Summary
Levin finds himself in a profound spiritual crisis as he grapples with questions about the meaning of life and his place in the world. Despite having everything he thought he wanted - a loving wife, a healthy child, a successful estate - he feels an overwhelming emptiness and questions whether life has any purpose at all. He contemplates suicide, even hiding ropes and avoiding his gun cabinet because he fears what he might do in moments of despair. This isn't just depression - it's an existential awakening that many people face when external success doesn't fill the internal void. Levin represents the thinking person's dilemma: the more deeply we examine life, the more meaningless it can seem. His crisis reflects a universal human experience - that moment when we realize material achievements and even love might not be enough to answer life's biggest questions. Tolstoy uses Levin's struggle to explore whether happiness and meaning can coexist, and whether faith or reason offers better guidance for living. This chapter shows how even the most blessed life can feel hollow without a sense of deeper purpose, and how the search for meaning often begins with profound doubt and darkness.
Coming Up in Chapter 226
As Levin wrestles with his despair, an unexpected conversation with a simple peasant might offer him the spiritual insight he's been desperately seeking. Sometimes wisdom comes from the most unlikely sources.
Share it with friends
An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
N the slanting evening shadows cast by the baggage piled up on the platform, Vronsky in his long overcoat and slouch hat, with his hands in his pockets, strode up and down, like a wild beast in a cage, turning sharply after twenty paces. Sergey Ivanovitch fancied, as he approached him, that Vronsky saw him but was pretending not to see. This did not affect Sergey Ivanovitch in the slightest. He was above all personal considerations with Vronsky. At that moment Sergey Ivanovitch looked upon Vronsky as a man taking an important part in a great cause, and Koznishev thought it his duty to encourage him and express his approval. He went up to him. Vronsky stood still, looked intently at him, recognized him, and going a few steps forward to meet him, shook hands with him very warmly. “Possibly you didn’t wish to see me,” said Sergey Ivanovitch, “but couldn’t I be of use to you?” “There’s no one I should less dislike seeing than you,” said Vronsky. “Excuse me; and there’s nothing in life for me to like.” “I quite understand, and I merely meant to offer you my services,” said Sergey Ivanovitch, scanning Vronsky’s face, full of unmistakable suffering. “Wouldn’t it be of use to you to have a letter to Ristitch—to Milan?” “Oh, no!” Vronsky said, seeming to understand him with difficulty. “If you don’t mind, let’s walk on. It’s so stuffy among the carriages. A letter? No, thank you; to meet death one needs no letters of introduction. Nor for the Turks....” he said, with a smile that was merely of the lips. His eyes still kept their look of angry suffering. “Yes; but you might find it easier to get into relations, which are after all essential, with anyone prepared to see you. But that’s as you like. I was very glad to hear of your intention. There have been so many attacks made on the volunteers, and a man like you raises them in public estimation.” “My use as a man,” said Vronsky, “is that life’s worth nothing to me. And that I’ve enough bodily energy to cut my way into their ranks, and to trample on them or fall—I know that. I’m glad there’s something to give my life for, for it’s not simply useless but loathsome to me. Anyone’s welcome to it.” And his jaw twitched impatiently from the incessant gnawing toothache, that prevented him from even speaking with a natural expression. “You will become another man, I predict,” said Sergey Ivanovitch, feeling touched. “To deliver one’s brother-men from bondage is an aim worth death and life. God grant you success outwardly—and inwardly peace,” he added, and he held out his hand. Vronsky warmly pressed his outstretched hand. “Yes, as a weapon I may be of some use. But as a man, I’m a wreck,” he jerked out. He could hardly speak for the throbbing ache in his strong teeth, that were like rows of ivory in his mouth. He was...
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 Success Void - When Achievement Feels Empty
External achievements without internal meaning create a devastating emptiness that can feel worse than having nothing.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when external achievements mask internal emptiness before it becomes a crisis.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you feel empty after reaching a goal you thought would make you happy—that's your early warning system for the success void.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Existential crisis
A moment when someone questions the meaning and purpose of their entire existence, often triggered by success or major life changes. It's not depression about specific problems, but a deep questioning of whether life itself has any point.
Modern Usage:
When successful people suddenly ask 'Is this all there is?' or when new parents feel empty despite having what they thought they wanted.
Spiritual awakening
A sudden awareness that material success and external achievements don't provide lasting fulfillment. Often involves questioning everything you previously believed about happiness and meaning.
Modern Usage:
The midlife crisis that makes someone quit their corporate job to find their purpose, or the moment someone realizes money can't buy happiness.
Russian Orthodox spirituality
A form of Christianity emphasizing faith over reason, community over individualism, and accepting mystery rather than demanding logical explanations. In Tolstoy's time, it was the dominant religious influence in Russia.
Modern Usage:
Any faith tradition that emphasizes feeling and community connection over intellectual understanding and individual achievement.
Peasant wisdom
The idea that simple, uneducated people often understand life's truths better than intellectuals because they live closer to basic human needs and aren't overthinking everything.
