Questions about Anna Karenina? [spoilers]

By silver_market

I just finished the novel and I’m still scratching my head about a few things. A lot of the characters feel like they act in a pretty irrational, almost absurd way, but maybe that’s just how it comes across through Tolstoy’s narration. One thing in particular: at the end of PART FOUR, why don’t Vronsky and Anna take Karenin up on the divorce offer? In the chapter before that, Karenin was offering even custody of Serezha. But then later in the book Karenin says something different to Oblonsky, so I’m getting confused. And it also bugs me that before Anna’s illness, Serezha was basically the reason she couldn’t run off with Vronsky—then after the illness it’s like suddenly that doesn’t matter anymore.