Summary
Levin throws himself into farm work with desperate intensity, trying to outrun his dark thoughts through physical exhaustion. He works alongside his peasants in the fields, cutting hay from dawn to dusk, finding temporary peace in the rhythm of manual labor. The harder he works, the more his body aches, but the less his mind tortures him with questions about life's meaning and his recent thoughts of suicide. His hands blister, his back screams, but for brief moments he feels connected to something larger than his own despair. The peasants accept his presence without question, and Levin finds comfort in their simple acceptance of life's hardships. Yet even as he loses himself in the work, deeper questions lurk beneath the surface. This chapter shows Levin at a crossroads - using physical labor as both escape and potential path to understanding. Tolstoy reveals how work can be both numbing medicine and genuine healing, depending on what drives us to it. The contrast between Levin's intellectual torment and the peasants' uncomplicated relationship with labor highlights class differences in how people process suffering. While the wealthy have the luxury of existential crisis, working people often find meaning through necessity and community. Levin's experiment with manual labor represents his attempt to bridge these worlds, seeking the grounding that comes from useful work. The chapter builds tension around whether this physical therapy will provide lasting answers or merely postpone his reckoning with life's fundamental questions. His desperate energy suggests someone running from something rather than toward it.
Coming Up in Chapter 93
Levin's physical exhaustion brings an unexpected moment of clarity that will change everything. A simple conversation with an old peasant opens a door he never knew existed.
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An excerpt from the original text.(~500 words)
On Monday there was the usual sitting of the Commission of the 2nd of June. Alexey Alexandrovitch walked into the hall where the sitting was held, greeted the members and the president, as usual, and sat down in his place, putting his hand on the papers laid ready before him. Among these papers lay the necessary evidence and a rough outline of the speech he intended to make. But he did not really need these documents. He remembered every point, and did not think it necessary to go over in his memory what he would say. He knew that when the time came, and when he saw his enemy facing him, and studiously endeavoring to assume an expression of indifference, his speech would flow of itself better than he could prepare it now. He felt that the import of his speech was of such magnitude that every word of it would have weight. Meantime, as he listened to the usual report, he had the most innocent and inoffensive air. No one, looking at his white hands, with their swollen veins and long fingers, so softly stroking the edges of the white paper that lay before him, and at the air of weariness with which his head drooped on one side, would have suspected that in a few minutes a torrent of words would flow from his lips that would arouse a fearful storm, set the members shouting and attacking one another, and force the president to call for order. When the report was over, Alexey Alexandrovitch announced in his subdued, delicate voice that he had several points to bring before the meeting in regard to the Commission for the Reorganization of the Native Tribes. All attention was turned upon him. Alexey Alexandrovitch cleared his throat, and not looking at his opponent, but selecting, as he always did while he was delivering his speeches, the first person sitting opposite him, an inoffensive little old man, who never had an opinion of any sort in the Commission, began to expound his views. When he reached the point about the fundamental and radical law, his opponent jumped up and began to protest. Stremov, who was also a member of the Commission, and also stung to the quick, began defending himself, and altogether a stormy sitting followed; but Alexey Alexandrovitch triumphed, and his motion was carried, three new commissions were appointed, and the next day in a certain Petersburg circle nothing else was talked of but this sitting. Alexey Alexandrovitch’s success had been even greater than he had anticipated. Next morning, Tuesday, Alexey Alexandrovitch, on waking up, recollected with pleasure his triumph of the previous day, and he could not help smiling, though he tried to appear indifferent, when the chief secretary of his department, anxious to flatter him, informed him of the rumors that had reached him concerning what had happened in the Commission. Absorbed in business with the chief secretary, Alexey Alexandrovitch had completely forgotten that it was Tuesday, the day fixed...
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Intelligence Amplifier™ Analysis
The Road of Productive Escape
Using intense activity or work to temporarily quiet unbearable thoughts or emotions rather than directly addressing underlying problems.
Why This Matters
Connect literature to life
This chapter teaches how to identify when intense activity serves as emotional avoidance rather than genuine problem-solving.
Practice This Today
This week, notice when you suddenly feel compelled to reorganize, deep-clean, or take on extra work—ask yourself what you might be avoiding thinking about.
Now let's explore the literary elements.
Terms to Know
Peasant Labor
The backbreaking agricultural work done by Russia's rural poor, who made up 80% of the population. These workers had few rights and lived in poverty, but found dignity and community through shared physical labor.
Modern Usage:
Today we see this in how blue-collar workers often find pride and camaraderie in tough jobs that white-collar workers couldn't handle.
Existential Crisis
A period of intense questioning about life's meaning and purpose, often accompanied by feelings of emptiness or despair. In Tolstoy's time, this was considered a luxury of the educated wealthy.
Modern Usage:
We call it a 'quarter-life crisis' or 'midlife crisis' - that period when you question everything about your choices and wonder what the point of it all is.
Physical Therapy (Emotional)
Using hard physical work to quiet mental anguish and racing thoughts. The idea that exhausting the body can bring peace to a troubled mind.
Modern Usage:
People today hit the gym, go for runs, or take up boxing when they're stressed - using physical exhaustion to cope with emotional pain.
Class Consciousness
Awareness of the differences between social classes, especially how wealth affects one's relationship to work and suffering. The rich worry about meaning while the poor focus on survival.
