Comparing Ivan Ilyich 'And Living In The Land Of Limbo'

A common theme in “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” “Living in the Land of Limbo,” and the Thucydides text is how an illness has powerful and resounding effects. It is not too far-fetched to think that an illness is able to change a life, personalities, families, and society. In Lorrie Moore’s “People Like That Are the Only People Here,” the mother attends support groups with other parents to cope with her infant child's cancer diagnosis. The author writes about how this experience was a complete shock for her. In “the Death of Ivan Ilyich,” Ivan becomes bed ridden and diagnosed with an unknown affliction. Besides the physical changes, Ivan Ilyich becomes very rude to the people around him, especially his wife. While he and his wife always had some conflicts, things become especially tense after Ivan's illness.

It is not only Ivan’s family who goes through changes, as we see another character’s view of death change when he is at a funeral.

Doctors also played a significant role in these stories and poems, and were presented in a different light in each of the works. In some cases they were portrayed as unsympathetic and distant and in others, they were killed trying to save lives. The burden of caregiving was also played a significant role in the stories and poems, as the people caring for the sick also have their share of troubles and pains. Lastly, unlike medical texts, these works of fictions and poetry illustrate that they were able to show the emotional aspect of an illness and how it has an effect on everyone in some way. These literary works illustrate the tolls and burdens that come with both having and caring for illnesses. They also support how doctors should interact with patients, and the ability of fiction and poetry to shed light on topics that a medical text

cannot.
In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” Ivan’s attitude changes when he becomes bad-mannered towards others as his illness progresses. He becomes very discourteous to his wife when he gets sick. It goes so far as Ivan thinking about how "... he hated her from the bottom of his soul" (36) as she kissed him goodnight. This feeling goes both ways, as Tolstoy writes about how Praskovya felt that”... her husband had a dreadful temper and made her life miserable... and how..."she hated her husband. She began to wish he would die...” (26). At the funeral, Ivan's so-called friends seem unaffected by Ivan's death. A colleague and long time-acquaintance of Ivan, Peter Ivanovich attends Ivan’s funeral. Peter has his view of death change after seeing Ivan's lifeless body in his grave. He becomes scared of his own death as he suddenly realizes that one day, he will die like everyone else. During his times of suffering, Ivan begins to fear death and asks why this is happening to him. While he had superficial relationships with everyone in his life, Ivan was satisfied with his position in life. While on his deathbed, Ivan Ilych’s view of death changes. During his illness, Ivan even becomes”...frightened at the sight of his body, so he avoided looking at it” (44). Therefore, the unknown illness physically altered him. He wonders if he did not live his life to the fullest and if he could have done more. At first, Ivan wants people to pity him when they see how sick he is. But by the end, he genuinely feels that his illness is a burden for his family and not just for him as he felt previously. Due to his illness, he eventually comes to peace with the idea that it is time for him to die and to no longer be a burden to his family any longer. He went from being terrified of death to a man who embraced it, due to his deadly disease.
The portrayal of doctors ranged from positive to negative in “the Death of Ivan Ilyich,” “People Like That Are the Only People Here,” and the Thucydides text. In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the doctors are not interested in answering Ivan's questions and do not truly seem to care about his concerns. While it is important in some cases to create a distance from the patient as a doctor, the doctors in Ivan Ilyich should have been more empathetic towards Ivan's problems. In “People Like That Are the Only People Here”, the narrator mentions how the doctor was telling her very calmly about her son's diagnosis even though it was an extremely sensitive matter. When the doctor tells her that her son has Wilms’ tumor, she writes," He says tumor as it were the most normal thing in the world” (143). While the doctor did not have to show his sadness, the narrator feels as if he should have had a much more sympathetic response when he tells her the diagnosis. In this story and “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, the doctors are shown in a more negative light. In the Thucydides text, the doctors tried to help and they were the ones who died during the plague. This is different from “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” as here; the doctors were caught up in the middle of the chaos and died. Although Ivan’s affliction was not contagious, the doctors still chose to distance themselves from him. In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” the doctors took a laissez-faire approach and survived.
The hardship suffered while caring for the ill was seen in Tolstoy’s work and in “Living in the Land of Limbo.” Ivan's wife, although condescending at times, regularly reminds him to take his medicines. Ivan's wife even”...considered herself dreadfully unhappy" during Ivan's illness” (26). It is interesting to note that she does not feel unhappy due to his illness, but more due to the fact that if Ivan dies, she will have nobody to pay the bills. She tells Ivan that it was his fault that he got sick; which is not the best thing to say to somebody in extreme pain and on their deathbed. In “People Like That Are the Only People Here,” the mother feels guilty about her baby’s cancer diagnosis and feels that she is to blame. It is certainly illogical, but the stress makes her wonder if hiring too many babysitters to look after her child is coming back to haunt her. She feels that she did not spend enough time with her baby when he needed her. The narrator went from being the mother of a baby boy to the mother of someone with cancer. The mother does not feel that she is capable of handling such a stressful situation. She tells her husband over and over,” I can’t do this” (148). These works of fiction and poetry showed the story of the caregivers and the adversity they went through.
These short stories and poems illustrated the notion that a work of fiction or poetry can go places that a medical text cannot go. Works of fiction and poetry show the emotional aspect of an illness. It also shows the whole story of an illness. For example, we were able to see what patients went through, what the caregivers had to endure, and the interactions and thoughts between doctor and patients. For someone on the outside looking in, an illness is a bunch of symptoms, the diagnosis, and the prognosis. For someone with a firsthand account, it shows the pain, drama, sorrow, and struggle to cope with the disease. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” “Living in the Land of Limbo”, and the Thucydides text illustrated the resounding effects of illnesses on personalities and society, the doctor-patient relationship, and how works of fiction and poetry can convey messages that medical texts are not able to.