Anna Karenina is a truthful depiction of a variety of different subjects, laden with subtle criticisms of society interwoven in the general plot. When reading Anna Karenina, I was most impressed by Tolstoy’s ability to present his characters honestly and without judgment – he leaves that up to the reader. Characters are not vilified or made into martyrs, though many possess devastating faults. Sometimes Tolstoy will spend more time discussing the mundane details of Russian life rather than the more important events in the novel in a further attempt to make his depiction of Anna Karenina and her Russian aristocratic friends more realistic. Despite this illusion of reality, it’s undeniable that Tolstoy meant to convey very strong messages about his beliefs about the individual and society.

Anna Karenina is not a love story, though it is centered on two characters struggling with love; Anna herself, who becomes torn between her emotions and her desire for acceptance following her adulterous actions, and Levin, who is madly in love with a woman who keeps refusing him. These love stories are merely the prism which Tolstoy uses to illustrate the clash between modern living and antiquated values. Anna Karenina is shunned by her friends because she cheated on her husband, but her husband was cold, uncaring and detached. Anna is hardly portrayed as some sort of harlot – in fact, she resists the affair in many ways, and her relationship with Vronsky is detailed in only emotional terms. She mostly cares about her son, who is cruelly taken from her when it is discovered that she is an adulteress. Levin, a passionate man and a bit of an outcast, chooses to live in the country rather than engage in the frivolous pursuits of the Russian aristocracy. Dedicated to the cultivation of his land and building a respectful relationship with the peasants who work for him, Levin goes out into the fields and does hard labor beside them for a day to better understand their position. He plans to write a novel about agriculture and economy that will defy the current system of Russian farming, underscoring Tolstoy’s consistent theme of modernization in the novel.

I particularly liked Levin for his revolutionary attitude and loner status. His pining over Kitty, however, somewhat disappointed me. Kitty seemed to me a symbol of the decadence and purposelessness of the Russian elite, though I am not sure if Tolstoy intended to portray her that way. She had little personality (in contrast to the passionate Anna) and was incessantly unsure of her decisions. After being rejected by her preferred suitor (Vronsky, who would ironically then turn to Anna), Kitty realizes that she wants to be married to Levin and his problems are seemingly solved. Tolstoy is consistent with the complexity of his characters, however, and Levin’s passionate, artistic, restless nature is not cured.

This is the most frustrating part of the novel for me. If this was meant to be a love story (which I know it wasn’t), then Levin and Anna would be absolutely perfect matches. I wonder if Tolstoy maybe meant to portray it that way, because Anna and Levin are kept apart throughout most of the novel, though they share the same small social circle. When they do speak (towards the ends of the novel), I was surprised at how well they related to each other. Unfortunately, this was only when both were bogged down with problems of their own. It made me wonder what a romance between the two would have been like.

In a mere two pages, Tolstoy depicts a distraught Anna Karenina throwing herself in front of a train, committing suicide. Levin, in some senses, kills a little bit of himself when he gives himself over to Kitty. I think by contrasting Levin and Anna, Tolstoy was trying to send the message that the desire for change exists in every person, no matter how alone they may feel in their rebelliousness or conformity.