Themes of a Poor Life in The Death of Ivan Ilyich
analytical Essay
1637 words
Ivan Ilyich Themes of a Poor Life in “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” It occurred to him that what had appeared perfectly impossible before, namely that he had not spent his life as he should have done, might after all be true. It occurred to him that his scarcely perceptible attempts to struggle against what was considered good by the most highly place people, those scarcely noticeable impulses which he had immediately suppressed, might have been the real thing, and all the rest false. And his professional duties and the whole arrangement of his life and of his family, and all his social and official interests, might all have been false. He tried to defend all those things to himself and suddenly felt the weakness of what he was defending. There was nothing to defend. “But if that is so,” he said to himself, “and I am leaving this life with the consciousness that I have lost all that was given me and it is impossible to rectify it- what then?” Tolstoy paints for the reader through the discourse of “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” a social statement on the insignificance and banality of sociological conformity from a variety of viewpoints all perceptible to the reader from many sociological class structures. What we find in “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” is a way of life, a comparison that defines for the reader a method of living outside that of the accepted sociological norm. This new take on life extends through the above passage as a method by which humanity can asses its place, its role, and the crucial role of the individual in the personal “success” of the human individual. In this paper, I plan to outline several points used by Tolstoy through a means of sociological placement (i.e. Work, family, social attrib... ... middle of paper ... ...re than to continue into the life that has lead him to this pain. He would be perpetuating the existence that he has lead, and with this, he finds peace in the realization of it not being too late, but of finding the ability to experience a re-birth of sorts. Tolstoy transports the reader through these examples of sociological thought with the suffering of his hero. Ivan likely mirrors the thoughts that Tolstoy has in reference to his own life, shunning institutions of society, education and religion. It is in these examples of conformity that the reader sees err, and the justification of that err not to return to a life of perpetual discontentment and conformity, but to move ahead through the pain that Ivan experiences to learn a lesson of accepting freedom, not only on the terms of the freedom itself, but in the burden with which freedom presents itself.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how tolstoy paints for the reader through the discourse of "the death of ivan ilyich" a social statement on the insignificance and banality of sociological conformity.
- Analyzes how tolstoy's wife, praskovya, was a love constructed from an economic and sociological expectation rather than that of true courtship.
- Analyzes how tolstoy's retreat into his work is the soul means by which ivan moves towards a personal goal of self-justification and righteousness.
- Analyzes how ivan attacks the ideological question of true happiness by forsaking the romantic ideal of self-fulfillment and conforming to the sociological norm of the time.
- Analyzes how tolstoy uses metaphorically the figure of highly placed people as a signification of disciplinary function in "the death of ivan ilyich."
- Narrates how the man felt the weakness of what he was defending. he had lost all that was given him, and it was impossible to rectify it.
- Analyzes how tolstoy transports the reader through sociological thought with the suffering of his hero.
Related
- analytical
- Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illychanalytical essayDeath’s Implications: Analyzing The Death of Ivan Illych Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Illych has proven to be a profoundly important work in the understanding of mortality. By adding to this understanding, Tolstoy implores readers to accept the ultimate reality that death is inevitable. If there is one thing Tolstoy makes quite clear, it is that nobody lives forever and death can be a horrifying, painful, and sobering experience. Ivan Illych, a successful man of the law, ends up fatally injuring himself whilst putting up curtains.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how leo tolstoy's the death of ivan illych has proved to be a profoundly important work in the understanding of mortality.
- Analyzes how ivan illych's desire to climb the social ladder of entrenched russian bourgeois society led him to put his family on the back burner while his career and ambitions entered the limelight.
- Analyzes how ivan's fear of death increased due to the heavy weight regret placed upon his shoulders.
- Analyzes how the dying adopt a radically different mindset from the living. the denial of death is deeply entrenched in many societies.
- Analyzes how tolstoy experiments with the idea that dying is the ultimate reality.
- Analyzes how tolstoy's exploration of the concept of death is important in understanding a few key things.
1263 wordsRead More - Irony In The Death Of Ivan Ilyichanalytical essayHow could a successful lawyer at a firm who seems to have it all still suffer while having a strong disconnect with his family? In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, he uses the protagonist Ivan as irony for the quote, “Bad things often happen to good people”. The novel describes how as a child Ivan was very smart, likeable, and funny and rarely ever got into trouble.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how "the death of ivan ilyich" uses the protagonist as irony for the quote, "bad things often happen to good people."
