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An Existential Crisis In The Death Of Ivan Ilych By Kafka

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Samson Abdurachmanov An Existential Crisis Existential crisis is a moment at which an individual questions the very foundations of their life: whether their life has any meaning, purpose, or value. Sometimes there are men who will accept their fate graciously. Two works that depict these ideas are “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Leo Tolstoy and “The Metamorphosis” by Kafka. In both works by Tolstoy and Kafka, the main characters at some point question their lives’ and what life means to them. In order to question one’s life, it would be necessary that one evaluate the decisions they make. A person’s life can change in any event that has happened to them. Moreover, the …show more content…

The cushion’s spring Peter sat on was unsteady and at one point Peter was caught in it. So too was Ivan material relationship, it was not stable. He takes a wife because a young legal man with secure means should take a wife. He buys a house in the city and furnishes it with serious accessories because a cultured aristocrat should have a material status symbol. Overall, Ivan does things for the show of it. The cushion in a way also represents his shaky life. As aforementioned, people’s decisions shape their future. It would seem here that Ivan’s attitude of “go with the flow” is shaping up to be a bad decision, hence a bad future. Ivan faces an injury to his left side. At first, it is not serious, but later on, his pain gets stronger to the point where he is bedridden. It is because of Ivan’s illness does he start to think about his life. 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 that, a life lived for others are a life worth living. He is going first through agony and despair, he thought his life was meaningless and void of love; it was his son who showed him love. Now he realized that he should have been more involved in his family life. “Yes, I am making them wretched…They are sorry, but it will be better for them when I die…He tried to add ‘forgive

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