Anna Karenina · Chapter
Chapter VI explained
Levin makes a formal social call on Countess Bola, enduring a strained and superficial conversation.
What happens
Levin makes a formal social call on Countess Bola, enduring a strained and superficial conversation. He then attends a public meeting where he mingles with high society, including Sviazhsky and Stepan Arkadyevitch, and later recalls with vexation a blunder he made in conversation, repeating a borrowed witticism as his own.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Social Pretense
Levin's entire visit to Countess Bola is a performance of empty pleasantries ('utterly of no consequence to him'). His later vexation over passing off a newspaper witticism as his own highlights the intellectual pretense expected in society conversation.
Isolation and Misunderstanding
Levin feels profoundly separate from the social world, finding its rituals 'stupid' and annoying. His internal monologue ('What did I come for?') contrasts with his external compliance, emphasizing his alienation.
Characters to notice
- Konstantin Dmitrievitch Levin
Endures the awkward formalities of a social call, feeling 'ashamed and awfully stupid.' Later attends a public meeting, engages in society chatter, and is vexed by his own intellectual dishonesty in repeating a borrowed idea.
- Stepan Arkadyevitch Oblonsky
Makes a brief appearance at the public meeting, having just come from the races, highlighting his immersion in society's leisure activities.
- Nikolay Ivanovitch Sviazhsky
Pressingly invites Levin to an agricultural society meeting, representing Levin's connections to intellectual and public life.
Key passages
“"How annoying!" thought Levin with a sigh... "What did I come for? What have I to say to them?"”
Levin feels immediate regret and social anxiety upon arriving for his obligatory visit.
Highlights Levin's discomfort with and alienation from high society's formal rituals.
“"Of course I don't care, but still I feel ashamed and awfully stupid," thought Levin, consoling himself with the reflection that everyone does it.”
After the awkward visit, Levin feels foolish but rationalizes that such empty social performances are universal.
Shows Levin's self-awareness and his cynical view of social conventions.
“Then he recollected that this idea... came from a fable of Krilov’s, and that the acquaintance had picked it up from a newspaper article.”
Levin remembers the clever remark he made about the trial was not his own original thought but something he'd heard second-hand.
Illustrates Levin's intellectual honesty and his vexation at participating in the pretense of society wit.