Previous
Part 7, Chapter 28
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
On the way home, Anna convinces herself that Kitty despises her. A man in the street tips his hat to her before realizing he’s mistaken Anna for an acquaintance; Anna, despondently, thinks that she doesn’t even know herself. Everybody hates each other, she decides, and life is a lie.
Anna sees everything in the worst possible light—in her mind, Kitty hates her, the world hates her, she hates herself. Others don’t recognize her; she cannot recognize herself. In her insanity, she trusts nothing.
Themes
At home, there is a telegram from Vronsky, saying that he cannot come before ten; not realizing he had only received the telegram and not her note, she decides she must go and see him herself. She decides to pack so that she can spend several days away: she hates the house and never wants to return. She goes to the railway station.
Due to miscommunication—after all, Anna has not learned the novel’s key lesson that one should never trust verbal communication—she sets off for the train to fetch Vronsky. She is repulsed by herself and her surroundings and is determined not to come back to her life at the house—a wish that comes true all too permanently.
Themes
