Summary
Levin throws himself into physical labor on his estate, working alongside his peasants in the fields from dawn to dusk. He's desperately trying to exhaust himself so completely that he won't have energy left to think about his inner turmoil and spiritual crisis. The harder he works, the more he hopes to silence the questions that have been tormenting him about life's meaning and whether existence is worth living. But even as his body aches and his hands blister, his mind won't quiet. The physical work brings temporary relief, like a painkiller that wears off too quickly. Levin discovers what many people learn during difficult times - that you can't outrun your thoughts indefinitely. His peasant workers notice his unusual intensity but don't understand the desperation driving it. They see their master working with unprecedented vigor, but they can't see the internal battle he's fighting. This chapter shows how grief and existential crisis can manifest in frantic activity. Levin is essentially trying to work his way out of depression, using exhaustion as an escape from the weight of his thoughts. It's a relatable response - many people throw themselves into work, exercise, or other activities when facing emotional pain. But Tolstoy reveals the limitations of this strategy. Physical labor can provide temporary distraction, but it doesn't resolve the underlying spiritual questions that plague Levin. The chapter captures that restless energy that comes with deep unhappiness, when sitting still feels impossible but movement doesn't actually help. Levin's frantic work ethic reflects his character's tendency to seek practical solutions to philosophical problems, even when such solutions don't exist.
Coming Up in Chapter 174
Despite his exhausting days in the fields, Levin's spiritual crisis deepens as he realizes that physical labor alone cannot silence the fundamental questions about life's purpose that continue to haunt him.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
Darya Alexandrovna carried out her intention and went to see Anna. She was sorry to annoy her sister and to do anything Levin disliked. She quite understood how right the Levins were in not wishing to have anything to do with Vronsky. But she felt she must go and see Anna, and show her that her feelings could not be changed, in spite of the change in her position. That she might be independent of the Levins in this expedition, Darya Alexandrovna sent to the village to hire horses for the drive; but Levin learning of it went to her to protest. “What makes you suppose that I dislike your going? But, even if I did dislike it, I should still more dislike your not taking my horses,” he said. “You never told me that you were going for certain. Hiring horses in the village is disagreeable to me, and, what’s of more importance, they’ll undertake the job and never get you there. I have horses. And if you don’t want to wound me, you’ll take mine.” Darya Alexandrovna had to consent, and on the day fixed Levin had ready for his sister-in-law a set of four horses and relays, getting them together from the farm and saddle-horses—not at all a smart-looking set, but capable of taking Darya Alexandrovna the whole distance in a single day. At that moment, when horses were wanted for the princess, who was going, and for the midwife, it was a difficult matter for Levin to make up the number, but the duties of hospitality would not let him allow Darya Alexandrovna to hire horses when staying in his house. Moreover, he was well aware that the twenty roubles that would be asked for the journey were a serious matter for her; Darya Alexandrovna’s pecuniary affairs, which were in a very unsatisfactory state, were taken to heart by the Levins as if they were their own. Darya Alexandrovna, by Levin’s advice, started before daybreak. The road was good, the carriage comfortable, the horses trotted along merrily, and on the box, besides the coachman, sat the counting-house clerk, whom Levin was sending instead of a groom for greater security. Darya Alexandrovna dozed and waked up only on reaching the inn where the horses were to be changed. After drinking tea at the same well-to-do peasant’s with whom Levin had stayed on the way to Sviazhsky’s, and chatting with the women about their children, and with the old man about Count Vronsky, whom the latter praised very highly, Darya Alexandrovna, at ten o’clock, went on again. At home, looking after her children, she had no time to think. So now, after this journey of four hours, all the thoughts she had suppressed before rushed swarming into her brain, and she thought over all her life as she never had before, and from the most different points of view. Her thoughts seemed strange even to herself. At first she thought about the children, about whom she was uneasy,...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Motion Without Progress
Using frantic activity and physical exhaustion to avoid confronting emotional or spiritual problems that require different solutions.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when frantic activity is masking deeper problems that require different solutions.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you feel compelled to stay busy—ask yourself what you might be avoiding through motion.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Estate labor
In 19th-century Russia, wealthy landowners like Levin managed large agricultural properties worked by peasant farmers. The landowner typically supervised from a distance, but Levin breaks social convention by working alongside his peasants in the fields.
Modern Usage:
Like a CEO who decides to work the factory floor or a restaurant owner who starts washing dishes - crossing class boundaries through shared physical work.
Spiritual crisis
A period of deep questioning about life's meaning, purpose, and whether existence is worthwhile. Levin is experiencing what we might call an existential breakdown - questioning everything he once believed about life's value.
Modern Usage:
The 'what's the point of it all' feeling that hits during major life transitions, depression, or after traumatic events.
Physical exhaustion as escape
Using intense physical activity to avoid dealing with emotional or mental pain. Levin works until his body can't function, hoping exhaustion will silence his troubled thoughts.
Modern Usage:
Working 80-hour weeks to avoid thinking about a breakup, or exercising obsessively to escape anxiety - using the body to quiet the mind.
Peasant class consciousness
The workers notice their master's unusual behavior but can't understand his internal struggle. There's a gap between social classes in recognizing and discussing mental health issues.
