Anna Karenina, a direct and truthful transcript of life in Russia in the early 1800's,like most of Tolstoy's other novels, were written for the enjoyment and diversion of the very type of people about whom he writes; those so rich that they had way too much time on their hands: Pre-Bolshevik Russian Lady of Leisure #1 (in French, of course):"Darling, you look absolutely ravishing. What are your plans for the day?" Lady #2: "Oh I …showed first 75 words of 1050 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1050 total…taken many forms. Death embodies hope, solution, desire, and cowardice. One would expect that man would fight against death and do all possible to ward it away from his being, yet, in Anna Karenina the characters welcome it. This reversal shows the desperation of the characters’ situations. They are in a place where they feel they have no alternative. Their true despair is unclogged as each goes toward death. Death is their revealer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**