Summary
Levin throws himself into his work on the estate with desperate energy, trying to escape his inner turmoil through physical labor and practical concerns. He drives himself harder than usual, working alongside the peasants in the fields and immersing himself in the details of farm management. But no matter how exhausted he makes his body, his mind keeps circling back to the same painful questions about life's meaning and his place in the world. The work that once brought him satisfaction now feels hollow and pointless. He watches the peasants around him and envies their apparent certainty and acceptance of their roles, wondering how they find peace in simple existence while he struggles with doubt and despair. Even as he pushes himself to physical exhaustion, Levin can't silence the voice in his head questioning whether any of his efforts matter. This chapter shows how grief and existential crisis can make even our most reliable coping mechanisms feel inadequate. Levin's attempt to lose himself in work reflects a universal human response to overwhelming emotions - we often try to outrun our problems through busyness and activity. But Tolstoy reveals that true peace can't be achieved through external distractions alone. The contrast between Levin's educated anxiety and the peasants' apparent contentment highlights the sometimes paralyzing effect of overthinking. His struggle represents the modern condition of having too much time and education to question everything, while lacking the simple faith that might provide answers.
Coming Up in Chapter 167
Levin's physical exhaustion finally catches up with him, but instead of bringing the peace he sought, it leads to an unexpected encounter that will challenge his assumptions about faith and meaning. A conversation with an unlikely source begins to shift his perspective.
Share it with friends
An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
W“ell, now what’s our plan of campaign? Tell us all about it,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch. “Our plan is this. Now we’re driving to Gvozdyov. In Gvozdyov there’s a grouse marsh on this side, and beyond Gvozdyov come some magnificent snipe marshes where there are grouse too. It’s hot now, and we’ll get there—it’s fifteen miles or so—towards evening and have some evening shooting; we’ll spend the night there and go on tomorrow to the bigger moors.” “And is there nothing on the way?” “Yes; but we’ll reserve ourselves; besides it’s hot. There are two nice little places, but I doubt there being anything to shoot.” Levin would himself have liked to go into these little places, but they were near home; he could shoot them over any time, and they were only little places—there would hardly be room for three to shoot. And so, with some insincerity, he said that he doubted there being anything to shoot. When they reached a little marsh Levin would have driven by, but Stepan Arkadyevitch, with the experienced eye of a sportsman, at once detected reeds visible from the road. “Shan’t we try that?” he said, pointing to the little marsh. “Levin, do, please! how delightful!” Vassenka Veslovsky began begging, and Levin could but consent. Before they had time to stop, the dogs had flown one before the other into the marsh. “Krak! Laska!...” The dogs came back. “There won’t be room for three. I’ll stay here,” said Levin, hoping they would find nothing but peewits, who had been startled by the dogs, and turning over in their flight, were plaintively wailing over the marsh. “No! Come along, Levin, let’s go together!” Veslovsky called. “Really, there’s not room. Laska, back, Laska! You won’t want another dog, will you?” Levin remained with the wagonette, and looked enviously at the sportsmen. They walked right across the marsh. Except little birds and peewits, of which Vassenka killed one, there was nothing in the marsh. “Come, you see now that it was not that I grudged the marsh,” said Levin, “only it’s wasting time.” “Oh, no, it was jolly all the same. Did you see us?” said Vassenka Veslovsky, clambering awkwardly into the wagonette with his gun and his peewit in his hands. “How splendidly I shot this bird! Didn’t I? Well, shall we soon be getting to the real place?” The horses started off suddenly, Levin knocked his head against the stock of someone’s gun, and there was the report of a shot. The gun did actually go off first, but that was how it seemed to Levin. It appeared that Vassenka Veslovsky had pulled only one trigger, and had left the other hammer still cocked. The charge flew into the ground without doing harm to anyone. Stepan Arkadyevitch shook his head and laughed reprovingly at Veslovsky. But Levin had not the heart to reprove him. In the first place, any reproach would have seemed to be called forth by the danger he had incurred and the...
Master this chapter. Complete your experience
Purchase the complete book to access all chapters and support classic literature
As an Amazon Associate, we earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you.
Available in paperback, hardcover, and e-book formats
Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Exhaustion Trap - When Work Becomes Escape
Using work and busyness as emotional avoidance, believing physical exhaustion will solve mental anguish.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to recognize when we're using work to escape feelings rather than accomplish goals.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you volunteer for extra shifts or stay late—ask yourself: 'Am I working toward something specific, or just working away from something uncomfortable?'
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Estate management
The daily running of a large agricultural property, including supervising workers, managing crops, and handling finances. In 19th century Russia, this was how wealthy landowners made their living and maintained their social status.
Modern Usage:
Like managing any large operation today - a factory, restaurant chain, or construction company where you're responsible for everything from budgets to employee productivity.
Peasant class
Agricultural workers who lived on and worked the land owned by nobles like Levin. They had limited education and social mobility but often possessed practical wisdom and acceptance of their circumstances.
Modern Usage:
Similar to how we might view blue-collar workers who seem more grounded and less anxious than white-collar professionals who overthink everything.
