Symbolism In Leo Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Ilyich?

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What is the richest literary work of all time? While that is a question that could take up whole books, Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” would definitely be a contender. Its 22,000 words are filled to the brim with metaphor, themes, and, most notably, symbolism. Even though symbolism is abundant in “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” it revolves around only two topics: death and Tolstoy’s values. Throughout the story, he connects to these topics over and over again using everything from compressing time to curtains.
One of the most prominent uses of symbolism is to represent death itself. This is exemplified in Chapter 5, and, to a lesser extent, Chapters 3 and 8. In all of these instances, darkness represents death. The most blunt example …show more content…

However, rather than using specific incidents and objects as he did while embodying death, Tolstoy relies on characters and manipulation of the story’s timeline. Nearly all of the characters personify a section of society, a trait easiest seen in Ivan’s colleagues, Ivan himself, and Gerasim. To understand this, we have to realise that “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” was written in 1880s Russia, a time of political reform. While the main reformist parties differed in many of their views, they all shared one opinion: peasants were the champions and future of Russia, not the bourgeois (Historyworld.net, 5). Tolstoy shared these views; according to the New World Encyclopedia, “he came to believe that the aristocracy posed a burden on the poor.” He allowed these views to guide him in developing his …show more content…

This culminates in the very last chapter, covering a mere three days. The condensing of the timeline coincides with the changes to Ivan’s morals as he moves away from artificial, shallow values to real, spiritual ones. On the other hand, there is an argument to be made that this is simply a way of providing background. I do not think this is the case; time continues to condense even after Ivan’s past has been thoroughly summed up, right until his death. If the compression of time was to provide background, it would have stopped after doing

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