Chapter 175
In the carriage Anna almost tells Dolly she has grown thinner but s...
Anna looked at Dolly’s thin, care-worn face, with its wrinkles filled with dust from the road, and she was on the point of saying what she was thinking, that is, that Dolly had got thinner. But, conscious that she herself had grown handsomer, and that Dolly’s eyes were telling her so, she sighed and began to speak about herself. “You are looking at me,” she said, “and wondering how I can be happy in my position? Well! it’s shameful to confess, but I ... I’m inexcusably happy. Something magical has happened to me, like a dream, when you’re frightened, panic-stricken,…
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Critical Thinking Exercise
Carriage to Columned House
Track Anna's confessions and Dolly's responses, then list what the estate tour shows about Vronsky.
Consider:
- •Include inexcusably happy
- •Include loves the whole person
- •Include don't want to prove anything
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time you stopped trying to prove your life and asked someone to see you whole.
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