- Analyzes how leo tolstoy implies through the quote that ivan ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.
- Illustrates how ivan wants to live a life without suffering and pain because he feels the pain to be something unique with his life.
- Illustrates how the theme for prompt number three is used when we are giving a theme of living without suffering. the quote "he suffered terribly the last few days."
- Analyzes how tolstoy uses ivan's complaints as an indicator for readers to know that he doesn't want to die in pain but peace.
- Analyzes how leo tolstoy's use of ivan’s pain shows a strong disconnect from his family.
- Analyzes how tolstoy gives another example of how ivan wishes he could live without the pain from his injury. the theme of to live and not suffer is related to the idea of avoiding pain.
- Analyzes how tolstoy tells ivan that he is not in love with his wife and only married perodnona out of a lie.
608 wordsRead More - Leo Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Ilyichanalytical essayIn Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, readers are given a look into the life of a dying man contemplating his existence. Having lived his whole life in a society that acts as if death is not imminent, Ivan Ilyich is faced with a dilemma-- his life has been an unfulfilling constant effort of avoiding discomfort due to the social proprieties and conventions he is surrounded.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes leo tolstoy's novella, the death of ivan ilyich, where readers are given a look into the life of an unfulfilling dying man contemplating his existence.
- Analyzes how tolstoy's characters avoid emotion, depth, "realness", and pain in order to achieve a "better" goal of easiness/comfort.
- Analyzes how ivan avoids all entanglements with people and things. he doesn't truly love his wife, but that does not leave him worried or devastated as it would in a healthily functioning society.
- Analyzes how tolstoy's depiction of ivan and his life illustrates his road to misery and reflects back to readers the means by which he experiences this.
- Analyzes how the man's life has consisted of following social proprieties and mistreating people due to fear of "entanglement." he is terminally ill and realizes that he has valued the wrong things and gravely taken advantage of his status.
- Analyzes how the protagonist becomes aware of his mistreatment by others with the same moral pattern as himself, such as his wife and doctors. he lives an unfulfilling life of distance from things that are painful, but that also brought him more pain towards the end.
697 wordsRead More - Spirituality In Leo Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Ilyichanalytical essayLeo Tolstoy, author of The Death of Ivan Ilyich, suffered numerous tragic losses such as his parents and his aunt, Tatyana Ergolsky who created a tremendous impact during Tolstoy’s childhood. Overtime, Tolstoy was cultured and for Tolstoy it was common within his community. During the 1840, Tolstoy developed a strong, eager interest for the studies of moral philosophy. In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy suggests that although people can find happiness in materialism, they need spirituality during a crisis.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how leo tolstoy, author of the death of ivan ilyich, suffered numerous tragic losses such as his parents and aunt, tatyana ergolsky who created a tremendous impact during his childhood.
- Analyzes how ivan and his wife, praskovya, lust after the affluent lifestyle, holding an immense delight for which personify their wealth and degree.
- Analyzes how society runs on power, who controls who, what, and where. ivan and his wife savor in extravagance, awing friends and strangers.
- Explains that work-family conflict and family-work conflict as predictors of psychological strain affect an individual's personality, thoughts, and work habits.
- Analyzes how boundaries aid human beings in defining the relationship they create with others. communication makes us more aware of our demands and defines how we interact.
- Analyzes don maclennan's confrontation with death and the meaning of life. shermbrucker concludes death is unpredictable, causing fear the most, and never allows anyone to concentrate on the life provided.
- Analyzes how mukherjee believes that spiritual belief carries the main position in helping adults through tough conflicts they face throughout their lives.
- Concludes that tolstoy presents us with the reailty of everyone shielding themselves among societal groups or engagements.
1814 wordsRead More - Anti-Materialism In Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Ilychanalytical essayTolstoy is a modern writer. His style plays with literary conventions while his writing questions society itself. However, towards the end of his life, Tolstoy notices the growing anti-materialism in the middle class (Ress). This increasing detachment of the Russian middle class from nature, life, and religious tradition irritates Tolstoy. By focusing his later works on anti-materialism, Tolstoy awakens the middle class to what he thinks it has become—deluded. To reveal this illusion, Tolstoy writes a religious, traditional ending to The Death of Ivan Ilych to illustrate the Russian middle class’s anti-materialism, and the New Testament’s Book of Luke helps us understand this connection between religion and anti-materialism best.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how tolstoy's style plays with literary conventions while his writing questions society itself. by focusing his later works on anti-materialism, he awakens the middle class to what it thinks it has become—deluded.
