Summary
Levin throws himself into physical labor on his estate, working alongside his peasants in the fields with an intensity that borders on desperation. He's trying to exhaust himself physically so he won't have to think about the spiritual crisis that's been consuming him. The harder he works, the more he hopes to quiet the questions about life's meaning that have been tormenting him since his brother's death. But even as he sweats under the sun, cutting grass with a scythe until his hands blister, the fundamental questions keep creeping back in. What's the point of all this work? What's the point of anything? His fellow workers notice his strange behavior - a landowner working like a common laborer - but Levin doesn't care about their puzzled looks. He's chasing something he can't quite name, some kind of peace or understanding that seems to slip away the moment he stops moving. The physical exhaustion feels good, almost like a drug, but it's temporary. When evening comes and he has to stop working, the existential dread returns with full force. This chapter shows how people sometimes try to outrun their deepest questions through action and busyness, but real answers require facing the silence and stillness we're trying to avoid. Levin's frantic activity reveals just how desperate he's become to find meaning, and how the death of someone close can shatter our assumptions about what makes life worth living. His search for purpose through physical labor reflects a very human tendency to seek salvation through doing rather than being.
Coming Up in Chapter 168
Levin's desperate search for meaning takes an unexpected turn when a simple conversation with a peasant opens a door he never saw coming. Sometimes the answers we're frantically seeking are hiding in the most ordinary moments.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
Assenka drove the horses so smartly that they reached the marsh too early, while it was still hot. As they drew near this more important marsh, the chief aim of their expedition, Levin could not help considering how he could get rid of Vassenka and be free in his movements. Stepan Arkadyevitch evidently had the same desire, and on his face Levin saw the look of anxiety always present in a true sportsman when beginning shooting, together with a certain good-humored slyness peculiar to him. “How shall we go? It’s a splendid marsh, I see, and there are hawks,” said Stepan Arkadyevitch, pointing to two great birds hovering over the reeds. “Where there are hawks, there is sure to be game.” “Now, gentlemen,” said Levin, pulling up his boots and examining the lock of his gun with rather a gloomy expression, “do you see those reeds?” He pointed to an oasis of blackish green in the huge half-mown wet meadow that stretched along the right bank of the river. “The marsh begins here, straight in front of us, do you see—where it is greener? From here it runs to the right where the horses are; there are breeding places there, and grouse, and all round those reeds as far as that alder, and right up to the mill. Over there, do you see, where the pools are? That’s the best place. There I once shot seventeen snipe. We’ll separate with the dogs and go in different directions, and then meet over there at the mill.” “Well, which shall go to left and which to right?” asked Stepan Arkadyevitch. “It’s wider to the right; you two go that way and I’ll take the left,” he said with apparent carelessness. “Capital! we’ll make the bigger bag! Yes, come along, come along!” Vassenka exclaimed. Levin could do nothing but agree, and they divided. As soon as they entered the marsh, the two dogs began hunting about together and made towards the green, slime-covered pool. Levin knew Laska’s method, wary and indefinite; he knew the place too and expected a whole covey of snipe. “Veslovsky, beside me, walk beside me!” he said in a faint voice to his companion splashing in the water behind him. Levin could not help feeling an interest in the direction his gun was pointed, after that casual shot near the Kolpensky marsh. “Oh, I won’t get in your way, don’t trouble about me.” But Levin could not help troubling, and recalled Kitty’s words at parting: “Mind you don’t shoot one another.” The dogs came nearer and nearer, passed each other, each pursuing its own scent. The expectation of snipe was so intense that to Levin the squelching sound of his own heel, as he drew it up out of the mire, seemed to be the call of a snipe, and he clutched and pressed the lock of his gun. “Bang! bang!” sounded almost in his ear. Vassenka had fired at a flock of ducks which was hovering over the...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Outrunning Truth
Using physical or mental busyness to avoid confronting difficult emotional or existential questions that demand attention.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when someone is using activity to avoid emotional processing.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you or others get suspiciously busy after difficult conversations or bad news—it might signal avoidance rather than productivity.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Existential crisis
A moment when someone questions the fundamental meaning and purpose of their existence. It often happens after major life events like death or loss, when our usual assumptions about life suddenly feel hollow or meaningless.
Modern Usage:
We see this when people have mid-life crises, quit their jobs to 'find themselves', or feel lost after major life changes like divorce or retirement.
Physical labor as escape
Using demanding physical work to avoid dealing with emotional or psychological pain. The idea is that if you exhaust your body completely, your mind won't have energy left to torment you with difficult thoughts.
Modern Usage:
People today do this by throwing themselves into intense workout routines, taking on extra shifts, or staying constantly busy to avoid processing grief or depression.
Russian peasant class
In 19th century Russia, peasants were agricultural workers who lived in poverty and had very limited rights. They were considered far below landowners like Levin in social status, making his choice to work alongside them shocking for the time.
Modern Usage:
Similar to how a CEO working on the factory floor alongside minimum-wage workers would seem strange and noteworthy today.
Scythe work
Cutting grass or grain with a long-handled blade in a rhythmic, sweeping motion. This was backbreaking agricultural work that required skill, stamina, and caused severe blisters for those not used to it.
