Ivan Ilych Psychology

Ilyich is the personification of social decorum for the educated Russian class: he is described as a capable and sociable man, though strict in the fulfillment of his duty (Tolstoy, 2009, p. 12). He is so dedicated to his duty as a magistrate that he eliminated “all considerations irrelevant to the legal aspect of the case, and reducing even the most complicated case to a form in which it would be presented on paper” (Tolstoy, 2009, p. 12). This reflects a common theme Tolstoy presents the educated Russian class having throughout the story: the ability to do their job well in order to fulfill their duty in society (as depicted by their authorities) in order to be in good social standing. It is this good social standing that provides them with material goods and a more satisfied life, but

He seems to care a lot about what others think of him and is very superficial. For example, one day Ivan was decorating his house and he made a false step, slipped, and fell. “He was so interested in it all that he often did things himself, rearranging the furniture, or rehanging the curtains. Once when mounting a step-ladder to show the upholsterer, who did not understand, how he wanted the hangings draped, he made a false step and slipped, but being a strong and agile man he clung on and only knocked his side against the knob of the window frame.” (Tolstoy 12).

Ivan’s story begin in a rather peculiar way, usually when describing the life and death of a person, one begins in chronological order however Tolstoy chose to begin at the very end after Ivan has already died. Thus in the first chapter we are introduced to a group of judges who happen to be Ivan’s “friends” and coworkers, Fedor Vasilievich, Ivan Egorovich and Peter Ivanovich . Peter Ivanovich, happens to be Ivan’s closest friend and is the one who announces to the group that Ivan has passed away. Instead of being sincerely sad about Ivan’s death, they are all comforted by the idea that “it is he who is death and not I"; they also immediately being to think about who was next to get Ivan’s position as well as who would get promoted due to his death, “on receiving the news of Ivan Ilych’s death the first thought of each…was of the changes and promotions it might occasion among themselves and their acquaintances.” Peter in particular thinks

Tolstoy also employs irony as he examines the plight of Ivan Ilych. This highlights the differences between Ilych's perception of his own life and reality while also allowing the reader to take part in some of the tearing anguish Ivan feels in having to submit to the wrongdoings in his life. Tolstoy compares Ivan Ilych's struggle to the plight of a man condemned to death as he "struggles in the hands of an executioner" (61). Ivan Ilych does not see death as a natural process, but as a punishment controlled by a merciless executioner, ironically much like the merciless judge he once was. Ivan Ilych's feels that death is an undeserved punishment because he never considered his own mortality. His obsession with social adroitness made mortality feel like a punishment, and his justification of this obsession made it impossible for him to let go of his life. Ivan Ilych believed he had lived his life up to social standards and because of this he would not have to endure the terrible agony of death that is beset among ordinary people. In reality he was blind to his shallow life and the transgressions he made.

In his novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych, Leo Tolstoy offers his audience a glance into the life and death of an ambitious man, Ivan Ilych. Tolstoy uses the death of Ivan Ilyich to show his audience the negative consequences of living the way Ilych did. Ivan Ilych followed society and made decisions based on what others around him conformed to and not so much about what he genuinely wanted until he was on his deathbed. As death approaches Ilych he realizes that he wrecked everything that should be meaningful in his life in order to work and make money and in the end his friends did not really care much about him. Ilych’s desire to conform made him live a miserable life and led him to darkness. Ivan Ilych attained everything that society

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.

Ivan only marries his wife not because of his love, but because of the acceptance of his social circle. This ultimately leads to a relationship of hatred and unhappiness. For example, the novel states “Having come to the conclusion that her husband had a dreadful temper and made her life miserable, she began to feel sorry for herself, and the more she pitied herself the more she hated her husband. She began to wish he would die; yet she did not want him to die because then his salary would cease”. This quote exhibits the shallowness in their relationship, in which the wife only thinks about Ivan’s salary. In addition, Ivan does not connect with his family, he focuses his attention towards his work, and climbing up the social ladder. Also, his selfishness is exhibited through his sickness, in which he believes he is the only one suffering. A good man is hard to find includes a family with two troublesome kids, the self-serving grandmother, and temperamental father. The grandmother’s egocentrism is exhibited when she sneakily brings her cat into the car (678), repeatedly says “negroe” and “niggers” (679), and does not admit to her fault of wrongfully directing them to a house that was never there (683). Lastly, grandmother does not show any sympathy towards her family, in fact, when the family is encountered with the misfit she only pleads for her own

One of Ivan Ilyich’s acquaintances, Ivan Yegorovich, is described stating, “Gentlemen…Ivan Ilyich is dead!" and the narrator states, “the first thought of each of the gentlemen assembled in the office was of what this death might mean in terms of transfers or promotions of the members themselves or of heir acquaintances” (Tolstoy 39-40). The story then moves onto Ivan’s funeral, and everyone there, including Ilyich’s wife, seems to have a similar attitude to the men in the office; one of self-benefits and lack of sorrow for Ilyich’s death. After the audience is made aware of this, Tolstoy has the narrator describe Ilyich’s life to the audience emphasizing his values and interest. The narrator states that Ivan “chose the best circle of magistrates and rich nobility living in the town” and he “[married]

However, it seemed like the thing she cared most about was his money. In fact, while talking to Illych’s colleague who came to pay his respects, she asks about how she could receive a pension and how she could squeeze the most money about her husband’s death (Tolstoy page

“Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible (Tolstoy, 2008).” This is an accurate illustration of how Ivan ends up dying. But what if there was a healing environment that Ilych could’ve partaken in before it was too late? This essay will discuss and analyze the three concepts in relation to a “healing environment” and its reference to The Death of Ivan Ilych. One of the concepts perceived in a healing environment is The Seen Environment.

     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

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

They have just learned about Ilyich’s death, and they outwardly react in the way expected of them. However, these reactions are only for show; internally, each man approaches Ilyich’s death with a slight air of annoyance at the inconvenience the death causes, speculations about what Ilyich’s death means for his own career and his friends’ careers, and relief in the fact that, once again, another man has died instead of himself. Along with this feeling of relief also comes a sort of denial; the men all recognize that Ivan Ilyich is mortal, but deny their own mortality, believing death to be some isolated incident that only happens to other men. They go through the motions of one who has lost an acquaintance, only doing what is socially acceptable and moving on from the death at the first possible

We will begin with an analysation of his family situation. Praskovya, his wife, had been a love constructed from the start of an economic and sociological expectation rather than that of a true courtship. The happiness therefore of the union was derived solely of a necessity to fulfill a desire on the part of others for a “success” of sorts, surely her desire as well. “Ivan Ilyich could have counted on a more illustrious match, but even this one was quite good. He had his salary, and her income, he hoped, would bring in an equal amount. (Tolstoy, 56)” Tolstoy goes on to make several remarks on the benevolent nature of the relationship between he and his wife. The arrival of his children creates no great marker in his life, and proves to be little more than a factor in his ever-lengthening retreat into his life of solitude and work.