- Analyzes how tolstoy illuminates his anti-materialistic belief in ivan ilych's character. the questioning of societal values and the untraditional perspective "shock" the middle class.
- Analyzes how the ending of the death of ivan ilych is anti-materialistic. a christian and traditional ending is the opposite of a modern ending; modernism strove to break tradition.
- Analyzes how wordsworth's poem, "the world is too much with us," demonstrates anti-materialistic ideas related to nature. tolstoy makes ivan ilych so inhuman that he believes himself immortal.
- Analyzes how wordsworth's poem focuses on humans' lack of appreciation of nature, and the ending centers on traditional christian values instead of a disconnect from nature.
- Analyzes how luke's quote, "and what profit a man, if he win all the world and lose himself?" is important in demonstrating how the ending is anti-materialistic.
- Analyzes how ivan ilych regains his humanity and feels compassion through his son's spontaneous act of love.
- Analyzes how tolstoy's abrupt christian ending, an unmodern ending to a modern novella, pays tribute to his strong belief in not only christianity, but his belief that the middle class has so far distanced itself from religion and humanity.
1188 wordsRead More - Textual Analysis Of Ivan Ilych, By Leo Tolstoyanalytical essayAngelica Cienega Professor R. Dickerson ENG 232-1024 17 November, 2013 Textual Analysis For Leo Tolstoy’s character Ivan Ilych, death is an end to an empty life. It is not until after he gets a vague diagnosis of disease that he realizes his mortality. In this epiphany, he realizes that his relationships with his family, friends, and colleagues are all artificial, if not at least superficial. Because of this, he becomes depressed and wonders whether he really lived his live the right way. Ilych always treated his relationships in a very formal manner and, when he died, his so-called friends barely managed to pay their respects.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how leo tolstoy's character, ivan ilych, realizes that his relationships with his family, friends, and colleagues are all artificial, if not at least superficial.
- Describes ilych as a man who was drawn to people of high status in society, and was the most successful in earning the good favor of the people he met.
- Analyzes how ilych's first real relationship outside of work was with his wife, praskovya, and it wasn't because of love, but rather to appease society.
- Analyzes how ilych and praskovya start to get along decently because they move into a new house and start fresh. the new acquaintances they make with the guests they receive are merely shallow members of the high society.
- Analyzes how tolstoy urges readers to feel sorry for ilych because his wife and daughter, lisa, think he is just a burden and wait for him to die.
- Analyzes how ilych spent all of his time trying to make his life seem successful in the eyes of the shallow high-society people, but he sacrificed his personal needs and ruined his relationships.
803 wordsRead More - The Death Of Franz Kafkaanalytical essayIvan Ilyich, a decorous man with a life deemed perfect by society, gradually becomes aware of his life’s dark secrets, which cause him to feel excluded from his family and society. The tone is set by Tolstoy in the very beginning of the novella - as Ivan Ilyich’s colleagues receive the news of Ilyich’s death, the first thing they can think about is whom amongst them will receive a promotion. Moreover, at the funeral, Ilyich’s wife worriedly asks his colleague for some advice about her pension. These events foreshadow how “Ivan Ilyich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible” (1427). Ilyich leads the life society tells him to lead, which first becomes clear before he decides to marry - “The marriage gave him personal satisfaction, and at the same time it was considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates” (pg. 1430). And even though he is disgusted with law, he considers it righteous and honorable when he see...
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how leo tolstoy's the death of ivan ilyich and franz kafka’s ‘the metamorphosis’ focuses on gregor samsa, who constantly seeks approval from his family, but somehow ends up letting them down.
- Analyzes how ivan ilyich, a decorous man, becomes aware of his life's dark secrets, which cause him to feel excluded from his family and society.
- Analyzes how ilyich becomes more cynical and morbid as he becomes aware of other hypocrisies in the people around him.
- Analyzes how gregor samsa, who wakes up as a repulsive vermin, expects acceptance and support from his family, but is continuously isolated from them.
