Ivan Ilyich

Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. What does this short statement mean? Many people do not contemplate it, but they can all agree that all three: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are three things everyone wants in life. Happiness can be found in many different ways according to the person and how they live life. Some believe they need money and possessions in order to impress people which will bring them happiness. Others just want to help people and that alone will bring them happiness, which is seen mostly in poor people or the homeless. When someone is dying, they always look back on their life and wonder what they could have done differently. Some people’s description of having

Ivan refuses to see his life as a mortal one until it is too late. He lives in a society where possessions make the man and your wealth, therefore, he does everything he can to achieve power and money because he believes this will give him a prosperous and happy life. Throughout his life, Ivan had seen failure. The first came when his wife became pregnant and her attitude began to change towards him causing grief between him and his family. Ivan lived his entire life pursuing what he thought was the meaning of life and happiness. He felt that he could achieve this by gaining power at his work, earning a lot of money on which to spend on material items to impress his friends, family, and more, and most of all he enjoyed playing bridge. He only focuses on the things that he finds pleasant in life and avoids the things that he knows will be unpleasant for him. His friends were the same way as he was. They wanted to only know the pleasant things in life and ignore the unpleasant. Which is why they refused to believe Ivan was

As stated, it can be achieved through material possessions and money, or by helping others. Jean-Jacques Rousseau tries to find happiness in his jobs and relationships, but fails to do so as he gets passed over for others. He believed in the natural goodness of others, which is a key component to happiness as one should lead a good life and be a good person by helping others before themselves. Although Rousseau believed this, he did not follow through and therefore saw much more failure than successes. One thing that is apparent in his life is the impacts others make on his life. Not only is this important for understand Rousseau, but also it is important for anyone’s life to have someone who impacts them in a positive way. Although Rousseau pursued happiness for most of his life, he did not achieve truly happiness because he blamed himself for failures. Most apparent, he blames himself for his mother’s death when he was born.

The Death of Ivan Ilyich shows the regret many people have when they are nearing their death. He believed he could achieve a happy life by having money, power, and material possessions. While living his life, he felt he had the perfect one, but when lying in his deathbed he came to the realization that he indeed did not. All of his possessions and power became irrelevant when he was dying and only when right before he reached his death, did he realize this and finally found happiness right before he