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Part 1, Chapter 27
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Anna Karenina, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Marriage and Family Life
Adultery and Jealousy
Physical Activity and Movement
Society and Class
Farming and Rural Life
Compassion and Forgiveness
Summary
Analysis
The morning after the ball, Anna makes arrangements to leave Moscow for Petersburg. Dolly’s children, who previously adored Anna, have intuitively and inexplicably started to ignore her. Dolly asks Anna why, saying that Anna has a good heart, but Anna says that all people have skeletons in their closets.
After the ball, things are not quite as they had been between Anna and the others: even the children can sense the change. Dolly is the only one who remains oblivious to the reason behind the shift in the winds.
Themes
Anna tells Dolly that Kitty is jealous of Anna because of Vronsky’s attentions to Anna at the ball, but Anna emphasizes that nothing serious is going on between herself and Vronsky, and she hopes that the relationship between herself and Kitty will not be spoiled. Dolly refers to Anna as her best friend.
Anna claims that there is nothing serious going on between herself and Vronsky, and it is difficult to tell whether or not she herself believes this. Dolly, for her part, trusts Anna wholeheartedly.
Themes