Modern Usage:
Like any physically demanding manual labor today - construction work, landscaping, or farm work that leaves you completely drained.
Spiritual emptiness
A feeling that life lacks deeper meaning or connection to something greater than yourself. It's when material success or daily routines feel hollow and you're searching for purpose beyond just surviving or achieving.
Modern Usage:
What people describe when they say they feel 'empty inside' despite having a good job, family, or other outward signs of success.
Grief avoidance
The attempt to escape the painful process of mourning by staying constantly busy or distracted. Rather than sitting with loss and processing it, people throw themselves into activity to avoid feeling the full weight of their pain.
Modern Usage:
When someone loses a loved one and immediately goes back to work, takes on new projects, or refuses to slow down because stopping means facing the reality of their loss.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Protagonist in crisis
He's desperately trying to escape his spiritual crisis through exhausting physical labor, working alongside peasants despite his social status. His frantic activity reveals how deeply his brother's death has shaken his sense of life's meaning.
Modern Equivalent:
The successful person who has a breakdown and starts working construction or waiting tables to 'find themselves'
The peasant workers
Observers and contrast
They watch Levin's strange behavior with confusion, not understanding why a wealthy landowner would subject himself to their backbreaking labor. Their puzzled reactions highlight how desperate and unusual Levin's actions are.
Modern Equivalent:
The regular employees watching their boss suddenly start doing entry-level grunt work for no apparent reason
Key Quotes & Analysis
"The longer Levin went on mowing, the oftener he experienced those moments of oblivion when his arms no longer seemed to swing the scythe, but the scythe itself his whole body, so conscious and full of life."
Context: Describing Levin's experience during intense physical labor
This shows how physical exhaustion can create a temporary escape from consciousness and painful thoughts. Levin finds brief peace when he's so tired that his thinking mind shuts down and he becomes pure physical action.
In Today's Words:
When you work so hard that you stop thinking and just become the work itself - like being in the zone during intense exercise.
"Death, the inevitable end of all things, for the first time presented itself to him with irresistible force."
Context: Describing what triggered Levin's existential crisis
His brother's death has made mortality real and unavoidable for Levin. This realization has shattered his previous ability to live without thinking about life's ultimate meaninglessness, forcing him into this desperate search for purpose.
In Today's Words:
For the first time, he really understood that everyone dies, including him, and he couldn't stop thinking about it.
"What am I living for? What have I been put into this world for? What am I here for?"
Context: The questions that torment him despite his attempts to escape through work
These are the fundamental existential questions that physical labor can't answer. No amount of exhaustion can make these questions go away permanently - they return every time he stops moving.
In Today's Words:
What's the point of my life? Why am I even here? What's this all for?
Thematic Threads
Spiritual Crisis
In This Chapter
Levin's desperate physical labor to quiet existential questions about life's meaning after his brother's death
Development
Escalating from earlier philosophical doubts into full crisis requiring drastic measures
In Your Life:
You might recognize this when you're working frantically to avoid thinking about a major life change or loss.
Class
In This Chapter
Levin working like a peasant while his workers observe their master's strange behavior with puzzlement
Development
Continuing exploration of how crisis can temporarily dissolve social barriers
In Your Life:
You might see this when stress makes you abandon your usual social roles and expectations.
Avoidance
In This Chapter
Using physical exhaustion as a drug to numb psychological pain and existential dread
Development
New theme showing how people flee from internal confrontation
In Your Life:
You might catch yourself staying busy to avoid dealing with difficult emotions or decisions.
Death's Impact
In This Chapter
His brother's death has shattered Levin's assumptions about life's purpose and meaning
Development
Continuing aftermath of earlier loss, now showing long-term psychological effects
In Your Life:
You might experience this when someone close to you dies and suddenly nothing feels certain anymore.
Desperation
In This Chapter
Levin's frantic, almost manic approach to manual labor reveals how desperate he's become for peace
Development
Introduced here as his search for meaning becomes increasingly urgent
In Your Life:
You might feel this when you're trying anything—even extreme measures—to find relief from emotional pain.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Why does Levin choose to work in the fields with his peasants instead of managing from a distance like other landowners?
analysis • surface - 2
What is Levin really trying to accomplish through this exhausting physical labor, and why isn't it working?
analysis • medium - 3
When have you seen someone (including yourself) throw themselves into work or activities to avoid dealing with difficult emotions or questions?
application • medium - 4
If you were Levin's friend and noticed this pattern, how would you help him face his questions instead of running from them?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's behavior reveal about how grief and existential crisis can drive us to seek meaning in the wrong places?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Track Your Own Escape Patterns
Think about the last time you felt overwhelmed by difficult emotions or big life questions. Write down three specific activities you used to stay busy instead of sitting with those feelings. For each activity, identify whether it actually helped solve the problem or just postponed dealing with it. Then design one small way you could face the underlying issue directly.
Consider:
- •Notice the difference between productive action and escape action
- •Consider how your body feels when you're running from emotions versus facing them
- •Think about what you're most afraid would happen if you stopped being busy
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you finally stopped running from a difficult question or emotion. What happened when you sat still with it? What did you discover that busyness had been preventing you from seeing?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 168
What lies ahead teaches us key events and character development in this chapter, and shows us thematic elements and literary techniques. These patterns appear in literature and life alike.