Act 1, Scene 3 Summary

With passion and fervor, Juan Julian reads a passage from Anna Karenina, closes the book and is rewarded with applause. The workers begin discussing the novel as their workday winds to a close. Once the grumpy Chechy leaves, Ofelia and her daughters discuss why this is such a fitting novel to hear and mull over the relationships among Anna, her husband and her lover. They snipe about how well each listens and what they take in. Ofelia and Marela leave for the night, leaving Conchita and her husband Palomo to work late. They discuss the trouble Santiago's new gambling debt has gotten him into with Ofelia, and then they turn to the problems in their own marriage. Conchita digs into Tolstoy's depiction of upper class Russian life, in which affairs are commonplace, and longs for a life beyond the factory. Palomo...