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 escape the torment of his thoughts about life's meaning and his recent spiritual crisis. The hard work provides temporary relief - when he's focused on mowing or hauling, his mind quiets and he feels a brief peace. But the moment he stops, the questions flood back: What's the point of anything? Why do we suffer? What happens when we die? His workers notice his intensity and worry about their master's strange behavior. Levin realizes that physical exhaustion can't permanently silence his existential dread, but it's the only coping mechanism he has right now. This chapter shows how people often use busyness and physical activity to avoid confronting difficult emotions or life questions. Levin's struggle represents something universal - that moment when we realize our old ways of finding meaning don't work anymore, but we haven't yet found new ones. His choice to work himself to exhaustion rather than sit with his uncomfortable thoughts is both understandable and ultimately unsustainable. The chapter also highlights the gap between Levin and his workers - they're focused on practical survival while he has the privilege of philosophical anxiety. Tolstoy shows how mental anguish can be just as overwhelming as physical pain, and how sometimes we need to tire our bodies to quiet our minds, even if it's only temporary relief.
Coming Up in Chapter 197
Levin's attempt to lose himself in work is interrupted by an unexpected encounter that will force him to confront the very questions he's been trying to escape. Sometimes the answers we seek come from the most unlikely sources.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
Levin reached the club just at the right time. Members and visitors were driving up as he arrived. Levin had not been at the club for a very long while—not since he lived in Moscow, when he was leaving the university and going into society. He remembered the club, the external details of its arrangement, but he had completely forgotten the impression it had made on him in old days. But as soon as, driving into the wide semicircular court and getting out of the sledge, he mounted the steps, and the hall-porter, adorned with a crossway scarf, noiselessly opened the door to him with a bow; as soon as he saw in the porter’s room the cloaks and galoshes of members who thought it less trouble to take them off downstairs; as soon as he heard the mysterious ringing bell that preceded him as he ascended the easy, carpeted staircase, and saw the statue on the landing, and the third porter at the top doors, a familiar figure grown older, in the club livery, opening the door without haste or delay, and scanning the visitors as they passed in—Levin felt the old impression of the club come back in a rush, an impression of repose, comfort, and propriety. “Your hat, please,” the porter said to Levin, who forgot the club rule to leave his hat in the porter’s room. “Long time since you’ve been. The prince put your name down yesterday. Prince Stepan Arkadyevitch is not here yet.” The porter did not only know Levin, but also all his ties and relationships, and so immediately mentioned his intimate friends. Passing through the outer hall, divided up by screens, and the room partitioned on the right, where a man sits at the fruit buffet, Levin overtook an old man walking slowly in, and entered the dining-room full of noise and people. He walked along the tables, almost all full, and looked at the visitors. He saw people of all sorts, old and young; some he knew a little, some intimate friends. There was not a single cross or worried-looking face. All seemed to have left their cares and anxieties in the porter’s room with their hats, and were all deliberately getting ready to enjoy the material blessings of life. Sviazhsky was here and Shtcherbatsky, Nevyedovsky and the old prince, and Vronsky and Sergey Ivanovitch. “Ah! why are you late?” the prince said smiling, and giving him his hand over his own shoulder. “How’s Kitty?” he added, smoothing out the napkin he had tucked in at his waistcoat buttons. “All right; they are dining at home, all the three of them.” “Ah, ‘Aline-Nadine,’ to be sure! There’s no room with us. Go to that table, and make haste and take a seat,” said the prince, and turning away he carefully took a plate of eel soup. “Levin, this way!” a good-natured voice shouted a little farther on. It was Turovtsin. He was sitting with a young officer, and beside them were...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Motion Without Direction
Using constant activity and busyness to avoid confronting difficult emotions or life questions that require stillness to resolve.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to recognize when we're using activity to escape problems versus genuinely working through them.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you feel compelled to stay busy—ask yourself if you're moving toward a solution or away from uncomfortable feelings.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Estate labor
In 19th century Russia, wealthy landowners managed large agricultural properties worked by peasants. The landowner typically supervised rather than participated in physical work. Social hierarchy was strictly maintained between classes.
Modern Usage:
Like a CEO who suddenly starts working the factory floor alongside regular employees - it breaks normal workplace boundaries.
Existential crisis
A period of intense questioning about life's meaning, purpose, and value. Often triggered by major life changes or realizations that old beliefs no longer satisfy. Can feel paralyzing and overwhelming.
Modern Usage:
The 'quarter-life crisis' or 'midlife crisis' when people suddenly question if their job, relationships, or life choices actually matter.
Peasant class
Rural agricultural workers in 19th century Russia who lived in poverty and worked the land. They focused on daily survival rather than philosophical questions. Had little education or leisure time for abstract thinking.
Modern Usage:
Like working multiple minimum-wage jobs where you're too exhausted to worry about 'finding yourself' - survival comes first.
