Chapter 123
Stiva visits Karenin with unusual timidity and finds him drafting a...
Stepan Arkadyevitch, with the same somewhat solemn expression with which he used to take his presidential chair at his board, walked into Alexey Alexandrovitch’s room. Alexey Alexandrovitch was walking about his room with his hands behind his back, thinking of just what Stepan Arkadyevitch had been discussing with his wife. “I’m not interrupting you?” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, on the sight of his brother-in-law becoming suddenly aware of a sense of embarrassment unusual with him. To conceal this embarrassment he took out a cigarette case he had just bought that opened in a new way, and sniffing the leather, took a…
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Critical Thinking Exercise
Price the Divorce
List every cost Karenin names for divorce and every cost he accepts in his sudden yes. Decide whether Stiva's solution is mercy, manipulation, or both.
Consider:
- •Include Seryozha
- •Include fictitious adultery
- •Include Karenin's tears and wavering
Journaling Prompt
Write about a rule that made the honest path impossible.
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