ANNA KARENINA LEO TOLSTOY

Title of Literary Work : Anna Karenina Writer : Leo Tolstoy Genre : Fiction Literary Form : Novel

Getting to Know the Writer

Getting to Know the Writer Leo Tolstoy Lev (Leo) Nikolaevich Tolstoy was born into a large and wealthy Russian landowning family in 1828, on the family estate of Yasnaya Polyana. Tolstoy’s mother died when he was only two years old, and he idealized her memory throughout his life. Some critics speculate that the early loss of his mother colors Tolstoy’s portrayal of the young Seryozha in ”Anna Karenina”.

Tolstoy serve in the Crimean War and he was able to write during his time in the army, producing a well-received autobiographical novel, Childhood (1852), followed by two others, Boyhood (1854) and Youth (1857). In 1862, Tolstoy married Sofya Andreevna Behrs. He devoted most of the next two decades to raising a large family, managing his estate, and writing his two greatest novels, War and Peace (1865–1869) and Anna Karenina (1875–1877).

Tolstoy had visited western Europe, partly to observe educational methods abroad. Upon returning, he founded and taught at schools for his peasants. His contact with his peasants led to a heightened appreciation for their morality, camaraderie, and enjoyment of life. Indeed, Tolstoy became quite critical of the superficiality of upper-class Russians, as we can see in Levin’s discomfort with urban high society in ”Anna Karenina”. Ultimately, Tolstoy developed a desire to seek spiritual regeneration by renouncing his family’s possessions, much to the dismay of his long- suffering wife.

Works of Leo Tolstoy

The Context of the Literary Anna Karenina was published during the realism period of European literature. Thus it discusses real – life experiences such us love and betrayal. The story was inspired by the story of his neighbor Anna, who has an affair with another man. On the other hand, the involvement of other families namely Oblonskys’, Levins and Karenins makes the story denser and thus shows the reality of life.

Summary / Plot The story depicts the lives of married people. It started with the affair of Stiva Oblonsky which led to the uneasy life of his family. Anna Karerina, his sister visited them and there she met Vyronsky. She turns her responsibility as a wife and a mother to fulfill her will, to be with Vyronsky. In this story, the society critics Anna as a woman of digrace and on the latter she reflects on what happened on her life. She turns into a hopeless one and took a suicide.

Setting At the train At the train station At the Oblonskys’ house At Moscow At St. Petersburg

Point of View Leo Tolstoy became the narrator as well as an actor of this story. In here, he uses his own experiences as scenes on the novel. He tells the dark side of being married. Marriage is not all about happiness ; it also revolves on the complexity of life. He also able to reflect on the importance of giving up and letting go.

Conflict Man vs. Man Karenin vs. Vyronsky Man vs. Himself Anna vs. Herself

Excerpt “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” On this line, each member of the family mirrors one another. Family is consist of many family members but they go as one. One for all and all for one. They are bounded and they should work together to achieve the real happiness. The words that are used are natural and can be easily understood.

Excerpt “The subdued animation that enlivened her face ad seemed to flutter between her bright eyed and a scarcely perceptible smile which curved her rosy lips.” These lines entail love scene where Vyronsky was captured by Anna’s physical attribute. She unconsciously captivate him and he falls in love with her. The words are very descriptive. The reader can picture out a beautiful face from this line.

Excerpt “Respect was invented to fill the empty place where love ought to be. But if you no longer love me, it would be better and more honourable to say so !” In here, respect and love are said to be equal. But if you cannot do both, just be respectful. Respect is for every body and love is for special person of your life. The words that are used are authoritative. It can be also inferred that this line has a strong emotion as the words are delivered with a high tone.

Excerpt “No, you are going in vain.’ she mentally addressed a company of people in a caliche with four horses, who where evidently going out of town on a spree. ‘And the dog you have with you won’t help you ! You can’t escape from yourselves.” These lines state how self – centered Anna was. She able to ruin others’ lives just to pursue her personal desires. Her selfishness brought her to her state where she can no longer turn back everything and now she has her greatest torment. The words can be sarcastic or for self – realization. Pride is there but the truth will always dominate. You cannot escape from the truth. You cannot escape from yourself.

Excerpt “My life , my whole life, independently of anything that may happen to me, is every moment of it no longer meaningless as it was before.” On Anna’s last lines, she regretted all the thing she has done. She reflected on it and she seemed to be hopeless. She thought that she is a life – wrecker ; she even ruin herself. She took suicide to escape from all of those. But even death took her life, everything still remains. The words used is for repentance. At the end, Anna regret many things but its too late.

Literary Work : Themes Love can be destructive. Betrayal is a choice. Marriage is not all about happiness. Death will end one’s life. But the things have done will still remain.

What makes this work “ Literature?” Universality – there are human experiences which are related to other readers or person Artistic – the language used are descriptive, metaphors and the like Permanence – this novel is still being discuss on Universities/ Colleges on the present time Style – the author’s way of switching the acts and lines but still maintains an overall coherent story makes it stands out.