Levin and Oblonsky
On their friendship
In Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy portrays some of my favorite relationships in literature. They all feel varied and nuanced, making one feel that there's something special about each one. One of those is the friendship shared between Konstantin Dmitrievich Levin and Stepan Arkadyevich Oblonsky.
We first meet Oblonsky who is laid back, very likable, and chronically cheerful. Later on, we meet Levin, and he is the opposite. He is not very sociable and overthinks everything. As the story unfolds, and we learn more about their respective lives, we see that the differences between their lifestyles, occupations, and principles couldn’t be any more contradictive. A significant point of difference is how Oblonsky is quoted as “… on all such subjects he adhered firmly to the views of the majority, as expressed by his paper, and changed them only when the majority changed theirs…“. Levin, on the other hand, is an incredibly independent thinker. Yet they are very close friends!
A an example of a potential reason why their differences don’t affect their friendship can be seen in the case of Oblonsky’s adultery. Levin is aware of it (there's a scene where he spitefully remarks in his head that Oblonsky has probably been out kissing other women), but he never reprimands him. Oblonsky has many friends who, given their lifestyles, you would expect to look the other way, but Levin wouldn’t be on that list. He has a close relationship with Dolly too and yet he cowers from talking to Striva about it. I don’t think any less of Levin for it though. Perhaps that's how people stay friends; accepting that we all don’t need to think or say the same things to care for each other. I wonder how many people I could still call Friends if I had realized that sooner?
One wonders what it is that ties them together, then? Since they met in school, proximity probably played a significant role. I know Anna Karenina came first, but their friendship reminds me of Ned and Robert from A Song of Ice and Fire, who incidentally met while serving as wards to Jon Arryn. Individually they both have positive qualities that I think anyone would love in their friends. Stiva is shown to be charming, and more than sociable enough to be friends with nearly(Because Karenin probably never wants to be alone in a room with Oblonsky ever again) everyone he meets. Levin himself, while not as socially adept as his friend, is thoughtful both in conversation and in helping those he cares about.
This article probably comes off as meandering and aimless. That’s because it is. I just wanted to air out these thoughts about an aspect of a story that I thoroughly loved from start to finish. I am grateful to Leo Tolstoy for letting me in to a window of these people's lives and to you too for reading up to this point.