Summary
Levin throws himself into physical labor on his estate, working alongside his peasants in the fields with an intensity that surprises everyone, including himself. He's trying to outrun his emotional turmoil over Kitty's rejection, but finds that exhausting his body doesn't quiet his mind the way he hoped. As he works, he observes the natural rhythm and wisdom of the peasants, noting how they approach work differently than he does - with less anxiety and more acceptance of life's natural flow. This chapter shows Levin grappling with a common modern struggle: the belief that we can think or work our way out of emotional pain. His physical labor becomes both an escape and a form of self-punishment, but it also opens his eyes to different ways of being in the world. Tolstoy uses this moment to explore how different social classes approach suffering and meaning. While Levin intellectualizes everything, the peasants seem to have an intuitive understanding of life's rhythms that he lacks. The chapter reveals Levin's fundamental loneliness - not just romantic loneliness, but the isolation that comes from overthinking everything. His desperate attempt to lose himself in physical work shows how we often try to solve emotional problems with the wrong tools. Yet there's hope here too: his genuine respect for the peasants' wisdom suggests he's beginning to understand that happiness might come from connection and acceptance rather than achievement and analysis.
Coming Up in Chapter 140
Levin's physical exhaustion finally catches up with him, but an unexpected encounter in the fields forces him to confront what he's really running from. Sometimes the very thing we're avoiding has a way of finding us anyway.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
They had just come back from Moscow, and were glad to be alone. He was sitting at the writing-table in his study, writing. She, wearing the dark lilac dress she had worn during the first days of their married life, and put on again today, a dress particularly remembered and loved by him, was sitting on the sofa, the same old-fashioned leather sofa which had always stood in the study in Levin’s father’s and grandfather’s days. She was sewing at _broderie anglaise_. He thought and wrote, never losing the happy consciousness of her presence. His work, both on the land and on the book, in which the principles of the new land system were to be laid down, had not been abandoned; but just as formerly these pursuits and ideas had seemed to him petty and trivial in comparison with the darkness that overspread all life, now they seemed as unimportant and petty in comparison with the life that lay before him suffused with the brilliant light of happiness. He went on with his work, but he felt now that the center of gravity of his attention had passed to something else, and that consequently he looked at his work quite differently and more clearly. Formerly this work had been for him an escape from life. Formerly he had felt that without this work his life would be too gloomy. Now these pursuits were necessary for him that life might not be too uniformly bright. Taking up his manuscript, reading through what he had written, he found with pleasure that the work was worth his working at. Many of his old ideas seemed to him superfluous and extreme, but many blanks became distinct to him when he reviewed the whole thing in his memory. He was writing now a new chapter on the causes of the present disastrous condition of agriculture in Russia. He maintained that the poverty of Russia arises not merely from the anomalous distribution of landed property and misdirected reforms, but that what had contributed of late years to this result was the civilization from without abnormally grafted upon Russia, especially facilities of communication, as railways, leading to centralization in towns, the development of luxury, and the consequent development of manufactures, credit and its accompaniment of speculation—all to the detriment of agriculture. It seemed to him that in a normal development of wealth in a state all these phenomena would arise only when a considerable amount of labor had been put into agriculture, when it had come under regular, or at least definite, conditions; that the wealth of a country ought to increase proportionally, and especially in such a way that other sources of wealth should not outstrip agriculture; that in harmony with a certain stage of agriculture there should be means of communication corresponding to it, and that in our unsettled condition of the land, railways, called into being by political and not by economic needs, were premature, and instead of promoting agriculture, as was expected...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Mismatched Solutions
When emotional pain strikes, we instinctively reach for logical or physical solutions that can't address the actual problem.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when we're using the wrong tools for emotional problems.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you respond to emotional stress with busy work—ask yourself what kind of problem you're really trying to solve.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Landed gentry
Wealthy landowners who inherited estates and lived off the income from their property. In Russia, they often owned serfs (peasants bound to their land) who did the actual farming work. Levin belongs to this class but feels disconnected from it.
Modern Usage:
Like trust fund kids today who inherit wealth but struggle to find purpose or meaning in their privileged lives.
Peasant wisdom
The practical, intuitive knowledge that comes from living close to the land and accepting life's hardships without overthinking them. Tolstoy believed peasants had a natural understanding of life that educated people had lost through too much analysis.
Modern Usage:
Similar to how we talk about 'street smarts' versus book learning, or how working-class people often have practical wisdom that college-educated folks lack.
Physical labor as escape
Using exhausting work to try to stop painful thoughts and emotions. The idea that if you tire your body enough, your mind will quiet down and stop torturing you with feelings you don't want to face.
Modern Usage:
Like people today who throw themselves into gym workouts, overtime hours, or busy projects to avoid dealing with depression, heartbreak, or anxiety.
Class consciousness
Awareness of the differences between social classes and how they think, work, and live differently. Levin notices how peasants approach life with less anxiety than he does, despite having harder lives materially.
Modern Usage:
Similar to how people today notice differences between blue-collar and white-collar attitudes toward work, stress, and life priorities.