Modern Usage:
When coworkers notice you're acting different but don't know how to ask about depression, or when mental health struggles are invisible to those from different backgrounds.
Restless energy
The inability to sit still when experiencing emotional turmoil. Levin can't bear inactivity because it allows his dark thoughts to surface, so he stays constantly in motion.
Modern Usage:
That feeling when you're upset and need to clean the house, reorganize everything, or stay busy because sitting still feels unbearable.
Temporary relief
Physical work provides short-term distraction from Levin's mental anguish, but the relief doesn't last. Like a painkiller wearing off, the underlying problem remains unchanged.
Modern Usage:
How binge-watching, shopping, or any distraction can make you feel better temporarily but doesn't solve the actual problem causing stress.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Protagonist in crisis
Throws himself into backbreaking farm work, trying to exhaust himself so completely that he won't have energy to think about his spiritual crisis and questions about life's meaning. His desperate physical activity reveals the depth of his emotional pain.
Modern Equivalent:
The workaholic who stays at the office until midnight to avoid going home and facing their problems
The peasant workers
Observing laborers
They work alongside Levin and notice his unusual intensity and desperation, but they can't understand what's driving their master to work with such frantic energy. They represent the gap between social classes in understanding mental struggles.
Modern Equivalent:
Coworkers who notice you're acting strange but don't know how to address mental health issues
Key Quotes & Analysis
"He worked as he had never worked before, and felt that the harder he worked, the better he felt."
Context: Describing Levin's desperate attempt to find relief through physical exhaustion
This reveals how Levin is using work as a drug - the temporary high of physical exhaustion masks his emotional pain. But the word 'felt' suggests this relief is more illusion than reality.
In Today's Words:
He threw himself into work like his life depended on it, thinking that staying busy would make the pain go away.
"The peasants wondered at his energy, but they did not understand the desperation that drove him."
Context: Showing the disconnect between Levin's outward behavior and his inner turmoil
This highlights how mental health struggles are often invisible to others. The workers see the symptom (frantic work) but not the cause (existential crisis), showing how class and social barriers prevent deeper understanding.
In Today's Words:
His coworkers could tell something was off, but they had no idea he was falling apart inside.
"But even as his hands blistered and his back ached, his mind would not be quiet."
Context: Revealing that Levin's strategy of working to exhaustion isn't actually working
This shows the futility of trying to outrun internal problems through external activity. Physical pain can't silence emotional pain - the mind continues its torment regardless of what the body endures.
In Today's Words:
No matter how hard he pushed his body, his brain wouldn't shut up.
Thematic Threads
Escapism
In This Chapter
Levin uses backbreaking farm labor as an escape from his existential crisis and suicidal thoughts
Development
Escalated from his earlier intellectual searching—now he's trying physical solutions to spiritual problems
In Your Life:
You might recognize this when you find yourself cleaning obsessively, working excessive hours, or exercising compulsively during emotional stress.
Class
In This Chapter
Levin works alongside peasants who don't understand his desperation, highlighting the isolation of his privileged position
Development
Continues his ongoing struggle with his position between the aristocracy and working class
In Your Life:
You might feel this disconnect when your problems seem invisible to coworkers who face different challenges.
Depression
In This Chapter
Levin's frantic work ethic masks his inability to find meaning or hope in life
Development
His spiritual crisis has deepened into what we'd now recognize as clinical depression
In Your Life:
You might see this in yourself or others when productivity becomes a desperate attempt to feel worthwhile or distracted.
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin seeks to lose himself in physical labor, temporarily abandoning his intellectual identity
Development
His identity crisis continues as he rejects his educated background for manual work
In Your Life:
You might experience this when major life changes make you question who you really are beneath your roles and responsibilities.
Isolation
In This Chapter
Even surrounded by workers, Levin remains fundamentally alone with his inner turmoil
Development
His emotional isolation has persisted despite his attempts to connect with different social classes
In Your Life:
You might feel this when your struggles seem incomprehensible to the people around you, even in crowded spaces.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
What is Levin trying to accomplish by throwing himself into physical labor on his estate?
analysis • surface - 2
Why does Levin believe that exhausting his body will quiet his troubled mind, and what does this reveal about how he approaches problems?
analysis • medium - 3
Where do you see people today using busyness or physical activity to avoid dealing with emotional problems?
application • medium - 4
When you're facing a problem that can't be solved through action, how do you resist the urge to just 'stay busy' instead of sitting with the discomfort?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's failed attempt to work away his problems teach us about the difference between motion and progress in our own lives?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Motion Patterns
Think of a recent time when you stayed unusually busy or threw yourself into physical activity. Write down what you were doing and what you were trying not to think about. Then identify the pattern: What type of motion do you default to when avoiding difficult emotions or decisions?
Consider:
- •Notice the difference between productive activity and escape activity
- •Consider whether the motion actually moved you toward solving the underlying problem
- •Identify what you were hoping the busyness would accomplish that thinking couldn't
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you had to stop moving and sit with a difficult emotion or decision. What did you discover when you finally stayed still long enough to listen to what your mind was trying to tell you?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 174
Moving forward, we'll examine key events and character development in this chapter, and understand thematic elements and literary techniques. These insights bridge the gap between classic literature and modern experience.