Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Ilych

The short story “The Death of Ivan Ilych” is about a man who realizes he is dying and that no one in his life cares about him. Even more disappointing for Ivan is the realization that besides his success as a high court judge, he has done nothing else to make his life worth saving. The death of Ivan Ilyich, sadly, comes as a release of stress to all. In the end, Ivan is soothed by the release of death, his family and friends are relieved of having responsibility of Ivan taken off their shoulders, and the reader is released from the stressful journey. Tolstoy teaches the audience through the structural elements of the “black sack” metaphor and pathos about the unavoidability of death and the relief of accepting it.
The language that Tolstoy uses engages the audience by making them feel like they are actually a part of the story. With death being a main subject in the story, Tolstoy practically forces the reader to live, breathe, and smell death. Tolstoy knew exactly how to pull his audience in with descriptive language and made them understand Ivan’s point of view successfully.
Tolstoy’s main metaphor of the story is the “black sack”, which is first brought up when Ivan is given medication in Chapter 9. He writes, "It seemed to him that he and his pain were being thrust into a narrow, deep black

sack, but though they were pushed further and further in they could not be pushed to the bottom. And suddenly he broke through..". The sack is essentially long, dark, and agonizing to go through, just like Ivan’s entire life had been. This finally brings him to his senses that his existence was not worth saving and to start actually living his life. This metaphor also shows up a second time during the last three days of Ivan’s life; “for three whole days, during which time did not exist for him, he struggled in that black sack into which he was being thrust by an invisible, resistless force. He struggled as a man condemned to death struggles in the hands of the executioner, knowing that he cannot save himself”. This made me think that the bottom of the sack symbolizes the end of Ivan’s life and a new beginning. The birth of Ivan’s spiritual awakening in the moments before his death ultimately attracts sympathy from the entire audience. This sack is truly a metaphor for Ivan’s bottomless, horrible, and spiritual journey throughout life.
Tolstoy expresses pathos during the ending chapters, which displays his amazing brilliance of descriptive language. He is very descriptive with his unpleasant explanation of Ivan’s illness itself: the reoccurring pains, morphine shots, constant screaming, and aided bowel movements. Tolstoy creates not only sympathy from the audience, but understanding for Ivan himself; “morning or night, Friday or Sunday, made no difference, everything was the same: the gnawing, excruciating, incessant pain; that awareness of life irrevocably passing but not yet gone; that dreadful, loathsome death, the only reality, relentlessly closing in on him; and that same endless lie. What did days, weeks, or hours matter?”. Suffering, under any circumstance, is commonly understood by everybody. What is also understood is the troubling thought of losing one's life at any given moment. Although no one around Ivan can understand him and feel for his sorrow, the reader is compelled to feel bad for him.
“The Death of Ivan Ilych” by Tolstoy is designed to make the audience feel sympathy for Ivan with the detailed language, but also teach us about the inevitability of death by using structural elements.

Throughout the story, Tolstoy gives us a clear reasoning as to why he writes so deeply and meaningfully, but also leaves plenty of room for our own interpretation. Combining the two structural elements of pathos and metaphors in his writing helped give a well-defined reason to his intended audience of what he was trying to say. Over all, Tolstoy’s illustrative language was beautifully written and got the message across about making sense of death and accepting

it.