Tolstoy

Ivan Ilych and Tolstoy himself. It is arguable that when writing The Death of Ivan Ilych, Tolstoy reflected himself into Ilych’s character and life. This is evident in both men’s early experiences, thoughts and beliefs, morals, and overall questioning and understanding of life’s existence. Very soon did Tolstoy write that he wanted to be the best in the eyes of the people. He mostly made his life choices based upon what he thought the people around him would approve. Tolstoy expresses this as, “…the desire to be better not in my own eyes or those of God but in the eyes of other people…this…

When Russian literature is mentioned, the two giants Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky overshadow the majority of other writers. However, it is not the case for Anton Chekhov. Chekhov emerged into the scene during the 19th century, the same time as Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. As a short-stories writer and dramatist, Chekhov made a mark for himself, as he is “the only other one to make much of an impression abroad.” (Brians) Chekhov wrote during the early 1900s, when Russia saw “the rise of the…

The Positive Impact of Leo Tolstoy “I love many things, I love many people.” These were the last words of Leo Tolstoy. Throughout his entire life, Tolstoy lived by those words as he became whom the world knows as ‘the greatest writer of the 19th century’. Leo Tolstoy positively impacted society by teaching: to make a difference, expand one's social circle, and to keep an open mind. Leo Tolstoy taught to make a difference. For a man of the upper class, Tolstoy made a notable…

He was afraid of that sack, yet wanted to fall through” (99). The Death of Ivan Ilyich, by Leo Tolstoy, is the story of a man who cares for nothing but worldly achievements and self-seeking happiness. Completely engrossed in his career, Ivan gives no thought to his spiritual life, and, as a result, the idea of death never crosses his mind—until death knocks on his door. When death stares Ivan in the face and laughs at his helplessness , Ivan can do nothing but pity himself, seeing no escape from…

Leo Tolstoy and James Joyce both use the aspect of light and darkness as symbols in their stories to represent the characters and their feelings. In The Death of Ivan and Ilyich, one of the symbols Tolstoy uses is the black sack. This sack was a long narrow sack that was never ending and the character in the story, Ivan, experiences going through this black sack twice. The first time he experiences going through this sack was right after he was given a medicine, opium. Ivan falls into the black…

their works. Writers will often use the assistance of a character’s persona, as well as, a character’s response to the difficult situation that they encounter in a story in order for the lesson to be better perceived by the reader. The ideas and messages are meant to, in turn, better the reader by learning important ethic principles from the text. One critic, Philippe Radley, explains Leo Tolstoy’s tactic in his writing, “He portrayed cause and effect, in sequence.” Every action always results…

In addition to the short story, Tolstoy also devoted a substantial amount of creative effort, after War and Peace' and 'Anna Karenina', to that longer type of fiction which he had attempted in his earlier period - the short novel. Though they vary a great deal in length, no one of them could properly be regarded as either a short story or a novel. For like the earlier short novels, each involves a number of characters and a frame of reference too extensive for the concentrated focus of the short…

Leo Tolstoy pulls no punches when the story of The Death of Ivan Ilyich begins. The revelation that Ivan Ilyich has died was met with dismay and shock for all of the wrong reasons. Colleagues and “friends” became concerned for his death not because of the loss of his life, but for the inconveniences and changes it would cause for them. The lack of sincerity surrounding Ivan became very clear in the opening scenes of the story, and we quickly start to realize that Ivan lived a “false” life.…

Dilip Chitre creates a stark impression of the isolation of old age in his poem ‘Father Returning Home’ by showing his fathers’ estrangement from society and his own family. Chitre conveys this isolation by using literary devices such as similes and repetition, and addressing themes such as modernity vs tradition. The poem begins when a father is waiting outside for a train which will take him home. We know this as it says ‘My father travels on the late evening train’. Already by labelling the…

At the beginning of the story Tolstoy introduces a strong character of Eugene Irtenev who has a strong career projected for the future and has recently graduated in law from Petersburg University and has connections with the high society because of his deceased father. However, in the story, Eugene starts working in the family farm, where he meets with the peasant Stepanida, whose husband lives away in the city and for several months they encounter each other, until finally Eugene’s mother…