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Part 1, Chapter 17
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
Vronsky enters the train car to look for his mother, but as he does so, a woman passes who causes him to do a double take: not so much because of her beauty, but because of her vivid features and the animation and passion flashing from underneath the surface. The woman also turns back to look at him.
Vronsky’s mother, the Countess Vronsky, introduces her to him. The woman is Anna Karenina, Oblonsky’s sister. The Countess tells Vronsky that the two women chatted about their sons for the entire train ride.
Almost immediately, Vronsky learns that the woman whom he has been captivated by is married and has a son.
Themes
As they all leave the station, a watchman is run over by a train. Anna is disturbed, viewing the death as a bad omen.
The death is, indeed, a bad omen: it foreshadows Anna’s own end.
Themes
