While reading the death of Ivan Ilych, I
have been reading Anna Karenina. These two novels are both Tolstoy’s
masterpieces and can really reflect how he thought. In the next few paragraphs,
I’m going to share something I observe in the death of Ivan Ilych, some
philosophy Tolstoy presented in Anna Karenina and finally my thought about the
death of Ivan Ilych.
There’s always a central idea in
Tolstoy’s novel. “Ivan Ilych’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and
therefore most terrible.” It’s the novel’s central idea. The author showed us
the terrible ending of Ivan’s life, that is, how Ivan’s family and friends
reacted to his death in chapter 1. Nobody really cared about his death or how
much he suffered. The only thing they really cared about was themselves. (It’s
like a prophecy since Ivan only cared about himself before he died.) Then
Tolstoy started to describe why Ivan’s life was simple and ordinary in
paragraphs 2, 3 and 4. We can know who Ivan was in these paragraph. He was like
everyone else, an ordinary person. In fact, Ivan is a popular name in Russia.
By naming after the most popular name, the author wanted to warn us the things
happened on Ivan may happen on readers. Going to law school, trying to get the
better job, establishing friendly relations with boss, he did his job nice and
made almost no mistake. Ivan used to have one or two lovers, but he eventually
married with a woman who came of a good family. The life is pleasant and proper
as he thought. Although he sometimes made mistakes and was a little egocentric,
it didn't hurt. People still loved him.
However, things weren't always as smooth
as he thought. His wife was pregnant and he didn't get the better job as usual.
He didn't confront it nor took the responsibility. On the contrary, he tried to
avoid the problem and pretended there's nothing happened. This character
explained why he kept complaining but rarely engage in introspection. Suddenly,
he got the better job because his friends got promotion. Ivan got well pay and
great job, but he believed that he deserved it. During the time, the office
affair seemed to be less important than moving to new house for Ivan. He did
his best to decorate the house. All he wanted to do was to tell everybody that
he was at high social position. However, he still believed his own lies. The
house which was exceptional to him was just ordinary to other people. That is,
the life seemed to be pleasant and proper to him was just ordinary to everyone.
When he was decorating the house, Ivan fell down on the ladder, and that's when
he started to suffer.
Ivan started his terrible life. He began
to be in bad health. He suddenly found out that people treated him as how he
treated other. They didn't care about his feeling or pain at all. No one pitied
him. They were just like doing their daily duty. Just at this moment, he
understood that it's not a problem of ill but death. He was going to die.
The author described Ivan's feeling and
thought carefully as well as precisely in these paragraph. From helpless to a
little hope, Ivan gradually went to death from being afraid to magnanimous.
Gerasim played a vital role in helping Ivan. Not only did he help his daily
routine but also give him warmth and comfort. Before his death, Ivan kept asking
himself what's wrong with his life? Was it right? If it's not, then what kind
of life was right? At last, he finally let go of everything and died
peacefully.
The
marriage in Tolstoy's novel
First, I want to discuss their marriage.
In Anna Karenina, the two main character, Anna and Karenin all suffered from
marriage. Also, in the death of Ivan Ilych, Ivan weren't happy at the marriage
at all. These failed marriage had the same pattern. The husbands didn't care
about his wives enough. The wives tried to love and respect their husband, but
eventually became tired and hated them. The pattern was just like Tolstoy's
marriage. He seldom concerned his wife. Even when his wife was sick or
pregnant, he tried to avoid these things. Therefore, I surmise that Tolstoy
probably projected his character in the novel's main role. No matter which
novel, Tolstoy projected his ideal character, hated character or normal
character in lots of roles in novel. Then Ivan must be the character he was
afraid to be.
The
ending of Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych
Secondly, I want to discuss the ending.
I'm satisfied with the ending of The Death of Ivan Ilych form two points of
view, the art of novel and the wish of Tolstoy.
