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Levin is the hero of Anna Karenina. In fact, some readers
believe Anna was created by Tolstoy primarily to point up
Levin\'s superiority. Where Anna maneuvers hysterically to
achieve the perfect romance, Levin strives to find coherence in
life and death, love and work. Anna is a portrait of
alienation; Levin finds harmony with those around him. In Anna,
you see the moral collapse of urban society; in Levin, you see
Tolstoy\'s hopes for the future of Russia.
Levin changes during the course of the novel. He achieves
harmony in several ways:
1. LOVE AND PASSION
Before he married, Levin had numerous sexual involvements,
all merely to satisfy his youthful lustiness. His love for
Kitty, however, is emotional and spiritual, as well as physical.
He is entirely faithful to his wife; for them, sex has a sacred
quality. In this, Levin contrasts with Stiva, who never finds
sexual happiness in marriage, and with Anna, who never finds
emotional security in her sexual relations.
2. LOVE AND WORK
Levin sometimes feels overwhelmed by his responsibilities as
a husband, father, landowner, and estate manager. Yet, by the
end of Anna Karenina, he realizes that his mission--working the
land, sharing the proceeds with his peasants--not only provides
him income but will provide his heirs with meaningful work and a
foothold in the future of Russia.
3. INTELLECTUAL AND PHYSICAL WORK
Tolstoy did not admire Russia\'s urban intellectuals who, he
felt, had no understanding of, or appreciation for, the
peasants, whom he considered the backbone of the country.
Levin, well-educated and himself an intellectual, finds deep
satisfaction in toiling side-by-side with the peasants. Levin\'s
book, which advances his (and Tolstoy\'s) belief that peasants
must be able to own land, represents a synthesis of physical and
mental labors.
4. CITY AND COUNTRY
At the beginning of the novel, Levin is terribly
uncomfortable in the city. At times, he seems even somewhat
boorish.
Kitty, though, is from the city and enjoys life there. When
they spend the winter in Moscow, Levin manages to make a life
for himself in the city. Under his young wife\'s beneficent
influence, he shows you more social grace and polish than you
would have imagined possible.
5. LIFE AND DEATH
Levin\'s greatest victory is arriving at a less panicky, more
accepting attitude toward death. In the early and middle part
of the novel, Levin can hardly bear to look at his dying
brother, let alone talk to him about his impending death. When
Levin isn\'t shutting the eventuality of death entirely from his
mind, he dwells on it morbidly. For a time, Levin believes that
death robs life of all meaning and that a God who permits death
must be evil.
In time--after his marriage, the death of his brother, and
the birth of his son--Levin realizes that life is a cycle, and
that death has its rightful place in that cycle.
6. ATHEISM AND FAITH
Levin\'s understanding that birth, life, and death form a
whole enables him to be open to the possibility of belief in
God.
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