Physical labor as escape
Using demanding physical work to quiet mental anguish or avoid difficult thoughts. The body's exhaustion can temporarily silence the mind's worries. Common coping mechanism for emotional pain.
Modern Usage:
Going to the gym after a breakup, deep-cleaning when stressed, or working overtime to avoid dealing with problems at home.
Privilege of anxiety
The ability to worry about life's meaning rather than basic survival needs. Only those with financial security can afford to have existential crises. A form of luxury that the poor rarely experience.
Modern Usage:
When someone complains about 'finding their passion' while others are just trying to pay rent and feed their kids.
Spiritual crisis
A period when previous religious or philosophical beliefs no longer provide comfort or answers. Often involves questioning everything you once accepted as truth. Can feel like losing your foundation.
Modern Usage:
When people raised religious start questioning their faith, or when life events make you wonder if anything you believed actually makes sense.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Protagonist in crisis
Throws himself into physical farm work to escape his existential dread and questions about life's meaning. His desperate attempt to find peace through exhaustion shows how overwhelming his mental anguish has become.
Modern Equivalent:
The successful person having a breakdown who suddenly quits their office job to do manual labor
The peasant workers
Concerned observers
Notice their master's strange behavior of working alongside them with unusual intensity. They represent practical survival-focused living versus Levin's philosophical torment. Their worry shows how abnormal his behavior appears.
Modern Equivalent:
Coworkers who notice their boss acting weird and wonder if they're having a mental breakdown
Key Quotes & Analysis
"Only when he was working did he forget his position for hours together."
Context: Describing how physical labor temporarily relieves Levin's mental anguish
Shows how demanding physical work can provide escape from psychological pain. The word 'forget' reveals that his torment is constant except during these brief respites. Highlights the temporary nature of this coping strategy.
In Today's Words:
Only when he was busy working could he stop overthinking everything for a while.
"But the moment he stopped working, immediately, like a stone thrown into water, the old questions of his position sank into his soul."
Context: When Levin pauses from physical labor and his existential dread returns
The stone metaphor shows how quickly and heavily his dark thoughts return. 'Sank into his soul' suggests these questions go deep and feel inescapable. Emphasizes that work is only a temporary bandage.
In Today's Words:
But the second he stopped being busy, all his depressing thoughts came crashing back.
"What am I living for? What is the meaning of my existence?"
Context: The fundamental questions tormenting him during his spiritual crisis
These are the classic existential questions that haunt people during major life transitions. The directness shows his desperation for answers. These questions have no easy solutions, which is why they're so torturous.
In Today's Words:
Why am I even here? What's the point of any of this?
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Levin's privilege allows him philosophical anxiety while his workers focus on survival
Development
Deepening exploration of how economic position shapes what problems we can afford to have
In Your Life:
Notice how financial stress can either force practical focus or create different types of existential worry
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin's sense of self is fragmenting as his old sources of meaning fail him
Development
Continued from his earlier social awkwardness, now reaching crisis point
In Your Life:
Recognize when your usual ways of defining yourself stop working and require rebuilding
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Growth requires sitting with discomfort, but Levin chooses temporary escape instead
Development
Building toward Levin's eventual spiritual breakthrough through this necessary struggle
In Your Life:
Real growth often means tolerating uncertainty rather than rushing toward quick fixes
Human Relationships
In This Chapter
Levin's isolation from his workers despite physical proximity shows emotional distance
Development
Continuing theme of how internal struggles affect our ability to connect with others
In Your Life:
Notice how your own unresolved issues can create barriers even with people who want to help
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
Workers worry about their master's strange behavior, highlighting role expectations
Development
Ongoing tension between personal authenticity and social position
In Your Life:
Consider how your roles at work or home might constrain your ability to process difficulties openly
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
What specific strategy does Levin use to try to escape his troubling thoughts, and how well does it work?
analysis • surface - 2
Why does physical exhaustion temporarily quiet Levin's mind, but fail to solve his deeper problems?
analysis • medium - 3
Where do you see people today using busyness or physical activity to avoid dealing with difficult emotions or life questions?
application • medium - 4
How can someone tell the difference between healthy physical activity and using motion to escape inner work?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's struggle reveal about the privilege of having time to worry about life's meaning versus focusing on daily survival?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Motion Patterns
Track your activities for one typical day, then identify moments when you might be using busyness to avoid something uncomfortable. Look for patterns: Do you clean when stressed? Work late when relationships are tense? Scroll social media when facing big decisions? Create a simple chart showing what you do versus what you might be avoiding.
Consider:
- •Motion as escape often feels productive and justified in the moment
- •The avoided issue usually returns stronger after the activity ends
- •Some physical activity is genuinely restorative rather than escapist
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you kept yourself extremely busy to avoid dealing with something important. What were you avoiding, and what finally made you face it directly?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 197
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.