Most everyone has regrets when they die, whether they are moral or physical. Some regrets are minor, but there are also larger regrets that make us truly wonder about the type of life we lived. Vivian Bearing and Ivan Ilych both experience regrets as they face death, Ivan regrets the way he lived his life and Vivian regrets how unkind she was to others. One primary regret that Ivan encounters as he nears death is that he did not live life on his own terms. Throughout his whole life Ivan lived by what he believed society deemed correct. When Ivan married his wife he “married for [two] reasons: in acquiring such a wife he did something that gave him pleasure and, at the same time, did that people of the highest standing considered correct” …show more content…
Flashbacks to her teaching help us see how she treated the people around her, especially her students, harshly. In a flashback she realizes how mean she had been to her students. Talking about how she will not tolerate students being unprepared for class, she then says to herself, “Did I say: You are 19 years old. You are so young. You don’t know a sonnet from a steak sandwich” (Wit). At this point Vivian’s regret of not being kinder to others becomes prominent because she questions why she was so callous to her students. When asked by a student for an extension on his paper because his grandmother died, Vivian replied with “Do what you will, but the paper is due when it is due” (Wit). Looking back on this Vivian regrets the way she treated the boy because she again sees the expression on his face and tries to come up with a word to describe what she feels, but fails to do so. By looking at her reaction we can only assume that she feels remorse and possibly loneliness because soon after this she calls in her nurse, Suzie, to talk with about what she is feeling. From Vivian we can learn that being kind to the people we encounter may help us not feel so alone in the end. On her deathbed, Vivian only had one person who truly cared about her and that was Suzie. If Vivian had been a little more lenient and kind towards her students she may not have only had one person who was there for her. In her time of
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
As we know, Vivian gave up her only biological child and she jokes lightly in the book by saying, “I suppose this is why people have children, isn’t it? So somebody will care about the stuff they leave behind” (Kline 52). However later on, Vivian gives to Molly one of her prized possessions, the book Anne of Green Gables. This is a very important moment in their relationship because it is Vivian passing on a piece of herself to Molly and it shows that Vivian is starting to see Molly as more than a random girl. She may even see her as a pseudo daughter as in the end of the book she lets Molly stay with her instead of going to another foster home. Vivian has opened up greatly through out the story, but she only did so in reflection to Molly’s
Vivian’s boastfulness at the beginning of the play was an attempt to cover up her social ineptness with people who are neither her students nor her mentors. In a flashback scene, in which her mentor, Professor E.M Ashford, tells her to, “enjoy yourself with your friends” (15) rather than study, Vivian reveals her social awkwardness: “I, ah, walked around past the...There were students on the lawn, talking about nothing, laughing... I just couldn’t... I went back to the library” (15). She returns to the library because she prefers the concrete elements of her life, like facts, grammar, and word definitions, because with them, she has complete control. A later scene, when Susie interrupts one of Vivian’s imaginary lectures to tell her that she needs to do another ultrasound, proves this need for control. Vivian protests, saying “not right now. It’s not supposed to be now” and “it should not be now. I am in the middle of—this. I have this planned for now, not ultrasound” (51). Vivian needs to have power over her own life, and since connecting with others is her weakness, she refrains from doing
Prepubescence is an essential period in a child’s development. A person’s environment can alter their personality and affect them in ways that will remain throughout their lives. With Ivan and Charles, it is evident that the conditions they aged in factored into their frame of mind. Ivan, specifically, experienced multiple challenging incidents in his childhood. For example, when Ivan was three years old his father, Vasilly III, fell ill and passed away on February 4, 1533. His father recognized the futility of having an infant king rule a country, so he left a small council of nobles to rule. Similar to Ivan, Charles also had the inconvenience of inheriting the throne too early. Charles was only twelve years old when he was appointed king in September 1380, but he was not allowed to rule at first. In the early years of his reign his father arranged for his four uncles to rule until he was of age. To be entrusted with so much power at such a young age can be very stressful and the lose of a father figure proved to be traumatic in their later years. After Charles’ coronation, documents ceased to mention him until he finally took the throne around age 20. Ivan, on the other hand, devoted his life to education in his early years allowing him to document his experiences. Five years after his father passed away, Ivan’s mother was poisoned and killed. This left him, and his brother Iuri, in the care of the
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
Many upper-middle class people believe that conforming to societal norms is what would determine a person’s happiness. Ivan Ilyich, follows a conventional lifestyle with a steady job. Tolstoy depicts how Ivan conforms to society by using Ivan’s perspective of his work as something “[presenting] on paper only in its externals, completely excluding his personal opinion of the matter.” (Tolstoy, 748). Ivan’s behavior demonstrates how he is not passionate about his work and that he only works because it is acceptable in society. Tolstoy uses satire to reveal Ivan’s character as a man existing to please society. “At school he had done things which had formerly seemed to him very horrid and made him feel disgusted with himself when he did them; but when later on he saw that such actions were done by people of good positions and that they did not
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.
