The Death of Ivan Ilych: Reality Turning into an Eternal Fantasy

My text talk about the life of Ivan, and in the text I will present arguments to make my thesis more strong. Thesis: In the novella “The Death of Ivan Ilych”, in that novella, Tolstoy uses Ivan’s life to explore cultural and social issues. In the text The Death of Ivan Ilych, presents parts that reflect society in people's lives, in addition to reporting the culture. The culture of the novella is showed capitalism and the peoples liked only money and status. One example about this in the novella is:Well, he's dead but I'm alive. According this part, we can to perceive that people only think themselves, and did not care what was happening, and this part show the capitalism, because he wanted only some things, for example: status and money.. One part in the text talk about the death, first Ivan had fear to die, but the family, friend and the doctors were calming him. Ivan did not enjoy the life, because he did not stay with his family and friends, he only thought about what society was thinking, he did not really love his wife, he just married because the society accepted. Other example about this is :To say that Ivan Ilyich married because he fell in love with Praskovya Fedorovna and found that she sympathized with his views of life would be as incorrect as to say that he married because his social circle approved of the match. He was swayed by both these considerations: the marriage gave him personal satisfaction, and at the same time it was considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates. In this part shows how Ivan’s marriage was false, because he married with Praskovya Fedorovna for the society was approved, the love they both had was not for real. When Ivan most needed her, she did not help him, and he lied to him and said he was fine.

Ivan had a friend whom he considered very much, and thought that the friendship with him was true, they were friend since they were little, his name was Peter. Peter instead of being saddened by the death of his great friend Ivan, Peter saw that was a good chance for his brother-in-law, because he would take Ivan’s job, Peter told his wife a good opportunity for his brother-in-law. One example about this is: 'Now I must apply for my brother-in-law's transfer from Kaluga,' thought Peter Ivanovich. 'My wife will be very glad, and then she won't be able to say that I never do anything for her relations.' This part are very good to understand a relationship Ivan had with Peter. Ivan was not a good person, as he chose his friend by ranking, gave more priority to those who were in high society, and those were not, he did not priority. Analyzing the paragraph, we conclude that Peter was not a true friend of Ivan and that Ivan did not truly love his friends.

In the text Ivan had one employee, his name was Gerasim, he loves Ivan, Gerasim was a good person, he help Ivan in some parts in the story, and he was honest, had empathy and had a good heart. While everyone lied saying that Ivan will be fine, Gerasim was the only true and said that Ivan was actually very bad. One example about Gerasim: Only Gerasim recognized it and pitied him. And so Ivan Ilyich felt at ease only with him. He felt comforted when Gerasim supported his legs (sometimes all night long) and refused to go to bed, saying: 'Don't you worry, Ivan Ilyich. I'll get sleep enough later on,' or when he suddenly became familiar and exclaimed: 'If you weren't sick it would be another matter, but as it is, why should I grudge a little trouble?' Gerasim alone did not lie; everything showed that he alone.

According the text Gerasim helped Ivan a lot, but Ivan was nervous about him, because Gerasim was telling the truth, and the truth was that Ivan was going to die. Ivan had two children, a girl and a boy, his son was more obedient and liked his father, but his daughter did not obeyed and did not like him. The name of his child is Vladimir. One example in the text show the love that Ivan had with his son Vladimir. His son had always seemed pathetic to him, and now it was dreadful to see the boy's frightened look of pity. It seemed to Ivan Ilyich that Vasya was the only one besides Gerasim who understood and pitied him.They all sat down and again asked how he was. In this part we can analyzing, how Ivan loved his son, Ivan compared Vladimir that Gerasim, because are two peoples that he loved very much, and that he trusted, as he says in the text, are the only people he loved and that he felt that he also loved him.

We can conclude the text is very good, I really like the text, because the text is very exciting.My thesis : In the novella “The Death of Ivan Ilych”, in that novella, Tolstoy uses Ivan’s life to explore cultural and social issues. The text passes a very important lesson, that people should not not only think about money, status, and society, because the more you need help, money, status and society, don´t help you, so give value to your family, and true friends, as they really care about you.