The Ultimate Thought-Provoking Question in Tolstoy’s "Anna Karenina"- Part 4.

It took me about a month, but I finally finished Tolstoy’s some 940-page novel! I found it incredibly insightful- a penetrating look into not only people’s actions, but the motives and psychology behind their actions. Tolstoy spends the novel investigating our common human experience. He tackles so many issues throughout the novel: marriage, adultery, parent-child relationships, sibling relationships, friendships, the role of society, jealousy, the education of women, the best way to motivate an employee (in this case, a peasant working on the farm), forgiveness, religion, spirituality, the thrill of hunting, hosting a party, the intricacy and complexity of human relationships… and the list goes on.

The deepest, perhaps most important, question of the novel though, which is thoroughly examined in the last 30 pages or so, is this: What is the meaning of life?

This question was something that Tolstoy himself seriously struggled with most of his adult life. Tolstory wrote a book called Confessions, which is an autobiographical account of his search for meaning. His search closely resembles that of Levin in Anna Karenina. (Levin is the best friend of Oblonsky. He falls in love with Kitty, who at first rejects his marriage proposal but then falls for him and they marry- and he abandons city life to the chagrin of his friends, so that he can live in the country. He is always searching for a way to live better and do things better.) Tolstoy states in Confessions (which was written after War and Peace and Anna Karenina by the way) that he was completely suicidal, until he was able to come up with an answer about the meaning of life that both appeased his spirituality and his rational sense. (Also highly recommend that book- fascinating insight into Tolstoy’s own life)

Okay so here goes- Tolstoy’s take on the meaning of life in Anna Karenina:

1. What is the meaning of life?

Witnessing the death of his brother, Levin is basically thrown into an existential crisis. “...he (Levin) had been horrified not so much by death as by life without the slightest knowledge of its origin, its purpose, its reason, and its nature.” He wanted to know what was the point of it all- why was he working so hard if he (and everyone else) was just going to die anyways? -A question all human beings have been grappling with for ages.

Searching for an answer, Levin begins to obsessively read the works of great philosophers such as : Plato, Spinoza, Kant, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhaur, and the theologian Khomyakov. None of these works help Levin. He is so distraught over not being able to understand what he is and what he is living for, that he considers suicide. (Which is also what happened to Tolstoy). It is a chance conversation with a peasant that helps pull Levin out of his despair.

The peasant is describing to Levin that there are all types of people in this world. The bad ones are the ones who live only for themselves. The good ones are those who “lives for his soul…Remembers God.” It is this thought that strikes Lewin like electricity. Levin concludes that “belief in God and in goodness as the only goal of man’s existence.” Up until then, Levin had also struggled with the Church and all of its dogmas, but he is able to settle this with this thought: “For each of the dogmas of the church one could substitute the belief in serving truth and justice rather than one’s own personal needs.” Furthermore, Levin philosophizes that serving one’s own needs is a rational thing to do. BUT, serving the needs of others is implicit knowledge (and therefore transcends rational thought), known to and agreed upon by every person across culture and across time.

So, in short, for Tolstoy and his character Levin, the meaning of life is this: Live, not to serve your own needs, but to serve the needs of others, and know God. Tolstoy considered this idea something close to “faith.” And the combination of a rational mind with this kind of faith would lead to an extraordinary fulfilling life.

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Okay that is all I got for Anna Karenina. I highly recommend the book. I really liked the plot, but I was more interested in the psychological and philosophical questions of the book. By page..oh I don't know..700 or so, i was kind of ready for Tolstoy to wrap it up! Hah, but seriously, if you have time, you should read it!