Anna Karenina
Tolstoy, Leo, graf
Contains spoilers for the entire book.
Discussion topics
Topic 01 of 08
Happy families
How does the opening line about happy and unhappy families frame the rest of the novel?
Keep the conversation going
- What does the Oblonsky household teach Anna before her own crisis?
- Which family in the book, if any, seems happy?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.
Discussion topics
How does the opening line about happy and unhappy families frame the rest of the novel?
Keep the conversation going
- What does the Oblonsky household teach Anna before her own crisis?
- Which family in the book, if any, seems happy?
What draws Anna to Vronsky, and what does she see in him that she can't find in her marriage?
Keep the conversation going
- Is their love a liberation, a trap, or both?
- How does Vronsky change over the course of their affair?
How fair is the novel to Karenin, and how fair is Anna to him?
Keep the conversation going
- What did you make of his forgiveness at Anna's bedside, and why doesn't it last?
- Why does he refuse to give her a divorce?
Why does society forgive Vronsky and condemn Anna for the same affair?
Keep the conversation going
- What did the scene at the opera reveal to you?
- Is Anna destroyed by society, by her own choices, or by something else?
Why does Tolstoy set Levin and Kitty's story beside Anna's?
Keep the conversation going
- What does Kitty's first refusal and later acceptance teach them both?
- How does their marriage differ from Anna's?
What does Levin find in mowing with the peasants and running his estate that he can't find in society?
Keep the conversation going
- Are his ideas about the peasants and farming convincing to you?
- How does his search for meaning compare with Anna's search for love?
What does Anna lose when she loses her son, and could she have kept him?
Keep the conversation going
- How did the birthday visit to Seryozha affect you?
- Why does her love for her daughter seem so different?
How did you understand Anna's final journey to the station?
Keep the conversation going
- How does the railway, from the first chapters, foreshadow her end?
- What does Levin's discovery of faith at the very end add to the novel?
There is no single right answer. Bring your own reading.