The term “ennui” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a lack of spirit, enthusiasm, or interest” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ennui). Ennui is typically associated with boredom, general annoyance with the mundane of daily life, and in the case of literature, the eventual need to significantly improve said situation. Ennui, in many variations, is found in works such as Madame Bovary by Gustav Flaubert, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” by Leo Tolstoy, and the poem “To the Reader” by Charles Baudelaire from The Flowers of Evil. I will be discussing the prevalence of ennui within these stories and the importance of the subject in literature. In Madame Bovary, the tale goes as such: boy meets girl, boy meets another girl, girl has baby, girl
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She bought magnificent things to dress her home and living beyond her means to maintain a life that was not hers to keep, accumulating a large amount of debt along the way. Madame Bovary’s final means of escape from her life was through suicide, a slow, painful, sickly death that did not display her as the suffering heroine as it in the novels, a role she literally died to play. In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, the story follows Ivan Ilyich a man who upon his deathbed, realizes that he may not have been living life as he should. This particular story involving ennui is based on the idea that within life, without happiness and contentment with what you have been given, it is terrible.
The work beings with Ivan’s death and those around him are more concerned with themselves and how they will benefit from the passing instead of grieving the loss of the friend, husband, and father. Instead, Ilyich’s coworkers are wondering who will be offered the promotion in his place and his wife asks a lawyer questions about his pension. In my understanding, this part of the book is to emphasize the unawakening and ignorance of society and of those around Ivan Ilyich, a reason behind why his unsatisfaction with life is so severe. The few who are actually seen mourning his death are his young son and his servants, those in life who do not care for
She bought magnificent things to dress her home and living beyond her means to maintain a life that was not hers to keep, accumulating a large amount of debt along the way. Madame Bovary’s final means of escape from her life was through suicide, a slow, painful, sickly death that did not display her as the suffering heroine as it in the novels, a role she literally died to play. In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”, the story follows Ivan Ilyich a man who upon his deathbed, realizes that he may not have been living life as he should. This particular story involving ennui is based on the idea that within life, without happiness and contentment with what you have been given, it is terrible.
The work beings with Ivan’s death and those around him are more concerned with themselves and how they will benefit from the passing instead of grieving the loss of the friend, husband, and father. Instead, Ilyich’s coworkers are wondering who will be offered the promotion in his place and his wife asks a lawyer questions about his pension. In my understanding, this part of the book is to emphasize the unawakening and ignorance of society and of those around Ivan Ilyich, a reason behind why his unsatisfaction with life is so severe. The few who are actually seen mourning his death are his young son and his servants, those in life who do not care for