Existential crisis
A period of intense questioning about life's meaning, purpose, and value. The person feels lost and wonders if anything they do really matters in the grand scheme of things.
Modern Usage:
What happens when successful people hit their 40s and suddenly ask 'Is this all there is?' or when someone achieves their goals but still feels empty inside.
Physical labor as escape
Using demanding physical work to avoid dealing with emotional or mental problems. The idea is that exhausting your body will quiet your troubled mind.
Modern Usage:
Like people who throw themselves into extreme workouts, home renovation projects, or 80-hour work weeks to avoid dealing with depression, divorce, or other life problems.
Educated anxiety
The tendency for highly educated or thoughtful people to become paralyzed by overthinking. Having too much knowledge can make simple decisions feel impossibly complex.
Modern Usage:
When college graduates struggle with choices that seem obvious to others, or when reading too many articles about parenting makes you second-guess every decision with your kids.
Simple faith
An unquestioning acceptance of life's circumstances and meaning, often based on religious or cultural beliefs. This provides peace but requires giving up the need to understand everything.
Modern Usage:
Like people who seem genuinely content with their routine jobs and family life while others constantly search for their 'passion' or 'purpose'.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Protagonist in crisis
Desperately throws himself into farm work to escape his mental anguish about life's meaning. Despite his physical exhaustion, he can't stop his mind from spiraling into dark questions about purpose and mortality.
Modern Equivalent:
The successful executive who works 16-hour days to avoid dealing with his midlife crisis
The peasants
Contrasting figures
Work alongside Levin in the fields, representing a simpler way of being that he envies. Their apparent contentment and acceptance of their roles highlights Levin's own tortured overthinking.
Modern Equivalent:
The coworkers who seem genuinely happy with their basic jobs while you stress about career advancement and life goals
Key Quotes & Analysis
"He worked now with a fury, as though something depended on the speed with which he swung his scythe."
Context: Describing Levin's desperate attempt to lose himself in physical labor
Shows how people use extreme busyness to avoid confronting painful emotions. The word 'fury' reveals this isn't healthy productivity but desperate avoidance. Levin thinks if he works hard enough, he can outrun his existential dread.
In Today's Words:
He threw himself into work like his life depended on it, trying to stay too busy to think.
"But in spite of this, or perhaps because of it, the work did not progress as he wished."
Context: Despite Levin's frantic efforts, his desperate energy doesn't improve his effectiveness
Reveals the futility of using external activity to solve internal problems. When we're emotionally scattered, even our best efforts often backfire. True productivity requires inner peace, not just physical effort.
In Today's Words:
The harder he pushed himself, the worse everything seemed to go - classic burnout behavior.
"Why do I struggle? Why do I bustle about? Why do they all struggle and bustle?"
Context: His internal monologue while watching the peasants work
The core existential question that work can't answer. Levin sees the apparent meaninglessness of all human activity when viewed without faith or purpose. This is the question that drives people to therapy, religion, or philosophy.
In Today's Words:
What's the point of any of this? Why are we all running around like hamsters on a wheel?
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Levin envies the peasants' apparent certainty and simple acceptance of their roles in life
Development
Evolving from earlier themes about aristocratic guilt to questioning whether education and privilege create more suffering
In Your Life:
You might feel envious of people who seem content with 'simpler' lives when you're overthinking your choices
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin's work, once a source of satisfaction and meaning, now feels hollow and pointless
Development
Deepening his crisis - external activities that once defined him no longer provide internal stability
In Your Life:
When depression or grief hits, even activities you normally love can feel meaningless
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Physical exhaustion cannot silence the questioning voice in Levin's head about life's meaning
Development
His spiritual crisis intensifies as external solutions prove inadequate
In Your Life:
You realize that staying busy doesn't actually solve the deeper questions you're avoiding
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
The contrast between educated anxiety and peasant contentment reveals the burden of overthinking
Development
Expanding the theme to show how social position affects one's relationship with doubt and certainty
In Your Life:
Sometimes you wish you could just accept things without analyzing everything to death
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
What specific actions does Levin take to try to escape his emotional pain, and why does he think physical work will help?
analysis • surface - 2
Why does Levin's usual coping strategy of throwing himself into work fail him this time?
analysis • medium - 3
Where do you see people today using busyness or work to avoid dealing with difficult emotions or life questions?
application • medium - 4
How would you help someone recognize when they're using work as emotional escape rather than genuine productivity?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's envy of the peasants' apparent contentment reveal about the relationship between education, awareness, and happiness?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Escape Routes
Think about the last time you felt overwhelmed or emotionally stuck. List three activities you used to stay busy or distracted. For each activity, write whether it actually helped solve your problem or just postponed dealing with it. Then identify one small step you could have taken to address the real issue instead.
Consider:
- •Notice the difference between productive action and busy distraction
- •Consider whether your go-to activities create genuine progress or just temporary relief
- •Think about what makes certain activities feel 'safe' when emotions are difficult
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when staying busy actually prevented you from solving a problem that needed your attention. What would you do differently now?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 167
The coming pages reveal key events and character development in this chapter, and teach us thematic elements and literary techniques. These discoveries help us navigate similar situations in our own lives.