At the same time, though, Ilych remains far more traditional than Marlow, whose open-mindedness earns him Kurtz's trust. Ilych is open-minded in terms of his willingness to see through superficiality and social facades, but he rarely sees beyond the mundane until the illness sets in. In fact, Ilych remains completely caught up in the rat race that defines Russian government work to the extent that promotions and salary raises make him "completely happy." Marlow, on the other hand, stares death in the face each day. He also encounters the faces of African people who shock him out of his mundane existence: "I could see every rib, the joints of their limbs were like knots in a rope; each had an iron collar on his neck, and all were connected together with a chain whose bights swung between them, rhythmically clinking." As a result of his experiences on the river, Marlow achieves a more enlightened outlook earlier than Ilych does. For example, Marlow states, "I've seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire." Not until Ivan Ilych is on his death bed does he realize how greed has corrupted his own soul as well as the souls of those around him; and Ilych needed a poor peasant to point out the flaws in his worldview. Moreover, Ilych compartmentalizes his life in ways Marlow cannot. Ilych "possessed this capacity to separate his real life from the official side of affairs and not mix the two," whereas for Marlow, his work for the Company and his personal life are completely entwined. Ilych seeks escape in cards and in interior decorating in much the same way Kurtz seeks escape in his fantasy world. The "continual despair" Ilych felt when he fell ill was not only related to his physical condition but to his existential angst. Marlow does not reach the level of despair that Ilych does. He remains stoic and steadfast when he confronts the stalwart Kurtz,...

Marlow notes, "my unresponsive attitude must have exasperated him at last." It is Kurtz who experiences the level of existential angst that Ilych does. Unlike Marlow, both Ilych and Kurtz seek escape from the world. They both experience tremendous conflict related to the senselessness of the capitalist bureaucracy. Colonialism plays a far more important role in Kurtz's life than it does for Ilych but both men are victims of a dehumanizing bureacracy. When Marlow contemplates life's meaning, he does so in a far less personal way than either Ilych or Kurtz. For example, watching the natives triggers an existential question for Marlow: "I saw this station, these men strolling aimlessly about in the sunshine of the yard. I asked myself sometimes what it all meant." Marlow has less of a problem finding his own place in the world than Ilych or Kurtz. Ivan Ilych therefore shares much in common with both Marlow and Kurtz.
Both Heart of Darkness and the Death of Ivan Ilych address existential questions within a similar historical and political context: the budding of capitalism and global trade. Finding humanity within an essentially inhuman system is the central them of the two texts. Both novels address the repercussions of a capitalist bureaucracy, and both reveal how bureaucracies dehumanize their members. Furthermore, a meditation on human mortality becomes transforms the central characters in Tolstoy's and Conrad's novels.