Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Ilyich: Learning to Live by Dying

The Consequences of Ignoring Mortality

To many, death is but an afterthought in the conversation of life — and even then, such a thought is fleeting. Why think about dying when one is busy living? Why think about something so alien when one is trying to achieve success, material wealth, and happiness? Why think about death when it is hard enough simply to live? Why think about death when it only happens to others and could not possibly happen to oneself?

The consequence of such an attitude is the death of one's spiritual, moral, and emotional life, even without one's knowledge (Kamm, 2003, p. 209). One may neglect the spiritual, moral, and emotional aspects of life because what one cannot explain, one leaves on the shelf for another day. One becomes wrapped up in the physical and mechanical world because one cannot control death, but one can always control how one lives (Verno, 2009). It is simply easier to grasp only what is tangible and to attain what is material (Verno, 2009).

The irony of human brilliance is that people prioritize the superficial and take for granted what is more important. Thus, happiness becomes shallow and self-centered (Verno, 2009). "Happiness" is defined by one's own wealth and status rather than by what should truly matter — building and cultivating relationships with others. One pushes such relationships aside because, as fast as time flies, one always feels there will be time later to be compassionate and to show love to others (Verno, 2009). However, time runs out when death — most unwelcome — knocks at one's door. Death then becomes not only a harsh reality but an unfriendly reminder of how one has chosen to live.

Ivan Ilyich: A Life of Shallow Success

Such is Leo Tolstoy's 1886 story The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Ivan Ilyich is a man of great social stature who is forced to confront death when he learns he is dying. As a successful judge in public office, Ivan rises in rank not through any special qualities but through "a knack of being at the right place at the right time" (Valente, 1991, p. 128). He is a stereotypical selfish, materialistic man whose life carries no significant meaning or purpose (Valente, 1991, p. 128). In short, the life of Ivan Ilyich was "most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 6).

Confronted with the reality of his death, Ivan suffers immense physical pain on account of his sins and struggles to accept his fate (Tolstoy, 1886). Yet he also comes to learn the truth about the value of his life, the triviality of the things he once deemed important, and tries to rectify his situation by dying in the right way (Kamm, 2003, p. 209). It is only in dying, then, that Ivan learns how to live.

Selfishness and Indifference in Ivan's World

Fittingly, Tolstoy introduces the reader to Ivan and the people in his world through the news of Ivan's death. His supposedly close friend, Peter Ivanovich, announces Ivan's death to his peers: "Gentlemen," he said, "Ivan Ilych has died!" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 1). To this, his companions exclaim, "You don't say so!" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 1). Yet each man was selfishly thinking of how Ivan's death might benefit his own career advancement: "So on receiving the news of Ivan Ilych's death, the first thought of each of the gentlemen in that private room was of the changes and promotions it might occasion among themselves or their acquaintances" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 2).

Beyond these shameless thoughts, Tolstoy also describes the men's shallow attempts to grieve — "I haven't been to see him since the holidays. I always meant to go" — and what a burden Ivan's funeral would be: "We shall have to go see her, but they live so far away" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 2), referring to Ivan's widow, Praskovya Fedorovna Golovina. Tolstoy further illustrates the men's profound detachment from Ivan's death and from death in general:

"Besides the considerations as to the possible transfers and promotions likely to result from Ivan Ilych's death, the mere fact of the death of a near acquaintance aroused, as usual, in all who heard of it the complacent feeling that, 'it is he who is dead and not I'" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 2).

At the funeral, Praskovya Fedorovna thinks only of herself when she speaks to Peter Ivanovich of Ivan's suffering — and of how it caused her own suffering (Hustis, 2000):

"He suffered terribly the last few days."
"Did he?" said Peter Ivanovich.
"Oh, terribly! He screamed unceasingly, not for minutes but for hours. For the last three days he screamed incessantly. It was unendurable. I cannot understand how I bore it; you could hear him three rooms off. Oh, what I have suffered!" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 5).

Even in conversation with Peter, Praskovya seems more concerned with how to secure her personal finances from the government than with mourning her husband (Tolstoy, 1886). Thus, at the early stages of the story, Tolstoy depicts Ivan's world as a shallow, materialistic, and self-centered one — a portrait that leads to the conclusion that the people around Ivan contributed largely to his moral and spiritual demise as a human being (Kamm, 2003).

Gerasim: Compassion and Honest Acceptance

In stark contrast to the selfishness of these characters is Ivan's servant, Gerasim. A man of low social status, Gerasim willingly accepts the universal truth that death is inevitable and will come to all — whether rich or poor (Hustis, 2000). By applying the fact of death to himself rather than treating it as something that only happens to others, Gerasim represents a refreshing change in Ivan's world. Moreover, Gerasim had the patience to bear Ivan's ill temper and outbursts, and the genuine capacity to assist and console Ivan during his pain and suffering (Hustis, 2000, p. 268).

Gerasim was a clean, fresh peasant lad, always cheerful and bright: "Oh why, sir" — and Gerasim's eyes beamed and he showed his glistening white teeth — "what's a little trouble? It's a case of illness with you, sir" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 22).

Ivan felt more comfortable and at ease in Gerasim's presence because Gerasim was the only one who not only acknowledged the truth that Ivan was dying rather than merely ill, but who said so plainly: "If you weren't sick, it would be another matter, but as it is, why should I grudge a little trouble? ... We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble?" (Tolstoy, 1886, pp. 23–24).

Ivan was deeply grateful for this honesty, particularly because he felt that his wife, his daughter, and his doctors were not only lying to him about his condition but trivializing it — going about their daily routines as if nothing were wrong, and withholding the pity he desperately craved. "Many times, as they were going through their antics over him, he had been within a hairbreadth of calling out to them: 'Stop lying! You know that I am dying. Then at least stop lying about it!'" (Tolstoy, 1886, p. 23).

References

Harder, W. (1990). Granny & Ivan: Katherine Anne Porter's mirror for Tolstoy. Renascence, 42(3), 149–156.

Hustis, H. (2000). 'Three rooms off': Death and the reader in Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich. LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, 11(3), 261.

Kamm, F. (2003). Rescuing Ivan Ilych: How we live and how we die. Ethics, 113(2), 202.

Tolstoy, L. (1886). The death of Ivan Ilyich. Retrieved October 9, 2009, from http://manybooks.net/titles/tolstoylother08death_of_ivan_ilych.html

Valente, L. (1991). Variations on the kenotic hero: Tolstoy's Ivan Ilych and Guimarães Rosa's Augusto Matraga. Symposium, 45(2), 126–138.

Verno, M. (2009). Exact times and watches in Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilyich. Explicator, 67(2), 123–125.