Summary
Levin throws himself into physical labor on his estate, working alongside his peasants in the fields as harvest time approaches. He's trying to escape his inner turmoil about life's meaning through exhausting manual work - cutting grass, loading hay, anything that will tire his body and quiet his restless mind. The harder he works, the more he feels a temporary peace, but the philosophical questions that have been plaguing him keep creeping back in. His peasant workers watch him with a mixture of respect and bewilderment - here's their master, sweating alongside them like he has something to prove. Levin finds brief moments of clarity in the rhythm of physical labor, feeling connected to the land and to something larger than his own anxious thoughts. But even as his muscles ache and his hands blister, he can't completely silence the voice in his head asking what any of it means. This chapter shows Levin at a crossroads - he's desperately seeking answers about how to live a meaningful life, and he's trying to find them through honest work and connection to the earth. It's a relatable struggle for anyone who's ever felt lost and tried to work their way through confusion. Tolstoy captures that very human tendency to think we can outrun our problems through busyness, while also showing how physical labor can sometimes offer genuine insights about what matters. Levin's journey toward understanding is messy and uncertain, just like real life.
Coming Up in Chapter 86
Levin's physical exhaustion brings an unexpected moment of clarity that will challenge everything he thought he knew about finding meaning. A simple conversation with one of his workers opens a door he never saw coming.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
All the rooms of the summer villa were full of porters, gardeners, and footmen going to and fro carrying out things. Cupboards and chests were open; twice they had sent to the shop for cord; pieces of newspaper were tossing about on the floor. Two trunks, some bags and strapped-up rugs, had been carried down into the hall. The carriage and two hired cabs were waiting at the steps. Anna, forgetting her inward agitation in the work of packing, was standing at a table in her boudoir, packing her traveling bag, when Annushka called her attention to the rattle of some carriage driving up. Anna looked out of the window and saw Alexey Alexandrovitch’s courier on the steps, ringing at the front door bell. “Run and find out what it is,” she said, and with a calm sense of being prepared for anything, she sat down in a low chair, folding her hands on her knees. A footman brought in a thick packet directed in Alexey Alexandrovitch’s hand. “The courier has orders to wait for an answer,” he said. “Very well,” she said, and as soon as he had left the room she tore open the letter with trembling fingers. A roll of unfolded notes done up in a wrapper fell out of it. She disengaged the letter and began reading it at the end. “Preparations shall be made for your arrival here ... I attach particular significance to compliance....” she read. She ran on, then back, read it all through, and once more read the letter all through again from the beginning. When she had finished, she felt that she was cold all over, and that a fearful calamity, such as she had not expected, had burst upon her. In the morning she had regretted that she had spoken to her husband, and wished for nothing so much as that those words could be unspoken. And here this letter regarded them as unspoken, and gave her what she had wanted. But now this letter seemed to her more awful than anything she had been able to conceive. “He’s right!” she said; “of course, he’s always right; he’s a Christian, he’s generous! Yes, vile, base creature! And no one understands it except me, and no one ever will; and I can’t explain it. They say he’s so religious, so high-principled, so upright, so clever; but they don’t see what I’ve seen. They don’t know how he has crushed my life for eight years, crushed everything that was living in me—he has not once even thought that I’m a live woman who must have love. They don’t know how at every step he’s humiliated me, and been just as pleased with himself. Haven’t I striven, striven with all my strength, to find something to give meaning to my life? Haven’t I struggled to love him, to love my son when I could not love my husband? But the time came when I knew that I couldn’t cheat myself any longer, that...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Working Through - When Physical Labor Becomes Mental Medicine
Using physical labor to temporarily escape mental turmoil while avoiding the actual source of distress.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when we use activity to escape emotional processing.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you stay extra busy after difficult conversations or situations—ask yourself what you might be avoiding.
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 from a distance while peasants did the physical work. It was unusual for a master to work alongside his laborers.
Modern Usage:
Like a CEO deciding to work on the factory floor - it breaks social expectations and makes everyone uncomfortable.
Existential Crisis
A period of intense questioning about life's meaning and purpose. People experiencing this feel lost, wondering if anything they do matters or has value. It often leads to desperate attempts to find answers through action.
Modern Usage:
What we call a 'quarter-life crisis' or 'midlife crisis' - that feeling of 'Is this all there is?' that hits when life feels empty.
Physical Labor as Therapy
The belief that hard manual work can cure mental anguish by exhausting the body and focusing the mind on simple, concrete tasks. Many people turn to physical activity when emotional problems feel overwhelming.
Modern Usage:
Like hitting the gym hard after a breakup or deep-cleaning the house when anxious - using your body to quiet your mind.
Class Boundaries
The invisible social rules that separate different economic groups. In Tolstoy's time, these were rigid - masters didn't work with servants, rich didn't mix with poor. Crossing these lines made everyone uncomfortable.
