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Part 2, Chapter 2
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
Kitty’s room is cheerful, pink, and filled with dolls. When Dolly asks about Kitty’s relationship with Vronsky, at first Kitty bitterly cries that she could never stay with a man whom she knew to be unfaithful, but she soon breaks down and cries, expressing her grief to Dolly. Kitty visits Dolly to help nurse Dolly’s children through scarlet fever, but this does not cure Kitty’s heartbreak, and she and her mother go abroad once Dolly’s children are well.
Though Kitty’s room reflects a cheerful girl, Kitty has grown over the past few months into an anguished woman. Even though Kitty wants to maintain moral superiority over Dolly, she breaks down and allows Dolly to be both a sisterly and motherly source of comfort. Kitty, in turn, helps Dolly through her troubles as well.
Themes