Modern Usage:
Today we see this in how people with stable jobs can afford therapy while those working paycheck to paycheck just keep their heads down and push through.
Scythe Work
Cutting grain or hay with a long curved blade, requiring rhythm, skill, and endurance. It was communal work that created bonds between laborers through shared effort.
Modern Usage:
Any repetitive physical work that gets you 'in the zone' - like assembly line work, kitchen prep, or even cleaning - where your mind can rest while your body works.
Escape vs. Healing
The difference between running away from problems temporarily versus actually addressing and resolving them. One provides relief, the other provides solutions.
Modern Usage:
Like the difference between binge-watching Netflix to avoid your problems versus actually dealing with what's bothering you.
Characters in This Chapter
Levin
Tormented protagonist
Throws himself into manual labor to escape suicidal thoughts and find meaning. His desperate energy reveals someone running from inner demons rather than toward genuine peace.
Modern Equivalent:
The burned-out executive who quits to become a carpenter, hoping physical work will fix what's broken inside
The Peasants
Unwitting guides
Work alongside Levin without judgment, representing a simpler relationship with labor and suffering. Their acceptance of hardship contrasts with Levin's intellectual torment.
Modern Equivalent:
The blue-collar coworkers who don't overthink things and just focus on getting the job done
Key Quotes & Analysis
"The longer Levin mowed, the oftener he felt the moments of unconsciousness in which it seemed not his hands that swung the scythe, but the scythe mowing of itself."
Context: Describing Levin's experience of losing himself in the rhythm of farm work
This captures the meditative state that comes from repetitive physical work. Levin finds temporary escape from his tortured thoughts by becoming one with the labor.
In Today's Words:
The harder he worked, the more he got into the zone where his body just took over and his mind finally shut up.
"He felt a pleasant weariness. This was not the weariness that comes from idleness, but the weariness that comes from good work done."
Context: Levin reflecting on how physical exhaustion differs from mental fatigue
Tolstoy distinguishes between the empty tiredness of depression and the satisfying exhaustion of useful labor. This suggests work can be medicine for the soul.
In Today's Words:
He was tired, but it was the good kind of tired you get from actually accomplishing something real.
"Work was the one thing that saved him from despair."
Context: Explaining why Levin desperately throws himself into farm labor
This reveals that Levin is using work as a lifeline, not a solution. The word 'saved' suggests he's drowning in his own thoughts and work is his only way to stay afloat.
In Today's Words:
Staying busy was the only thing keeping him from falling apart completely.
Thematic Threads
Class
In This Chapter
Levin attempts to bridge class divide by working alongside peasants, finding their simple acceptance of hardship both foreign and appealing
Development
Continues exploration of how different social classes process suffering and find meaning
In Your Life:
You might notice how people from different backgrounds handle stress—some through activity, others through community, others through substances.
Identity
In This Chapter
Levin experiments with defining himself through physical labor rather than intellectual pursuits or social position
Development
His ongoing search for authentic self continues through trying on different roles
In Your Life:
You might find yourself trying on different versions of yourself during crisis—the athlete, the student, the helper—searching for what feels real.
Personal Growth
In This Chapter
Physical exhaustion becomes both escape mechanism and potential path to deeper understanding about life's meaning
Development
Levin's growth continues through experiential learning rather than pure contemplation
In Your Life:
You might discover that sometimes you have to tire your body to quiet your mind enough to hear what you really need.
Human Relationships
In This Chapter
Simple acceptance from peasant workers provides comfort that intellectual relationships couldn't offer
Development
Explores how different types of human connection serve different emotional needs
In Your Life:
You might find that sometimes you need people who just work alongside you without trying to fix or analyze your problems.
You now have the context. Time to form your own thoughts.
Discussion Questions
- 1
What specific activities does Levin use to escape his dark thoughts, and what physical effects does he experience?
analysis • surface - 2
Why does physical exhaustion provide relief from mental anguish for Levin? What does this reveal about how our minds and bodies interact during crisis?
analysis • medium - 3
Where do you see people today using intense activity or work to avoid dealing with painful emotions or difficult life situations?
application • medium - 4
How can someone tell the difference between healthy coping through activity and unhealthy avoidance? What warning signs should they watch for?
application • deep - 5
What does Levin's experience teach us about the relationship between social class and how people process emotional pain?
reflection • deep
Critical Thinking Exercise
Map Your Escape Routes
Think about the last time you faced a difficult emotional situation. List three activities you used to cope - whether consciously or unconsciously. For each activity, identify whether it helped you process the problem or avoid it. Then design one healthy 'bridge activity' that could help you work through similar challenges in the future while staying productive.
Consider:
- •Consider both positive activities (exercise, work, hobbies) and potentially harmful ones (excessive shopping, social media, drinking)
- •Think about the difference between activities that tire you out versus those that actually move you forward
- •Notice patterns in your own behavior during stress - do you tend to get busier or shut down completely?
Journaling Prompt
Write about a time when staying busy actually helped you work through a problem rather than avoid it. What made that experience different from times when activity was just escape?
Coming Up Next...
Chapter 93
What lies ahead teaches us key events and character development in this chapter, and shows us thematic elements and literary techniques. These patterns appear in literature and life alike.