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Part 2, 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
On the day of the race, Vronsky eats lunch alone and schemes about how he can visit Anna to ask if she will come with him to the races. Though Vronsky is irritated when two younger officers speak to him, he welcomes the cavalry captain, a handsome, immoral man who is Vronsky’s best friend in the regiment; after lunch, the two men go to Vronsky’s for a drink.
Vronsky does not treat all people equally: he is short with his inferiors, yet when his immoral, handsome friend comes over, he fawns on him. Vronsky is preoccupied with himself and his own needs and desires rather than those of others.
Themes
