Summary
“. . . [M]y life now . . . is not only
not meaningless, as it was before, but has the unquestionable meaning
of the good which it is in my power to put into it!”
(See Important Quotations Explained)
Two months pass after Anna’s death. Sergei Koznyshev’s
book on statehood in Russia and Europe, on which he spent six years
of work, is published to virtually no public recognition. Sergei
tries to forget his failure by focusing his attention on the movement
to liberate the Serbs, Montenegrins, and other Slavic groups from
the Muslim rule of Turkey—a cause that seemingly occupies the whole Russian
nation.
Sergei and Katavasov accompany a large number of Russian
volunteers who are traveling to occupied Serbia to offer military
support to the Slavs. A bystander affirms that Vronsky is among
the volunteers, and that he has even outfitted a squadron at his
own expense. Stiva appears from the crowd and greets Sergei. “God
Save the Tsar” resounds from the patriotic crowd. Sergei meets Vronsky’s mother,
who is accompanying her son. The Countess Vronsky insults the dead
Anna as “mean and low” and says that Karenin has taken custody of
Anna’s young daughter. Finally, Sergei speaks to Vronsky, who is
ready and willing to die for the Slavic cause, as nothing in life
has value for him now.
Sergei and Katavasov visit Levin’s estate. Kitty greets
them and feeds her infant son, Mitya, while waiting for Levin to
come home. She is glad Levin has visitors, for she has been worrying
about his gloomy mood, which she attributes to his lack of religious
faith. Levin has been more focused on philosophical questions ever
since marriage and fatherhood, searching for the meaning of life.
He has read the classics of philosophical idealism, seeking a non-materialist answer
to his question. Unable to find any, he has flirted with suicide.
When Levin stops thinking and simply lives, he finds himself happy.
The day Sergei arrives, Levin is tormented by seeing his
peasant workers and imagining them dead and forgotten in a few years. Levin
speaks to a peasant, Fyodor, about a local innkeeper who rents some
nearby farmland. Fyodor explains that the innkeeper lives only for
his belly, unlike many who live for God and goodness.
Fyodor’s words galvanize Levin. He recognizes that living
for God and goodness is the answer to his questions about the meaning of
life. He feels freed from life’s deceptions. Living for oneself
and aiming only to satisfy one’s own desires is childish, as Levin
notes when he catches his children behaving mischievously. Life
is good, whereas thinking is bad. The sky is not infinite but a
vault overhead, however irrational that may be.
Lying on his back in a field, gazing up at the sky, Levin
knows he has found faith and thanks God for it. He resolves never
to allow quarrels or estrangement to divide him from other people.
Just a few minutes later, however, Levin argues with his driver
on the way back home after meeting Sergei and Katavasov. Levin feels
self-critical but knows that his faith will survive despite his
little moral failures. At home, he meets Dolly and her children,
tells her the news about Vronsky’s departure with the volunteers,
and takes everyone on a picnic. Discussing the Slavic cause with
Sergei, Levin states his opposition to the war and expresses skepticism
about the Russian people being unanimously behind it. He tries to
argue but realizes he is helpless against the wits of the more intellectual
Sergei and Katavasov.
