Anna Karenina

Stepan Arkadyevitch "had gone to Petersburg to perform the most natural and essential official duty—so familiar to everyone in the government service, though incomprehensible to outsiders—that duty, but for which one could hardly be in government service, of reminding the ministry of his existence." Stiva has gone to Petersburg for the absurd duty of "reminding the ministry of his existence" - showing up so superiors remember you exist. "And having, for the due performance of this rite, taken all the available cash from home, was gaily and agreeably spending his days at the races and in the summer villas." He's taken all the family money and is enjoying himself. "Meanwhile Dolly and the children had moved into the country, to cut down expenses as much as possible. She had gone to Ergushovo, the estate that had been her dowry, and the one where in spring the forest had been sold." While Stiva spends money in Petersburg, Dolly economizes in the country. "It was nearly forty miles from Levin's Pokrovskoe. The big, old house at Ergushovo had been pulled down long ag" -o. The estate is run-down and isolated. Dolly's country life is difficult - the house is dilapidated, money is tight, managing everything alone is overwhelming. The chapter describes her struggles. But there are compensations: "there were good moments too when she saw nothing but the joy, nothing but gold." Sometimes the hardship disappears and she sees only beauty. "Now in the solitude of the country, she began to be more and more frequently aware of those joys. Often, looking at them, she would make every possible effort to persuade herself that she was mistaken, that she as a mother was partial to her children." She tries to be objective about her own children. "All the same, she could not help saying to herself that she had charming children, all six of them in different ways, but a set of children such as is not often to be met with, and she was happy in them, and proud of them." Despite everything - her unfaithful husband, financial struggles, difficult living conditions - Dolly finds joy and pride in her six children. The chapter shows Dolly's hardship but also her resilience and the genuine satisfaction she finds in motherhood.