Literary Analysis of The Death of Ivan Ilyich
The Message That Leo Tolstoy Sends to Society
Nov 1, 2009
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (The Norton Anthology of Western Literature 8th Edition Volume 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2006, ISBN 0-393-926168) may pale in comparison to Leo Tolstoy’s greater works, such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina; however, it remains a powerful staple in world literature. Published in 1886, it is an attack on the hypocrisy of “proper” society, and a reminder that human empathy is the greatest gift that anyone can ever offer.
A Brief Overview of The Death of Ivan Ilyich
The story begins with the colleagues of Ivan Ilyich learning about the death of their friend. Then, the story suddenly switches to a flashback that encompasses most of Ivan Ilyich’s life. It shows many of the decisions he made, why he made them, and how those decisions played out in his life. His life became materialistic and lacked any sort of emotion in it. Then, a small incident brings about his untimely death. Toward the end of his life, he is forced to come to terms with a fact that death is inevitable. When he accepts that, he sees that despite the fact that he lived his life the “proper” way in society, he had not had much of a life at all. Upon seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, he dies.
The Main Events Concerning Society
Tolstoy gives a quick stab of satire, by making it painfully apparent that no one seems to care about Ivan Ilyich when he dies. Ilyich’s colleagues, upon hearing about his death, admit it is a shock, but they quickly turn their attention to this new opportunity for promotion. Ivan Ilyich’s wife, Praskovya Fedorovna, is not much different from the colleagues. She has very little interest in the fact that her husband is dead and cares more about her own misfortunes.
It is no mistake that the only one who really seemed to care about Ilyich is the servant, Gerasim. Tolstoy favored the lower classes over any kind of high society. He thought they were closer to God because they had few materialistic things in life. Gerasim is the only one that bothers to even try to ease Ilyich’s pain. The fact that Ilyich gets better when Gerasim reaches out to touch him conveys that there is nothing that can replace the power of the human touch.
“Ivan Ilyich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.” The flashback of Ilyich’s life begins with this line. Ivan Ilyich was caught up with just playing his role, no matter what that meant. Ivan Ilyich was very good at his work, but as a court justice he had very little sympathy. He dehumanized the people and thought of them only as a case, nothing else. Formality was more important to him than any kind of human feeling. In a strange twist of what can only be called karma, Ivan’s doctors reduced his case to a question of what the cause of his illness was. They cared nothing about whether Ivan Ilyich lived or died, just as Ilyich never cared whether his cases were guilty or innocent.
Ivan Ilyich explains that he married because it was what society wanted, which is what his life was centered around. He admits that he did not really love her; he just thought it would be a suitable marriage. His home life continued to disintegrate, but he ignored it as always. He becomes obsessed with materialistic things. His focus was always on impressing society, not on the well-being of his family.
In the final hours of his life he comes to the realization that he was wrong all along. Instead of climbing up in life like he thought, he was headed downward. He was able to ignore his pain for the first time by turning his attention to the people around him. He was unable to speak, but he motioned his apology in an effort to make up for so many years of living the wrong way. By doing this simple act, he was able to die with hope for a better future.
What Was Leo Tolstoy's Meaning?
The focus of the story is undoubtedly the fact that society rejects the idea of death. In order to appear “proper” to the rest of the world, people often push anything uncomfortable away by simply ignoring it. Society forsakes the essential human emotions people were meant to have, and by doing this they make themselves cold and unfeeling. They ignore the pain of the people around them in order to make themselves feel better. Tolstoy is stressing that death happens to us all, even if it is an unpleasant truth to realize, everyone has to face it. Once people face the truth, they see that nothing can ever replace human connection and compassion for others. Compassion allows society to look past the fear of death and see something beautiful beyond it.
