Anna Karenina Ch. 161: The Delayed Yes

Summary

Varenka in white kerchief among the children looks excited at the possibility of a declaration from Sergey Ivanovitch. He admires her constantly, recalling her words and goodness, until placing an agaric in her basket he meets her flush of glad alarm and smiles a smile that said too much. He tells himself he ought to think it over and make up his mind, not give way like a boy to impulse.

He walks deeper into the wood alone, lights a cigar, and struggles to strike a match on birch bark until one burns. Deliberating in smoke, he asks why not. The only argument is fidelity to Marie's memory after his first love died. That's a great thing, he admits, yet it has no personal force now. He catalogs Varenka's perfections: conscious love, distaste for worldly society, religious foundation, poverty without intrusive relations.

Age troubles him briefly; he remembers Varenka saying Frenchmen of forty are young men. Seeing her in yellow gown by the birch in slanting sun, his heart throbs; he has made up his mind. Flinging away the cigar, Sergey Ivanovitch advances with resolute steps toward her as she rises from picking a mushroom.

Tolstoy ends on resolute steps, not yet spoken words: the proposal Kitty hopes for remains one breath away.

In this chapter: Terms Characters Key Quotes Modern Story

Why This Matters

Acting After You Already Know

Clarity often arrives before courage. Sergey smiles a smile that said too much, tells himself he ought to think it over, calls Marie's memory a great thing yet feels it no longer binds him, then flings away the cigar and walks toward Varenka with resolute steps.

When deliberation repeats what your face already said, stop rehearsing and move.

This chapter

Inside the Mind: Varenka

Varenka flushes with glad alarm when his smile, over a mushroom set in her basket, says more than he meant to allow. She is already living in the offer. He walks deeper into the wood, calls a dead love a great thing, admits it no longer binds him, and still needs a cigar and her yellow dress before his feet agree.

Continue this thoughtTwo Lives, and Only One Is Pardoned

Coming Up in Chapter 162

Sergey will speak the formal words of proposal to Varenka, yet the chapter to come may withhold the ending Kitty expects. Sergey Ivanovitch walks toward Varenka rehearsing the speech he has prepared since youth: he loves her and offers his hand. She kneels with the children over mushrooms, glad of his presence, then rises saying the scene brings back her childhood..

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Original text

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Chapter 161

The Delayed Yes

Varenka, with her white kerchief on her black hair, surrounded by the children, gaily and good-humoredly looking after them, and at the same time visibly excited at the possibility of receiving a declaration from the man she cared for, was very attractive. Sergey Ivanovitch walked beside her, and never left off admiring her. Looking at her, he recalled all the delightful things he had heard from her lips, all the good he knew about her, and became more and more conscious that the feeling he had for her was something special that he had felt long, long ago, and only…

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Critical Thinking Exercise

12 minutes

From Smile to Steps

Chart Sergey's path: smile, solitude, cigar, Marie, catalog of virtues, flinging cigar, resolute steps. What does each stage do?

Consider:

•Include think it over
•Include that's a great thing
•Include smile that said too much

Journaling Prompt

Write about a decision you rehearsed long after you already knew the answer.

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The Delayed Yes

Summary

Why This Matters