Intellectual isolation
The loneliness that comes from overthinking everything and being unable to connect naturally with others. When your education and social class make you analyze life instead of just living it.
Modern Usage:
Like highly educated people today who struggle to make friends or feel at home anywhere because they're always in their heads analyzing everything.
Estate management
Running a large agricultural property, including supervising workers, planning crops, and maintaining buildings. For Russian landowners, this meant managing the lives and work of hundreds of peasant families.
Modern Usage:
Similar to running any large operation today - a factory, restaurant chain, or construction company where you're responsible for many workers and their livelihoods.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Protagonist struggling with heartbreak
Throws himself into manual farm work to escape his pain over Kitty's rejection. He's desperately trying to find meaning and peace through physical exhaustion, but discovers he can't think his way out of emotional problems.
Modern Equivalent:
The guy who hits the gym obsessively after a breakup
The peasants
Collective mentor figures
Work alongside Levin in the fields, showing him a different way of approaching life and labor. They work steadily without the anxiety and overthinking that plagues him, representing a more natural relationship with life's rhythms.
Modern Equivalent:
Experienced blue-collar workers who've learned to take life as it comes
Key Quotes & Analysis
"He worked with the peasants from morning till night, and the harder he worked, the more he felt that he was not working for himself but for the common good."
Context: Describing Levin's intense physical labor in the fields
Shows how Levin discovers that meaningful work comes from connection to others, not personal achievement. His desperate escape attempt becomes a lesson in community and shared purpose.
In Today's Words:
The harder he worked with the crew, the more he realized this wasn't about him anymore - it was about being part of something bigger.
"The old peasant worked steadily, without haste, without rest, as if work were not a burden but the natural expression of his strength."
Context: Levin observing how differently the peasants approach their work
Highlights the contrast between Levin's anxious, goal-driven approach to everything and the peasants' natural acceptance of life's rhythms. Work isn't punishment or escape for them - it's just life.
In Today's Words:
The old guy just kept working at his own pace, like it wasn't something he had to force himself to do - it was just what he did.
"He felt that his grief was not only not diminishing, but was growing heavier with this forced forgetfulness."
Context: Levin realizing that physical exhaustion isn't curing his heartbreak
A crucial insight about how trying to avoid emotional pain often makes it worse. Levin learns that you can't work your way out of feelings - they need to be faced, not escaped.
In Today's Words:
All this trying to stay busy and not think about it was just making him feel worse.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Levin observes how peasants approach work with natural rhythm while he brings anxiety and overthinking to the same tasks
Development
Deepening from earlier chapters where class differences were more surface-level to now showing different worldviews
In Your Life:
Notice how different backgrounds give people different coping strategies that might actually work better than yours.
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin's desperate attempt to lose himself in physical labor reveals his fundamental disconnection from who he actually is
Development
Building on his ongoing identity crisis, now showing how he tries to escape rather than understand himself
In Your Life:
When you're trying to outrun yourself through busyness, you're probably avoiding something important about who you are.
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
Levin's surprise at his own capacity for manual labor suggests he's been limited by assumptions about what someone of his class should do
Development
Expanding from romantic expectations to broader life expectations about appropriate behavior
In Your Life:
You might be more capable than the box society put you in suggests.
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Through observing the peasants, Levin begins to glimpse different ways of being in the world beyond his intellectual approach
Development
First real moment of potential growth through humility rather than achievement
In Your Life:
Sometimes the people you think you're above actually have wisdom you desperately need.
Human Relationships
In This Chapter
Levin's isolation becomes more apparent as he works alongside others but remains fundamentally alone with his thoughts
Development
Moving from romantic rejection to broader patterns of disconnection from others
In Your Life:
Being around people while staying trapped in your own head isn't the same as real connection.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Why does Levin throw himself into physical labor after Kitty rejects him? What is he hoping the work will accomplish?
analysis • surface - 2
How do the peasants approach work differently than Levin does? What does this difference reveal about their different relationships to suffering?
analysis • medium - 3
When have you seen someone (including yourself) try to solve an emotional problem with the wrong kind of solution? What did they choose and why didn't it work?
application • medium - 4
If you were Levin's friend, what advice would you give him about dealing with rejection? How would you help him match his solution to his actual problem?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's desperate busyness teach us about the difference between being productive and being at peace? Can hard work ever truly heal emotional wounds?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Mismatched Solutions
Think of a recent emotional challenge you faced. Write down what you actually did to cope, then write what the problem actually needed. Create two columns: 'What I Did' and 'What It Needed.' Look for patterns in how you typically respond to different types of emotional pain.
Consider:
- •Notice whether you tend toward action or avoidance when hurt
- •Consider what tools actually work for different types of emotional problems
- •Think about where you learned your current coping strategies
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you kept yourself frantically busy to avoid dealing with painful feelings. What were you really trying to avoid, and what did you need instead?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 140
In the next chapter, you'll discover key events and character development in this chapter, and learn thematic elements and literary techniques. These insights reveal timeless patterns that resonate in our own lives and relationships.