Analysis Of Leo Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Ilych

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Leo Tolstoy as one of Russia’s great writers, wrote marvelous pieces looking at societal questions and playing with the minds of his readers. The Death of Ivan Ilych is one of Tolstoy’s best written short stories and a popular story for the world on the topic of death and the process of dying. This story is about a man confronting death and in a way bringing life to him during the process of his death. Ivan Ilych fell onto the inevitable trail of death and had realized the true meaning of living along the way. The concept of writing about death is not in any way a new concept nor was it obscure to read in Tolstoy’s era; what makes this short story special is the way that Tolstoy illustrates his character. Ivan Ilych goes through a journey of discovery while he is dying. This story attempts to tackle the questions that cannot be answered; what makes a man happy in life, what makes life worth living?
This short story begins after the death of Ivan …show more content…

He uses the characters in the story to represent the middle and upper class and how they only represent greed, selfishness, and artificial emotions. They are essentially useless in the way that they are illustrated by Tolstoy. The details of the funeral at Ivan’s house at the beginning of the story is meant to demonstrate the materialism that the characters revolve around from the furniture that is so particularly described to the fake mannerisms the characters show to Ivan’s wife. The only character that falls out of this category is the peasant that stays with Ivan at the end of his life. The peasant is the only one who understands what Ivan is going through because he knows that no one is immortal and death is inevitable. He is not caught up in the false ideals that the upper class has made up for themselves. This man helps Ivan understand the truth about life and how he has been living it wrong all

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