- Explains that unlike ivan ilyich, gregor can't do anything deemed proper. his reproachful family misinterprets it, finds a mistake he inadvertently made, or suspects him of perpetrating violence.
- Analyzes how tolstoy tries to convey the message that society is leading the wrong way of life.
- Analyzes how gregor and ilyich's agonizing isolation becomes so detrimental to them that death helps them distance themselves from the thought of alienation.
- Analyzes how gregor samsa and ivan ilyich cast light on the intolerable conditions they experience, which originate from the inability to fit in and have a connection with their surroundings.
1525 wordsRead More - Dostoevsky Notes From Underground Analysisanalytical essayDostoevsky’s noteworthy literary works each contain similarities in theme, character development, and purpose when analyzed beyond face value. Dostoevsky’s early life and ideals, intertwined with life-changing events that shifted his ideologies, and critiques of fellow Russian writers during his time period lay the groundwork for Dostoevsky’s recurring arguments for the way which Russian society would be best-off, as well as ways in which the people of Russia would be suited to live the most fulfilling, non-corrupt lives.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how dostoevsky links the underground man to the idea of consciousness, explaining that his hyper-consciousness contrasts and alienates from the rest of society.
- Analyzes dostoevsky's critiques of utopianism and socialism by calling into question free will and what individual freedom means.
- Analyzes how dostoevsky portrays the underground man as a conscious, free man who is alone in his thoughts and has opposite characteristics of someone who agrees with socialism.
- Analyzes how dostoevsky's literary works each contain similarities in theme, character development, and purpose when analyzed beyond face value. his early life and ideals intertwined with life-changing events that shifted his ideologies.
- Analyzes how dostoevsky exemplifies the consequences of a socialist society through the suffering of key characters.
1304 wordsRead More - Fyodor Dostoevsky, A Tortured Geniusanalytical essayIt is often remarkable to see the relation between events in an author?s life and that of his works. Many great authors have transcribed the pivotal moments of their existence onto paper for readers to enjoy, sympathize, or rage. Certainly, Fyodor (or Fedor) Dostoevsky, being no different than that of the very best of his profession, lived a life with experiences that influenced his writings a great deal. His masterpieces stand as ultimate manifestations of his tumultuous affair with pain, sorrow, anger, misery, for, each tells of dark worlds and conflicts with social status, money, or oneself. Overall, Dostoevsky?s past of living in constant torment with himself and his ideals transfers itself onto each page of his novel Crime and Punishment, indeed, difficult lessons he learned from his own mistakes jump out from the page at readers, as if he wants us also to learn something.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes the relation between events in an author's life and that of his works. fyodor (or fedor) dostoevsky lived a life with experiences that influenced his writings.
- Analyzes how dostoevsky witnessed the violent nature of an alcoholic during his teenage years. he was arrested in 1849 and given the'silent treatment' for nearly a year.
- Analyzes how dostoevsky's mental condition slowly began to deteriorate after being jailed in solitary confinement cells where the guards wore velvet-soled boots to dampen all sound.
- Explains that dostoevsky was anticlimactically ordered to a hard-labor prison camp in siberia instead. he spent four long years in the freezing, gloomy wilderness.
- Narrates how dostoevsky returned to st. petersburg after his brother's death. he threw away his writings and fell to gambling to earn money and suppress his feelings of hopelessness.
- Narrates how the writer grudgingly began writing again as a means of livelihood to escape the creditors clamoring for the money he had gambled away. his love and respect for snitkina led him to portray women fairly, sympathetically, and intelligently in his works.
- Analyzes how dostoevsky left the world a legacy of amazing works that probe into the depths of the human soul.
- Explains dostoevsky's life and career, 1859-1863.
981 wordsRead More - Kavitha's Figures As Depicted In Three Short Storiesanalytical essayThat thought was this: What if this was something beautiful that he had shut himself off from his whole life? What if they were wrong, the watchers? Maybe there was really nothing bad with this. Had he been mistaken his whole life? Until now, near the end’’. (39)
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how kavitha went from being a wife that tried to get to know her husband to living vicariously through her young neighbor’s relationship.
- Narrates how mchenry didn't want a thought in his head but would not leave. what if this was something beautiful that he had shut himself off from his life?
- Analyzes how the protagonists in the three stories all started out trying to please others and sacrificing their happiness for the good of a current or pass relationships.
506 wordsRead More