Essay on Anna Karenina

Intuition showed Levin the meaning of life. After his brother’s death in Part 5, Chapter 20, Levin entered a state of hopelessness. He had been fervently working to reform his farm for the good of society in addition to writing a book on the subject. But his efforts seemed meaningless because time would destroy it all. He could forget for a bit, but he couldn’t shake this dark cloud. Levin even had to hide a rope to prevent him from hanging himself and feared carrying a gun lest he should shoot him (Part 8, Chapter 10). Death asked a question he couldn’t answer. But while he was petrified in the face of his brother’s demise, his wife wasn’t and cared for him till his death. This was one of the first intuitions he had of the way out.

Levin was amazed to learn that a peasant named Platon was living for his soul (Part 8, Chapter 11). Levin asked a peasant whether another named Platon would rent a plot of farmland. The peasant replied that Platon would not because the rent was too high and he couldn’t make it pay. Levin asked why he couldn’t make it pay while the tavern keeper, to whom the land was rented the previous year, could. The peasant replies that the tavern keeper would pitilessly work the labourers to make it pay. Platon is an honest and kind man who helps others even if it doesn’t make him money. The tavern keeper was living for his belly. Platon was living for his soul. Everyone knew that was a good thing, though they didn’t explain why. Levin was amazed that everyone had this gift of knowledge.

Levin examined his life and found that he was living by principles that he didn’t come up with. He knew how to live his life when he wasn’t thinking about it. His actions do not flow from his logical state. He has intuitions about seemingly contradictory things. One shouldn’t seize people’s cattle when they stray onto your land even though you are legally able to. One should strictly punish unauthorized loggers. But one shouldn’t postpone or diminish a late rent. One shouldn’t give payday loans or set up a tavern. And he is guided through social matters as well. He sees that he knew all this as a child. If he had never known these principles, he would be a very viceful person. Where did he get off track?

Levin analogized his situation to children who destroy what they don’t appreciate. He recalled one incident where Dolly’s children were cooking raspberries in teacups and pouring milk into each other’s mouths. They were being wasteful, but they did take their mother’s scolding seriously. They wasted out of disrespect for the things they were wasting. They took this bounty for granted and abused it for their own amusement. Levin did the same when he cast off the worldview of childhood and took up new and invented ideas. He could fit in and feel pride in his intellectual superiority. He didn’t know how precious what he was destroying was. Like children who have to milk the cow, he could no longer take for granted the wonderful gift of the spirit when he was faced with his brother’s death. He had to humbly accept his wisdom as a gift that he couldn’t invent or fully comprehend.

In summary, Levin discovered that the spirit of wisdom was given freely to all. Everyone intuitively knew right from wrong. He realized that he had had this gift all along, though he had forgotten it. He understood that he couldn’t take these fundamental truths for granted. He learned that the meaning of life was not to be made by his own intellect but was an intuition and a gift.

References

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy