Themes Of Life, Death, Inner And Outer Life, Happiness And Sadness In Leo Tolstoy’s The Death Of Ivan Ilych

Life and death as important themes in The Death of Ivan Ilych

The theme of death has formed the lacuna of many literary works since the traditional times and some of the greatest works of literature has centered on this theme (Kundu 19). Roberts and Saeverot, are of the viewpoint that one of the most important reasons why the authors choose to dwell on this theme is because of the human being’s obsession with the notion of death. As opined by Leon, it is only at their dying moments that the human beings reveal their true selves and the use of this theme offers an opportunity to authors to showcase the true nature of individuals. Leo Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilych” is an important work since it uses the theme of death to highlight the inner and outer life of the modern individuals. This essay will discuss some of the important themes of the work “The Death of Ivan Ilych” like life and death, inner and outer life, happiness and sadness and others.

One of the most important themes with which the work under discussion here is redolent with is the theme of inner and outer life. The work portrays Ivan as “most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible” ((Tolstoy 56). In addition to this the author says that Ivan was not born with any extraordinary talent however he was able to achieve a significant amount of success in his life by dint of his hard work. As a matter of fact, it can be said that his life was an exemplary one for the average individuals. More importantly, the work describes him as “easily, pleasantly, and decorously” and also as the kind of individual who was able to keep a demarcation between his personal and professional lives (Tolstoy 57). Furthermore, as per the traditional standards of a prosperous life he owned a beautiful house, had a caring wife and also children.

The inner life of Ivan turns out to be much more complicated than the lives of the average individuals. For example, it is seen that when his expectations in the personal life are not been fulfilled he turns towards professional life for sole. It is with this objective that he works harder than ever to gain professional success however he hopes are dashed when other individuals with lesser capabilities and talent are given preference over him (Cicovacki 114). The net result of this is the fact that he starts to feel dissatisfaction and also has several periods of depression. In this regard, the words “And he has to live like this on the edge of destruction, alone, with nobody at all to understand or pity him” are important to note ((Tolstoy 69). More importantly, he comes to realize that the family and all the things that he holds are mere façade and the only real thing in life is mortality.

Exploring the inner and outer life of Ivan Ilych

The theme of life and death is another important one which Tolstoy has explored in the work under discussion here. It is pertinent to note that ever since Ivan’s health started to deteriorate he started meditating on the theme of mortality and life itself. Furthermore, it is seen that the family members of Ivan view the illness of Ivan as a mere passing phase but he knows that he is actually inching closer to death more than even. More importantly, he begins to question the justness of the suffering as well as the pain which he experiences during this bout of illness (Roberts and Saeverot 65). In this regard, his self-questioning words “’Can it be that I have not lived as one ought?’ suddenly came into his head. ‘But how not so, when I’ve done everything as it should be done?’” are important to note (Tolstoy 71).  In addition to this, the proximity to death makes him realize the vanity of the human wishes and also the façade that they use to entertain themselves. His words “False. Everything by which you have lived and live now is all a deception, a lie, concealing both life and death from you” are important in this context (Tolstoy 76). Moreover, he comes to realize the fact that mortality and death are the only real things in the life of the individuals and the sooner they accept it the better it is for them. However, at the same time, he realizes the fact that the human beings are reluctant to accept these notions and this is perhaps one of the major reasons for the dread that they have for these concepts.   

The theme of happiness and sadness is another important one with which the work under discussion here is redolent with. For example, in the early parts of the work it is seen that Ivan tries to gain happiness by indulging in the frivolities of the modern society thinking that it would make him happy. However, in the words of Tolstoy he soon realizes the fact that “Happiness is an allegory whereas sadness is a story” (Leon 98). This aspect of his becomes manifested during the time of his illness which ultimately leads to his death. It is pertinent to note that the ultimate sadness comes to him when he realizes the fact that the only real thing in life is death. In this context, his words “Always the same. Now a spark of hope flashes up, then a sea of despair rages, and always pain…present it would be still worse” are important to note (Tolstoy 72). More importantly, even before his illness sadness forms an integral part of his life because of his dissatisfaction with his personal as well as professional life. Furthermore, the author utilizes the theme of health and illness in conjugation with the themes of life and death, happiness and sadness and others. The process of conjugation of themes is being used to the author to not only render effectiveness to the work but also to make the meaning more clear (Leon 87).  

To conclude, the modern literary works unlike the earlier works use a plethora of theme to convey the meaning of the stories in a much effective manner. In the particular context of Tolstoy’s “The Death of Ivan Ilych” it can be said that the author takes the help of a plethora of themes like life and death, health and sickness, happiness and sadness and others to drive home the notion of death to the readers. More importantly, it is seen that these themes are being used by the author to shed light on the inner as well as the outer life of Ivan, the protagonist of the work.

References

Cameron, Sharon. The Bond of the Furthest Apart: Essays on Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Bresson, and Kafka. University of Chicago Press, 2017.

Cicovacki, Predrag. Dostoevsky and the Affirmation of Life. Routledge, 2017.

Kundu, Devaleena. “The paradox of mortality: Death and perpetual denial.” Death representations in literature: Forms and theories, ed. Adriana Teodorescu (2015): 8-23.

Leon, Derrick. Tolstoy: His life and work. Routledge, 2015.

Roberts, Peter, and Herner Saeverot. Education and the limits of reason: Reading Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and Nabokov. Routledge, 2017.

Tolstoy, Leo. The death of Ivan Ilyich and other stories. Random House, 2010.