Constantine Levin was a Tolstoy Anna Karenina hero. His dream is to find a peaceful part of himself by living the traditional peasant life. He believes that the simple act and joy of working according to one’s own needs is profoundly satisfying. Levin works with the peasants and does mowing in their fields for an entire day, hoping to attain the peace-of mind that the lower farm classes enjoy.
Levin’s motivations to mow are quite different from the hired workers. Levin feels that mowing is a way to get rid of the aristocratic lifestyle that he led. Levin was first introduced to the activity after he became irritable and needed to calm himself. He mows to relieve his stress and to feel closer to his land. Levin doesn’t get why Russian peasants wouldn’t be fully committed to the farm’s well-being. It is hard to believe that some Russian men can be so careless about equipment and refuse orders to harvest fields that are easier than the ones they were told to. The peasants work to their benefit. They are paid a daily wage and spend the day in the field. They don’t care how hard they work. Levin believes that work is more likely to translate into profit. It doesn’t matter how well the fields have been mown or how many men did it. Levin’s quality and quantity of hired help will determine whether he gains or loses wealth. This causes him great stress and he longs for more connection to the land and its benefits the same way as the peasants. Levin’s mow is a way to relieve his stress from work and build a positive bond with the land. Mowing allows Levin to do work and then see the result. Russian peasants must mow to provide for their families and themselves. Levin almost considers mowing as essential. Levin doesn’t need to work in order to eat. But he does need to to feel content with his role and himself. The outsider may see mowing as a form of aristocratic games. Levin is acutely aware of this fact. He is even afraid that Koznyshev might laugh at him. He is afraid his brother will laugh at him. Levin is both embarrassed and embarrassed by his deviation from his high-class position. He feels a strange confusion between his “boss” role and his desire to be a cog on a wheel. His strange relationship with his peasants may be due to this confusion. He makes his property theirs and even decides to become one.
Koznyshev epitomizes unconfused aristocratic opinions. Levin and Koznyshev talk openly about the joy of the work until Levin realizes that Levin is going to mow for “all day, just the peasants,” rather than playing with it until one tires. He says that Levin is doing a wonderful physical exercise and that Levin will be “unable to resist.” The difference in the perspectives of the aristocratic class and the peasant class on mowing is evident. Levin is a mediator between these two views. Levin is driven by the desire “keep up” and be a peasant and wants to work hard all day.
Levin seeks both emotional gain and actual crop profit. Levin is a bit aristocratic in his view of the commitment. He comments that he needs physical exercise to improve his character. Levin can have moments when he views mowing in order to get rid of his frustrating and stifling life as an old man who lives alone in a drawing-room. This mindset not only makes it impossible to see the benefits of mowing as well as the healing properties of it, but it also creates a mistrust between Levin (and nature). Mowing does not solve his frustrations regarding his current circumstances. Mowing only once, or multiple times, will not provide relief from his emotional issues.
Levin must give up mowing to be completely healed. He would need to become a peasant to do this. Levin may fantasize about this but he is unable to commit fully. Even if Levin were to have a wet nurse, his blood would still be blue. Levin’s life is still dominated by the duplicated aristocratic lifestyle he lived with his parents. Koznyshev, the other peasants and his mother are correct that mowing is not a good way for Levin to escape the problems in his life. He will only become a peasant by it. Levin has to be confused between the aristocratic mode of reasoning and necessity, before he can actually start mowing.
Levin may feel anxious about his decision to mow. However he finds peace as he continues to work at it and falls deeper into the rhythm with the scythe. Levin comes to the area where the men are already working and notices that each man has completed his second swath. Levin considers each peasant an individual as he approaches each mower. Levin notices the names of men who have worked on his farm in the past. He observes the different clothing and mowing techniques of each man. He views each peasant mower, as well as himself, as separate and distinct men. This connotation has a connotation as inefficiency in that “straggling” men can’t mow a field. Only a group can. Levin’s ability to see the entire day as a whole is possible only when Levin becomes absorbed in his work.
There is a lot to mowing. Some peasants are younger, more skilled and can do more work with less effort than others. But it’s not the individual who matters. Levin tells Levin that he is not a tall, beardless old man. “Don’t stop working on the lawn! Levin promises to not “lag behind,” which is a promise to respect the wisdom, authority and experience of the older and most experienced mowers for the next few hour. He feels like he’s being scrutinized and is making poor mows at first. He knows he wants to be a success and mows with too much thought and too much “vigor”. He is driven to succeed by his desperate need to do well. A skilled mower will know that it is best to let the scythe “mow itself.”
Levin is able to see that his arms are not as strong as his body and that he has to “switch the scissor less with [his] arms but more with [his] entire body.” This is Levin’s first major step in releasing all his pretensions about his ability and showing off his skills. The shift from using a narrowly selected (and relatively weak) collection of limbs in order to mowing with one’s whole body signifies that one is no longer restricted by the parts of the body and mind. It’s time to start using one’s whole being.
After Levin realizes this, he gives himself completely to the task. Levin soon realizes that Titus is the man Levin has put in charge of mowing. He seems to be taking on the challenge of mowing faster and more frequently. Levin starts to forget about everything and focuses entirely on the task at hand: mowing. Levin’s senses have been dominated and he can hear and see only the swishing of scythes. The scythe produces the sounds, shapes and movements in the field. Grass and flowers can only be created by the scythe. They move in “waves”, which is a reference to another major part of nature, the ocean. You can mimic its movements by swinging the scythe. The mowing field becomes the whole world in a certain sense.
All of the experience becomes pure and innocent when Levin is in charge of it. The work is the most important thing. Levin’s “At One Point” is “
The sensation of coolness suddenly appearing on Levin’s hot shoulders was uncognizable. Levin “look[s] toward the sky” when trying to determine its source. Levin is awestruck by the beauty and goodness of everything. He works hard, but eventually he can rest. Levin’s core is affected by the rhythm of work, rest, and swinging the scythe.
The scythe can “mow alone” and becomes more fun. When you can get close enough to the scythe, the work becomes its reward. Levin finds that even the kvas (lukewarm, green water with rusty tin boxes in it) tastes better than ever because of the hard work he has put in to earning it. Harmonious experience is created by the rhythm of the swing of the scythe and the steps through the fallen grass that Titus left behind.
Respecting the older and more experienced is another aspect of the rhythms of mowing. While a stronger, younger man may be more valued for his physical labor in another industry, a skilled, older man in the art is considered the most valuable. Mowing is an art that requires skill, and this emphasis on experience shows it. Each year is different. Every year brings new insight and value to the field. Young men might mow with a “strained sort of movement” like he is doing “feverish labour” and may not be able change the motion of their bodies or observe the landscape. An older man might “go along” and cut the grass with “a precise and steady motion that seems less laborious than walking” because mowing is something they are used to. Levin has found a way to make this a gratifying experience.
Levin can let go of his “master” identity and is now under the tutelage of the old peasant. Levin trusts the old peasant to make the right decisions about the pace of the proceedings. He doesn’t have to struggle as much to control the farm like he does with the steward. Levin doesn’t even go home to eat dinner with his steward, in an effort to show the differences between the two of them. Levin decides to stay at the old man, share his ryebread mash, then take a nap in the grass alongside him. Levin reduces the discomfort of being a separate person from the older man and other peasants by eating with him and the other peasants. He is a young mower looking for guidance, and not a master at laboring. Levin’s aristocratic tendencies can be fixed by mowing. But, by immersing his self in the rhythm and natural order of the peasants, Levin becomes temporarily a peasant.
