"Anna Karenina": First Impressions

I will admit: getting a feel for the landscape of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina was more troublesome than expected. Whereas the prose and rhythm of Tolstoy's text (in translation) are eloquent and accomodating, the substance was not as easy to digest.
I'd like to give my impressions of the first third of the novel: the characters, the plot, and the themes that stick out in my mind. Hopefully you've had a chance to embark on your own furlough of the Russian uppercrust by now, per Tolstoy...

There are several sources of conflict which present themselves in Anna K, and for some time it is not apparent which conflict to focus on at any given time, or which is most integral to the plot. Stiva's infidelity and Dolly's struggle to cope with it, the pursuit of Kitty by Levin, the pursuit of Vronsky by Kitty, and the pursuit of Anna by Vronsky all occupy the limelight over the course of the novel's meandering plotlines. The namesake of the book, to this point, is a distraction; I've found myself concentrating on Anna's difficulties more than the other characters in anticipation of some shift in plot that would make her the focus of the novel, but I now think that one's attention should be equally divided to the social dynamic of each relationship. It seems obvious that a careful reader shouldn't discriminate where to assume emphasis is in a novel, but for a casual reader, the title can lead to assumptions. On the other hand, Tolstoy himself did not write "Anna Karenina" with that title in mind; it was only renamed it so after revision.

Dividing my attention equally to each character has become easier as I have learned the ambitions and faults of each Russian aristocrat, although it is difficult to know what is true about any given character. Tolstoy uses the third-person perspective to describe the events of Anna K, but the narrator of these events is not all-knowing. The actions are curiously described as the characters see them, each narration slightly colored by the way each person views their situation. For example, when Tolstoy is describing how Alexey feels about his wife or even his life in the grand scheme, he uses the motif "He did not want to see, and did not see, that..."; "He did not allow himself to think about [her], and he did not think about [her]; but..."; etcetera (185). Tolstoy likewise describes Vronsky's conscious thoughts in sociopathic terms when describing his outlook, and describes Kitty in an overdramatic malaise that imitates her immaturity. Through these techniques, Tolstoy narrates the novel such that we see the events as the characters see them; not necessarily as they objectively happen, and this is an important distinction to make: the actions as they are revealed to us are always justified by their witnesses and criticized by those absent. Tolstoy therefore does not necessarily condone the actions of his characters, despite his omniscience.

This changing of perspectives, seeing the way each character justifies their own actions while lambasting the not-so-different behavior of their peers, not only brings them down to earth from upper-echelon pedestals; it also makes them... I want to say "distant"? More like, not easily related to.
Anna Karenina has her faults. She knowingly betrays her son and husband so that she may pursue a passion that she feels absent from her life. That one would want romance is not so terrible a dream, and although Vronsky is the least likable character for her to be having said affair with, I find myself wanting her to rediscover herself, for better or for worse. That said... The way she differentiates between her grief for her son and her hostility toward her husband is abominable. "If [Alexey] were to kill me, to kill Vronsky, I might respect him..."; "I can't bear you, I'm afraid of you, and I hate you [Alexey]"; and most egregiously, "she was aware of the spot on her hand that [Alexey's] lips had touched, and she was repulsed by it" (188, 193, 187). By the end of part two, Anna has become maniacal in her disdain, as if she has transplanted her hatred of herself onto her husband Alexey. Personally, such language is alienating, and I find it difficult to sympathize with Anna any longer. Perhaps this will change as I continue in the novel; otherwise, this seems like an oversight, this exaggeration, on Tolstoy's behalf.

Every other character has a similar flaw of balancing one's sympathy with disdain. Stiva seems to genuinely want his wife's forgiveness, until his aloofness eventually changes that impression to show that it is his respect and clout in society that he does not want disrupted by a divorce. Kitty is victimized by a mother who is the vicarious driver of her romantic life, but her reaction of hatred toward those around her is more harsh and unwarranted than it is sad. Even if it is her mother's influence that is most important in her choice, that she knows full well how she will hurt Levin makes it difficult to sympathize with her afterward, even in her "illness." The aforementioned Vronsky has curious passages that make you wonder if he exhibits serial killer-esque tendencies: That "he looked at people as if they were things" and that he sees courting women as a game to be played by bachelors was chilling enough (94). Tolstoy himself red flags him as a bad omen (60), and a common motif of his and Anna's is the combination of pleasure and dread to describe their liaisons. That Anna loves him endears us to him somewhat, if any, but if any man in the book deserves to be a woman's object of desire, it would seemingly be Levin: a "fellow of no ability" (23) who is looked down upon by his peers for lacking direction in life, but is simultaneously a hopeless romantic for whom "[marriage was] the chief affair of life, on which its whole happiness turned" (86). His failed proposal tailspins him into soul-searching, but his quest to look after his estranged brother and their estate can only endear himself more to readers, making him one of only three character I find likable, along with Dolly and Alexey. These two seem genuinely victimized despite their continued affections. Alexey is described as shy and sensible, a man so lacking in passion to the point of roboticism, but from whose perspective seems merely introverted. He longs to articulate his concerns and his love for Anna in a perfectly clear fashion, but clumsily muddles their talks, and is shot down repreatedly by an unwilling listener in Anna. I found it most funny and endearing that Anna claims her fire to be "quenched in her, hidden somewhere far away," when just moments earily, Alexey tried to share his interest in a poetry book he'd been studying in her absence, "Poésie des Enfers (from the inferno/underworld)"(100-1). Dolly's story is likewise sympathetic, when after listening to Anna she gives Stiva another chance, only to be neglected.

Finally, I'd like to briefly touch on some themes and motifs that have interested me in this first third of the text.
Fire is a big one. Anna is always talking about Vronsky in terms of some fire he has lit inside her; for emxaple, she sets Vronsky "aflame" with a glance (129), and she watches him, eyes "full of fire" at the track (177). This ties in to another theme that consumes Anna: delirium and fantasy. A lack of fire frustrates Alexey (182), and later describes Kitty, who has "a suppressed fire a vitality," according to Mrs. Varenka (195).
Pride and honor is another. The affair gives both Anna and Vronsky a sense of pride: Anna because she can have such a consuming effect on an individual (93) and Vronsky because of how prestigious and desirable Anna is (95) and of how the affair can elevate his status. Alexey concerns himself with his pride and honor (193), which seemingly works against him, for as long as he cares about his image and career, the more monstrous he becomes to Anna. Levin has enough pride to accept Kitty's choice and figure himself out.
Finally, some issues the novel is concerned with on a broad scale: morality/fidelity, and mortality. There is a pretty clear scale that can be measured amongst the characters based on whose morals and faithfulness is most admirable, and it would look something like this, highest to lowest:

Levin - Dolly - Alexey - Kitty - Stiva - Anna - Vronsky

And there are several shifts in momentum and plot marked by the advent of life or death and thus mortality: Anna's romance is kindled (fire pun intended!) by the death of a man at the train station; the seeming conclusion of Anna's marriage is ignited (!!!) by Vronsky's horse's extinguished flame (I'll stop now); and the moment of truth for Anna and Vron has been set in motion by (SPOILER ALERT) the life growing inside her.

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I will probably be finished with the text by Valentine's Day. Please share your thought and opinion in the comments, and feel free to submit your own post (Rachel/Donny) if you've been reading before I submit a conclusion for our coverage of Anna Karenina!