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Part 5, Chapter 29
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
When Seryozha’s tutor figures out who Anna is, he doesn’t know what to do, but hearing their happy reunion, he decides to let them be; the servants are also gossiping about Anna’s return. Seryozha’s nanny comes in, and Anna knows she must leave, but she can’t say goodbye. Seryozha realizes that his mother and father cannot meet, but he doesn’t understand why. Anna tells him to love his father, and they weep. Karenin comes in as they are saying goodbye, and though she has just told Seryozha that Karenin is a good person, Anna is filled with loathing for her husband, and she runs out of the room without unpacking the toys she’d bought for him.
Anna shares a much deeper bond with Seryozha than she does with Annie. However, Anna also recognizes that society is structured such that Anna and Seryozha cannot live together without Karenin’s permission and that she is the one who has broken the laws of this world. Even though Anna tries to pretend for her son’s sake that he should love his father, she still has a visceral reaction against him, and she must physically run out of the room to escape feeling as though she’s under Karenin’s control again.
Themes
