The Death of
Ivan Ilyich
Introduction
“Life can only
be understood looking backward. It must be lived forward.”
(The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button, 2008)
Borrowing the
quotation from “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, better understanding can
be developed for the novel by Tolstoy, one of the greatest and most influential
Russian writers, to have a review of Ivan Illych’s whole life by looking
backward, and find the drives for our lives to live forward.
In this essay, Tolstoy’s text on “The Death of Ivan Ilych” will be
analyzed with the discussion about death and the meaning of life, and the
discussion will be extended from the viewpoint of an individual to the vitality
of a city so as to reflect the current society’s dying status.
Brief Summary
of the story
“The Death of
Ivan Ilych” takes place at the chronological end of the story.
And then it takes the audience to a few decades earlier to have a review of
Ivan Ilych’s life.
As described
by Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Illych is a diligent, obedient and so-called ordinary man.
Ivan is the very model of a modern middle-class man. He attained the classic
middle-class job: an official in the sprawling, faceless court bureaucracy of
St. Petersburg, in his case at the Court of Justice. (Shmoop Editorial Team,
2008) He does what he is supposed to do, lived up by the expectations of others
and the society, while he was not searching for any kind of truth. Therefore it
was described as the most ordinary but most terrible.
There are 12
chapters for the whole book. The first one is an introduction about the whole
text. Chapter 2 and 4 paints out the picture of Ivan Ilych’s childhood life,
from the development of his professional career in the court and his marriage,
to later his illness. He was a well-balanced boy in various aspects, after
attending the law schools he climbed up his career ladder step by step as a
legal official, and later he met his wife and get married without any feeling
of love. It is for a period of more than 40 years.
Starting from
Chapter 5, the development of the illness was presented, and the both the
psychological and physical stage of dying was described. It recounted from the
final declined and agonized death to the religious light.
Applying Kubler-Ross'
Five Stages of Dying, Ivan Ivan Ilych first wanted to escape from the worries
and further imagination from his denial and isolation stage.
In the depth of his heart he knew he was dying, but not only was he not
accustomed to the thought, he simply did not and could not grasp it. (6.2-3)
Ivan Ilych
entered the stage of anger, blaming the God for imposing this kind of misery
and pain to him, and expecting an answer from the desperate little hope.
"Why hast Thou done all this? Why hast Thou brought me here? Why,
why dost Thou torment me so terribly?" (9.10-12)
Then he
entered into a dialogue with the God, discussing the meaning of his life. And
Ivan Illych first realized that he may not have done anything meaningful during
his whole life.
By looking
back to his life, he entered into the stage of bargaining, in the way that he
was trying to defend his life as meaningful and fruitful.
“And his professional duties and the whole arrangement of his life and
of his family, and all his social and official interests, might all have been
false. He tried to defend all those things to himself and suddenly felt the
weakness of what he was defending. There was nothing to defend.”
However, he
failed to defend, and he is turned into a stage of depression.
“He shuddered, shifted himself, and tried to resist, but was already
aware that resistance wasimpossible, and again with eyes weary of gazing but
unable to cease seeing what was before them, he stared at the back of the sofa
and waited -- awaiting that dreadful fall and shock and destruction.”
Learning that
he was impossible to turn back and fight against the force, he could only wait
for the moment.
Finally, the
stage of acceptance was reached, with his understanding of the inevitability of
death and confession accompanied with a sense of relief.
When the priest came and heard his confession, Ivan Ilych was softened
and seemed to feel a relief from his doubts and consequently from his
sufferings, and for a moment there came a ray of hope. (11.23)
"It is finished!" said someone near him. He heard these words
and repeated them in his soul.
"Death is finished," he said to himself. "It is no
more!" (12.13-14)
In the midst
of a sigh, and stretched out, the story ended.
Selected Text for detailed analysis
In order to
develop a more comprehensive understanding of Ivan Ilych, the text in Chapter 3
will be selected for detailed analysis, as it marked the toughest years of Ivan
Ilych. And through looking at the way Ivan Ilych handled the problems of
unpleasantness, his character of orderliness was further confirmed.
To begin
with, unpleasantness has followed Ivan Ilych into his official refuge.
“He was expecting to be offered the post of presiding judge in a
University town, but Happe somehow came to the front and obtained the
appointment instead.” (3.1)
And his
complaint only made matter worse. Therefore instead of confronting against the
injustice till the end, Ivan Ilych decided to seek a new position. And over the
period of searching and trialing, he has endured the pressure from his family,
but he lived without change.
