Human experiences can be both unique and universal. How does studying your prescribed text deepen your understanding of this notion?
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (published in 1886) is a novella published by a luminary of Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy, largely deals with what he sees as the primary peril of human existence; death. Tolstoy uses a mix of omniscient third person and first person reflections primarily from Ilyich’s point of view to examine the melancholic elements surrounding our very own reason for existence. The novella has some connectivity from an earlier philosophical autobiographic publication by Tolstoy dealing with the same subject matter, A Confession (1882). However, Tolstoy uses Ilyich to convey the notion that even though death is a universal endpoint to human existence, the way one approaches it varies markedly.
Ilyich is presented at the beginning of the novella as a judge in Russia in the late 19th century who has just passed away. Those who have been informed of his death do not in any way reflect on their own mortality: "it is he who is dead and not I”, nor do they take this moment to review the purpose and value of their life. In fact his colleagues, friends and family do not genuinely grieve for Ilyich’s passing; some instead express the inconvenience as a card game awaits, others begin to ruminate on how Ilyich’s death may benefit their careers, or speculate on how they will profit financially. Some just silently bubble with angst purely noting his death in terms of how they must travel an extraordinary distance to pay their respects to Ilyich’s widow. In A Confession, Tolstoy declares that, in his opinion, it is this contemptuous group of people who believe they are entitled to dominate life’s landscape. With Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy opines that such vacuous emotional responses to the news of his expiration is fairly much a typical of the self-absorbed attitude practiced amongst the materialistic obsessed bourgeoisie. Even Ilyich’s wife only pretends to mourn: “She again took out her handkerchief as if preparing to cry”. Instead her primary focus is on how much her husband’s grave will cost and as to whether she would be able to get more from his pension. Tolstoy is savage in satarising this crass greed and self absorption. The only group that Tolstoy acknowledges as noble and sincere when facing death is the peasantry as represented by Gerasim whose religious faith presents an authentic acceptance of death: "It's God's will. We shall all come to it someday", juxtaposing Peter Ivanovich’s view towards Ivan Ilyich's death, “as though death was an accident natural to Ivan Ilyich but certainly not to himself.” It is Ilyich’s stoic servant who genuinely attempts to comfort him physically and spiritually during the painful episodes leading to Ilyich’s death. Metaphorically, Ilyich is used as a tool to expose the insincerity which saturates the meaningless lives of his class. But, unlike his peers, Ilyich is eventually able to disassemble the artificiality of his life and salvage his soul by seeing death not as black abyss to ‘nothingness’; he realises there is an intense bright light that offers warmth and comfort. With that, all the accumulated anger, resentment and bitterness leaves him. He is suddenly filled with love for his family and experiences an overwhelming sense of joy moments prior to his last breath. Thus even though the novella was written some one hundred and twenty five years ago, it still continues to ask us to reflect on the authenticity of our lives and how to create sustained meaningfulness prior to death.
