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The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy tells the story of Ivan Ilych’s evolving comprehension of what death means. As he comes closer to death, he sees that there is life within death, it is not what others perceive it to be and it cannot be denied. The only way to truly understand this is through perceiving life from a wise and spiritual individual’s perspective. This person has to guide one through what it means to find meaning and fulfillment in life. The only way to find this fulfilment is through coming in peace with thyself and allowing love and compassion to the true leading values that should direct one’s life. Ivan is a character who lives his life according to the expectations of other people in his society. The reason why he is so focused on other is that he is insecure and lacks a sense of self. Instead of depending on his own reason …show more content…
By forcing Ivan to confront the prospect of his death, it brings him face to face with his own isolation. That isolation terrifies Ivan, provoking serious existential reflection. Ivan begins to realization of how his life should’ve been when his son pressed Ivan’s hands from from his head to his lips and cried, “Ivan Ilych fell through and caught sight of the light, and it was revealed to him that though his life has not been what what it should have been, this could still be rectified” (Tolstoy 96). And as Ivan begins to examine his life, as he questions his existence and the rationale behind his suffering, he slowly begins to see that his life was not as it should have been. Ivan's illness reveals to him the true nature of life. As portrayed in the text, “In place of death was light” (Tolstoy 97). At the climactic moment of the novel, when Ivan passes into the presence of the light and realizes that compassion and love are the true life values by which to live, the incalculable joy that he experiences is proof of the worthiness and meaning of his
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy tells the story of Ivan Ilyich, a man who deals with a mysterious illness through introspection. Until his illness, he lived the life he thought he was supposed to live. Like Candide, he was living in blind optimism. He assumed that what he was doing was the right thing because he was told as much. He had a respectable job and a family. Happiness, if it did occur to him, was fulfilling his duties as a husband and father. It was his sudden illness that allowed him to reflect on his choices, concluding that those choices did not make him happy. “Maybe I have lived not as I should have… But how so when I did everything in the proper way” (Tolstoy 1474)? Ilyich had been in a bubble for his entire life, the bubble only popping when he realizes his own mortality. This puts his marriage, his career, and his life choices into perspective. Realizing that he does not get to redo these choices, he distances himself from his old life: his wife, his children, and his career. All that is left is to reflect. This reflection is his personal enlightenment. He had been living in the dark, blind to his true feelings for his entire life. Mortality creates a space in which he can question himself as to why he made the choices he made, and how those choices created the unsatisfactory life he finds himself in
Peter Ivanovich (known from now on as PI) was Ivan’s dearest friend. PI and Ivan have known each other all their lives yet at Ivan’s funeral PI shows no deep remorse. All that PI really thinks about is the vacancy that Ivan has left at work. He like other people, thinks that relationships are just about achieving ones own agenda. And such loving and compassionate relationships do not exist. Another situation that PI has is that after his selfish like behavior he is characterized by a desire to avoid the unpleasant. This is shown when PI skirts the topic of Ivan’s death and “drags his feet” when it comes time to attend the funeral. He has a problem with confronting the aspect of his own mortality.
However, through the enlightenment provided by Tolstoy, and the lessons taught, I now see that I am less satisfied with my existence and more deceivingly complacent with it. To expand on this, I have not done anything of true significance and have lived only to appear content, fooling even myself, while hiding behind a stoic facade. I have lived in an inauthentic way, preoccupied with my superficial social portrayal instead of true inner delineation. Just as I did, I feel as though the protagonist, Ivan Ilyich, would have claimed to have been happy, genuinely believing himself. I see a lot of myself in Ivan, and it makes me fearful. I would seek only what was pleasant and shy away from what is unpleasant. I now see I must be willing to accept my own transience and live genuinely if I want to live a blissful
Tolstoy provided us with two perspectives to view Ivan’s life in “The death of Ivan Illyich”: an omniscient narrator and Ivan himself. What I plan to do is give another perspective, not necessarily to view his life, but rather to his experiences after he realized he was dying. This perspective will be an analytical and psychological; the perspective from Kubler-Ross’s Stages of death (or stages of grief, as they are better known for). These stages occur when we are faced with an event that is usually connected with death. The “normal” order in which these five stages occur, though may not go doctrinally in this order, are as such: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.
However, fiction is about telling a story; it is about leaving the reader changed by the end of the book. In this regard, Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a masterpiece and should be celebrated by Christians as a work of art. Tolstoy immediately absorbs you into the novel, beginning with Ivan’s death. The actual death scene is saved until the end of the novel, but he shows you the reaction of some of Ivan’s colleagues as they hear the news of Ivan’s death. You are almost disgusted at the nonchalant manner in which Ivan’s “friends” take his death.
