“Women are the only oppressed group in our society who live in intimate association with their oppressors.” said American journalist Evelyn Cunningham. For centuries, women have been considered inferior to their male counterparts and caged in the small bubble of the domestic sphere, excluded from any political or scientific progress. In protest, women attempt to express their opinions in various ways, such as through their husbands, writing essays under a male pseudonym, or simply clearly challenging society's rules. A central issue prevalent in society was the place of women in marriage. According to ancient tradition, the wife had to serve her husband and please him in every possible way. As time passed, however, women began to demand a stronger place in family life. An important part of that family life was the ability to choose in matters of marriage. Leo Tolstoy's 1870 novel Anna Karenina promotes this feminist social change in nineteenth-century Russia through the development of the relationships of two women, Kitty and Anna, with one representing a life with choice and the other a life without choice. Kitty Shcherbatsky is shown as the woman with the ability to choose her husband. In the novel's introduction, she is seen as infatuated with a handsome young man, Count Vronsky (45). However, Vronsky is not the only man in her life looking for her love; Levin, a country farmer, has long been in love with Kitty and has come to Moscow to ask for her hand in marriage (21). Despite Kitty's affection for him, she rejected his proposal, claiming that it "can't be" and asked for forgiveness (48). Kitty's rejection of Levin cannot be seen simply as a woman choosing between two men based on him... middle of paper... she would have just been granted a divorce, most of her discomfort could have been avoided and lived the perfect life she imagined for Vronsky and for herself. Tolstoy uses his characters as a way to advocate for changing women's place in society, choosing freedom in marriage as the foundation of the message. He points out that choice ends in happiness, while lack of choice ends in despair. Tolstoy was not alone in thinking this way, and his message was indeed spread. If it were not for the authors and other advocates of women's empowerment, these rights may never have been realized. It just takes little pieces, like books like Anna Karenina, to bring together that one big picture for the world to see. Works Cited Tolstoy, Leo, Richard Pevear, and Larissa Volokhonsky. Anna Karenina: a novel in eight parts. New York, NY: Penguin, 2002. Print.