his heart.
Now this here, is the perfect example of how society has set certain rules that the members of the said society are abide to follow. Now, these rules are important to create rhythm and peace in a society. If it wasn't for the rules of the society, the world would be a chaotic mess. So many of the people we love and respect right now, would be our bitterest enemies. Like in the quote mentioned above, if it wasn't for societal roles and pressure, Vronsky would not treat his mother with love and kindness. That's all well and good, but due to these societal roles and pressures, the inside of our heart and minds turn bitter. It is all sweet and peaceful outside, externally, but inside of our bodies, is a chaotic mess. If it weren't for these societal roles, the outside world would be a chaotic mess but the in the inside world (our mind, heart and soul) we would be would be content with our lives because we'd be living it the way we want too, not how others (society) think we should live it.
Before I conclude this post, there's this one thing i'd like to mention, which caught my attention quite a lot of times, and that's Anna's obsession with her husband Karenin's ears!
Great heavens! What happened to his ears?
But why do his ears stick out so? Or has he had his haircut?
Stay tuned for the next post!
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