Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

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.…

“Born to blossom, bloom to perish” This concept of being born to live, and living to die is expressed throughout history in all manners of literary works. Of the endless writers whom illustrate the theme of death, four authors whom depict this leitmotif are John Keats, Rosalía de Castro, Emily Dickinson, and Leo Tolstoy. The works albeit different, transcribe the desire to accomplish their goals; to blossom, before they are faced with their mortality; to perish. This idea is both beautifully…

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…

Leo Tolstoy’s books The Death of Ivan Ilych and A Confession, the Gospel Brief and What I Believe show very similar experiences and thought processes between 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…

Entropy in Marriage How can one live a life without having entropy in it? Entropy to me means having disorder in life, having chaos or having something that is not considered normal. By that I mean is one might have a dysfunctional family or marriage, but in public they seem to show that they are perfect. In the novella “The death of Ivan Ilych” by Leo Tolstoy discusses how Ivan Ilych is shown to have a great life, his father had money, he was a public prosecutor, he married a beautiful women…

The Qing and Li in The Death of Ivan Ilych The Death of Ivan Ilych, depicts an indifferent and selfish world, is a brilliant work written by Leo Tolstoy. Through this short novel, and through the mental struggle of Ivan Ilych before his death, Leo Tolstoy argues for the essentiality of authenticity and compassion of people. His thought resembles the central idea of the essay On the Childlike Mind written by Li Zhi, a Chinese philosopher from Ming Dynasty. On the Childlike Mind argues for the…

inevitable. In most societies, behavioral norms for members living within that culture form over time and a person’s allegiance to fulfilling these norms and expectations can sometimes lead to an isolated and lonely existence. In The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Leo Tolstoy teaches his readers through the tormented characters that leading a life that is self centered, driven by the constructs of society, and lacking in compassion to one’s fellow man can ultimately lead to unhappiness at one’s death…

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…

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…

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…