Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy : A Detailed Summary Part - VI, VII & VIII

 

Part VI,

 Chapters 1–32

 

Unhappy with her place in the country, and unable to adjust to the conditions and culture of rural life, Dolly moves in with Levin and Kitty for the summer. Kitty’s friend Varenka and Levin’s half-brother Sergei also join the group. The latter two are immediately attracted to each other, but nothing will ever come of it because Sergei remains forever loyal to the memory of a deceased lover. Stiva joins the group with a friend, Veslovsky, who irritates Levin immensely. A clumsy man who consumes copious amounts of food and flirts openly with Kitty, Veslovsky engages in conversations about love and social conventions in a tone that makes Kitty uncomfortable and leads Levin to expel him from the house.

 

Dolly decides to visit Anna, and as she heads for the city, she reflects on her ideas about life, love, and living according to a set of rules that acknowledges the power of emotion and spirit. On the way, Dolly encounters Anna and some friends on horseback, an activity that Russian society considers inappropriate for a lady of Anna’s standing. Dolly is simultaneously envious of her friend’s freedom and anxious for her friend’s future, and she promises Vronsky that she will speak with Anna about accepting Karenin’s offer for a respectable divorce.

 

During an elaborate and costly dinner, Anna and her group of friends discuss an eclectic range of issues, from Western architecture to the current state of local government. Following dinner, Dolly fulfills her promise to Vronsky, approaching Anna about accepting Karenin’s offer of divorce. Believing that to ask for her freedom is to acknowledge both privately and publicly that she has acted improperly, Anna refuses to humiliate herself by asking him again for that freedom, so Dolly decides to return to the country, suddenly thankful for the family and friends that she has.

 

Vronsky announces that he is traveling to an outlying province on business, and his path crosses with Levin. A series of political discussions between the two follow. When the former officer returns home, Anna is frustrated and irritable. She refuses to be separated from Vronsky again, even on minor business trips, and she finally agrees to write Karenin to ask for the divorce that he had once offered her.

 

Part VII,

Chapters 1–31

 

Having returned to Moscow, Levin and Kitty are anxious about the impending birth of their first child. Levin is also anxious about life in the city, which he finds expensive, crowded, and driven only by profit and loss. After attending an evening concert, Levin meets Stiva, Vronsky, and others for an evening of drinking, gambling, and crude conversation. Stiva proposes a surprise visit to see Anna, whom Levin has heard about but has never met. When Levin and Anna finally do meet later that evening, they immediately feel comfortable in conversation. Anna tells Levin that she does not believe that Kitty can ever truly forgive her without personally living the nightmare Anna’s life has now become. Levin agrees, and promises to relay this message to his wife.

 

Returning home, Levin is acutely aware of his growing fascination with Anna, and a jealous Kitty, sensing this, provokes an argument. In the meantime, Anna rebukes Vronsky for his growing coldness towards her and for spending time away from her with his friends. Soon after Levin begins to grow accustomed to city life, Kitty awakens him in the middle of the night and announces that she is in labor. Fearful for Kitty’s life, he is shocked by the birth of his son. Rather than being joyous or pensive, Levin feels an odd mixture of pity and revulsion when he first sees his new-born son.

 

As the financial situation worsens in the Oblonsky household, Dolly demands full control over her portion of the family fortune. Her demand prompts Stiva to secure a government position, and this brings him into contact with Karenin. Karenin treats Stiva respectfully but tells him that he no longer has any interest in Anna or her life. Nevertheless, he promises to give Stiva a decision regarding the divorce. Soon after, following a conversation with Landau, a noted French psychic, Karenin refuses Anna’s request for a respectable divorce.

 

Both Anna and Vronsky are unhappy; they are being driven apart by Anna’s almost paranoid jealousy. The lovers also argue about such issues as fidelity, women’s rights, and education. When Stiva announces Karenin’s decision, Anna demands that they leave for the country immediately. Vronsky tries to explain that this is not possible because he has business to settle and has also planned to visit his mother. The couple argues all day, until Vronsky leaves for the train station on his way to see his mother. Anna falls into despair, believing that the relationship is over. Desperate, she sends Vronsky a telegram, begging him to return immediately. He replies with a curt telegram, saying that he cannot return right away, and she misinterprets this as a cold dismissal of her.

 

Anna is resolved to be at the station when Vronsky returns, and she sets out across the city to get there in time to meet him. While she waits at the station, Anna is at times disoriented and without focus, and she comes to the conclusion that Vronsky’s passion for her has long faded, and that he is now staying with her out of a sense of duty rather than on account of his love for her. Anna’s disgust with what she sees as the artificiality of the world and the shallowness of the people around her is coupled with a desire to punish Vronsky, and she throws herself under the wheels of an approaching train. Her last moments are a powerful blend of confusion and regret.

 

Part VIII,

Chapters 1–19

 

The closing section of the novel opens two months after Anna’s suicide. Vronsky has reenlisted in the army and speaks of Anna with animosity. Karenin has taken custody of the baby girl born to his late wife. The final pages of the novel are mostly devoted to Levin, who undergoes a deep spiritual transformation that demonstrates Tolstoy’s belief that life can be lived for a higher ideal. Levin’s transformation also underscores an alternative to the example set by Anna’s life and death. 

 

Part - III, IV & V