This story first starts out with chaos in the Oblonskys household. PrinceStephen Oblonsky’s wife Dolly found out that he was having an affair with theirchildrens French governess and threatened to move out of the house and takethe kids with her. Stephen Oblonsky does not feel bad for having an affair. Whathe feels bad for is getting caught by his wife. Even though he is upset he ishappy to hear the news that his sister, Anna Karenina, is coming to town though.
Later in the section Anna convinces Dolly to stay with her husband and not moveout. It did not take much to convince her because her threats were empty.
Oblonsky is the head of a distinguished Government Board in Moscow. He is gladto leave his house and go to work to meet his friend Levin after a committeemeeting. He remembers that he friend Levin is in love with his sister-in-lawKitty Shcherbatskaya. He later asked her to marry him, but she declines hisproposal. Kitty is waiting to marry Count Vronsky. When Anna comes to town herand Vronsky fall in love despite that she is already married. Kitty realizedthat Vronsky was not going to marry her. She got sick and went abroad torecover. Anna lies to her husband which make them drift farther apart, but sheand Vronsky draw closer. C. Analysis: The way this book is starting out it seemslike Leo Tolstoy has written it about the love and the marriage of higherpowered figures in Russia. He started out the story with the fighting in theOblonsky household. That seems to refer to the downside of some marriagesbecause Dolly found out about her husband cheating on her. In the Oblonsky houseTolstoy also shows loyalty from Dolly. She knows her threats were empty and sheknows that she will forgive her husband. Tolstoy shows different angles witheach couple. Anna and her husband Karenin are well off and have an establishedmarriage with a son. Then Anna falls in love with someone else and that marriagetakes a turn for the worse. Levin loves Kitty, but Kitty does not see love forLevin in the first part of the story. She sees love for Vronsky. When Tolstoy istelling the story he always has a problem with some characters going on. Hebreaks up a couple, but then another couple gets together and solves a problem.
There was never a dull moment in this part of the story. You had to keep up withwhat was going on just like a soap opera. Different characters kept gettingmentioned and placed in different situations. Part one of this story reallyintroduces the main themes and characters of the book. It describes theirrelationships and sets up the events that will become the main points and plotof the story. Each little story makes up the book. They all cross each other andrun parallel with each other. This first section that I read seems to flow realnicely and it had some well-written parts that made the story come to life. Atheme in the book is how each family and each character shows their socialbehavior. Social behavior is something that would be looked upon greatly withthese characters because they are all high-class people. They are people whohave respectable jobs and know everyone else. An example would be how Anna andVronsky were talking at Princess Betsys house and everyone thought of that tobe something wrong because Anna was married and her husband was in the sameroom. The characters have to appeal to the society. D. Personal Reaction: Inthis story so far I have thought it to be like todays society. Even thoughthese people are from high-class people and hold high powering jobs they stillhave things happen to them in everyday life that make things difficult. Thereare people that would fit nicely on Jerry Springer with all their lovetriangles. People who have family problems that they need to work on. Also, thesocial stature of these people does not seem to mean quite as much sometimes.
Just like how it was here with the president and all the scandals that happened.
I find this story interesting to read. I did not quite catch on about all thethings at first. It seemed a little boring. Now I want to find out what is goingto happen to all the people and how everything is going to turn out.
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