One is the art of novel. Some critics
said that Ivan extricate at last, the other critics said that Ivan still lied
to himself. I think that Ivan still lied to himself. The last few paragraphs
wrote, "there was no fear because there was no death." However, it's
impossible. There is death around our life. During the last few minutes of
Ivan's life, he chose to lie to himself and pretend there's nothing happening.
In such the point of view, this ending is an impressive tragedy. If it's not
this point of view, instead, Ivan escaped from his fear, it didn't matter, as
long as we saw it with the other point of view.
The other point of view is the wish of
Tolstoy. Tolstoy wrote down this novel when he was old. Suddenly, he realized
how simple and ordinary his life was. Tolstoy felt his life terrible.
Therefore, he created the role and the novel. Although no one cared about Ivan,
Tolstoy cared about as well as pitied him. Just like he pitied himself.
Although teacher said that this ending was a little bit discretionary, I think
that he wanted to give Ivan a good ending. He was eager to have a good ending,
no matter how terrible was his life. Making Ivan let go of everything including
death, Tolstoy wished he could do the same. He cheered himself up by writing
this novel. No matter which point of view, I can't stop guessing what Tolstoy
really want to express in the end and whether Ivan let go of everything. I
think it's a satisfied ending just because he created such an open and
suspenseful ending.
Why
"Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore
most terrible" as announced in the beginning live of Chpater 2
Tolstoy wrote down this sentence as an
announcement in the beginning line of chapter 2. Through chapter 2 to 4, we could know that Ivan had a pleasant
and proper life. There was almost nothing making him annoy or suffer. Plus, he
always tried his best to avoid all those trouble or intractable things. Such as
some hard work in court, his wife's complaint and his children just to name a
few. Readers can notice that he kept himself out of this trouble or tried to
avoid it. He was never frustrated by refusing to take the challenge in his
life. He never failed because he did nothing. That's why he could live pleasant
and proper in the beginning.
However, all human beings can't avoid
the biggest frustration in our life, death. At first, Ivan thought it was just
a little problem about his leg. It didn't really matter because there's doctor
can fix the problem. Nevertheless, as time goes by, he gradually realized it's
not only a question of medicine. Is it a question of death? When he thought of
this, he was scared. He hadn't have frustration before, and that's why he was
so scared when the most important and the most difficult in one's life, death,
came to him. He didn't know how to face it. He didn't know how to control his
own emotion. He didn't know how to deal with it when there is only one ending,
death.
That's why his simple and ordinary life
is terrible. When a person is used to challenge and difficulty, he or she can
have more courage to face the death. They are more likely to accept their death
in peace. On the contrary, people like Ivan would be panic at first. Then they
would persuade themselves that it could be cured. They wouldn't realize that
they are really close to the death unless they are dying. During that time,
they would only feel scared and refuse to death. How painful and how terrible
it is! A man couldn't accept his death, and then he must suffer a lot before
his death.
I think that's why Tolstoy criticized
Ivan's life is terrible.
The
central idea, the death
Finally, I want to discuss the most
important topic of all time, the death. Everybody are afraid of talking about
it. Moreover, no one notices death unless it happened. No one deny death, but
everyone deny their death. Particularly in Eastern world, we are usually
forbidden talking about death. Nevertheless, after reading these two stories, I
think it's important for everyone to think deeper about it. The more we think
about it, the more we cherish our life. We should start with a few questions.
What do we live for? What life should we live? After all, we aren't immortal.
We all died in a day. What we should or want to do to enrich our life are the
things really matter. As long as we notice that we don't live forever, that is,
the time we could do whatever we want is limited. Then that's the time we
cherish our life and time.
After reading this novel, I finally know
why someone said Tolstoy is the greatest writer of all time. Although they may
be a little too exaggerated, they are right. Not every writer can write the
death so thought-provoking and alert the readers to cherish their life at the
same time.
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Just want to talk about some critical point and touching moment in this masterpiece -- The Death of Ivan Ilych. I am not literature major or English native speaker, there might be some misinterpretation in this article. So, please feel free to comment below and discuss the book or this article with me.
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