Modern Usage:
When your grandmother's simple advice makes more sense than all the self-help books you've read.
Intellectual paralysis
When thinking too deeply about life's problems makes it impossible to act or feel satisfied. The more you analyze, the more meaningless everything seems.
Modern Usage:
Analysis paralysis in decision-making, or when researching every option makes you unable to choose any of them.
Moral responsibility
The weight of knowing your actions affect others and matter in some larger sense, even when you can't prove why or how they matter.
Modern Usage:
Feeling guilty about your carbon footprint or knowing you should help others even when no one's watching.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Protagonist in crisis
Experiences a complete breakdown of his belief system despite having everything he wanted. His intellectual nature becomes a burden as he can't think his way to happiness or meaning.
Modern Equivalent:
The successful person having a midlife crisis
Kitty
Loving but helpless wife
Represents the limits of human love - even perfect marriage can't solve existential emptiness. She loves Levin but can't understand or fix his spiritual crisis.
Modern Equivalent:
The spouse who doesn't understand why their partner is depressed when everything seems fine
Fyodor
Simple peasant worker
Lives with natural faith and purpose without questioning everything. His simple acceptance of life contrasts with Levin's intellectual torment.
Modern Equivalent:
The coworker who's genuinely happy with a simple life while you're stressed about finding your passion
Sergey
Intellectual brother
Represents the educated class that can discuss philosophy but can't provide real answers to life's deepest questions. His rationalism offers no comfort.
Modern Equivalent:
The friend who has opinions about everything but no real wisdom about how to live
Key Quotes & Analysis
"My life now, my whole life apart from anything that can happen to me, every minute of it is no more meaningless, as it was before, but it has the positive meaning of goodness, which I have the power to put into it."
Context: His moment of spiritual breakthrough after talking with the peasant about living for God
This marks the turning point where Levin stops seeking external validation for his life's meaning and realizes he can create meaning through moral action, regardless of whether he can prove life has ultimate purpose.
In Today's Words:
I don't need to understand everything to know that doing good feels right and gives my life meaning.
"I shall go on in the same way, losing my temper with Ivan the coachman, falling into angry discussions, expressing my opinions tactlessly."
Context: Realizing that spiritual insight doesn't magically fix his personality flaws
Shows the realistic nature of personal growth - having a spiritual awakening doesn't transform you into a perfect person overnight. Real change is gradual and imperfect.
In Today's Words:
I'll still be the same flawed person, but now I know what matters.
"He lives for his soul, remembers God."
Context: Describing how a good person should live when Levin asks about meaning
This simple statement provides the answer Levin's been seeking through complex philosophy. Sometimes the most profound truths are the simplest ones.
In Today's Words:
He focuses on being a good person and stays connected to something bigger than himself.
Thematic Threads
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin's identity crisis emerges when external roles (husband, father, landowner) fail to provide internal coherence
Development
Evolved from his earlier struggles with social belonging to this deeper question of existential purpose
In Your Life:
You might feel this when your job title or family role doesn't match who you feel you really are inside
Class
In This Chapter
Levin's privileged position allows him the luxury of existential questioning that working people can't afford
Development
His class anxiety has transformed into philosophical privilege—the burden of having time to think
In Your Life:
You might notice how financial stress can actually protect you from existential dread by keeping you focused on survival
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
True growth requires confronting the possibility that everything you've built might be meaningless
Development
Levin's growth journey reaches its darkest point before potential breakthrough
In Your Life:
You might find that your biggest breakthroughs come after periods when everything feels pointless
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
Society's definition of success (marriage, children, property) becomes a prison when it doesn't align with inner truth
Development
Levin has moved from trying to meet expectations to questioning why they exist
In Your Life:
You might feel trapped when you've achieved what everyone said you should want but it doesn't fulfill you
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Despite having a loving family and successful estate, why does Levin feel so empty that he considers suicide?
analysis • surface - 2
What's the difference between achieving your goals and finding meaning in your life, and why doesn't one automatically lead to the other?
analysis • medium - 3
Where do you see people today who seem successful on the outside but struggle with emptiness inside?
application • medium - 4
If someone you cared about told you they had everything they wanted but still felt life was meaningless, what advice would you give them?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's crisis teach us about the relationship between thinking deeply about life and finding happiness?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Own Success Void
Think of a goal you achieved that didn't bring the satisfaction you expected. Draw two columns: what you thought achieving this goal would give you versus what it actually gave you. Then identify one small action you could take this week that connects to meaning rather than achievement.
Consider:
- •Focus on feelings and internal experiences, not just external outcomes
- •Consider whether you were chasing someone else's definition of success
- •Think about what activities make you lose track of time in a good way
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you felt most alive and purposeful. What were you doing? Who were you with? What made that moment different from your regular achievements?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 226
As the story unfolds, you'll explore key events and character development in this chapter, while uncovering thematic elements and literary techniques. These lessons connect the classic to contemporary challenges we all face.