II Leo Tolstoy

In ‘The Death Of Ivan Ilyich’, Leo Tolstoy takes a very critical view of humanity. While being very common, very much like everyone else while well and alive, it takes the process of dying to awaken Ivan Ilyich to the hypocritical nature of mankind, and to realize that his life might have been misspent.

At the start of the story, the members of the Law Courts learn of the death of Ivan Ilyich. Instead of feeling grief or sadness due to the loss of a colleague and acquaintance, they look for what they can grasp and gain for themselves and what positions in their profession will now be open for their advancement. Tolstoy writes:

“I shall be sure to get Shtabel’s place or Vinnikov’s,” thought Fedor Vasilievich. “I was promised that long ago, and the promotion means an extra eight hundred rubles a year for me besides the allowance.”

“Now I must apply for my brother-in-law’s transfer from Kaluga,” thought Peter Ivanovich.

Tolstoy shows the hypocrisy that is present between what people think and what they actually speak aloud to others. Ivan Ilyich sees that his friends, co-workers and even his wife and family are only waiting for him to die, so they can take whatever gain they can and be free of the burden of his sickness. He is even treated as if his affliction is his own doing, that he is using it to bring them troubles and to put a weight on their shoulders.

The only people who treat Ivan Ilyich decently and with empathy are his youngest son, Vasya, and the servant, Gerasim. Perhaps by being closer to nature, and uncorrupted by power, wealth or the world, they are able to act as they do and have genuine compassion for the dying Ilyich. Tolstoy points towards Vasya and Gerasim as ideals towards which humans should strive, contrasted against the greed and hypocrisy of Ilyich’s colleagues and the rest of his family.

Ilyich realizes his folly too late, however, for he is close to death and cannot conquer the disease that is killing him, no matter how hard he tries. He realizes he has misspent his time on earth, and unlike Dickens’ Scrooge, he is helpless to change the direction of his actions: “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. And now it is all done and there is only death.” In the end, worldly success and power give no comfort to the dying. What is missing is that which is longed for.

Tolstoy sees a mankind that has strayed from the most important values, which are genuine friendships, a loving family life and compassion untainted by greed and hunger for power. Tolstoy also points to who may still possess such traits: the young boy and the old servant. They show the direction that must be taken for mankind to return to the essentials of their existence, the essentials that will bring true happiness and fulfillment.

Gustave Flaubert / Leo Tolstoy / Fyodor Dostoevsky