The Death Of Ivan Ilyich Essay
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” the author Leo Tolstoy attempts to describe the social status of Russia in the 19th century. Tolstoy uses realistic writing techniques to vividly and profoundly depict the inner feeling of a dying man by describing the protagonist’s words and behavior. Through narrating the death of one ordinary official, he exposed hypocrisy, indifference, and lack of faith between man and man. Tolstoy shows that people always pursue decorum and propriety, but they reject the idea of death and avoid talking other bad things which be identified as impolite. Everywhere in this story, the reader can see that all the characters except Gerasim spent their time running after fame and money. Ivan Ilyich also desires for decorum, propriety, and pleasantness during his whole life. One image that …show more content…
He is frank and kind, and unlike the others does not deny the reality of death. In Tolstoy’s work, people at that time use so-called propriety to hide the reality of life. They only focus on the external things but escape their own internal real ideas.
“What tormented Ivan Ilyich most was the deception, the lie, which for some reason they all accepted, that he was not dying but simply ill, and that he only need keep quiet and undergo a treatment and then something very good would result.”
Ivan Ilyich used to be “a capable, cheerful, good-natured, and sociable man.” He slowly indulges in vanity out of worship of the upper social life. In order to become a member of them, he wholeheartedly accepts the social values. Thus, his purpose of marriage, work, and life is not for himself but to cater the standards of upper
In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” the author Leo Tolstoy attempts to describe the social status of Russia in the 19th century. Tolstoy uses realistic writing techniques to vividly and profoundly depict the inner feeling of a dying man by describing the protagonist’s words and behavior. Through narrating the death of one ordinary official, he exposed hypocrisy, indifference, and lack of faith between man and man. Tolstoy shows that people always pursue decorum and propriety, but they reject the idea of death and avoid talking other bad things which be identified as impolite. Everywhere in this story, the reader can see that all the characters except Gerasim spent their time running after fame and money. Ivan Ilyich also desires for decorum, propriety, and pleasantness during his whole life. One image that …show more content…
He is frank and kind, and unlike the others does not deny the reality of death. In Tolstoy’s work, people at that time use so-called propriety to hide the reality of life. They only focus on the external things but escape their own internal real ideas.
“What tormented Ivan Ilyich most was the deception, the lie, which for some reason they all accepted, that he was not dying but simply ill, and that he only need keep quiet and undergo a treatment and then something very good would result.”
Ivan Ilyich used to be “a capable, cheerful, good-natured, and sociable man.” He slowly indulges in vanity out of worship of the upper social life. In order to become a member of them, he wholeheartedly accepts the social values. Thus, his purpose of marriage, work, and life is not for himself but to cater the standards of upper