Anna Karenina Part 3, Chapter 8 Summary

  • Although Dolly is not a strict believer in the Church, she believes in setting a good example for the children and so decides in late May to take them to communion.
  • Everything went very well, except that at lunch Grisha, her son, has to be punished for not listening to the governess. He is not allowed any dessert.
  • Dolly wants to persuade the governess to relent, but on her way to find the governess she finds Tanya, here daughter, sneaking pudding to Grisha.
  • The whole scene is adorable, and Dolly is not angry.
  • Everyone goes out to the bathhouse for a swim.
  • There are several peasant women gathered, and Dolly, hearing their conversation, begins to join in. She is flattered by their sincere admiration for her children, and their concern over the young ones' health.
  • Dolly bonds with these women because their interests are so much the same as her own: what kinds of illnesses have the children had? How often does her husband visit? And so on.