“Ivan Ilych had unexpectedly obtained an appointment in his former
ministry which placed him two states above his former colleagues besides giving
him five thousand rubles salary and three thousand five hundred rubles for
expenses connected with his removal. All his ill humour towards his former
enemies and the whole department vanished, and Ivan Ilych was completely
happy.” (3.11)
From
the above text, the pattern of Ivan Ilych’s life is illustrated with his
carefree personality. Facing the injustice, he tried to complain, but soon
return back to his confort zone. After the sudden change of Ministry of Justice’s
administration, he restored the previous fortunate, and restored his original
life, without any change. As described in the text, it is “vanished” and he was
“completely happy”.
His
growing and voluntary isolation was illustrated in the way that he increasingly
ignored the drawbacks of his life and focus only on his ideal form of life.
“Everything progressed and progressed and approached the ideal he had
set himself: even when things were only half completed they exceeded his
expectations.” (3.12)
As described
in the text above, Ivan Ilych perceived that everything is good even if there
is any drawback. And in fact, Ivan’s official life resembles the pattern of his
life which is conducted under clear, simple and consistent rules. He repeated
the similar pattern of life day after day, from waking, going to the court and
returning home for guest or alone. As described in the text, this was neither
dull nor amusing.
In this
chapter, Ivan’s pleasure for ambition was also well-illustrated below.
“Ivan Ilych's chief pleasure was giving little dinners to which he
invited men and women of good social position, and just as his drawing-room
resembled all other drawing-rooms so did his enjoyable little parties resemble
all other such parties.” (3.20)
Also, the
argument with his wife intensified and further confirmed his isolation from his
unpleasantness.
It was a great and disagreeable quarrel. Praskovya Fedorovna called him
"a fool and an imbecile," and he clutched at his head and made angry
allusions to divorce. (3.21)
But the dance itself had been enjoyable. The best people were there, and
Ivan Ilych had danced with Princess Trufonova, a sister of thedistinguished
founder of the Society "Bear My Burden". (3.22)
From the
above text, the desire of attaining respectful social status is well-described.
Also, the argument with his wife intensified and further confirmed his
isolation from his unpleasantness. In some sense, the “Feelinglessness” of Ivan
Ilych can be seen through his indifference to various matters or problems, even
having a big quarrel with his wife, he soon could be recovered with other
little things. Following this analysis of his personality, more discussions
will turn to the meaning of death and life with the reference by the text.
Death and
meaning of life
What is the
meaning of life? Do we really know what we are really looking for in our life?
“The truth is, once you learn how to die, you learn
how to live.” (Mitch Albom, 1997)
Looking back
Ivan Illych’s life from his death, one of the most fundamental and practical
questions was sparked out in my mind, that’s about the true meaning of life, the
true goals in our life.
Even in this
day and age, Ivan Illych can be regarded as a so-called “role model” in our
society, in the way that he fulfilled the expectations of the external sectors
such as its family, the society and so on.
Even when he was at the School of Law he was just what he remained for
the rest of his life: a capable, cheerful, good-natured, and sociable man,
though strict in the fulfillment of what he considered to be his duty: and he
considered his duty to be what was so considered by those in authority. (2.4)
For a brief
summary over the past four decades of Ivan’s life, the following chronology is
organized:
1837 – Birth of Ivan Illych
1850s – Education in the School of Law
1859 – Graduation from the School of Law
1859 – 1864 – Stepping as an apprentice official for the government
1864 – Transfer and promotion to court investigator
1866 – Marriage to Praskovya Fyodorvna Mikhel
1867 – Birth of daughter, Liza; Promotion to prosecutor
1869 – Birth of son, Vasily
1880 – Change the work under the Ministry of Justice
Autumn 1881 – Consultations with doctors about the on-set of disease
January 1882 – Worsening heath
1 February 1882 – Beginning of the final agony
4 February 1882 – The death of Ivan Illich
In fact, Ivan’s
whole life is regarded as ordinary and unremarkable.
"Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and
therefore most terrible."(2.1)
Everything seemed
so smooth for most parts of his life, say, he graduated from the Law School and
found a relatively stable job, he got married and has son and daughter, he
attained social status with its occupation. In spite of some small obstacles
and unpleasantness, such as the failure for his marriage, he could respond it
by increasing the isolation from the source of discomfort, such as moving more
and more to his work. Overall speaking, everything seemed perfect and complete,
nevertheless, when death approached him suddenly and quietly, Ivan Ilych first
realized that his whole life is empty in just a few months.
“Without work, all life goes rotten. But when work is soulless, life
stifles and dies.”
(Albert Camus)
In face of
death, Ivan Ilych was forceless to change and return, but he could only wait
for what would inevitably come – death. And in some sense, may be death is the
only thing he has been waiting for in his whole life. Rethinking the nature of
life, the story of Ivan Ilych reminded the audience that apart from fulfilling
the social expectations, we should search for our own meaning in life, and
strike for the chosen goals before it is too late to regret, and not to only
wait for death.
Spiritual
Life and Physical Life
The death of
Ivan Ilych marked the end of the physical life of the character, but it also
marks the start of a spiritual life.
