Analysis Of Ivan Ilyich's Life

1308 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: How social norms affect society

Ivan Ilyich lost his purpose, his mind, and nearly all of his adult life in countless attempts to impress others. As death nears, Ivan finally finds fulfillment and unison between his mind and soul. Although Ivan’s life based on propriety from law school to his current state leads to his lack of true friendships as an adult, his memories of his childhood that consist of valuable family relationships positively influence him toward rejecting his mind’s rationalizations of superficial social truth in favor of his soul’s deeper moral truth. As his soul recognizes the impending reality of his death, Ivan Ilyich’s mind rejects this notion by recalling the value of his life based on his childhood, a fulfilling childhood that centered on valuable …show more content…

After demanding that he lives “pleasantly” again, he recalls his childhood but feels like “the memory was about someone else,” confirming the contrast between his younger self with true friendships and his current self who focuses on impressing others (46). The narrator summarizes this phenomenon by suggesting a trade off between “love” for “disenchantment” and “friendships” for “deadly service,” criticizing Ivan abandoning his true self—consisting of friendly, childlike relationships—for the falsity of …show more content…

After his soul removes the blinders of propriety from his eyes, Ivan clearly sees no positive outcome results from his transformation from a law student to an adult. Furthermore, Ivan concretely deals with this truth in his thoughts as he claims “in public opinion I was going uphill, and exactly to that extent life was slipping away” (46). This realization differentiates between measuring the value of Ivan’s life in how others perceive him or in relation to universal truth. Because Ivan lives to impress others, the universal truth—which his soul attempts to help him understand—makes his whole life seem like a complete failure, so he “recalled all the correctness of his life” instead of rejecting the falsity of his adult life (47). His soul recognizes why he faces this physical and emotional torment and needs this catharsis from propriety and superficial human relationships. Unwilling to confront his flaws, Ivan allows the disconnect between his soul’s universal truth and his mind’s rationalizations to thrive, emphasizing how Ivan wants to accept the faulty social truth instead of moral

Show More
Related

  • Candide, Death Of Ivan Ilyich, And The Metamorphosis

    1380 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy tells the story of Ivan Ilyich, a man who deals with a mysterious illness through introspection. Until his illness, he lived the life he thought he was supposed to live. Like Candide, he was living in blind optimism. He assumed that what he was doing was the right thing because he was told as much. He had a respectable job and a family. Happiness, if it did occur to him, was fulfilling his duties as a husband and father. It was his sudden illness that allowed him to reflect on his choices, concluding that those choices did not make him happy. “Maybe I have lived not as I should have… But how so when I did everything in the proper way” (Tolstoy 1474)? Ilyich had been in a bubble for his entire life, the bubble only popping when he realizes his own mortality. This puts his marriage, his career, and his life choices into perspective. Realizing that he does not get to redo these choices, he distances himself from his old life: his wife, his children, and his career. All that is left is to reflect. This reflection is his personal enlightenment. He had been living in the dark, blind to his true feelings for his entire life. Mortality creates a space in which he can question himself as to why he made the choices he made, and how those choices created the unsatisfactory life he finds himself in

    Read More

  • Tartuffe and The Death of Ivan Ilyich

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    What exactly is dysfunctional? Who wrote the rules to proper family or societal behavior? How does one know exactly what the proper reaction is? Every family has its crazy members and every city it’s insane citizens, but many do a great job of covering it up. Especially when it comes to high in social standing. Many are very careful not to air their dirty laundry in public. There are times when it can get out of hand and the unthinkable may happen. Is it right for one person to automatically appoint themselves as head of the household such as, Orgon in Tartuffe? What about Ivan Ilyich? Would he have been considered the head of the house, because he allowed his wife’s attitude to predict the family’s social standing? These two stories are classic of situational irony not only from families, but in human nature. To analyze Tartuffe and The Death of Ivan Ilyich and then compare them, one must have an open mind to all sorts of behavior and believe that these situations are indeed a reality.

    Read More

  • Ivan Illyich Tolstoy's Five Stages Of Grief

    1295 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tolstoy provided us with two perspectives to view Ivan’s life in “The death of Ivan Illyich”: an omniscient narrator and Ivan himself. What I plan to do is give another perspective, not necessarily to view his life, but rather to his experiences after he realized he was dying. This perspective will be an analytical and psychological; the perspective from Kubler-Ross’s Stages of death (or stages of grief, as they are better known for). These stages occur when we are faced with an event that is usually connected with death. The “normal” order in which these five stages occur, though may not go doctrinally in this order, are as such: Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.

    Read More

  • Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    Peter Ivanovich (known from now on as PI) was Ivan’s dearest friend. PI and Ivan have known each other all their lives yet at Ivan’s funeral PI shows no deep remorse. All that PI really thinks about is the vacancy that Ivan has left at work. He like other people, thinks that relationships are just about achieving ones own agenda. And such loving and compassionate relationships do not exist. Another situation that PI has is that after his selfish like behavior he is characterized by a desire to avoid the unpleasant. This is shown when PI skirts the topic of Ivan’s death and “drags his feet” when it comes time to attend the funeral. He has a problem with confronting the aspect of his own mortality.

    Read More

  • Ivan Fyodorovich Sponka and His Aunt

    1414 Words  | 3 Pages

    The short story, “Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt”, explicates the life of a man named Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka. We see him briefly in his young years, followed by his life in the army, and his return to the farm where his strong characterized aunt resides. We can see immediately that this man lives in constant cleanliness and dutiful paranoia; these are some of his desires that he wishes to exhibit to others. We can also see his fears, which reside in the confiscation of his masculinity and independence. This short story has many elements that resemble others in the Nikolai Gogol collection.

