Chapter 103
Anna's note meets Vronsky at home: ill, unhappy, unable to go out, ...
When he got home, Vronsky found there a note from Anna. She wrote, “I am ill and unhappy. I cannot come out, but I cannot go on longer without seeing you. Come in this evening. Alexey Alexandrovitch goes to the council at seven and will be there till ten.” Thinking for an instant of the strangeness of her bidding him come straight to her, in spite of her husband’s insisting on her not receiving him, he decided to go. Vronsky had that winter got his promotion, was now a colonel, had left the regimental quarters, and was living alone. After…
Public-domain chapter text, formatted for reading.
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Own Escape Routes
Think about the last time you felt overwhelmed, anxious, or deeply upset. What activities did you throw yourself into to avoid thinking about it? List 3-5 things you do when you need to escape your own thoughts. Then honestly assess: which ones actually help you process and heal, versus which ones just postpone the reckoning?
Consider:
- •Consider both healthy and unhealthy escape mechanisms you use
- •Think about whether your go-to activities connect you to others or isolate you further
- •Notice if your escape activities make you feel accomplished or just exhausted
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you used work or busyness to avoid dealing with something painful. What were you really trying to escape, and what would have happened if you had faced it directly instead?
Master this chapter. Complete your experience
Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature
Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats
You Might Also Like
Lessons from Anna Karenina
Theme-by-theme analyses that connect this book to modern life skills.
Balancing Passion and Responsibility
Follow Seryozha's birthday visit, Karenin's public face, and the divorce that never arrives, and count what desire costs other people.
6 chapters·Explore AnalysisFinding Authentic Meaning
Walk the mowing with Levin, then sit through Kitty's imperfect household, and see a life that does not need an audience.
6 chapters·Explore AnalysisManaging Jealousy
Stay with Anna as late trains and distracted looks become evidence, until she creates the distance she is trying to prevent.
6 chapters·Explore AnalysisRecognizing Consuming Passion
Watch the ball, the broken mare, and the opera box, and see how a feeling that promised more life starts eating every other room in it.
6 chapters·Explore AnalysisSurviving Social Judgment
Enter the opera box with Anna after the return from Italy, when the salon has already decided she is finished.
6 chapters·Explore AnalysisUnderstanding Social Double Standards
Put Stiva's forgiven letter next to Anna's exile, and watch Vronsky keep his invitations while she loses the room.
6 chapters·Explore Analysis
Deep diving the literary elements.