The Official Library of JP Brown

Author: Tolstoy, Leo

Description:
The Death of Ivan Ilyich portrays the long agony of a man gradually coming to terms with his own mortality. Ivan Ilych Golovin, a high court judge in St. Petersburg with a wife and family, lives a carefree life that is “most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.” One day, he begins to suffer from a pain in his side. As Ilyich’s discomfort increases, his behavior towards his family becomes more irritable. His wife finally insists that he visit a physician. The physician cannot pinpoint the source of his malady, and soon it becomes clear that his condition is terminal. He is brought face to face with his mortality, and realizes that although he knows of it, he does not truly grasp it. During the long and painful process of death, Ivan dwells on the idea that he does not deserve his suffering because he has lived rightly. If he had not lived a good life, there could be reason for his pain; but he has, so pain and death must be arbitrary and senseless. As he begins to hate his family for avoiding the subject of his death, for pretending he is only sick and not dying, he finds his only comfort in his peasant boy servant Gerasim–the only person in Ivan’s life who does not fear death, and also the only one who shows compassion for Ivan. Ivan begins to question whether he has, in fact, lived rightly. In the final days of Ivan’s life, he makes a clear split between artificial life, the life of himself and his family that masks the true meaning of life and makes one fear death, and authentic life, the life of Gerasim. Authentic life is marked by compassion and empathy, artificial by self-interest. Then “some force” strikes Ivan in the chest and side, and he is brought into the presence of a bright light. His hand falls onto his nearby son’s head, and he pities him. He no longer hates his son or wife, but rather feels sorry for them, because he has found at last a joy in authentic life and they will continue their artificial lives, fearing death. In the middle of a sigh, Ivan dies.

Special Location: Bin # 2