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Two events of great importance happen in these chapters:
Anna discovers and tells Vronsky that she is pregnant by him,
and Vronsky loses the steeplechase, killing his horse in the
process. The first has direct impact on the plot, the second is
important thematically and stylistically.
For the first time we see Vronsky in his element--with
horses. He is very loving with his mare, and calls her
\"darling.\" He seems more intuitive with her than with people.
This is Vronsky\'s big day, the day of the steeplechase, which
he is expected to win. All he has to do is keep cool. But he\'s
distracted--his mother and brother disapprove of his affair with
Anna, and his mother is threatening to cut off his allowance.
And Vronsky is growing more and more dissatisfied with the
secrecy with which he and Anna must conduct their life
together.
NOTE: Vronsky\'s mother worries that he has a \"Werther-like
passion\" for Anna. Werther is the hero of The Sorrows of the
Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), one of
Germany\'s most noted writers. Werther commits suicide because
the woman he loves is married.
When Vronsky goes to see Anna before the race, she tells him
she is pregnant. He immediately tells her that she must leave
Karenin and live with him. Anna finds she has underestimated
Vronsky. She had feared he would take her pregnancy too
lightly, but he appears to take it more seriously than even she
does. He correctly points out that she suffers from society,
her son, and her husband--and that if she doesn\'t break cleanly
with Karenin she is dooming herself to a living hell. But Anna
will not listen.
Keep an eye on Vronsky--his growth, for a variety of reasons,
outstrips Anna\'s as they go on together.
The race itself is a masterpiece of descriptive writing.
Tolstoy shows you every detail. He also succeeds in making the
scene unbearably exciting. The pacing here is perfect.
Distracted by his conversation with Anna, Vronsky is not in
top form. An excellent horseman, he runs a fine race. But his
mare is nervous, and although he guides her through much of the
course with the intimacy of a lover, he makes a fatal mistake.
During a jump, he relaxes in the saddle, letting his weight
settle, thus breaking her back. This is the worst moment of
Vronsky\'s life so far--his mistake is beyond correction, and was
entirely his fault.
The death of Frou-Frou foreshadows Vronsky\'s responsibility
for Anna\'s death. It points up that egotism is a powerful part
of his nature--he was overconscious of the crowd during the
race. The descriptions of Anna and Frou-Frou are strikingly
similar. Both have fine necks and beautiful, expressive eyes;
both are submissive to Vronsky\'s wishes--both ultimately slip
from his control.
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