“Anna” of Anna in the Tropics

When the lector arrives in Ybor City, he introduces the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy to the workers. Below (in order of their presentation in the play) are the passages we hear read to the workers, along with brief summaries of the characters and action of the novel.

1. Before you see the play, Anna in the Tropics, read these passages from Anna Karenina and see if you can identify some themes. Can you make any predictions about the play?
   [LA.A.1.4]
   
2. After you watch the play, compare Anna Karenina to the action, characters and themes of Anna in the Tropics. Why do you think Nilo Cruz selected this particular Tolstoy book to be part of his play? Are there any links between the writings and lives of Leo Tolstoy and Nilo Cruz? Are there any links between the setting of the novel (place and time) and the setting of the play? [LA.A.2.4 and SS.A.1.4]

Part 2, Chapter 11

Anna Karenina, an aristocratic married woman in St. Petersburg, Russia, has taken on a lover – Alexei Vronsky - a wealthy and handsome military officer.

“Looking at him, Anna Karenina felt a physical humiliation and could not say another word. Her beloved felt what a killer must feel when he looks at the body he has deprived of life. The body he had deprived of life was their love, the beginning of their love. There was something dreadful and revolting in the recollection of what had been paid for by this awful price of shame. The shame Anna sensed from their spiritual nakedness destroyed her and affected him. But in spite of the killer’s horror when he faces the body of his victim, the killer must cut the body to pieces and conceal it, and he must make use of what he has gained by his crime. And with the same fury and passion as the killer throws himself upon the body and drags it and cuts it, he covered her face and shoulders with kisses. ‘Yes, these kisses – these kisses are what have been bought by shame.’”

Part 2, Chapter 7

In the novel, Princess Betsy asks Anna for her opinion regarding the appropriate emotional conditions for a marriage. Anna picks her words carefully in front of Vronsky who has just dispelled the idea of marriage based on true love:

“If there are as many minds as there are heads, then there are as many kinds of love as there are hearts.”

Part 2, Chapter 4

Anna is noticing how persistent Vronsky is in his pursuit of her, despite her lack of encouragement. She is surprised to find, however, how his absence affects her life.

“At first Anna sincerely thought that she was annoyed because he insisted on pursuing her; but very soon after her return from Moscow, when she went to an evening party where she expected to see him, but which he did not attend, she came to the realization by the sadness that overwhelmed her, that she was deceiving herself.”

Part 2, Chapter 11

Anna is having difficulty digesting the “shame, joy, and horror” she is feeling regarding her feelings towards Vronsky.

“Anna Karenina had stepped into a new life and she could not convey through words her sense of shame, rapture and horror, and she did not want to talk about it and profane this feeling through simple words. And as time passed by, the next day and the next, she still could not find the proper words to express the complexity of her feelings, and could not even find thoughts with which to reflect on all that was in her soul.”

Part 2, Chapter 8

Anna’s husband Karenin only takes note of Anna’s acquaintance with Vronsky because other people seem to notice. This observation however, opens a new prospect of confusion for Karenin, who had maintained that “jealousy was an insult to one’s wife, and that one ought to have confidence in one’s wife.”

“Anna Karenina’s husband did not see anything peculiar or improper in his wife’s sitting together with Vronsky at a separate table and having a lively conversation with him; but he noticed that the others sitting in the drawing room considered it peculiar and improper, and so it seemed improper to him, too. He decided that he must have a conversation with his wife about it.”

Part 1, Chapter 29

As Anna is taking a train ride, her mind starts to wander to Vronsky.

“Anna Karenina prepared herself for the journey with joy and willfulness. With small, skillful hands she opened a red bag and took out a little cushion, which she placed on her knees before closing the bag.”

Part 3, Chapter 13

Trying to decide on the most appropriate way to handle the deception of his wife with another man, Karenin is contemplating a duel.

“In his youth Anna Karenina’s husband had been intrigued by the idea of dueling because he was physically a coward and was well aware of this fact. In his youth this terror had often forced him to think about dueling and imagining himself in a situation in which it was necessary to endanger his life. This old ingrained feeling now reasserted itself. Let’s suppose I challenge him. Let’s suppose someone teaches me how to do it, he went on thinking. They put us in position, I squeeze the trigger, he said to himself, and it turns out I’ve killed him. He shook his head to drive away such silly thoughts. What would be the sense of killing a man in order to define one’s own relations with a woman.”

Part 3, Chapter 14

Karenin has resolved to write a letter to his wife, stating it is her responsibility to end all connection with the past and to maintain a presentable family life.

“By the time he arrived in Petersburg, Anna Karenina’s husband was not only completely determined to carry out his decision, but he had composed in his head a letter he would write to his wife. In his letter he was going to write everything he’d been meaning to tell her.”

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