The Search for Life's Meaning

The central theme of the book, where Tolstoy recounts his existential crisis and desperate quest to find a purpose for life in the face of inevitable death, leading him to question all his pursuits.

The narrator's early belief in self-perfection as a substitute for religious faith, and its eventual corruption into worldly ambition.

Tolstoy's existential questions—'What is it for? What does it lead to?'—drive the chapter's central crisis.

The narrator's desperate quest to find a purpose in life, ultimately concluding that life is a 'stupid and spiteful joke.'

The narrator's central quest is to find a meaning in life that death cannot destroy, driving his investigation of all sciences.