Instant Access To 100,000+ Essays!

Reading Journal 1: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy Anna Karenina by Tolstoy is composed of an intricate series of parallels, and it is this parallel structure that helps raise the work to a level much above that of a mere “novel,” as Tolstoy humbly called it. This parallel structure sets up striking comparisons that lead the reader to draw much deeper conclusions than a merely entertaining novel would generally invoke. For example, the work starts off perfectly with the tale of Stepan Oblonsky’s affair and his wife Dolly’s reaction to it. Stepan takes his philandering quite lightly, exhibiting no deep emotional distress, and seems only concerned with the fact that he got caught, not with the affair itself. Anna K. of all people comes to calm the distressed Dolly into forgiving Stepan and returns their marriage to normal as evidenced by their quick return to routine bickering. Thus the affair is settled relatively easily and things go on, at least for the time being. Tolstoy then moves on to his main story, that of Anna K.’s affair with Vronksy, and as every reader can guess by reading the cover jacket, this affair will end badly and result in the tragic ruin of Anna K. Thus, early on in the work we are presented