The Death of Ivan Ilych

This paper will discuss the novella The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy. One of the basic themes of this story is that of "loneliness in the face of death" (Cain 4). It can be seen that the mediocrity of Ivan Ilych's life has done little to prepare him for the unexpected shock of dying. At the very end of the novella, Ivan Ilych undergoes a transformation during which he comes to an acceptance of death and realizes that his entire life has been one of avoiding other people. Thus, the intense loneliness suffered by Ivan Ilych is due to his attitude toward life, in which he always placed the highest value on work, career and material possessions while rejecting the real life needs of his family and others. Tolstoy makes it clear that this fault in Ivan Ilych's life exists in virtually everyone's life, with the only exception being seen in the character of the servant Gerasim.

The structuring of the plot in Tolstoy's novella serves to emphasize this basic theme. At the beginning of the story, Ivan Ilych is already dead. Before the actual story of Ivan Ilych's life is told, the reader is first shown the various reactions of the people who figured in his life. From these reactions, it becomes apparent that the man had lived a lonely and empty life which was dominated by great pain and suffering toward the end. In addition, the hypocrisy of those people is evident from the opening pages of the story. For example, when Peter Ivanovich tells his colleagues about Ivan I

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tion being experienced by Ivan Ilych are demonstrated in this way. There are a number of interesting symbols used by Tolstoy in The Death of Ivan Ilych which help to express the overall theme of loneliness and death. For example, near the very end of his life, Ivan Ilych feels as if he is struggling to get out of a black sack. As he begins to experience his final revelation about the big mistake he had made in life, Ivan Ilych feels as if he is falling through a hole in the sack into a bright light. Commentators have noted that the black sack stands as "a symbol of the struggle he maintains to justify his life . . ." whereas the sensation of falling into the light represents Ivan Ilych's illumination or rebirth as he " . . . stops justifying his life and listens, specifically when he himself feels pity for others . . ." (Wasiolek 175). Another interesting symbol used by Tolstoy in The Death of Ivan Ilych is the fall off the ladder which causes the title character to begin feeling ill in the first place. it has been noted that the idea of "the fall" relates to the fall of Adam and Eve in the Bible, and therefore may symbolize Ivan Ilych's fall frbm grace which leads to his death and also to his realization that his life had b

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