An excerpt from the original text.(complete · 1046 words)
onsky had several times already, though not so resolutely as now,
tried to bring her to consider their position, and every time he had
been confronted by the same superficiality and triviality with which
she met his appeal now. It was as though there were something in this
which she could not or would not face, as though directly she began to
speak of this, she, the real Anna, retreated somehow into herself, and
another strange and unaccountable woman came out, whom he did not love,
and whom he feared, and who was in opposition to him. But today he was
resolved to have it out.
“Whether he knows or not,” said Vronsky, in his usual quiet and
resolute tone, “that’s nothing to do with us. We cannot ... you cannot
stay like this, especially now.”
“What’s to be done, according to you?” she asked with the same
frivolous irony. She who had so feared he would take her condition too
lightly was now vexed with him for deducing from it the necessity of
taking some step.
“Tell him everything, and leave him.”
“Very well, let us suppose I do that,” she said. “Do you know what the
result of that would be? I can tell you it all beforehand,” and a
wicked light gleamed in her eyes, that had been so soft a minute
before. “‘Eh, you love another man, and have entered into criminal
intrigues with him?’” (Mimicking her husband, she threw an emphasis on
the word “criminal,” as Alexey Alexandrovitch did.) “‘I warned you of
the results in the religious, the civil, and the domestic relation. You
have not listened to me. Now I cannot let you disgrace my name,—’” “and
my son,” she had meant to say, but about her son she could not
jest,—“‘disgrace my name, and’—and more in the same style,” she added.
“In general terms, he’ll say in his official manner, and with all
distinctness and precision, that he cannot let me go, but will take all
measures in his power to prevent scandal. And he will calmly and
punctually act in accordance with his words. That’s what will happen.
He’s not a man, but a machine, and a spiteful machine when he’s angry,”
she added, recalling Alexey Alexandrovitch as she spoke, with all the
peculiarities of his figure and manner of speaking, and reckoning
against him every defect she could find in him, softening nothing for
the great wrong she herself was doing him.
“But, Anna,” said Vronsky, in a soft and persuasive voice, trying to
soothe her, “we absolutely must, anyway, tell him, and then be guided
by the line he takes.”
“What, run away?”
“And why not run away? I don’t see how we can keep on like this. And
not for my sake—I see that you suffer.”
“Yes, run away, and become your mistress,” she said angrily.
“Anna,” he said, with reproachful tenderness.
“Yes,” she went on, “become your mistress, and complete the ruin
of....”
Again she would have said “my son,” but she could not utter that word.
Vronsky could not understand how she, with her strong and truthful
nature, could endure this state of deceit, and not long to get out of
it. But he did not suspect that the chief cause of it was the
word—son, which she could not bring herself to pronounce. When she
thought of her son, and his future attitude to his mother, who had
abandoned his father, she felt such terror at what she had done, that
she could not face it; but, like a woman, could only try to comfort
herself with lying assurances that everything would remain as it always
had been, and that it was possible to forget the fearful question of
how it would be with her son.
“I beg you, I entreat you,” she said suddenly, taking his hand, and
speaking in quite a different tone, sincere and tender, “never speak to
me of that!”
“But, Anna....”
“Never. Leave it to me. I know all the baseness, all the horror of my
position; but it’s not so easy to arrange as you think. And leave it to
me, and do what I say. Never speak to me of it. Do you promise me?...
No, no, promise!...”
“I promise everything, but I can’t be at peace, especially after what
you have told me. I can’t be at peace, when you can’t be at peace....”
“I?” she repeated. “Yes, I am worried sometimes; but that will pass, if
you will never talk about this. When you talk about it—it’s only then
it worries me.”
“I don’t understand,” he said.
“I know,” she interrupted him, “how hard it is for your truthful nature
to lie, and I grieve for you. I often think that you have ruined your
whole life for me.”
“I was just thinking the very same thing,” he said; “how could you
sacrifice everything for my sake? I can’t forgive myself that you’re
unhappy!”
“I unhappy?” she said, coming closer to him, and looking at him with an
ecstatic smile of love. “I am like a hungry man who has been given
food. He may be cold, and dressed in rags, and ashamed, but he is not
unhappy. I unhappy? No, this is my unhappiness....”
