Throughout Leo Tolstoy's iconic tragedy Anna Karenina, the presence of trains is essential both in terms of symbolic resonance and as a way to communicate social commentary and setting. Tolstoy uses the imagery of the train as a way to talk about movement in terms of a frenetic course of life, foreshadowing the desperate saga of the romantic relationship between Anna and Vronsky. Overall, the existence of the railway must be seen as a destructive force in the context of the novel, something that initiates death and devastation from its first mention in the text. This symbolic relationship is especially evident during the initial meeting between Anna and Vronsky, their meeting on the train, and at and after Anna's suicide, using the meaning of trains to trace the course of their relationship throughout the text as a sort of timeline, facing the tumultuous end that eventually becomes inevitable for both of them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay The initial mention of the fateful train, Anna's arrival in Moscow, begins the culmination of her relationship with Vronsky, ironically also the first time he is mentioned in the text. When he first enters the carriage to meet his mother, his attraction to Anna is evident and so begins their fateful alliance. However, this meeting is followed by the gruesome death of a railway worker, who leaves his mangled body under the train, a precursor to Anna's death, and what she calls “an omen of evil” (Tolstoy, 63). This comment is reflected not only in the fate of man, but in itself; “His personality had to be split in two in the next scene on the railway, while he was reading a book. The tragedy was already underway. The man 'cut in two' can become a symbol”. (Stenbock-Fermor, 69). Thus, Anna and Vronsky's meeting is darkened by the presence of death, similarly alluding to Anna's impending death, as “the accidental death of a man at the moment of their first meeting suggests… the way in which punish Vronsky and Vronsky”. to free oneself” (Stenbock-Fermor, 65). The scene is also made disturbing by the mention of “a peasant with a sack on his shoulders” (Tolstoy, 58), the same disturbing image that will appear throughout the text. Furthermore, the reader is left wondering whether or not the death was a suicide or not, as voices are heard in the crowd at the station saying “What?...What?..Where?..He's jumping! ..Crushed!..” (Tolstoy, 62), a clear premonition of Anna's imminent end. Furthermore, this opening scene is also made important because "Anna's first appearance is in a railway station, as is her last... [making] it possible to convincingly argue that the main railway scenes are the 'pillars' that support the structure of the novel as a whole” (Jahn, 2). Aside from the development of the central romantic relationship in the text, the presence of the railway here, in this crucial scene, can also serve as Tolstoy's particular social commentary on omnipotent and destructive nature. of the railway, as this "expressed Tolstoy's thoughts". and Vronsky is central to the development of their relationship. As she flees his advances in Moscow, Anna returns to her role as Madame Karenina in St. Petersburg, a literal migration of emotions as she longs to free herself from Vronsky's advances and her nagging sense of insecurity. . When the train stops halfway and Anna finds Vronsky waiting on the platform forconfessing her love, she is “seized by a feeling of joyful pride” (Tolstoy, 96). Once again, the railroad accelerated her relationship with Vronsky, culminating in a new transition as their romance travels not unlike the ever-moving train. Furthermore, Tolstoy's inclusion of "the bent shadow of a man that slipped at her feet and she heard the sound of a hammer on iron" (Tolstoy, 96) takes us back to the first railway scene, highlighting the similarities between their first meeting and the one present in the imagination of the mutilated worker trapped under the tracks. However, this phrase is more literally translated from native Russian to “‘slipped under his legs’… more clearly suggesting a premonition of violence in sexual union” (Browning, 527). Furthermore, this image is prevalent throughout the text, particularly a striking image in Anna's repeated dreams of the bearded farmer. Strongly recalling her memory of sin and the probability of death, she tells Vronsky that she learns in a dream that she will die in childbirth. Although Vronsky also has a similar dream, he better “embody the shadow” (Browning, 527) by bowing beneath Anna and catalyzing her self-destruction. By mentioning this discrepancy, we can suggest that the image of the train is Vronsky himself, both a sexual allusion and a description of the moral evil of modern society. As discussed above, the inclusion of the railway can be interpreted as a mechanism of Russia's pitfalls and industrialization. Vronsky, with his new age and elitist attitude of adultery and distaste for marriage, is an example of this, a symbol of the chaos and upheaval of the structure of Russian society brought about by the integration of the train into upper-class life. Complementing this, it can be noted that although the train Anna travels on is elegant and warm, she finds it suffocating rather than comforting, preferring instead the biting cold of the outside. Therefore, she abandons the comfort and luxury of the elite society that stifles, rather than nurtures, her, choosing to take part in a taboo relationship with her lover. When she steps off the train, she visibly abandons her grasp of society, preferring the radical and sentimental to what the social structure has meant for her. After Anna and Vronsky's preliminary meetings at the railway, we are brought to the conclusion of their love to and after the moment of his suicide, the full circle of his predestined fate ends as he encounters self-annihilation. As she is crushed under the sharp metal of the train, “logic leads to the conclusion that Anna was killed by (or, more precisely, made herself a victim of) upper-class society” (Jahn, 3). Once again, he sees "a deformed-looking peasant, covered in dirt, with a cap from which disheveled hair peeked out... bending over the wheels of the carriage" (Tolstoy, 704), the constant reminder of his guilt and the burden she is forced to endure, initiating her suicide. Furthermore, the scene following Anna's death is also set on a railway, as Vronsky meets Stiva on a train full of soldiers heading to fight in the Russo-Turkish War. Despite Anna's death, Tolstoy's reference to the war, especially against the backdrop of the train, points to the overarching idea that despite death and tragedy, life continues to move forward and progress. Anna's death did not stop the movement of life; it only caused more suffering for others. This is seen on behalf of Vronsky, who, like Anna, seeks to end his life in the war to which he is taken by train. Here, both halves of the illicit couple have reached the pinnacle of final self-annihilation, further promoting the train's image as extremely caustic and..