    Read More

  • The Aftermath of the Holocaust in Art Spiegelman’s Maus Volumes I and II

    1130 Words  | 3 Pages

    Vladek’s controlling ways leads him to invent a life that he never had. Vladek wields his reality by reinventing his past life. When Vladek tells Art about his marriage to Anja, he portrays his marriage like a fairy tale. Vladek says, “We were both very happy, and lived happy, happy ever after” (Spiegelman 2:136). He reinvents his past life after the end of the Holocaust as free of woe. Correspondingly, he loses himself...

    Read More

  • Death Of Ivan Ilyich Analysis

    918 Words  | 2 Pages

    It is important that everyone lives their lives according to God’s purpose for them. Many people in today’s society fear death. Those who fear death have little to no knowledge about what God has planned for all of his children. On the other hand, some people fear death because they feel as though they have not fully completed their life’s purpose; or lived accordingly. This work brings about many real-life situations. There will always be people who use others to advance their own lives. Then there will be people who want the best for others. Continuing a study of this work will allow readers to make a connection to his or her current society. The Death of Ivan Ilyich is an easy read, that will automatically catch the reader’s

    Read More

  • "The Death of Ivan Ilych", by Leo Tolstoy

    840 Words  | 2 Pages

    The story of In "The Death of Ivan Ilych", was written by Leo Tolstoy around who examines the life of a man, Ivan Ilyich, who would seem to have lived an exemplary life with moderate wealth, high station, and family. By story's end, however, Ivan's life will be shown to be devoid of passion -- a life of duties, responsibilities, respect, work, and cold objectivity to everything and everyone around Ivan. It is not until Ivan is on his death bed in his final moments that he realizes that materialism had brought to his life only envy, possessiveness, and non-generosity and that the personal relationships we forge are more important than who we are or what we own.

    Read More

  • The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy

    907 Words  | 2 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... He is trying to teach us that although Ivan died while he was trying to convert to Christianity, he died unsatisfied and in agony because the process was not yet finished. Most people live more Christian lives than Ivan Ilyich, but if they are never able to live their lives in a completely Christian manner, they will have the same outcome Ivan. It may occur on their deathbed, or in the afterlife, but even if it is unconscious, they will suffer with the knowledge that they did not live their lives to the fullest of their abilities.

    Read More

  • Irony In The Death Of Ivan Ilyich

    608 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ivan has a strong disconnect with his family and begins feel like he is always suffering, while beginning to question if his life has been a lie. An example of this for prompt number three is when we are giving the quote "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible." Leo Tolstoy implies through the quote that even though he lives an ordinary

    Read More

  • Theme Of Fate In The Death Of Ivan Ilych

    1492 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ivan Ilych was a member of the Court of Justice who was "neither as cold and formal as his elder brother nor as wild as the younger, but was a happy mean between them—an intelligent, polished, lively, and agreeable man” (Tolstoy 102). He lived an unexceptionally ordinary life and strived for averageness. As the story progresses, he begins to contemplate his life choices and the reason for his agonizing illness and inevitable death. “Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done, but how could that be, when I did everything properly?” (Tolstoy

    Read More

  • The Meaning Of Life Through The Eyes Of Ivan Denisovich

    1698 Words  | 4 Pages

    Ivan Denisovich is an old-timer in the prison camp and although he does odd jobs here and there to earn food or favors, he maintains a level of personal integrity. Integrity and honesty can be defined as the quality or state of being unimpaired or of being honest, refraining from lying, cheating, or stealing; being truthful, trustworthy, and upright. Ivan¡¯s honesty and integrity have been illustrated in many events that assure his own personal morals to live a life worthy of his own actions. He exemplifies these honorable morals in his actions throughout the entire day, which consisted of pitiful meals and harsh working conditions. He demonstrated his strict morality while eating dinner in the mess hall. ¡°Yet, this old man is unlike all the other zeks. He sits upright and brings his spoon up to his lips. He does not put his bread on the dirty table, but on his clean rag. Somehow, even through countless years of prison life, he has maintained a sense of dignity.¡± He manifests his acute morals in all situations regardless of the status in which he is situated. He stands out, even though he is no different from any other, for many were wrongfully imprisoned for actions ...

    Read More

  • Analysis of Death of Ivan Ilych

    1772 Words  | 4 Pages

    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 reactions towards it reflects modern society’s inability to cope with the ever present reminder that humans still suffer and die, despite all attempts to make life painless, perfect, and immortal.

    Read More

  • The Death of Ivan Ilyich

    1577 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his novella, The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy satirizes the isolation and materialism of Russian society and suggests that its desensitized existence overlooks the true meaning of life—compassion. Ivan had attained everything that society deemed important in life: a high social position, a powerful job, and money. Marriage developed out of necessity rather than love: “He only required of it those conveniences—dinner at home, housewife, and bed—which it could give him” (17). Later, he purchased a magnificent house, as society dictated, and attempted to fill it with ostentatious antiquities solely available to the wealthy. However, “In reality it was just what is usually seen in the houses of people of moderate means who want to appear rich, and therefore succeed only in resembling others like themselves” (22). Through intense characterizations by the detached and omniscient narrator, Tolstoy reveals the flaws of this deeply superficial society. Although Ivan has flourished under the standards of society, he fails to establish any sort of connection with another human being on this earth. Tragically, only his fatal illness can allow him to confront his own death and reevaluate his life. He finally understands, in his final breath, that “All you have lived for and still live for is falsehood and deception, hiding life and death from you” (69).

    Read More

  • Darkness At Noon Summary

    1987 Words  | 4 Pages

    The author investigates the journey of Rubashov life from the time of his arrest to the final confession and death. Koestler accounts the disturbing events of Rubashov as he experiences psychological change from his ability to resist challenges to almost total surrender.

    Read More

More about Analysis Of Ivan Ilyich's Life

Open Document