Anna Karenina Reflective Statement

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Gael Mebiame How has Your Understanding of the Novel Been Sharpened through Consideration of Cultural and Contextual Information? Throughout the novel Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy constantly describes the conflict between personal happiness and actual duties that have to be carried out. Tolstoy uses its two protagonists; Constantine Levin and Anna Karenina to parallel Levin’s search for the meaning of life and Anna’s continuous social skirmishes. I believe that having three couples in the novel “Anna Karenina”; Stiva and Dolly, Kitty and Levin and Anna and Vronsky, Allows Levin to illustrate how different people go about different ways to seek for personal happiness. Every single couple in the Novel are used to serve and display the different ways in which Tolstoy’s personal character may be, this means how bad or good he can be and also the various ways in which he can be immoral or moral and amoral through the use of reasons and thoughts. Levin’s growth from the start of the novel is significant as he begins he search for “happiness” which is centred on his personal needs and duties through marriage. By the end of the novel where have been reading up to we get that Levin reaches a sense of personal satisfaction and personal salvation by realizing that love isn’t all about needs or physical love and for his wife but also for the love of God and living for him. His wife kitty on the other hand is young and a righteous young lady. Everything that evidentially Anna isn’t, she is happy and in a loving marriage with Levin, this contrasts absolutely directly with Anna’s corrupt relationship with Alexei Karenin and the agonizing love she has for her lover Vronsky. This illustration throughout the book is significant as it clearly indicates Levin’s views on the Russian society and why the 1866 influences (as read in the articles) affects Anna so badly. Levin being
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