Death Brings People Together

Death brings people together, yet there is nothing pleasant about death. Death can collect your father, your brother, your husband, or your colleague. People have their own ways of coping with the death of a loved one, however, the degree of mourning depends on the relationship with the deceased. The short story “The Death of Ivan Ilych”, written by Leo Tolstoy, revolves around the acceptance and perception of death through the deceased and the deceased’s peers. Ivan Ilych, the deceased man, had his life flash before his eyes while laying on his deathbed.

Ivan was expected to perish from the moment Ivan’s illness began to interfere with his life. However, Ivan’s death appeared to have been beneficial for the people you’d expect to see mourn. Ivan’s closest colleagues interpreted Ivan’s death as a career opportunity, and Ivan’s family interpreted Ivan’s death as a decline in salary. Ivan’s doctors interpreted Ivan’s death as a failure.

Ivan interprets his own death as an injustice. Leo Tolstoy utilizes the characters, symbols, and setting to portray the central theme: materialism can blind people from reality.

“Ivan llych’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible…” (Tolstoy, 153). Ivan Ilych, the protagonist, died a simple man. Ivan was truly the son of his father. Ivan’s father had been a ministry official after serving in various ministries and departments in Petersburg. With that being said, Ivan had been primed to become as successful and aristocratic as his father.

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Ivan’s father had three sons and Ivan was the second son. Ivan’s oldest brother had turned out to be exactly like their father while Ivan’s youngest brother strayed from the family. Ivan’s family regarded Ivan’s youngest brother as a failure for serving in the railway department. Ivan’s family’s attitude towards anything below a ministry official did not bring honor to the Ilychs’ family. Tolstoy states, ”His father and brothers, and still more their wives, not merely dislike meeting him, but avoided remembering his existence unless compelled to do so.” (154). Ivan’s family remained strict with their aristocratic values that they were willing to disown family members for the sake of maintaining an unfair standard. The idea is that Ivan Ilych was compelled to keep the family’s and society’s approval for the entirety of his life. Ivan’s life was shaped in a way that suited his parents’ approval. Ivan’s interests in his career could have been affected by Ivan’s fear of being unworthy of love. Ivan was blindly following through a list of instructions that were set by his parents, which he followed without breaking any kind of traditional structure. Therefore, Ivan was the product of authoritarian parents. What are authoritarian parents? In a study by Zeng-Yin Chen,

“Authoritarian parenting, by contrast, is high on demandingness but low on responsiveness. Authoritarian parents demand high levels of compliance, discourage verbal give-and-take, and use disciplinary measures that are forceful and punitive. They emphasize obedience, work, respect for authority, and the importance of maintaining order and traditional structures.” (2014).

While Ivan was expected to reach a set of high expectations, he appeared to have turned out to be a capable, cheerful, good-natured, and sociable man. However, Ivan remained in a resentful marriage and developed the need to impress his social circle through luxuries. Ivan dedicated his life to following some sort of guidelines set by his social circle that he blindly followed through with until it was too late to turn back. The antagonists of “The Death of Ivan Ilych” appear to be the same people that Ivan was devoted to impressing.

The antagonists in the short story take on many forms, such as his family and colleagues. Ivan had been blinded by materialism. However, Ivan was led to believe that pleasing them would lead to pleasing himself as well as his people. Ivan did indeed marry Praskovya Fedorovna, but not because he loved her. Tolstoy says, “To say that Ivan Ilych married because he fell in love with Praskovya Fedorovya and found that she sympathizes with his views of life would be as incorrect as to say that he married because his social circle approved of the match.” (157). Marriages appear to be successful when there is love coming from both partners. Ivan did not marry Praskavya Fedorovya for love. Furthermore, Ivan and Praskovya Fedorovna found themselves resenting one another from the moment Praskovya Fedorovna became pregnant with Ivan’s child. Ivan’s relationship with Praskovya Fredorovna was deemed detestable. Ivan was sucked dry by the greed of his loved ones. The culprit of Ivan’s downfall was Ivan’s obsession with appearing rich to his family and social circle. However, the new house’s window frame was the direct cause of Ivan’s death. Tolstoy states, “Once when mounting a step-ladder to show the upholsterer, who did not understand, how he wanted the hangings draped, he made a false step and slipped, but being a strong and agile man he clung on and only knocked his side against the knob of the window frame.” (162). The window frame had caused a fatal injury to Ivan’s body and caused Ivan to be more irritable towards his family. The injury and the materialism brought the worst in Ivan Ilych, yet Ivan’s family neglected Ivan completely from the moment his illness became terminal. The need to be pitied and loved brought Ivan to shambles while dying in an isolated room. Towards their last living days, Ivan received more sympathy from his foil, Gerasim.

