How we cite our quotes: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #10
Out of her father's children there was one who was fit to cope with the world, who had not been tied to the plow, and who had a personality apart from the soil. And that, she reflected, was what she had worked for. She felt well satisfied with her life. (4.1.4)
The narrator repeats what Alexandra herself has said before. In her mind, she has been working all this time for the benefit of others—Emil, specifically. Now that's able to study at the university, she's "well satisfied with her life." Well, only a tragedy like Emil's murder can shake her out of that mindset.