Constantine Levin, a hero of Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, wishes to discover a harmonious part of himself through experiencing the peasant lifestyle. He believes there is something deeply rewarding in the simple act of working according to your needs. Working with and alongside farmers for a full day of mowing in his fields, Levin tries to achieve some of the simple tranquility that he hears the lower agricultural classes enjoy. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay However, Levin's motivations for mowing are markedly different from those of hired workers. Levin feels he must mow as some sort of remedy to the kind of aristocratic life he has led. His first experience with the activity occurred when "he had lost his patience and to calm down he had used his own remedy: he took a scythe from one of the farmers and began to mow himself". Levin mows to free himself from the pressures of working in his own class (giving orders to his steward, managing his farm indirectly through intermediaries). He not only mows to relieve stress, but also to feel more connected to his land and the farming process. Levin cannot understand why Russian farmers do not commit themselves fully to the welfare of the farm, why some men might be so careless as to handle equipment so that it breaks, or why they defy orders and reap a field that is easier to cultivate. final compared to what they were intended to collect. Peasants work for their direct benefit: they spend a day working in the fields, they earn a certain amount of money. They don't care exactly how much work gets done. But for Levin, work translates more ambiguously into earnings. It matters how well the fields are mowed and how much is done by each man. Levin can gain or lose wealth based on the quality and quantity of his collaborators. This is a great stress for him and he wishes to be more connected to the land and its rewards as farmers are. So Levin's grass cutting calms his work-related stress and creates a positive bond between him and the land. Through mowing he can work and see a direct result. Russian farmers need to mow in order to provide for themselves and their families. For Levin, mowing is almost as necessary. He doesn't need to work to be able to eat, but he needs it to feel at peace with himself and his role. However, to the outside eye, a day spent mowing grass appears like some kind of aristocratic game. Levin knows this, and is so intimidated that he is "in doubt whether to go and mow or not" when Koznyshev arrives. He "fears that his brother might laugh at him." Levin is embarrassed by his deviation from his upper class role while he is embarrassed by the high status itself. He experiences distinct confusion caused by his innate role as "boss" conflicting with his desire to lose himself as a cog in a wheel. This confusion is perhaps the root of his abnormal relationship with his farmers. He puts his properties under their control and even decides for a time that he must become one of them. Koznyshev embodies the unconfused aristocratic opinion. He and Levin talk freely about how enjoyable the work can be until he realizes that Levin intends to mow "all day, just like the farmers," instead of playing with it until he gets tired. He reproaches Levin that "it is a splendid physical exercise", but that he will "hardly be able to resist it". View mowing as a benefit of exercise rather than anecessity of work shows where the aristocratic and peasant classes clearly distance themselves from each other. Levin exists as a medium between the two ways of thinking. Levin desires to mow hard all day and is driven by the desire to "keep up" with the farmers and exist as their equal. Levin seeks not only emotional gain, but also actual harvest profits. Levin possesses a rather aristocratic outlook when making his commitment; comments: "I need physical exercise; without it my character is ruined." Here, rather than focusing on the value and direct reward of work, Levin seeks to redress the physical frustrations of an upper-class indoor life spent primarily in celibacy. Levin has a few moments where he regards cutting the grass as some sort of recipe for his stifled, frustrating life as an old, wifeless man in a living room. This way of thinking not only undermines the real work of mowing and the healing properties it can offer, but shows a temporary misunderstanding between Levin and nature. Mowing cannot ultimately cure his frustrations with his present life. Mowing the grass once, or even several times, can only provide temporary relief from emotional disturbances. To fully heal with mowing, Levin would have to give himself completely and become a peasant himself. And while Levin fantasizes about doing just that, he can never quite commit. Even if Levin's nurse had been a peasant, her blood would still have turned blue. Everything Levin wants in life is still wrapped up in the duplication of the aristocratic family life he enjoyed with his mother and father. Even though he can use mowing to escape what is missing in his normal life, Koznyshev and the other peasants are ultimately right: mowing cannot save an aristocrat. It can only turn him into a farmer. Before he even begins to mow, Levin is clearly confused between aristocratic and peasant ways of reasoning