Seryozha

Also known as: Kootik · Family: Karenin · Role: child · First appears: PART ONE · Chapter 19

Seryozha, also known as Kootik, is Anna’s son and Karenin’s child. In chapter 19, Anna compares a little girl to him, and by chapter 31 Mariette reports that he has been very good. In chapter 32, he reunites with Anna at home, dashing down the stairs to meet her.

By chapter 84, Anna writes that she is leaving and taking Seryozha with her, but in chapter 105 Karenin declares that he will take him away. A month later, Anna and Vronsky go abroad without divorcing while Karenin remains in Petersburg with Seryozha. Countess Lidia Ivanovna takes charge of the household and Seryozha’s care, tells him that his father is a saint and his mother is dead, and refuses Anna’s request to see him before her departure. Karenin undertakes his education, hiring Sitnikov as tutor, while Miss Edwarde serves as his English governess.

Seryozha learns from Kapitonitch, Nadinka, and Vassily Lukitch more readily than from his teachers; Vassily Lukitch shows him how to make windmills, and Nadinka is his companion in sledging. He shares a family success with the porter Kapitonitch, takes an interest in a distressed clerk, and receives a birthday present from Countess Lidia Ivanovna. After learning that Anna is alive but considered dead to him because she was deemed wicked, he is punished by Karenin and forbidden to visit Nadinka. When Anna finally visits him in chapter 154, Seryozha greets her with radiant smiles, holding her hand and Marya Efimovna’s; Anna tells him, “love him; he’s better and kinder than I am, and I have done him wrong.” Later, Anna explains that she loves both Seryozha and Vronsky equally but cannot have them together.