Gerasim is the foil character to Ivan. While Ivan Ilych is this high-class ministry figure in society, Gerasim is a peasant who works and cares for Ivan while Ivan slowly perished. Ivan was deprived of attention while his illness progressed, based on the fact that Ivan had resided in his own room. The reason for Ivan’s residency is unknown whether or not Ivan was able to have his own room because he was considered too much of a burden to be taken care of by Praskovya Golovina or Ivan requested his own room. Gerasim’s job was to tend to Ivan’s needs. However, it seems as though Gerasim’s obedience is the only touch of kindness that Ivan experienced. Tolstoy states, “Gerasim did it all easily, willingly, simply, and with a good nature that touched Ivan Ilych. Health, strength, and vitality in other people were offensive to him, but Gerasim’s strength and vitality did not mortify but soothed him.” (178). Gerasim’s approach toward death differed from anyone else in the short story. Ivan’s loved ones merely abandoned him for selfish reasons and for fear of witnessing the process of death. However, Gerasim was not unsettled in the slightest. Gerasim was poor, but he received plenty of love from his family. Gerasim did not have the privilege of being surrounded by luxurious items and may have understood mortality at an earlier age than Ivan and Ivan’s social circle. Therefore, Gerasim was able to display a positive and comforting attitude towards the dying Ivan. Gerasim as the foil character highlights the central theme by proving how a lack of materialistic characteristics can make death more bearable. The setting in Ivan Ilych emphasized heavily how Ivan’s personality was shaped and helped highlight the central theme of the short story.

“The Death of Ivan Ilych” took place in St. Petersburg, Russia. The reason why the setting is significant to the passage is that St. Petersburg, Russia was a booming city. While it was difficult to pinpoint the time era that Tolstoy fixed in the short story, Tolstoy was not direct in period as to how he laid out the storyline. However, Tolstoy indicated that Ivan Ilych resided near St. Petersburg, Russia while he worked as a ministry official. Tolstoy leads the readers to assume that Ivan belonged in St. Petersburg because of Ivan’s personality: intelligent, polished, lively, and agreeable man. According to an article from Schmoop, St. Petersburg happened to be the political and cultural capital city of Russia. Ivan appeared to be at the top of the social pyramid in Modern Russia and grew comfortable with his social circle. Given that, Ivan appeared to be around colleagues that identified as aristocrats. The setting of the Death of Ivan Ilych is tied to the central theme, given that St. Petersburg is demanding of displaying how wealthy said person is. Ivan’s social status as a ministry official would have pressured Ivan and many others like him to live in a way that was expected since their jobs brought them wealth and power. The setting alone highlighted the importance of materialism, which played in the short story, as it had been Ivan’s responsibility to uphold his reputation as a ministry official in a modern city. In “The Death of Ivan Ilych”, symbolism is utilized to help highlight the central theme.