“True life is the appearance of consciousness outside the boundaries of
space and time. It always exists.”
(Leo Tolstoy, 1906)
From this
sentence on Leo Tolstoy’s writing on “Recognizing the Spiritual Principle”, the
faith that people would continue to grow spiritually up is well-illustrated. In
his view, death is merely a transition from life into death, from one form to
another form.
“I am dead – my spirit has stopped living in my body, but my real “I”,
my spirit, will continue to live in other beings who understand me.”
(Leo Tolstoy, 1910)
Similar to The Death of Ivan Ilych, the end of Ivan’s
physical form with the understanding of the true meaning of life is actually
just another start for his spiritual life.
He sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it.
"Where is it? What death?" There was no fear because there was no
death. In place of death there was light. (12.13-14)
In this
sense, he concludes that the soul is immortal, and the end of the physical life
is just another start in another place.
Extended
Discussion to the vitality of the city
“This city is dying, you know?” (When Heaven Burns, TVB 2011)
This popular
quotation of a local television drama series has grasped my attention on the
vitality of the city. Apart from taking death from an individual perspective,
it is worth discussing the vitality of a city, especially Hong Kong, where our
home lies.
To begin the
discussion, historical context of Ivan Illych should be studied in order to
develop a better understanding of the Russian city in Leo Tolstoy’s time. The
work was published in 1886, when is followed by the assassination of Alexander
II, a rather open-minded tsar who introduced the Emancipation of Serfs (1861)
and a series of modernization reforms. The successor Alexander III was
determined not to meet a similar fate of assassination. Therefore, the Tsar
undid the reforms, under that autocratic rule, the police-force and other civil
services were used to deal with those people opposed the laws and rules, even at
grass-roots level.
Back to the
work, with this historical understanding, the professional legal service
provided by Ivan Illych was mainly in the Alexander II era. But his attitude
towards life and his surroundings is actually dangerous, as the silence and the
obedience is not a driving force push the society forward, but also driving the
empire to the end of its rule in later stage, especially applying to Alexander
III’s autocratic rule. From Ivan Illych’s individual point of view, he was
making nothing out of his life. From a more macro-perspective, the gathering of
the nothingness and silence of each individual life is a destructive power to
the development of any place.
By analogy,
space is a practiced area, in the way that the street geometrically defined by
urban planning is transformed into a space by walkers. (De Certeau, Michel. 1984,
91-130) In this sense, the participation of civic members in the society is the
key for creation of values, and it is which Ivan Illych lacks.
“Individual, isolated cases of foolish personal insanity are not as
terrible as the widespread, organized, clever social insanity of our world”
(Leo Tolstoy, 1910)
Putting Ivan
Illych’s story to Hong Kong, ever-since the transfer of sovereignty from the
Great Britain to the mainland China in 1997, not only the promise of universal
suffrage has never achieved, but also there are obviously increasing
self-censorship, political penetrations in various forms, such as the corruption
of Hong Kong's electoral system by moving voters from its strongholds into
constituencies to swing the election result. Besides, the increasing level of
urban renewals and the annexations of property giants to the rural areas have
reduced the possibilities of the land-use of the city, and narrowed the
imagination of the citizens about our land. For
example, the removal of Queen Pier has de-constructed the local recognition and
blurred the developmental pattern of Hong Kong as a city, erasing the memory
and struggle of the people. (Herman Yau, 2009) Recently, the
penetrations even take place in local universities. For example, the over-use
of police force during HKU Centenary Celebration Ceremony on 18 August 2011,
the affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party in Student Unions and so on. All
these can be seen as a sign before the age of repression, and also a sign of
the contamination of the “One Country, Two Systems” promise.
Under the
current circumstance, there are many roles we may choose to play. We can choose
to be quiet like Ivan Illych, and we can choose to protest against the
unreasonable rule with various means. Despite the critics towards the “Post-Eighties”
for their so-called radical thoughts and behavior which destroys the social
stability and harmony, the critics can be reviewed in another angle by the
inspiration from Ivan Illych.
“The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of
beauty is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy,
it's indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, but indifference
between life and death.” (Elie Wiesel, 1986)
To Ivan
Illych, his indifference to his surroundings has made his life empty. To the
society, if everyone is acting like Ivan Illych, the diversity of voices, the
free flow of thoughts, and eventually the vitality of the city will be erased
and vanished, leading to the death of a city, and it is just like the quotation
of Leo Tolstoy, which is terrible.
To sum up
this part of discussion, it can be seen that the destructive power of indifference
is not only imposed on individual level, but also affects the vitality of the
community and the city.
Conclusion
Through the
narration of Ivan Illych horribly ordinary story, The Death of Ivan Illych is an insightful piece of work that not
only reminded the audience about the meaning of leading a true life, but also
provoked my thinking on the current society and the our role as an individual
in the society.
