“Women are the only oppressed group in our society who live in intimate association with their oppressors. » declared American journalist Evelyn Cunningham. For centuries, women were considered inferior to their male counterparts and confined within the small bubble of the domestic sphere, excluded from any political or scientific progress. In protest, women attempted to express their opinions in various ways, such as through their husbands, writing essays under a male pseudonym, or simply openly defying society's regulations. A central issue that prevailed in society was the place of women in marriage. According to the old tradition, the wife should serve her husband and please him in every way possible. However, over time, women began to claim a more important place in family life. An important part of this family life was being able to choose when it came to marriage. Leo Tolstoy's 1870s novel Anna Karenina promotes this feminist social change in 19th-century Russia through the development of the relationships of two women, Kitty and Anna, one representing a life with choices and the other a life without choice. Kitty Shcherbatsky is shown as the woman with the ability to choose her husband. In the introduction to the novel, we see her in love with a handsome young man, Count Vronsky (45 years old). However, Vronsky is not the only man in her life seeking her love; Levin, a farmer from the countryside, has been in love with Kitty for a long time and came to Moscow to ask for her hand (21). Despite Kitty's affection for him, she rejected his proposal, saying "it couldn't be" and asked for forgiveness (48). Kitty's rejection of Levin cannot be seen as simply a woman choosing between two men based on her...... middle of paper ...... na would have just gotten a divorce, most of her emotional distress could have been avoided and lived this perfect life she had imagined for Vronsky and for herself. Tolstoy uses his characters as a means of advocating change in the place of women in society, choosing the freedom of marriage as the foundation of his message. He argues that choice results in happiness, while lack of choice results in despair. Tolstoy was not the only one to think this way and his message did indeed spread. Without the authors and other advocates of women's emancipation, these rights may never have been realized. It only takes small pieces, like books like Anna Karenina, to put together a big picture for the world to see. Works cited by Tolstoy, Leo, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Anna Karenina: a novel in eight parts. New York, NY: Penguin, 2002. Print.