Happy families are all similar, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. What does it mean?

Meaning: A happy family can be regarded as a kind of perfect harmony or nearly perfect harmony, and the standard of perfect harmony is the same. Only families that meet this standard can be regarded as perfect harmony, so a happy family It's all the same. Unhappy families have some shortcomings in family life and emotions. The ways and types of shortcomings are diverse. No matter where there are shortcomings, the family will be unhappy. Therefore, each unhappy family has its own characteristics. Everyone's misfortune.

From the opening line of Leo Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina": "Happy families are all alike, and every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."

Extended information

Creative background

Since the 1870s, the Russian countryside has been invaded by capitalist forces. The development of activities such as "going to the people" has made Tolstoy began a new ideological crisis and a new period of exploration.

He is panic-stricken and doubts the purpose and meaning of existence. Because of his "terrible position" in the parasitic life of the aristocracy, he is deeply troubled and does not know "what to do." He studied various philosophical and religious books but could not find the answer. He even hid the rope and took away the shotgun, fearing that he would kill himself trying to free himself.

After that, he visited priests, bishops, monks and hermits, and got acquainted with farmers and independent believers Kang and Siustav. Finally, he completely rejected the government-run church and accepted the patriarchal peasant beliefs. This was Tolstoy's complex period of exploration, and it was during this period that "Anna Karenina" was produced.

In 1870, Tolstoy planned to write a novel about a married woman from a high-class society who made a mistake, and planned to make this woman pitiful and innocent. In 1872, five miles away from Tolstoy's farm, a woman named Annazkova discovered that her lover had a new love and proposed to her son's governess, so she angrily took some changes of clothes to the farm. He went to Tula and later returned to the village, where he threw himself under the wheels of a truck and died.

Tolstoy witnessed this tragedy and was deeply moved. Tolstoy started writing in 1873 and completed it in 1877. The novel has successively used titles such as "The Young Lady", "Two Marriages" and "Two Couples", before finally using its clear and simple current title.

Baidu Encyclopedia--Anna Karenina