Although the majority of characters in Leo Tolstoy's seminal novel Anna Karenina are members of the nobility, the reforms implemented by Tsar Alexander II the lower classes had profound effects on them. The time of his reign was a time of change for the Russian people as many of his reforms had a direct impact on society. Some of these reforms included changes in the organization of Russian social classes, educational and agricultural reforms, and a huge increase in urbanization (Riasanovsky 24-27). Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Alexander II profoundly affected the daily lives of his subjects and the lives of Russians in the generations following his fall from power. Perhaps his most important reform of Russian society was the liberation of serfs in 1861. Serfdom was a form of slavery instituted from the earliest days of feudal Russian agriculture. The serfs would be linked to the land and would belong to the landowner. This was an ancient practice in Russia, but serf revolts were imminent when Alexander II came to the throne. He worked for their freedom from the moment he came to power and after six years of hard work, his Emancipation Act was signed. When they were finally released, some stayed and worked on the farms as they had done but with increased freedom of mobility while others settled in the towns (Eklof 19-28). This abolition of serfdom had many effects on the nobility of Russia. In Anna Karenina, Levine and his friend Sviyazhsky get into a heated argument over the authority they should have as landowners over the moujiks, the new workforce formed after the emancipation of the serfs (Bradley 143 ). Their arguments primarily focus on the themes of the education of the newly freed and the degree of control they should be subject to, given that these workers were no longer legally under their control. The debate on education was indeed anchored in a reality dear to Tolstoy's heart. He was personally responsible for opening schools for peasants and trying to make the lower classes literate as best he could (Souder). This idea of ​​educating the peasants is debated between Levin and Sviyazhsky, with Sviyazhsky advocating their education and Levin supporting the status quo. “In Europe, rational agriculture works because farmers are educated; which means that for us we have to educate the peasantry, that's all... To educate the peasantry, we need three things: schools, schools and schools” (336). Levin opposes these arguments and offers a different point of view. “How will schools help farmers improve their material well-being? » Levine asks Sviyazhsky. “You say that school, education, will give them new needs. Too bad, because they won’t be able to satisfy them” (337). Throughout the novel, Tolstoy makes it clear to the reader that this was a time of agricultural reform. There was a decline in the agricultural workforce, as many freed serfs were moving to the cities, so the policies that were in place during the feudal era had to be completely reinvented (Lewis 776). Europe was reforming its systems and moving away from the feudal idea towards a more modern system paving the way for broader industrialization. The Russians were not entirely on board with the idea of ​​changing their traditional agricultural practices, particularly to make them more European, but they knew something had to be done. With this state of mind, the systemAgricultural was reorganized and reestablished in a way that would make room for industrialization and continue without serfs (Geyer 128). We turn again to Levin to see how Tolstoy incorporates these societal changes into the novel. Levin, a farm owner, is passionate about his ideas on how agriculture should be structured and how moujiks should be controlled. After his day with Sviyazhsky, he mentally thinks back to their conversations and has some interesting ideas. He thinks to himself: You say that our agriculture does not work because the moujiks hate all improvements and that they must be introduced by authority. Now, if agriculture didn't work at all without these improvements, you would be right; but it works, and it only works here... Let us try to consider labor not as an ideal labor force but as the Russian moujik with his instincts, and organize our agriculture accordingly. (338) Levin's ideas show us that he favored a more personal approach to agriculture. He wants a united Russian workforce, but not necessarily a return to serfdom. He believes that men should care about their work, just like the old man he and Sviyazhsky met together. Levin makes these ideas more evident when he decides to go out and work with his peasants in the fields. Just as the old man is an active land owner, Levin is a very active farm owner. Levin details his work with his peasants and at one point describes the personal aspect of his participation in their work:…He [Levin] had taken a moujik's scythe and started to mow. He enjoyed this work so much that he started mowing again several times; he had mowed the entire meadow in front of the house and, in the spring of that year, he had made a plan: to spend whole days mowing with the moujiks. (247-248) This passage really shows how much not only country life means to Levin, but also how much the life he leads honors his true intentions. He respects the mujiks and works alongside them, embodying his belief that farming should be a personal experience and that farm owners like himself should have a greater role than just being an authority figure for the mujiks. The final changing aspect of Russian society was the very high rates at which people moved from the countryside to the city. Urbanization was observed at an unprecedented rate at the time; a troubling statement given that life in the city was considerably more expensive than in the countryside and the lower and middle classes were extremely poor (Lewis 776). The newly freed serfs had no hole in which to settle in the countryside, they did not earn money, they simply fled to a better life in the city as soon as their emancipation was decreed. This led to vast overpopulation of Russian cities, St. Petersburg and Moscow. The towns, which were mainly inhabited by nobles, were flooded with crowds of peasants and members of the emerging middle class, which caused a culture shock and led to many new ways of thinking for the new urban Russians. Many were turned off by the idea of ​​cities taking over citizens, but some had completely new ideas on how to solve the problem. New ways of thinking and new philosophies developed during this time, largely due to the rapid pace of urbanization (Walicki 86). Tolstoy once again uses Levin as a tool to share his personal beliefs on urbanization and emphasis on the city..