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These chapters concern Levin, who\'s extremely depressed over
Kitty\'s rejection.
He goes to visit his brother Nicholas. Levin feels heartsick
remembering the tumult and outright violence of much of
Nicholas\' life, because he knows that deep down Nicholas is no
worse than any other person. But sickness and poverty have
always dogged him, and he has rarely known peace. (Note that
Tolstoy uses Levin\'s interior monologue to tell you about
Nicholas and about the brothers\' complex relationship.)
Levin finds Nicholas very ill and living with Masha, his
common-law wife. Levin told Stiva he had a horror of \"fallen
women,\" but he\'s kind to Masha, and sees that she takes good
care of Nicholas. Levin is often harsher in his judgments than
in his actions. He asks Nicholas and Masha to come stay with
him.
The next day Levin goes home to the country, vowing to forget
his hopes for marriage and never again to let himself be swept
away by passion.
Levin had to leave Moscow in order to start putting his life
back together. Although his hopes for marriage with Kitty are
dashed, he shores up other aspects of his life: He gets his
farm running well, and he strengthens his relations with
Nicholas.
The awkwardness that afflicted Levin in the city is gone when
he\'s at home. In what other ways does Levin seem changed? And
what is Tolstoy telling you through these changes in Levin?
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