Symbolism is incorporated into “The Death of Ivan Ilych” in many shapes and forms. For example, the format in which Tolstoy laid out the short story began and ended with death. The last word in the short story on page 193 is “died”. The layout throughout the story highlights how materialism is truly blinding until death. Ivan Ilych threw parties with his colleagues and lavaged Ivan’s colleagues with goods, such as feasts at his home. Ivan was so focused on the materialistic aspect of life that when Ivan Ilych’s death was announced amongst his colleagues, Ivan’s colleagues’ initial responses were concerned about whether they will get promoted to a position in the ministry. Tolstoy states, “His post had been kept open for him, but there had been conjectures that in case of his death Alexeev might receive his appointment and that either Vinnikov or Shtabel would succeed Alexeev.” (147). Although the job title would be rewarding to Ivan’s colleagues on its own, the salary increase seemed to have mattered just as much to Ivan’s colleagues. In addition, Ivan Ilych’s nickname, le Phenix de la family, contains a sense of symbolism. Ivan’s nickname is translated to “the Phoenix family”. In certain studies, the Phoenix was a sacred creature with beautiful red plumage that was consumed by magical fire and then rose again from its own ashes (2015). Ivan’s comparison to the Phoenix highlights the type of person Ivan had been since childhood. Ivan was the second son of three and was in the middle of his brothers when it came to personality: the eldest being the strong leader and the youngest being the “failure”. Ivan was born from the ashes of what he had been expected to become and branched out as a powerful mystical being in disguise as a wealthy ministry official. Ivan’s burning and reborn from the ashes is found at Ivan’s demise when he comes to realize the spiritual sense within himself before perishing. Towards the end of the short story, Ivan’s fear of death had desensitized when the pain became a part of his life. Ivan’s behavior throughout the story can be organized into the Stages of Grief by Kubler Ross. According to a study, the five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Ivan reached the Acceptance stage from the moment Ivan figured out what his life had become while communicating with an inner voice. Ivan’s burning and reborn of his spirit fit with the characteristics of the Acceptance stage. Jacqueline L. Longe says, ”In acceptance, individuals are actively processing grief and bereavement, have accepted the permanency of loss, and are beginning to resume their normal lives.” (2016). In the end, the symbolism found within both Ivan’s nickname and Tolstoy’s layout of the short story highlights the central theme. The irony is seen to play a significant role in the short story by highlighting the central theme and the main plot of “The Death of Ivan Ilych”.

Irony plays a significant role in “The Death Of Ivan Ilych”. The irony is a situation or a use of language involving some kind of incongruity or discrepancy. Ivan’s death is the ultimate form of irony than anything in the short story. As discussed before, Ivan lived his life according to what Ivan was told by his social circle. Ivan’s life began with Ivan’s adamant parents shoving their aristocratic and materialistic standards down their children’s throats. Ivan’s parents’ method of raising their kids had led Ivan to do as he is told by their social circle. Ivan married the woman that his social circle approved of and lived the lifestyle that his social circle approved of. Ivan’s career revolved around justice and punishing those who do not follow the rules. All Ivan knew about his whole life was to follow a set of rules and please the materialistic people around him. However, Ivan, of all people, ended up developing an illness that would progress to a terminal stage. Ivan reflects on this irony while monologuing on his deathbed. Ivan expresses his frustration with the irony through raging fits into nothingness when Ivan shouts, ”Go on! Strike me! But what is it for? What have I done to Thee? What is it for?” (186). Ivan is an individual who did not deserve to die in the way he did as Ivan had been surrounded by the far more entitled and materialistic social aristocrats that took advantage of Ivan in their own way. Although Ivan took all his life to understand that, Ivan’s breakthrough takes place moments before death.

James E. Faust once said, “A rebirth out of spiritual adversity causes us to become new creatures.” Ivan’s breakthrough can be tied to the rebirth of a Phoenix. Figuratively speaking, Ivan was able to rise from the ashes of his suffering and explore a new perspective of happiness, seconds before passing away. Tolstoy states, ”And suddenly it grew clear to him that what had been oppressing him would not leave him was all dropping away at once from two sides, from ten sides, and all sides. He was sorry for them, he must act so as not to hurt them: release them and free himself from these sufferings.” (192). Ivan accepts that perhaps death would not be so painful after all. Ivan understands that death is nothing to be afraid of and believed death would bring relief to everyone. Ivan’s character evolves from a materialistic man who feared death to a dying man who readies to perish. As mentioned before, Ivan reaches the Acceptance stage and grief and finds peace within himself. The last interaction with Ivan’s beloved son appears to bring the spiritual sense of tranquility. Ivan would eventually conform to the inner voice that Ivan is willing to give in to death and alas, died.

In conclusion, ”The Death of Ivan Ilych”, written by Leo Tolstoy, revolves around the acceptance and perception of death through the deceased and the deceased’s peers. Ivan, the deceased, interpreted his own death as inevitable and as a release of pain after having feared death all these years after being surrounded by materialistic people and luxurious items. Leo Tolstoy utilized the characters, symbolism, and the setting to portray his theme that materialism can blind you from reality.