Tolstoy immediately absorbs you into the novel by 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 that Ivan’s “friends” take his death. They are surprised by his death, but immediately think of how his death will affect their own lives, but more importantly, their careers. “The first though that occurred to each of the gentlemen in the office, learning of Ivan Ilyich’s death, was what effect it would have on their own transfers and promotions.” (pg 32) As a reader, you have to wonder how Ivan must have had to live in order for people close to him to feel no sadness towards the loss or even pity for his wife. In fact, these gentlemen are exactly like Ivan. The purpose of their lives was to gain as much power as possible with n...
To conclude the chronology of the story supports the inevitability of death. Also Tolstoy started with the death to make the story seem realistic and to get it out of the way. One reading about the death in the beginning, it exposed the reaction of Ivan’s coworkers and his wife, which shows the selfishness of society that he lived in. Throughout the story Ivan had mixed feelings about death, but when he accepts that his death is coming he becomes happy at the end of the
According to Kubler-Ross’s theory, the first cycle is denial. Denial in this case is the individual denying that they are dying. When the individual resists the reality that they are going to die. “Then where shall I be when I am no more? Could this be dying? No I don’t want to!” (Tolystoy, “TdofII” p127), Ivan may have felt that he would be leaving too much behind if he were to die: worrying about where he’ll after he dies and refusing to something that cannot be stopped. Concerned mostly about losing his luxuries, he was clearly afraid and couldn’t accept he was dying as shown in this quote. “In the depth of his heart he knew he was dying, but not only was he not accustomed to the thought, he simply did not and could not grasp it.” (Tolystoy, “TdofII” p129).
From flashbacks in the play, it is easy to depict that Vivian lived the life characterized by an inhuman lack of empathy. As the play opens, flashbacks of Vivian interactions with students show her having a serious problem. She lashes at a student for his failure to give feedbacks to her questions and she also denies giving another student an extension for the assignment. After the student explains that her grandmother died, this is what she says to her “do what you will but the paper is due when it is due” (63). This lack of empathy and arrogance apparently is unsocial, but she adopts it while pretending/believing to be advocating for excellence from her students and would not take fabricated excuses. This portrays her as a cynical person, and one who only cares about the success of what she does, therefore, does not make necessary compromises for healthy relationships. She thus suffers a high level of rudeness and arrogance that makes it extremely d...
Ivan Ilyich from the book “Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Leo Tolstoy live what he thinks to be proper life. Now the way he define a proper life is that he should follow what other people in the higher society do and follow what society thinks is proper. He went
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
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).
In my life time, I have experienced many deaths. I have never had anyone that was very close to me die, but I have shed tears over many deaths that I knew traumatically impacted the people that I love. The first death that influenced me was the death of my grandfather. My grandfather passed away when I was very young, so I never really got the chance to know him. My papaw Tom was my mothers dad, and she was very upset after his passing. Seeing my mom get upset caused me to be sad. The second death that influenced my life was the death of my great grandmother. My great grandmother was a very healthy women her whole life. When she was ninety three she had