Previous
Part 1, Chapter 6
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
While in Moscow, Levin stays with his half-brother, Koznyshev, a philosophical writer whose dense conversation sometimes confuses Levin. When Levin comes home after talking to Oblonsky, Koznyshev is having a debate with a philosophy professor over whether or not there is a difference between psychic (thought-based) and phenomenological (perception-based) existence. Levin asks if he will have no further existence after his body dies, and the professor leaves without answering.
Even though Levin appears to be a country bumpkin, he gets right to the heart of the jargon-filled debate between Koznyshev and the professor, and the professor cannot answer Levin’s question directly, since it is the key puzzle at the center of their argument.
Themes
