Classics Without All the Class discussion

Please keep your discussion to these chapters. Spoilers are allowed within these chapters so readers beware!

There was quite a climax of emotions in this part. Although I new what Anna's fate was, I think it is clear that this is her only way out early on. I don't think she was able to be happy in any situation, which made her feel trapped. She was busting at the seams to be free in society, to love whom she pleased and not be judged. However, this was not the case and made her passion for that freedom grow stronger. There was so much jealousy she harbored against Vronsky. In some ways, his ability to have that freedom made him seem so uncaring of Anna's situation. But I am of the opinion that anyone in that position would have taken the wings and flown. You can only spend so much time with person before boredom and irritability sets in. I think he needed that breath. But Anna didn't get that and it made everything worse. Her death was tragic. I expected her to od on the opium or poison herself. I am still shocked that the train was her choice. Most women don't want to do something messy or painful when committing suicide. I wonder what made her choose this?

At first I thought, Vronksy was actually in love with Anna in this section, but I am still not sold on that. Too many times in this part in some others he mentions her beauty in way that makes me think he's tired of it. Like that was her only good quality. I think it might be case of: not knowing what you have until it is gone.

So, what, exactly, was going on with Ivanovna, Alexey and the French man when they were having tea with Stepan. Were they poisoning people. I was confused.

Happy moment: Kitty has the baby! Tolstoy did such a great job describing a man's emotion during that moment. It was on of those feel good moments that was much needed.

The two most intense characters finally meet (Tolstoy's drive throughout the story) Anna and Levin! What an interesting moment. What did you guys think about it?

Jessica wrote: "There was quite a climax of emotions in this part. Although I new what Anna's fate was, I think it is clear that this is her only way out early on. I don't think she was able to be happy in any sit..."


I felt so sorry for Levin when Kitty was giving birth. I hate feeling helpless in a time of crisi, and for a man of such strength and independence like Levin, no wonder it drove him crazy. (It was also a little amusing).

I hadn't thought about the brutality of the train death as opposed to something else. Across the book Anna seems driven by impulse without a whole lot of thought of the consequence, and she was miserable verging on the inconsistency of lunacy. I think she'd been trying to reconcile what she wanted and what in reality she was getting for so long that the two finally parted and she didn't care. Or, at least, that's one theory.

What do YOU think of the Levin and Anna meeting?

Susan wrote: "Jessica wrote: "There was quite a climax of emotions in this part. Although I new what Anna's fate was, I think it is clear that this is her only way out early on. I don't think she was able to be ..."

I thought the meeting was fabulous. I wish I could have watched it rather than read it...which makes me want to grab the movie now. I did a little bit of reading through sparknotes and such and found that Levin and Anna are like mirrors of each other. However Anna chooses one route with her nature and happiness and Levin another. I didn't realize, until I read some cliffnotes, that I was actually anticipating their meeting throughout the book. I wanted them to come face to face with each other. Levin is captivated by Anna like every other man. He fell for the smile, radiance, and passion just like everyone else. But where most men were seduced by this he seemed more interested in her. Does that make sense? As if he wanted to study her like he does everything else.

I thought it was interesting how Levin compares the portrait of Anna to herself. It goes in line with Tolstoy's theme of how the men in this novel see the women vs. how the woman actually sees herself. I love that he was able to do that and bring all together in the end with the two of them.

I found Anna's mental state towards the end of this section to be so poignant. Have you ever been in a situation where you know you'll drive someone you love further away by picking a fight, and yet you can't seem to help yourself? It all rang so true to me, and I felt so bad for them -- driven by their choices and the nature of the society they lived in, they destroyed the thing they'd both given up so much for.

As for Levin and Anna, I loved that she charmed him. It gives us a window into how attractive and interesting she was. I was glad he liked her.

I have to agree about the description of the child birth scene, having been at the birth of my two children I think he described the feelings a man goes through brilliantly. Towards the end I found Anna a bit tedious, ultimately I feel sorry for her. I can't think of any situation which would have given her long term happiness. I thought vronsky dealt with everything very well, personally I think he did love Anna even though she did her best to drive him away.