Modern Usage:
Still exists today - think about how awkward it gets when the boss tries to be 'one of the guys' at the company picnic.
Peasant Wisdom
The idea that working-class people possess practical knowledge and life insights that educated, wealthy people lack. Their connection to basic survival and hard work gives them clarity about what really matters.
Modern Usage:
Like how your grandmother who worked three jobs has better life advice than your friend with the MBA and anxiety disorder.
Harvest Season
The crucial time when crops must be gathered quickly before weather ruins them. It requires intense, coordinated labor from everyone. Success or failure determines whether people eat well or starve through winter.
Modern Usage:
Like crunch time at any job - when deadlines loom and everyone has to work together intensively or the whole project fails.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Protagonist in crisis
He's desperately trying to find meaning in life by working physically alongside his peasants during harvest. His philosophical questioning has left him feeling empty, so he's attempting to find answers through honest manual labor and connection to the land.
Modern Equivalent:
The burned-out office worker who quits to become a carpenter
The Peasant Workers
Bewildered observers
They watch their master work alongside them with confusion and some respect. They represent a simpler relationship with work and life that Levin envies. Their presence highlights how unusual and awkward Levin's behavior is.
Modern Equivalent:
The warehouse crew watching the company owner try to load trucks
Key Quotes & Analysis
"The longer Levin mowed, the more often he experienced those moments of oblivion when his arms no longer seemed to swing the scythe, but the scythe itself his whole body."
Context: As Levin loses himself in the rhythm of cutting grass with the peasants
This describes the meditative state that comes from repetitive physical work. Levin finds temporary peace when his conscious mind stops overthinking and his body takes over. It's a form of moving meditation that quiets his anxious thoughts.
In Today's Words:
The work was so rhythmic that he stopped thinking and just moved - like being in the zone.
"He felt a pleasant coolness, and wiped the streaming perspiration from his face and looked about to see what had been done."
Context: After Levin pauses from intense physical labor in the fields
This moment captures the satisfaction of honest physical work - the tangible results you can see and the earned exhaustion that brings peace. It contrasts sharply with Levin's usual mental spinning where he produces no concrete results.
In Today's Words:
He felt good tired, the kind where you've actually accomplished something real.
"Work conquers all, he said to himself, remembering the Latin proverb."
Context: As he convinces himself that physical labor will solve his existential problems
Levin is grasping at the old saying 'labor omnia vincit' hoping that work will cure his spiritual emptiness. It shows both his desperation for answers and his belief that simple solutions exist for complex problems.
In Today's Words:
If I just work hard enough, everything will make sense.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Levin works alongside peasants, temporarily dissolving social barriers through shared labor
Development
Evolution from earlier class consciousness to seeking authentic connection across social lines
In Your Life:
You might find your most honest conversations happen when working alongside people from different backgrounds.
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin questions who he is when stripped of social position and reduced to basic physical work
Development
Deepening from surface identity crisis to fundamental questions about authentic self
In Your Life:
You might discover your truest self emerges when you're too tired to perform for others.
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Levin seeks wisdom through physical experience rather than intellectual analysis
Development
Shift from purely mental searching to embodied learning and hands-on discovery
In Your Life:
You might find that doing something teaches you more than thinking about it ever could.
Human Connection
In This Chapter
Working beside peasants creates unexpected bonds and mutual respect across class lines
Development
Movement from isolated individual struggle toward community and shared purpose
In Your Life:
You might find your deepest connections form when you're working toward common goals with others.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
Why does Levin throw himself into physical labor with his peasants, and what is he hoping to achieve?
analysis • surface - 2
What does Levin discover about the relationship between physical work and mental peace, and why doesn't it provide a permanent solution?
analysis • medium - 3
Where do you see people today using physical activity or busy work to avoid dealing with difficult emotions or life questions?
application • medium - 4
How could someone use physical work as a starting point for addressing problems rather than just avoiding them?
application • deep - 5
What does this chapter reveal about why humans are drawn to physical labor when facing existential or emotional crises?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Track Your Working Through Pattern
Think about the last time you felt overwhelmed or anxious about something in your life. Write down what physical activities you turned to - cleaning, exercising, working extra hours, organizing, cooking, etc. Then identify what you were actually trying to avoid thinking about or dealing with. Map the connection between your busy work and your real concerns.
Consider:
- •Notice whether the physical activity actually helped you think more clearly or just postponed difficult feelings
- •Consider how you could use that same physical energy as a bridge to addressing the real issue
- •Pay attention to whether this is a recurring pattern in your life during stressful times
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when staying busy actually prevented you from solving a problem. How might you handle that situation differently now, using physical work as a starting point rather than an escape?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 86
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.