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Death of Ivan Illich/ Reflections on death

            
             Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych is a work that expresses outlooks on life and death. One of the views of life that Tolstoy has is that what some people hold to be important is not necessarily important at all. The story follows the thoughts of Ivan Ilych as he comes closer to his death, how his thoughts stray from justifying his life's work to understanding that he has led his life astray. .
             "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible."(para55) This statement means that because Ivan always did what a man of his position should do everything in his life was there because it was expected of him he got a good job, so he took a wife like a young gentleman ought to, he bought a nice house and furnished it with antiques and other nice furniture because a man should have a symbol of his wealth. Everything he did was expected of him so much that his life was too simple and too ordinary. There is nothing that is really his own in his life, everything he enjoys are things that he is expected to enjoy. As he gets closer to the end of his life he realizes all things he took pleasure in were void of meaning. Such as his bridge games Ivan gets a chance to get a grand slam the greatest hand in all of bridge he botches the execution of the hand but comes to realize what difference would it have made if he did get the grand slam. .
             At the start of the story Ivan feels no sympathy for others not for his wife when she is ill while pregnant or for the cases he goes through at work. He is disassociated and formal with all of them. When his wife is ill, she becomes irritable and quarrelsome and instead of being with her and trying to comfort her, he withdraws from her and buries himself in his work. While at work he removes all emotion, breaking each case down to very specific terms that are remove him from each case. However this leads him to be a good lawyer and is part of the reason he gets his first promotion out of law school.


Essays Related to Death of Ivan Illich/ Reflections on death

1. H2O

Published in 1985, Ivan Illich's H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness is the result of notes he took for a short lecture he gave in Dallas, as well as notes from a lecture given by his colleague Ruth Kriss-Rettenbeck. ... H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness: A summary Ivan Illich "wants to explore the moral and psychological consequences that will flow from the public display of re-circulated toilet flush, which pretends to be the aesthetic symbol of a wedding between water and urban space- (page 7). ... Illich spends considerable time discussing urban space and the idea of a "dwellin...

  • Word Count: 1289
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Character

The Character's Struggle Tolstoy's "Death of Ivan Illich" and Jack London's "To Build a Fire" are two fictional stories that describe man's behavior when faced with the final act of life; the death. ... Unlike Ivan Illich, the Yukon man goes from a self-confidant man with little regard for cold, to someone accepting his death in the matter of hours. ... Ivan Illich had known the death was approaching when none of the medications, or doctor's advice seamed to help his condition in any way. ... Both of the stories, "Death of Ivan Illich" and "To Build the F...

  • Word Count: 1585
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Death of Ivan

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  • Word Count: 1274
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

4. The Theme of Death in

The protagonist in this novel, Ivan Ilych , who is a seemingly successful official, lives the most unchaotic life and hence most terrible, for His life is lived in ''death.'' ... When others all think that '' as though death was an accident natraual to Ivan Ilych but certainly not to himself (109), and they think that ''well , he's dead ,but I am alive... The transcendentalists put premium on the '' instinctive reflection'' greatly. ... And there is no exception for Ivan. ... And moreover, Tolstoy ironically sketches ...

  • Word Count: 1460
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Grade Level: High School

5. The Death Of Ivan Ilyich

Acknowledging death and avoiding the fear of what is to become of me when I die has allowed me to break away from the proprieties that are customary when humans are faced with death. ... When the news of Ivan's death circulated amongst his friends they did not grieve but used this tragedy to think of how it would benefit them in their careers. ... If Ivan could have only understood death before it came upon him, he could have faced his situation in a more peaceful and tolerant manner. The ignorance of death in these characters left them defenseless in the war of death. ... Ivan cheris...

  • Word Count: 712
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: High School

6. Death of Ivan Ilych

The Death of Ivan Ilych In Leo Tolstoy's The Death of Ivan Ilych, some of the most significant events in the novel are mental and psychological. As Ivan Ilych gradually approaches his death, Tolstoy details Ivan's perspective of the time. ... With death forever drawing closer to him, Ivan feels that he is alone. ... Ivan's epiphanies also play an integral role in the novel. ... Through these sudden realizations on the brink of his death, Ivan redeems himself for the life he led. ...

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  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

7. The Death of Ivan Ilyich essay

Masterpieces of Literature II The Death of Ivan Ilyich follows the theme of death and the acceptance of death throughout the entire story. ... The life Ivan led prior to falling and hurting his side was socially oriented. ... This bag is a representation of death and Ivan's fear of facing his own death. ... Ivan wanted comfort from his friends and family. ... As he expires he says " Death is finished." ...

  • Word Count: 493
  • Approx Pages: 2
  • Grade Level: High School

8. The death of ivan ilych

The short story, "The Death of Ivan Ilych", written by Leo Tolstoy, is about the reactions of a man and his friends to his suffering and death. ... Ivan Ilych's attitude toward life is the same all the way up to his death. ... Ivan was a mix of his two brothers. ... Ivan's career grew steadily. ... She does not really care if he makes it; she is only worried about the inconvenience his suffering is putting her through and the financial bind his death puts her in. ...

  • Word Count: 1262
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: High School

9. Humanism in The Death of Ivan Ilyich

In the death of Ivan Ilyich, Ivan is born to a civil servant, and was a pleasant and respectable man (Tolstoy, 2003). ... If this holds true in relation to The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Ivan is solely responsible for whom he becomes. ... Ivan's actions throughout The Death of Ivan Ilyich, lead to his becoming an inauthentic man. ... In doing so Ivan developed attitudes and behaviors that led to his death. ... Ivan caused his own death and can make no excuse otherwise. ...

  • Word Count: 1159
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

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