Ivan has a strong disconnect with his family and begins feel like he is always suffering, while beginning to question if his life has been a lie. An example of this for prompt number three is when we are giving the quote "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible." Leo Tolstoy implies through the quote that even though he lives an ordinary
...t is . What really accentuated the story's realness was the cold-harsh fact that no one is exempt from death. This was given when Gerasim said to Ivan that everyone dies (p135). As the last book Tolstoy made before his conversion to Christianity: this book, delving deep into death, could reveal some clues about what the bible is trying to tell us about the truth of death. Is death the end, the process, or...the beginning? Who knows? One thing for certain is that every individual goes through the grief process a bit differently, and Tolstoy has proven that through his main character, Ivan Illych.
Do we plan how we live our own life without following the society or do we live a life that follow what people in the higher level of society consider to be proper. Choosing how to live our life? However even if you chooses to dictate your own life without following what the society tells you to do; can you really achieve that freedom? In two book the “Death of Van Ilyich” by Leo Tolstoy and “Hedda Gabler” by Henrik Ibsen we’ll see two different person who choose to walk two different path.
It is important that everyone lives their lives according to God’s purpose for them. Many people in today’s society fear death. Those who fear death have little to no knowledge about what God has planned for all of his children. On the other hand, some people fear death because they feel as though they have not fully completed their life’s purpose; or lived accordingly. This work brings about many real-life situations. There will always be people who use others to advance their own lives. Then there will be people who want the best for others. Continuing a study of this work will allow readers to make a connection to his or her current society. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is an easy read, that will automatically catch the reader’s
Death is an unwavering reality of existence that most people neglect contemplating or give much thought to. When one is suddenly pushed into contact with this oblique reality, the only thing they seek is comfort. In The Death of Ivan Illyich, Leo Tolstoy gives us the prime paradigm of the kind of comfort and compassion that a dying person seeks. Gerasim, the young worker, provides Ivan Illyich with the form of spiritual and physical kindness that makes Ivan’s transition less painful. This is in stark contrast to his friends and family who only regard Ivan’s state of health with “indifference and deceptiveness” (Tolstoy ).
In his novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy satirizes the isolation and materialism of Russian society and suggests that its desensitized existence overlooks the true meaning of life—compassion. Ivan had attained everything that society deemed important in life: a high social position, a powerful job, and money. Marriage developed out of necessity rather than love: “He only required of it those conveniences—dinner at home, housewife, and bed—which it could give him” (17). Later, he purchased a magnificent house, as society dictated, and attempted to fill it with ostentatious antiquities solely available to the wealthy. However, “In reality it was just what is usually seen in the houses of people of moderate means who want to appear rich, and therefore succeed only in resembling others like themselves” (22). Through intense characterizations by the detached and omniscient narrator, Tolstoy reveals the flaws of this deeply superficial society. Although Ivan has flourished under the standards of society, he fails to establish any sort of connection with another human being on this earth. Tragically, only his fatal illness can allow him to confront his own death and reevaluate his life. He finally understands, in his final breath, that “All you have lived for and still live for is falsehood and deception, hiding life and death from you” (69).
Ivan Ilych now watched it with a new and oppressive feeling. ”(Textbook) When he heard the news he sank further into his state of isolation. No one understands what Ivan was going through because they had never experienced the feeling of death.
Ivan Ilych was a member of the Court of Justice who was "neither as cold and formal as his elder brother nor as wild as the younger, but was a happy mean between them—an intelligent, polished, lively, and agreeable man” (Tolstoy 102). He lived an unexceptionally ordinary life and strived for averageness. As the story progresses, he begins to contemplate his life choices and the reason for his agonizing illness and inevitable death. “Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done, but how could that be, when I did everything properly?” (Tolstoy
The story of In "The Death of Ivan Ilych", was written by Leo Tolstoy around who examines the life of a man, Ivan Ilyich, who would seem to have lived an exemplary life with moderate wealth, high station, and family. By story's end, however, Ivan's life will be shown to be devoid of passion -- a life of duties, responsibilities, respect, work, and cold objectivity to everything and everyone around Ivan. It is not until Ivan is on his death bed in his final moments that he realizes that materialism had brought to his life only envy, possessiveness, and non-generosity and that the personal relationships we forge are more important than who we are or what we own.
...roduction of Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Vol. 44 it is stated that “Ivan Ilych’s passage from life to death also entails a passage from falseness to truth…” (326). One could also look at this in a different light. From a physical perspective Ivan does go from life to death, from perfection to imperfection, but from a spiritual perspective it is actually the opposite. It takes the death of Ivan’s physical self to finally see what is important, his spirituality, his ‘divine spark.’ This, he finally realizes, is what true perfection is. Hence, Ivan is able to see past the falseness of conformity in the end and no longer fear death.