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
Tolstoy talks about a sort of scholarly emergency that he endured late in his life, and his recuperation from it. In spite of the fact that Tolstoy appreciated what might conventionally be viewed as a successful and agreeable life, he started feeling tormented by worries of unimportance. Specifically, he reports starting to question why he should think about things that he once thought about, or why he should do the things that he would choose to do. At last, he discovered it inconceivably hard to give answers to these inquiries. The outcome, he reports, is feeling as though his life were a doltish, pointless trap played someone has bestowed upon him. He felt as though every individual task he attempted, and also his life in its totality, were without importance.
In The Death of Ivan Ilych Leo Tolstoy conveys the psychological importance of the last, pivotal scene through the use of diction, symbolism, irony. As Ivan Ilych suffers through his last moments on earth, Tolstoy narrates this man's struggle to evolve and to ultimately realize his life was not perfect. Using symbols Tolstoy creates a vivid image pertaining to a topic few people can even start to comprehend- the reexamination of one's life while on the brink of death. In using symbols and irony Tolstoy vividly conveys the manner in which Ilych views death as darkness unto his last moments of life when he finally admits imperfection.
Furthermore, in Leo Tolstoy‘s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and analysis will demonstrate that the character Ivan Ilyich struggles throughout his life to achieve the ideals of liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness. It is through Ivan’s death and his friend’s narration of Ivan’s life that the reader comes to the realization the the middle-class Ivan has few strength’s besides his hard work to drive him towards his ideals for wealth and property. Ivan lived his whole life with the purpose of enjoying himself. He did this through winning power at work, spending money, buying things to impress his friends, throwing parties, and playing bridge. His pursuit of happiness in material things and pleasures is so great that his deliberately avoids anything unpleasant. This means that when he settled down with a family, which was expected of him, he never grows close to them.
In the face of Morrie's overwhelming compassion and tenderness, Ivan Ilych presents an opposite lifestyle. After a pleasantly carefree childhood he turned towards ambition and pursued an ever-larger salary and an ever-increasing social rank. Ivan lived without values and without attachments, easily moving between cities and jobs. He cared little for the great inconvenience of his family, and even less for his wife: "he hate[d] her with his whole soul" (Ivn, 139). Commitment was a prison to be avoided at all costs, a detriment to his proper and official existence. Genuine love touched Ivan only rarely and certainly not during the dying moments when he needed it the most.
In the book¨The One and Only Ivan¨by K. A. Applegate, the character´s sad and excited qualities contributed to the speaker´s message of never give up on something.
However, Ivan continues to refuse that living in accordance to what society deemed to be an ideal life because he despite the fact that he had little time left, he could not live with the idea that his life was wasted. In this realization of Ivan’s, Tolstoy conveys his message that leading an uncompassionate life that conforms to influence of the world around it leads to a life that is mostly not worth living and unhappiness in death because through Ivan’s pain, Tolstoy shows how a life similar to Ivan’s can only lead people into suffering and
Ivan has been having a hard time keeping up with bills and other living essentials since his beloved wife died five years ago. He was evicted from their home, which caused Ivan to be homeless. His wife set his doctor appointments in, which now Ivan health has gone bad, because he doesn’t have anyone to continue to take care of his daily living activities.
It offers life a sense of purpose; a sense of value knowing the deeds are honestly and truthfully. Tolstoy believed actions with noble intend are also meaningful ones, then nothing in authentic life can be dishonest and folly. As human beings, we need to interact with our surroundings, being affectionate towards one another is a need; a desire within us that makes us who we are. Only by meeting those needs will we be able to provide us a sense of satisfaction in life. Likewise, Tolstoy also states: “what tormented Ivan Ilyich most was “no one gave him the compassion he craved” (104). Knowing he is on his death bed did not pain him, rather, “not live the life he should have” (126) lash him most. In addition to that, Ivan himself admits: “[his life is] not the real thing, everything [he had] lived by and still lives by is a lie...” (128). Ilyich’s relationships with people around him were of phony pretends all around, “[no one] hears him out” (77), they all proceeded to live their “normal” life and continue to ignore Ivan, and ironically, this also includes the numerous doctors who had examined Ivan on his death bed. They did “what [they] consider necessary and suitable” (76) grounded on the norm of high status individuals. In another word, they listen to
The progress of modern society and the pressure to conform has not only hastened Ivan Ilych’s death but also made him a die a very miserable death. As soon Ivan realizes he has a physical problem, a problem that began with his obsession of having the perfect house, he consults one of the best doctors he
Death is an inevitable concern that no one can understand completely. While it has the potential to instill fear, the thought of death also instigates individuals to reflect upon the life he or she has lived. In “The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Leo Tolstoy and “The Metamorphosis” by Franz Kafka, the two authors capture this reflecting of life within the lives of Ivan Ilych and Gregor Samsa. Although both Ivan Ilych and Gregor Samsa experience an unfortunate fate of death, the protagonists were able to find self-knowledge through analytical observations of their surroundings and were able to resolve the issues before their death.
One of the themes of Tolstoy’s story of The Death of Ivan Ilych is detachment from life, considering that all material things can substitute the true meaning of life: compassion and care for others. “Everywhere in the novel, Tolstoy speaks of Iván Ilych's desire for propriety, decorous living, and pleasantness all while making this his first and most important priority. This motivation is a poor
In this paper, I plan to explain Dostoevsky’s criticism of Western Individualism. Dostoevsky’s first criticism resides in the idea to “love life more than the meaning of it, “which is presented by the character Alyosha (Dostoevsky 3). Allowing this character to discuss this topic, along with the commentary of Ivan, demonstrates their mindset to solely focus on their own lives, opposed to caring for others. This leads to them living for the now, and not focusing on how their decisions will affect their future or others. Dostoevsky disapproves of this notion because living by this mentality encourages the guidance of logic, which is dangerous because it could tell you to kill yourself. From Dostoevsky’s Eastern Orthodox background, he believes that the only way from living from this situation is to deny it. By denying this way of living, the focus toward life will not be directed toward yourself, but toward the way you can impact the environment around you. Ivan clearly does not believe in these values, due to his intentions to commit suicide at the age of thirty. As said before, living by the idea to “love life more than the meaning of it” leads to death, and Ivan indulges in this to the fullest (Dostoevsky 3).
Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich tells the story of a modern lawman whose sudden mortality forces him to evaluate the worth of his life and the life choices he has. Throughout the novella, Tolstoy reveals social norms and practices blindly followed by those in the upper-middle class. These norms bring to light modernity’s core values, which Tolstoy critiques through the actions Ivan Ilyich takes before his death, Ivan Ilyich’s revelation as he lies on his death bed, and the way Ivan Ilyich’s family, friends, and colleagues react to his illness and eventual death. In fact, The Death of Ivan Ilyich provides a critique on modernity as a whole; Tolstoy condemns the shallow, superficial lives the higher-ups in society lead, spurred on by the idea of modernity.
It is obvious to the reader that this retreat into his work is the soul means by which Ivan moves towards a personal goal of self-justification and righteousness. It is no
Existentialism developed in the more extensive feeling to twentieth century rationality that is focused upon the investigation about presence and of the best approach people discover themselves existing or their existence as a whole. Existentialism takes its name from those philosophical topic of 'existence ', this doesn 't involve that there will be homogeneity in the way presence will be on be comprehended. On simpler terms, existentialism will be an logic worried for finding self and the intending from claiming an aggregation through spare will, choice and also personage obligation. Existentialism turned into prominent following those Second World War. In spite of seeing its philosophical viewpoint is little spot complex,