Anna Karenina

In the Surovsky district "there was no railway nor service of post horses, and Levin drove there with his own horses in his big, old-fashioned carriage." He's traveling to remote rural areas. "He stopped halfway at a well-to-do peasant's to feed his horses. A bald, well-preserved old man, with a broad, red beard, gray on his cheeks, opened the gate, squeezing against the gatepost to let the three horses pass." Levin stops at a prosperous peasant household. "Directing the coachman to a place under the shed in the big, clean, tidy yard, with charred, old-fashioned ploughs in it, the old man asked Levin to come into the parlor." Everything is clean and orderly. "A cleanly dressed young woman, with clogs on her bare feet, was scrubbing the floor in the new outer room." Even the peasant woman is clean and industrious. The household is prosperous, well-maintained, and happy - there's mention of everyone "laughing most merrily of all." "Very probably the good-looking face of the young woman in the clogs had a good deal to do with the impression of well-being this peasant household made upon Levin, but the impression was so strong that Levin could never get rid of it." The pretty young woman contributes to the appeal, but more than that, the entire household radiates contentment and prosperity. "And all the way from the old peasant's to Sviazhsky's he kept recalling this peasant farm as though there were something in this impression that demanded his special attention." Levin can't stop thinking about this household. It represents something important - a model of peasant prosperity and happiness that contradicts his experience of constant conflict with his own peasants. This successful peasant farm haunts him because it suggests his own failures in estate management aren't inevitable. If these peasants can thrive, why can't his? The "impression was so strong that Levin could never get rid of it" - this encounter becomes a lasting memory that will influence his thinking about land management and peasant life. The chapter is brief but crucial, showing Levin an alternative vision of what peasant life could be.