The Death of Ivan Ilych Group at eNotes

Leo Tolstoy had a major religious conversion after writing Anna...

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 12:53:14 PST

Leo Tolstoy had a major religious conversion after writing Anna Karenina, and The Death of Ivan Ilych is his most famous after-conversion work. He converted to a kind of Buddhist, secularist version of Christianity in which he rejected Christ as the Son of God, rejected an afterlife, but believed in the practical teachings of Christ. In particular, he wanted to live the life of a Christian ascetic, so he renounced his earlier writings,...

From the short story, "The death of Ivan Ilych," what is your...

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 12:18:51 PST

From the short story, "The death of Ivan Ilych," what is your interpretations in the end of the novella?

In Tolstoy's great classic "The Death of Ivan Ilych," one of the things...

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 11:35:11 PST

In Tolstoy's great classic "The Death of Ivan Ilych," one of the things that Ivan reconciles at the end of his life is the way he has participated, or not participated, in his marriage. The narrator says that at the beginning the marriage had been fine and enjoyable. It changed when Praskovya became pregnant and moody (today we might say "hormonal" because science has discovered that women's hormones do strange emotional dances during times...

In this story Tolstoy is commenting on propriety and social pretense....

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 02:13:29 PST

In this story Tolstoy is commenting on propriety and social pretense. When Ivan did everything as he should have, it was true; but he did it for all the wrong reasons. In other words, he lived well but not "for himself" he did it in a fake way, just to conform. Even when he was decorating his new house and fell that was only decorating to make the place socially acceptable. He didn't actually choose the decorations because he liked them. He...

Remember, Ivan Ilych is an "Everyman." His name is like "John Smith"...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:13:57 PST

Remember, Ivan Ilych is an "Everyman." His name is like "John Smith" in English. He stands for all mankind universal. Later in the novella, when he's closer to death, he will have these two epiphanies: A. That all of his human relationships have occurred simply as institutional categories, rather than as genuine human connections. B. That he himself has been nothing more than an institutional category and is going to die...

Short story by Leo Tolstoy, "The Death of Ivan Ilych"

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:46:12 PST

Short story by Leo Tolstoy, "The Death of Ivan Ilych"

In "Death of Ivan Ilych" by Tolstoy, what is wrong with Ivan Ilych's...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:41:38 PST

In "Death of Ivan Ilych" by Tolstoy, what is wrong with Ivan Ilych's marriage?

In "The Death of Ivan Ilych," Ilych says, "'Maybe I did not live as I...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:38:17 PST

In "The Death of Ivan Ilych," Ilych says, "'Maybe I did not live as I ought to have done,' it suddenly occurred to him." Why does he say this?

The reason has to do with the way that the family interacts with each...

Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:49:52 PST

The reason has to do with the way that the family interacts with each other and how they are not emotional. They are distant and formal with each other. This is how Ivan Ilych has lived all his life, separate and emotionless from his family. The only thing that matters to him is how he looks socially, is he respectable, do people believe that he has money and is a respectable member of society. Can he get invited to the best parties,...

Why does it take so long for Ivan’s family to come to terms with the...

Thu, 8 Jan 2009 21:23:35 PST

Why does it take so long for Ivan’s family to come to terms with the fact that he is dying?

The main character Ivan Ilych is obsessed with propriety and...

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 11:48:20 PST

The main character Ivan Ilych is obsessed with propriety and formality. As a way of expressing this formality, the author uses the full names of the characters. This style prohibits the reader from getting too close to the characters, and keeps the reader at arms distance. It heightens the experience of being indifferent, cold and formal.The characters, even the family members have no genuine emotional ties; they are polite...

Why does Tolstoy use the full names of the characters throughout the...

Tue, 8 Jul 2008 10:51:10 PST

Why does Tolstoy use the full names of the characters throughout the entire novel "The Death of Ivan Ilych"?

"The second part of ‘‘The Death of Ivan Ilych’’ describes...

Tue, 1 Jul 2008 12:57:02 PST

"The second part of ‘‘The Death of Ivan Ilych’’ describes the life of Ivan Ilych while he was healthy. It can be summed up in the opening line, which states, ‘‘Ivan Ilych’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.’’ Ivan Ilych's life is simple because it is devoid of any real emotional connections or feelings. His life is driven by what is proper, by social order, by how things look to...

Chapter 2 starts off saying that Ivan's life was the most simplest, the...

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 20:29:44 PST

Chapter 2 starts off saying that Ivan's life was the most simplest, the most ordinary, and the most awful. Why is a simple life awful?

Ivan Illych has devoted his life to propriety, rising up the social...

Mon, 19 May 2008 14:07:32 PST

Ivan Illych has devoted his life to propriety, rising up the social ladder and having better material possessions and wealth. He is superficial and shallow, he is surrounded by the same type of people, even his family is formal and distant for the most part.When he gets hurt, falling as he tries to hang curtains, a silly, pointless exercise, his life is changed. He becomes a prisoner of pain and his thoughts about death. He is...

Growth through consciousness is extremely important in this book. A...

Sun, 18 May 2008 19:30:04 PST

Growth through consciousness is extremely important in this book. A prime example is Ilyich himself. He has much time to reflect on his life when he falls terminally ill and he realizes in the last days of his life that he has not lived the way he should have. He has filled his days with too much hate and loathing. He finally is able to take pity on his wife and others he despised and dies with this sense of peace, although he suffers...

In the book "The Death of Ivan Ilych," what is Tolstoy's...

Sun, 18 May 2008 19:06:40 PST

In the book "The Death of Ivan Ilych," what is Tolstoy's attitude towards growth in conciousness?

Ivan's life is dictated to him by social status. It is his biggest...

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 18:32:23 PST

Ivan's life is dictated to him by social status. It is his biggest shortcoming in his life. He lives by the moral code of the socialites his surrounds himself with. He believes that he must mimic their every move in order to truly belong and discover the meaning of life, it becomes his obsession. So he marries and buys a home with all the best things. None of these things make him happy, in fact they irritate him and he begins to hate his...

Analyze Ivan's character in depth. What drew him into such an empty...

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 16:51:04 PST

Analyze Ivan's character in depth. What drew him into such an empty life, and how did he finally find truth.

Ivan a judge in the high court with a child and a wife is found to be...

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 13:10:03 PST

Ivan a judge in the high court with a child and a wife is found to be living a good and simple life, or so he thought. He begins to feel sick and finds out that he is terminal. It is at this point that he is forced to contemplate his mortality and the life he has led up to this point. It is through the process of dying that Ivan suffers greatly both with pain and with the fact that he feels his suffering is so undeserved based on the life he...