Kitty, although ready to love, is still not mature enough to discriminate. But she is flooded with happiness at Levin's proposal and does not know why. Vronsky is introduced in the most favorable way, and, at Kitty's unfeigned joy at his arrival, the theme of her indiscriminate love deepens.
As Kitty's mother reflects on the simpleness of matchmaking when she was a girl, Tolstoy telescopes the family history through his characteristic device of "interior monologue." This discussion also pinpoints a primary theme of the novel — the problem of marriage in a modern society.
