The Death of Ivan Illyich - Essay Example

In “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” Tolstoy tries to explain and solve many intrigues related to the death, but the final solution is not forthcoming; he has to just accept death. This profound dilemma of Tolstoy is explained by Ronald Blythe in the introduction thus: “In the Death of Ivan Ilyich Tolstoy takes what was for him the tremendous imaginary leap of analyzing the reactions of a man who, until the surprising pain of his terminal illness began. Had never given the inevitability of his own dying so much as a passing thought.”(1) He was a busy man entangled in his secular responsibilities.

Ilyich had no time to make a review of his own life and it moves fast, without any intermission. Tolstoy writes, “But what mattered most was that Ivan Ilyich had his work. His entire interest in life was centered in the world of official duties.”(52) This Russian high court judge was blind to the process of arrival of death in the life of any individual and as for his own life he thought that it was a distant possibility whose intrinsic strength was beyond the scope of the legal procedures that he had mastered.

Let us assume that this is the first stage of his life when he hardly thought about his death. He remained engrossed in the achievements of secular credentials. His attitude to the subject of death and death of others was diffident. People die every day and no one feels strongly towards it, because it is the death of someone else. One tries to console the affected as a matter of social courtesy, with the advice that the soul has to get separated from the body one day or the other. The attitude of Ilyich was also similar.

When his loved ones or associates died, he was indifferent and he did not take the issue of death seriously. He did maintain the social propriety on such occasions and had no ill feelings towards the individual who was no more. But the first dent in his personality and social disposition occurred with the injury on the hip, after slipping off a ladder. Destiny struck its blow at the most unexpected moment; career-wise, he was on the top and was busy furnishing the new house, where his family was expected to join him.

That was the starting point which could be considered as the second stage of change in the life of Ilyich. The physical level injury made him think more at the intellectual level. With that accident his life slows down, he begins to apply rather compelled to apply the reverse gear in his life. The injury becomes a degenerative disease and he suffers unbearable pain. His family members and other associates remain indifferent to his ailment and the man accustomed to remain in limelight of life otherwise, turns into a frustrated individual.

He begins to reassess the priorities of his life. With the mounting pressure of the disease on his body, with no chance of recouping the original health, he views with horror the arrival of the impending death. About the mental condition of Ilyich Tolstoy writes, “He went to his study, lay down, and once again was left alone with it. Face to face with It, unable to do anything with It. Simply look at It and grow numb with horror." (82) He understands the inevitability of the body getting separated from the soul.

He thinks about his own life and broods seriously. Tolstoy draws the mental picture of Ilyich and writes, “It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. And that is really what it was. I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me.