Our Conflict Within in Leo Tolstoy´s The Death of Ivan Ilych

Leo Tolstoy, author of “My Confession”, succumbed to a profound emergency. With his most noteworthy works behind him, he discovered his feeling of reason lessening as his VIP and open recognition surged, sinking into a condition of profound wretchedness and sadness regardless of having a vast bequest, great wellbeing for his age, a spouse who had given him fourteen children, and the guarantee of endless artistic acclaim. On the very edge of suicide, he made one final handle at light in the midst of the obscurity of his life presence, swinging to the world 's religious and philosophical conventions for answers to the age-old inquiry with respect to the importance of life.

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.

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.

The Atomic Era, spanning from 1945 through the 1960s, was a source of immense concern and fear that faced both Americans and the entire world. During this tumultuous time in history, past abominations such as the Depression and two deadly World Wars haunted Americans, while the Cold War loomed as an imminent threat. Due to such prolonged suffering, the human spirit holding people together the world over had fallen apart at the seams. Upon receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1950, William Faulkner delivered an acceptance speech in which he applies balanced sentences, meaningful repetition, and potent hyperbole in order to call aspiring writers to abandon their fears and encourage them to create work that will aid the world in midst of the current, volatile Atomic Age.

Ivan finished well. The outside knowledge he gained through education and literacy complemented his self-knowledge gained through his life’s experience. Ivan “graduated from the School of Law and qualified for the tenth rank of the civil service” (Tolstoy 10). As a result of his educational experience, Ivan was

When one is encountered with death, life’s meaning is revealed. We infrequently agonize over whether we live a healthy lifestyle until it is too late, as demonstrated in "The Death of Ivan Ilych” and “A Good Man is Hard to Find”. Both stories allow the readers to learn the consequences of living a completely selfish, non-Christian life. Through death, characters Ivan and the grandmother are encountered with conversion experiences, in which they reevaluate their own lives. O’Conner and Tolstoy exhibited the character’s reevaluation experience through similar themes in each story.

In Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych, protagonist Ivan Ilych lives a life he considers to be marvelous and filled with the things he wants and considers important (both physical and emotional). He has a wonderful job he's good at, a beautiful family, a lovely house, and friends to play games like bridge with in the evenings. One day, when he is fixing up his new home before his family arrives, he hits his side after slipping by making bad step on a ladder. He convinces himself that it is only a bruise, and that the pain will pass. The pain doesn't simply pass, though. Doctor after doctor attempts to diagnose what might possibly be wrong with him, but none of them are able to agree on what his injury is. As he continues to live his life as he planned, the sensation of pain continues to come back to him repeatedly until he is eventually on his deathbed. As he realizes he is approaching the very end of his life, Ivan Ilych ponders over his life and begins to question himself, asking “What if my whole life has been wrong?” (Tolstoy 54). He comes to the conclusion that the things that are important are not tangible items such as money or property. Rather, he decides that the things that truly matter in life are intangible, such as happiness, compassion, and facing the truth. He realizes too late that these important feelings and concepts have been missing from his life all along.

     To many individuals the word “progress” has a positive meaning behind it. It suggests improvement, something humans have been obsessed with since the dawn of society. However, if closely examined, progress can also have a negative connotation as well. While bringing improvement, progress can simultaneously spark conformity, dependency, and the obsession of perfection within the individuals caught in its midst. It is this aspect of progress within modern society that negatively affects Ivan Ilych, Leo Tolstoy’s main character in The Death of Ivan Ilych. Ivan’s attempt to conform to modern society’s view of perfection takes away his life long before he dies. Furthermore, his fear of death and

According to Webster dictionary destiny means, “a predetermined course of events often held to be an irresistible power or agency,” such a simple definition for a word that holds so much weight (Webster). Anyone who thinks of the word destiny feels some form of intimidation because knowing that we are destined to do something great or small can be overwhelming. In most frictional writing the characters have a predetermined destiny they need to fulfill from Katniss Everdeen stopping the Hunger Games to Odysseus going back home and reclaim his thrown. The Death of Ivan Ilych is no exception and Gerasim, himself had a destiny he couldn’t avoid.

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

She depended on people. Even though it seems she had found happiness in the end of the story because Carl saves her from her loneliness, yet again she makes the same mistake. She depended on Carl to save her. Ivan from the story “The Death of Ivan Ilych” makes a similar error has Alexandra did. Ivan gets married and stars a family by the wrong reasons. He lived his life in accordance with his social statues. “He was swayed by both these considerations: 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” (The Death). There are consequence to every actions people make. God puts it this way “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he

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.

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.