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Part 6, Chapter 18
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 maid who comes to help Dolly dress for dinner is more fashionably attired than she is, and Dolly feels ashamed of her patched clothes. Anna takes Dolly to see baby Annie in the luxurious nursery, which makes Dolly uncomfortable, because even though the child is surrounded by nice things, her governess is sour and Anna doesn’t seem to pay the baby much attention (in contrast with the way she treated Seryozha). Anna knows that Dolly disapproves of the mooching Princess Varvara, but Anna thinks she’s kind. Anna is wryly amused by the fight between Veslovsky and Levin, because Veslovsky, she says in French, seems so simple and nice.
Dolly feels embarrassed by her shabby clothes, just as she felt when she drove her ill-matched carriage near Vronsky’s smart team. Although baby Annie is surrounded by lots of lovely material possessions, Dolly sees that the money is covering up the lack of love and attentiveness Anna has for her child: even though Dolly thinks her life is worse, she sees that she has a much more genuine bond with her own children than Anna does with Annie. Anna speaks about Veslovsky in French, the language of the dandy and the city life.
Themes
