Leo Tolstoy's The Death Of Ivan Ilych

Leo Tolstoy’s masterful novella, The Death of Ivan Ilych addresses the formation and continuation of cultural norms on a superficial society, propelled by wide-spread acceptance of unjust, unfulfilling means to happiness. The piece follows the life, and death, of Ivan Ilych, a dreadfully mundane man in a overbearing society, disillusioned by severe sickness and left alone to deal with the consequences of such discoveries. Tolstoy’s work successfully integrates the life of a judge as the means by which he is able to reflect the disastrous and unenlightened concepts propelled by both Russian Society and modern civilization. This harrowing texts brings forth a depressing and complex tale to a newfound audience through simplistic and metaphorical …show more content…
The Death of Ivan Ilych acts beyond the aforementioned setting in a way which applied to human society above all else. His themes refer to Russian ideals and constructs, yet these basic aspects appear in a multitude of personal conflicts, particularly in modern times. Tolstoy’s text provides insight into the narcissistic, abusive nature of humanity. He connects these occurrences to university honorable traits such as duty in a way which shows the hypocritical nature of human existence. Therefore, it is unsurprising for the reader to encounter the conflicting attitude toward society displayed in this text. In aspects such as his marriage, Ivan Ilych shows compliance to unnecessary, yet prevalent expectations of his life provided by society and the negative consequences of the social norms on which excessive pressure is placed (Tolstoy). Yet, Tolstoy does not merely address the social expectations of the society in which he places his characters, for the activities and pressures themselves are not necessary to address the major theme of compliance among individuals, a compliance which exists in all nations among all people. The work is successful because Tolstoy is able to address this evaluation beyond one, particular situation, and apply it to the lives of all readers, making the text both interesting, but above all