Lilliputin- 6097

Anna Karenina was definitely born on the wrong side of the tracks ... "
Queen Victoria


Lilliputins in English What the heck are they?
http://stihi.ru/2025/09/05/6339


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Sometime in the early 1800s when the railroads were being built. Often the railroad tracks were like a diving line between the rich section of town and the poor section. Anyone who grew up in the poor section was from the wrong side of the tracks.

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The claim that Anna Karenina was "born on the wrong side of the tracks" is incorrect. In fact, she is a member of the Russian aristocracy and occupies a high social position at the start of Leo Tolstoy's novel. The phrase "wrong side of the tracks" refers to a lower-class or disadvantaged background, which is the opposite of Anna's reality.
The tragedy of Anna's life comes from defying the rigid social conventions of her own elite class, not from being born outside of it.
Key details about Anna's background:
High-ranking family: Her brother, Stepan Oblonsky, is a well-placed civil servant in Moscow. Through her own name, Anna is a "Princess" of the Oblonsky family.
Wealthy, politically connected marriage: Her husband, Alexei Karenin, is a senior government official in St. Petersburg, a man of power and importance.
Socialite status: In the novel's beginning, Anna is a beautiful, admired, and highly regarded socialite in the top circles of Russian society.
Her downfall is precipitated by her choice to pursue a passionate affair with Count Vronsky, a fellow aristocrat. This public choice causes her to be ostracized by the very society she was born into, which values public order and reputation over genuine emotional honesty. Her tragedy is that of an insider who sacrifices her place in a privileged world for love, a world that then turns on her for her perceived transgression.


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Queen Victoria

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days, which was longer than those of any of her predecessors, constituted the Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father's three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Victoria, a constitutional monarch, attempted privately to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet "grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond jubilees were times of public celebration. Victoria died at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, at the age of 81. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.