Summary
Levin throws himself into farm work with desperate intensity, trying to exhaust his body so his mind will stop torturing him. He works alongside his peasants in the fields, cutting hay under the blazing sun until his muscles scream and sweat pours down his face. For brief moments, the physical labor creates a kind of peace - his racing thoughts quiet down, and he feels connected to something larger than his own pain. But the relief never lasts long. As soon as he stops moving, the dark thoughts flood back: his failed proposal to Kitty, his sense of being fundamentally broken, his inability to find meaning in anything. The peasants around him seem to possess something he's lost - a natural acceptance of life's rhythms, a contentment he can't access. Levin watches them work with steady purpose while he feels like he's drowning in his own head. This chapter reveals how depression can make even the simplest human connections feel impossible. Levin is surrounded by people but completely isolated by his internal storm. His attempt to work himself into numbness shows both his desperation and his intuitive understanding that sometimes we need to tire out our minds to find any peace. The contrast between his educated overthinking and the peasants' practical wisdom hints at themes Tolstoy will develop throughout the novel about authentic living versus intellectual paralysis. Levin's struggle represents something universal - that moment when life feels so overwhelming that physical exhaustion becomes the only escape from mental anguish.
Coming Up in Chapter 70
While Levin battles his demons in the countryside, we return to Moscow's glittering social world where other hearts are about to collide. A chance encounter at a ball will set new romantic complications in motion.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
The prince communicated his good humor to his own family and his friends, and even to the German landlord in whose rooms the Shtcherbatskys were staying. On coming back with Kitty from the springs, the prince, who had asked the colonel, and Marya Yevgenyevna, and Varenka all to come and have coffee with them, gave orders for a table and chairs to be taken into the garden under the chestnut tree, and lunch to be laid there. The landlord and the servants, too, grew brisker under the influence of his good spirits. They knew his open-handedness; and half an hour later the invalid doctor from Hamburg, who lived on the top floor, looked enviously out of the window at the merry party of healthy Russians assembled under the chestnut tree. In the trembling circles of shadow cast by the leaves, at a table, covered with a white cloth, and set with coffeepot, bread-and-butter, cheese, and cold game, sat the princess in a high cap with lilac ribbons, distributing cups and bread-and-butter. At the other end sat the prince, eating heartily, and talking loudly and merrily. The prince had spread out near him his purchases, carved boxes, and knick-knacks, paper-knives of all sorts, of which he bought a heap at every watering-place, and bestowed them upon everyone, including Lieschen, the servant girl, and the landlord, with whom he jested in his comically bad German, assuring him that it was not the water had cured Kitty, but his splendid cookery, especially his plum soup. The princess laughed at her husband for his Russian ways, but she was more lively and good-humored than she had been all the while she had been at the waters. The colonel smiled, as he always did, at the prince’s jokes, but as far as regards Europe, of which he believed himself to be making a careful study, he took the princess’s side. The simple-hearted Marya Yevgenyevna simply roared with laughter at everything absurd the prince said, and his jokes made Varenka helpless with feeble but infectious laughter, which was something Kitty had never seen before. Kitty was glad of all this, but she could not be light-hearted. She could not solve the problem her father had unconsciously set her by his good-humored view of her friends, and of the life that had so attracted her. To this doubt there was joined the change in her relations with the Petrovs, which had been so conspicuously and unpleasantly marked that morning. Everyone was good-humored, but Kitty could not feel good-humored, and this increased her distress. She felt a feeling such as she had known in childhood, when she had been shut in her room as a punishment, and had heard her sisters’ merry laughter outside. “Well, but what did you buy this mass of things for?” said the princess, smiling, and handing her husband a cup of coffee. “One goes for a walk, one looks in a shop, and they ask you to buy. ‘_Erlaucht, Durchlaucht?_’ Directly they say...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Productive Exhaustion
Using physical exhaustion to temporarily override emotional pain and mental rumination.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when we're using activity to avoid processing difficult emotions.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you suddenly feel compelled to clean, work extra hours, or stay busy during emotional stress—that's your mind seeking productive exhaustion.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Peasant class
In 19th-century Russia, these were agricultural workers who lived simple, physically demanding lives tied to the land. They had little education but possessed practical wisdom about survival and acceptance.
Modern Usage:
We see this in blue-collar workers who often have a grounded perspective that office workers lack.
Physical labor as therapy
The idea that exhausting your body can quiet mental turmoil. Hard physical work forces your mind to focus on immediate tasks rather than spiraling thoughts.
Modern Usage:
People hit the gym, do yard work, or take on physical projects when they're stressed or depressed.
Intellectual paralysis
When overthinking becomes so intense that it prevents action or peace. The mind becomes trapped in endless loops of analysis and self-doubt.
Modern Usage:
This is what happens when we scroll social media at 2am analyzing every life choice we've ever made.
