The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy - Book Report/Review Example

The current is immanent to life; the individual is, in phenomenological language, "pre-predicatively" aware of the current of his being. We shall have cause to consider the relationship between the current and the significance of death, as that reality appears in Tolstoy's story. For the present, it is the current itself which calls for closer attention. A distinctive part of the difficulty in providing a clear characterization of the current existence is simply that in ordinary daily life that current is hidden from consciousness.

Tolstoy describes: At school he had done things which had formerly seemed to him very horrid and made him feel disgusted with himself when he did them; but when later on he saw that such actions were done by people of good position and that they did not regard them as wrong, he was able not exactly to regard them as right, but to forget about them entirely or not be at all troubled at remembering then (Tolstoy)Typically, in ordinary life, an individual is at the center of his perceptual universe.

That is to say, that body is at the "still point" of the flux of comings and goings which take place in his field of perception. To some extent, Tolstoy underlines that everything "in" the world is relative in some manner to everything else; the transcendental ego alone is nonrelative. The pressure to conform is created and heated by social standards which limit individual freedom and independence. ."I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me" (Tolstoy).

What is and what is not within reach depends on my bodily presence. This "again and again" aspect in everyday life is crucial to the performance of all mundane actions. The most evident feature of everyday life is the possibility of repeating the simplest action: to cut from the steak before me this piece and that piece and still another piece in the taken-for-granted activity of adult eating. So the real is taken for granted not only as real but as real without appeal, real without recourse to further consideration.

In sum, through the character of Ivan Ilych Tolstoy portrays that an individual is limited by social norms and values dominated on society. Every person thinks that if only I had a better life circumstance and more money, I would be able to buy more books, to spend more time on education and personal growth. On the other hand, Tolstoy portrays that a person does not use and even loose opportunities he has waiting for better says and more life chances. Gerasim says: "We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble" (Tolstoy).

An ordinary citizen does not think about death but is full of dreams which never come true.