Levin loses track of time in the study. Candles burned out. Dolly suggested the doctor lie down. Levin listens to mesmerizer stories until an unearthly shriek stops everything. The doctor smiles approvingly as if strangeness is normal.
Levin snatches the doctor's hand asking by God what is it. It's the end, the doctor says gravely, and Levin takes the end as death. He finds Kitty's face unrecognizable in terror until the scream ceases. Then joy: Kitty is alive, agony over, yet the squalling creature is his son and he could not get used to the idea.
Tolstoy pairs near death misunderstanding with birth alienation. Levin is completely happy in Kitty's survival while the baby feels extraneous.
An unearthly shriek stops mesmerizer stories; Levin snatches the doctor's hand asking by God what is it. The end means death to him until joy arrives: Kitty alive, agony over, yet the squalling son feels extraneous.
Tolstoy closes the chapter on that beat without easy moral, only the next consequence waiting.
Shame at his first reaction toward the squalling creature becomes the seed of the father he will grow into in later chapters.
Tolstoy pairs near-death misunderstanding with birth alienation; Levin is happy in Kitty's survival while the baby feels extraneous.
Coming Up in Chapter 205
At ten o'clock the old prince and Sergey Ivanovitch will visit the new father. At ten o'clock the old prince, Sergey Ivanovitch, and Stepan Arkadyevitch sit with Levin after inquiring after Kitty. Levin hears them talk and unconsciously compares yesterday to a hundred years ago..
