Levin's farming scheme is an "action founded on material interests," to quote Koznyshev, aimed at the efficient use of available resources of land and labor so that the peasants, as well as the master, gain profit. Unnecessary waste is repulsive to Levin (exemplified at his disgust over Stiva's careless sale of the valuable forest) who believes that long-term reforms and basic life goals are based on materialist considerations. Levin's passion for agronomic reform satisfies his need for arduous work and expresses his search for meaning through emotional commitment rather than through intellectual inquiry. Criticizing his brother's reforms for showing his lack of conviction, Nicolai echoes Levin's deep-seated anxieties. Konstantin suspects himself of the same fault, fearing his zeal for reform merely as an avoidance of a deeper issue. Nicolai is right: Levin attempts to avoid the "deeper issue" of death, and with his brother's condition forcing him to confront the problem, Konstantin begins to struggle with this grave threat.
Levin's materialism derives from his attachment to sensual reality. His intense nature drives him to search for the meaning of his life through the everyday actions of his human individuality. Levin's desire for marriage and family is also based on this search. Love and his future offspring are essential to his self-fulfillment as a human being. As a further tie to his immediate world, marriage increases his sense of reality. But death has no part of Levin's life-seeking scheme and his attempt to come to terms with this threat becomes an obsessive struggle that carries him through the rest of the novel.
