We Feel Sorry For Him

Blog Starter # 3

After reading the Death of Ivan Ilych,” I began to wonder why I “sided” with Ivan throughout the novel. Here was a man who was motivated by power, money, and work and only cared about promotions and advances within the work place. We see the pettiness and corruption that Ivan has in his life. However, Tolstoy’s use of characterization and his organization of the story allows the reader to quickly understand the society that Ivan grows up in and much about Ivan himself. Thus, the reader seemingly begins to feel compassionate and sympathetic for a man who was plagued by the world he grew up in: a world where death is never faced, where materialism dominates his social stratum, and where true friends and companions are virtually non-existent.

Within the first few pages of the text, the reader already begins to see the non-emotional, money-oriented world in which Ivan grew up. Ivan’s funeral was seen as a place where business deals could be set, not a place of mourning for the death of a loved one. His wife was introduced to the reader by her being overly concerned with the money she would make off of Ivan, and his “friends” were introduced as colleagues and aquantainces. Likewise, death is not embraced in this society. Death was seen as something that “happens to him and not me” (282). Interestingly, because Tolstoy sets up his novel by explaining Ivan’s harsh and impersonal world, the reader subconsciously begins to side with him. As readers, we want to support a sad man who lacks support networks and love. This is why Tolstoy’s organization of the novel was crucial to its effectiveness. If Tolstoy had started off explaining how Ivan always worked, believed everyone was in his power, and became disengaged with his family life, the reader would Ivan as a corrupt, dirty businessman. However, Tolstoy was able to have the reader understand Ivan’s situation and society by first explaining the world around him. Thus, we understand why the focus of Ivan’s life was centered around the “official world”: the other areas of his life were suffering; likewise, he overcompensated by working more often and finding something he was good at to focus on.

Because the reader already feels sorry for Ivan within the first few sections of the novel, the next parts of the book make us more compassionate and sorrowful for this silenced man who is slowly dying. Ivan’s wife views his illness as an “annoyance” (298) and the doctor treats him as if he is defined by his symptoms. Again, Tolstoy is characterizing the situation around Ivan so the reader is able to understand why he has “bursts of temper” and is angered by the situation. If Tolstoy had merely said that Ivan was frustrated and angry that he was not getting better, the reader might have viewed Ivan as being unfair to those around him because it was not their fault that he was ill. However, Tolstoy is able to show why Ivan feels the way he does: he lacks care, support, and love in a time when he needs it most. His lack of a balanced, loveable support system is seen when Tolstoy stated, “what most tormented Ivan Ilych was that no one pitied him as he wished to be pitied” (306). How can we criticize a man who every day has “a spark of hope, a sea of despair, and pain [that always returns]? (307)

Likewise, Tolstoy is not criticizing Ivan but rather criticizing Ivan's society. Tolstoy uses Ivan as a figure to mock and condemn the artificiality and “fake” world that these people grow up in. He shows that this unbalanced world where friendships are non-existent is doomed for trouble. How can a society with no moral backbone, no balance, and no true care exist? I believe that Tolstoy’s answer is that it cannot. There can be people who care—such as Geraism—but if a society as a whole is not supportive and has artificial values, it cannot truly survive. We almost see Ivan’s breakdown as a symbol for the breakdown of the society. As Ivan gets extremely ill and silently enraged, we see the society continue to have no real relationships and no real care. Tolstoy’s ability to address the negativity in materialistic world is successful through the organization of the novel and characterization of Ivan and those around him.

(750 words)