Russian estate system
Wealthy landowners like Levin owned vast properties worked by peasants. This created a class divide but also forced different social groups to live and work together.
Modern Usage:
Similar to how corporate executives and factory workers exist in the same company but live completely different realities.
Seasonal agricultural work
Farm work that follows natural rhythms - planting, growing, harvesting. This creates a connection to cycles bigger than individual problems.
Modern Usage:
Like how gardening or seasonal jobs can provide grounding when life feels chaotic.
Class consciousness
Awareness of the differences between social classes and how they think and live differently. Levin sees how the peasants approach life versus how he does.
Modern Usage:
When someone with a college degree realizes their plumber has better life satisfaction than they do.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Tormented protagonist
Throws himself into physical farm work to escape his mental anguish over Kitty's rejection. His desperate attempt to find peace through exhaustion shows how depression can drive people to extreme measures for relief.
Modern Equivalent:
The guy who works 80-hour weeks after a breakup to avoid dealing with his feelings
The peasants
Collective wisdom figures
Work alongside Levin in the fields with natural acceptance and steady purpose. Their contentment contrasts sharply with Levin's educated misery, representing authentic living versus overthinking.
Modern Equivalent:
The coworkers who seem genuinely happy with simple pleasures while you're having an existential crisis
Key Quotes & Analysis
"The longer Levin mowed, the oftener he felt those moments of unconsciousness in which it seemed not his hands that swung the scythe, but the scythe mowing of itself."
Context: Levin loses himself in the rhythm of cutting hay
This describes the meditative state that comes from repetitive physical work. Levin finds temporary escape from his tormented thoughts through complete absorption in the task.
In Today's Words:
When you're so focused on a physical task that your brain finally shuts up and your body just takes over.
"He felt like a man who after a delicious meal finds that his appetite is gone and he cannot eat."
Context: Describing Levin's inability to find pleasure in anything
This metaphor captures how depression robs you of the ability to enjoy things that should bring satisfaction. Even when relief comes, it feels hollow.
In Today's Words:
Like when you're so burned out that even your favorite things feel pointless and you can't remember why you used to care.
"The peasants accepted him as one of themselves, and did not press him to talk."
Context: The workers letting Levin work in peace without forcing conversation
Shows the peasants' intuitive understanding of human nature. They recognize someone in pain and give him space to heal through work.
In Today's Words:
Sometimes the best thing people can do is just let you be sad without trying to fix you or make you talk about it.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Levin observes the peasants' natural contentment while he suffers from educated overthinking
Development
Building on earlier contrasts between aristocratic anxiety and working-class acceptance
In Your Life:
You might notice how people with physically demanding jobs sometimes seem more grounded than those who work with their minds all day
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin feels fundamentally broken and disconnected from his authentic self
Development
Deepening his earlier crisis about who he really is versus who he thinks he should be
In Your Life:
You might recognize this feeling of being lost in your own life, especially after major disappointments
Social Expectations
In This Chapter
His educated background makes simple acceptance of life's rhythms feel impossible
Development
Continuing exploration of how social conditioning can trap us in unhelpful thought patterns
In Your Life:
You might struggle with overthinking problems that others seem to handle naturally
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Levin intuitively seeks physical work as emotional medicine, showing unconscious wisdom
Development
First glimpse of his capacity for self-healing and practical problem-solving
In Your Life:
You might find yourself naturally gravitating toward physical activity when emotionally overwhelmed
Human Relationships
In This Chapter
Depression isolates Levin even when surrounded by people, making connection feel impossible
Development
Exploring how internal storms can create external isolation
In Your Life:
You might feel completely alone even in a crowded room when dealing with personal pain
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Why does Levin throw himself into physical farm work, and what does he hope to achieve?
analysis • surface - 2
What's the difference between how the peasants work and how Levin works, and why does this matter?
analysis • medium - 3
When have you seen someone use physical activity or exhaustion to deal with emotional pain? What did you notice about whether it worked?
application • medium - 4
If you were Levin's friend, how would you help him find a better long-term strategy than working himself to exhaustion?
application • deep - 5
What does this chapter reveal about the relationship between our minds and bodies when we're struggling emotionally?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Design Your Emergency Toolkit
Create a personal emergency plan for when emotional pain becomes overwhelming. List three physical activities you could do immediately, three people you could reach out to, and three longer-term strategies for addressing root causes. Consider what resources you actually have access to and what would realistically work in your life.
Consider:
- •Think about activities that are available to you regardless of time, weather, or money
- •Consider the difference between temporary relief and lasting solutions
- •Remember that healthy coping strategies should help, not harm, your body and relationships
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when you used physical activity to cope with stress or sadness. What worked? What didn't? How could you build healthier versions of this strategy into your regular routine?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 70
In the next chapter, you'll discover key events and character development in this chapter, and learn thematic elements and literary techniques. These insights reveal timeless patterns that resonate in our own lives and relationships.