Ivan Turgenev

Leo Tolstoy wrote: The Death of Ivan Ilyich in 1886 to show his view of how life should be, how we all should live, and what actually matter most at the end of everything. According to Tolstoy, there are 2 ways to live life; one is by outer appearance which are propriety, decorum, and standards of conduct, and second, inner appearances, and spiritual life which are “the real thing” that makes one’s life worthwhile. Insincere life style is the first way human can choose to live and it is shown…

unfulfilling jobs, Tolstoy struggled with finding a purpose for his existence and began to put his faith into religious outlets. Ivan Ilych, the main character of his story The Death of Ivan Ilych, shows a struggle very similar to this. I believe that this novel is a reflection of the pursuit in which Tolstoy sought to find life fulfilling work, as well as a purpose for living. Ivan Ilych is first introduced through…

Ruler, Ivan the Terrible Ivan Vasilyevich, Ivan IV, was a Machiavellian ruler called to the throne at the age of three after his father’s death; however, his mother, Yelena Glinskaya, ruled as a surrogate until her death in 1538. Later on, Ivan IV was crowned as Russia’s ruler on January 16, 1547 (Andryev). Later, during the constructive period of Ivan’s reign, he issued many reforms involving self-government, taxes, and religion (“Ivan the Terrible”). After this seemingly calm time, Ivan IV’s…

Ivan IV Vasilyevich, a ruler over Russia during the 1500s, has much controversy surrounding him. Many historians debate whether Ivan's name was really meant to mean cruel and sinister or awesome and threatening. The nickname of "Ivan the Terrible" is a translation from the Russian language. The original word used for terrible was "grozny", which is believed by some to have meant "fearsome" or "formidable", rather than horrific and monstrous ("Prominent Russians"). Ivan was truly terrible because…

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 sack and keeps falling but doesn’t know what is at the bottom of the…

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 the…

In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Ivan could be considered as one who takes things for granted especially life. Ivan is known for his working and quest to get higher on the social hierarchy because that is the most important thing to Ivan. He was caught in being the best, that he forgot how to live life respectively. Ivan also went into marriage with his wife without truly loving her. Therefore at the end of the day Ivan realizes that he had spent his entire life doing everything wrong and because…

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. Instead of living his own life sincerely, Ivan was more…

fatality not only through Ivan, but also his collaborators, exposing the certainty that death can come upon anyone at any moment in time. His alleged “friends” are not so much distraught concerning his death, yet pleased it wasn’t them. Even felt a restrained paroxysm of apprehension for having to attribute time from their daily lives for obligatory sympathetic gestures to his widow. “Each one thought or felt, “Well he’s dead but I’m alive!” But the more intimate of Ivan Ilyich’s acquaintance’s,…

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…