and necessity. Although the decision to mow causes Levin some anxiety and confusion, the longer he works on it, the more he falls into the rhythm. of the scythe, the more at peace he feels. As Levin approaches the field where the men have already worked and each has already completed "his second swath", Levin sees the farmers "one after another in a long disorderly line, some with their coats on, others in their shirts, each swinging his scythe in his own way." Levin sees each mower as a distinct individual. He notes specific men he has already had working on his farm. Note each man's different clothing and each man's distinct mowing technique. He sees each of the mowing farmers, and no doubt himself, as distinct and individual men, which in this case has a connotation of inefficiency, insofar as the "dispersed" men cannot mow a field; only one group can. It is only in the midst of a full day of mowing that Levin is able to leave this vision behind and take on the feeling of a group of men working together and losing themselves in their work. technique - some are younger and newer and therefore mow more stiffly, while some are older and more experienced and can mow so well that it seems as if they are "in the game" - one realizes that it is not the individual who brings importance to the act of mowing. A "tall old man with a wrinkled face and no beard" advises Levin to "Be careful, master! After you put your hand to the plow, don't look back!", suggesting a rejection of the idea of ​​mowing for one's health or for fun . . Levin promises to "try not to be left behind," meaning that for the next few hours he will leave behind his status as "master" and instead respect the wisdom and authority thatthey have the oldest and most experienced mowers. At first he begins to mow poorly, because he feels considered different from other lawnmowers. He is aware of the desire to prove himself, and therefore mows too "vigorously" and with too much reflection. His desperate desire to perform well is what stops him from achieving his goal. An experienced mower knows that the best way is to let the scythe "mow itself". As the day goes on, Levin realizes that he "has to swing the scythe less with [his] arms." and even more with [his] whole body. “This is his first major step towards releasing his unnecessary demands to prove himself and his skill level. The transition from working with a specialized (and quite weak) selection of limbs to mowing with his whole body involves the order to act out of the tense part of the mind and body and the beginning of the use of one's whole being Soon after Levin's realization, he begins to devote himself completely to his task The man whom Levin put in command, mows. faster and longer, seemingly as a challenge, Levin begins to think “of nothing and [desire] nothing, except not to fall behind and do his job as best he can. There is absolutely nothing but." the task of mowing before him and all around him. All of Levin's senses are dominated by the mowing, and he hears "only the hiss of the scythes and [sees] only the convex semicircle of the piece mowed before him, and the grasses and flower heads falling in waves around the blade of his scythe." The mowing becomes all of nature. The sounds and shapes in the field are produced by the scythe, and the grass and flowers exist only when the scythe strikes them. They move in "waves," a term that alludes to another large part of nature: the ocean, whose movements can be imitated by the swinging of the scythe embody the whole world. With the reaper as the world and Levin working in it, the whole experience becomes immersed in innocence and purity. Nothing matters but the work. At a certain point Levin suddenly becomes aware of a pleasant coolness on his hot and sweaty shoulders, without knowing what it was or where it came from." This description has some resemblance to the biblical content and ultimately to Eden. Levin "look[s] to the sky" to find his origin. Everything is beautiful and merciful for Levin. Work hard and eventually rest comes at the end of the swath. Work, rest and the very swing of the scythe take on a certain rhythm that runs through Levin's soul. In this state of tranquility, the scythe begins to "mow itself" and the work is actually more like "playing". ." Immersing yourself in this world of mowing is no longer a chore. The work becomes its own reward when you can get this close to it. Even the kvass ("warm water with green stuff floating in it and the taste of the can of rusty tin") tastes better to Levin than anything he has ever tasted, thanks to the work he has done to earn it. The rhythm of the swing of the scythe, the steps on the grass fallen in Tito's footsteps and the rests at the end of each row create a harmonious experience. Another part of the pace of mowing is the respect given to the elderly and experienced Where a younger and stronger man might normally be rated as optimal for physical work in another field, in the. art of mowing, an older, experienced and therefore expert man is valued as the most valuable The emphasis on experience shows that grass cutting is indeed an art in which skill can be valued over brute force. The rhythm of the sowing season and the harvest season, the syncopated work and rest of every lunch break and the mowing of.