She could hear the sound of her son’s voice coming towards them, and
glancing swiftly round the terrace, she got up impulsively. Her eyes
glowed with the fire he knew so well; with a rapid movement she raised
her lovely hands, covered with rings, took his head, looked a long look
into his face, and, putting up her face with smiling, parted lips,
swiftly kissed his mouth and both eyes, and pushed him away. She would
have gone, but he held her back.
“When?” he murmured in a whisper, gazing in ecstasy at her.
“Tonight, at one o’clock,” she whispered, and, with a heavy sigh, she
walked with her light, swift step to meet her son.
Seryozha had been caught by the rain in the big garden, and he and his
nurse had taken shelter in an arbor.
“Well, au revoir,” she said to Vronsky. “I must soon be getting ready
for the races. Betsy promised to fetch me.”
Vronsky, looking at his watch, went away hurriedly.
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Let's Analyse the Pattern
Using productive busyness to avoid confronting deeper problems that require uncomfortable self-examination.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to recognize when activity is masking avoidance rather than creating genuine forward movement.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you're staying busy to avoid a difficult conversation or decision—ask yourself if you're solving the problem or just staying in motion.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Key Quotes & Analysis
"He worked with the peasants, and found that the physical labor calmed his mind, though it could not silence his questions."
Context: As Levin throws himself into fieldwork
This captures the temporary relief that physical work provides while showing its limitations. The body can find peace even when the mind cannot.
In Today's Words:
Hard work helped him chill out for a while, but it didn't actually solve his problems.
"They possessed something he had lost - a natural acceptance of life that his education had somehow taken from him."
Context: Levin observing his workers' contentment
Reveals the irony that knowledge can sometimes complicate happiness. The more we think, the harder it becomes to simply live.
In Today's Words:
They had figured out how to be happy without overthinking everything like he did.
"The rhythm of the scythe became a meditation, but even in that peace, the old questions waited."
Context: During the mowing work
Shows how repetitive physical motion can create a meditative state, but also that temporary relief isn't the same as resolution.
In Today's Words:
The work put him in the zone, but his problems were still there when he stopped.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Levin envies his peasant workers' simple contentment, seeing his education as a burden that prevents natural happiness
Development
Evolving from earlier chapters where class differences were about social position to now being about psychological burden
In Your Life:
You might feel that others with less education or fewer options seem happier and less anxious than you are
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin questions whether his educated, analytical nature is a gift or a curse compared to workers' unconscious wisdom
Development
Deepening from earlier identity confusion to now questioning the very value of his intellectual nature
In Your Life:
You might wonder if overthinking everything makes you less capable of simple happiness than people who don't analyze so much
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Levin discovers that physical work provides temporary relief but cannot solve his existential crisis
Development
Building on earlier attempts to find meaning, showing the limits of external solutions to internal problems
In Your Life:
You might realize that staying busy helps you feel better temporarily but doesn't actually resolve what's bothering you
Work
In This Chapter
Manual labor becomes both medicine and mirror, offering peace while highlighting Levin's disconnection from natural rhythms
Development
Introduced here as a new theme exploring work as escape versus work as purpose
In Your Life:
You might use work as a way to avoid dealing with personal problems or emotional pain
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Why does Levin throw himself into farm work when he's struggling with life's big questions?
analysis • surface - 2
What's the difference between how Levin experiences work versus how his peasant workers experience it?
analysis • medium - 3
When have you seen people use busyness or work to avoid dealing with personal problems?
application • medium - 4
How can you tell the difference between productive work and work that's just escape from harder conversations?
application • deep - 5
What does this chapter suggest about the relationship between thinking too much and finding peace?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Escape Routes
Think about the last time you felt overwhelmed or anxious about something important. List three productive activities you used to distract yourself (work, exercise, cleaning, helping others, etc.). For each activity, write whether it actually helped solve the underlying problem or just postponed dealing with it.
Consider:
- •Notice which activities feel virtuous but are really avoidance
- •Consider how long you typically use each escape before facing the real issue
- •Think about whether the activity gives you energy to tackle the problem or just exhausts you
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you worked yourself to exhaustion to avoid a difficult conversation or decision. What was the real problem you were avoiding, and what finally made you face it?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 58
Levin's physical exhaustion finally forces him to confront what he's been running from. A chance encounter in the fields will spark a conversation that begins to shift his entire perspective on faith and meaning.
