Garrett Brown
Erika Bein
English 102
15 March 2010
“The Death of Ivan Ilych”
The main character in this story is Ivan, a hardworking official of sorts. The story starts at the end as his colleagues hear the news of Ivan’s death. They seem to care about who will get his position more than their friends funeral. Then it shows family and friends at the funeral service. Ivan’s wife strikes a conversation with peter, who is a close friend and colleague of Ivan, and she brings up the subject of how she can get the most out of her pension from Ivan’s death. Tolstoy explains, “She knew how much could be got of the government in consequence of her husband’s death (Tolstoy 43).” At this point I see that his wife doesn’t love him like she obviously should because all she can think about is money at her husband’s funeral.
After the first chapter the story actually starts from the beginning from back when Ivan was healthy. He has a great job and decides to marry his wife. It almost seems as if he only married her because it would look good to his superiors. He comes off as the type that puts his work before everything and keeps his personal life from affecting his performance. He is mainly focused on his job and being a part of the higher class of people. He enjoys having this higher social statues and will except nothing less. He also discovers his new past time which is bridge.
Ivan doesn’t get promoted for a job he wanted so he looks elsewhere for a better job and when he finds one he also buys a nicer house in another city. While hanging drapes in the new house he slips off the ladder and hits his head on the window sill. He feels fine for awhile but soon he starts to feel discomfort on his head and a weird taste in his mouth. During this he and his wife get into arguments a lot. He finally sees a doctor who tells him he probably has appendicitis. Still feeling depressed he tries to tell his wife the news but during their conversation his daughter walks in and her and his wife hardly hear what he has to say as they leave to get ready to go out for awhile. Tolstoy explains, “She sat down reluctantly to listen to his tedious story (Tolstoy 59).” It seems like now his daughter acts a lot like his wife in the sense that when his health starts to decline they don’t even care or want to hear what’s wrong with him. They either believe he will be just fine or they can’t even stand his attitude lately, either way Ivan himself knows that he is dying but needs someone’s support.
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Finally a man named Gerasim, who is the butler’s assistant, tends to Ivan like he is his nurse. Everything that Gerasim does comforts Ivan in a way that he hasn’t seen before. Tolstoy describes, “Gerasim did it all easily, willingly, simply, and with good nature that touched Ivan Ilyach (Tolstoy 70).” Ivan begins to feel happy and more at ease when Gerasim is around, he even asked Gerasim to hold his feet up and talk to him for awhile because of how good it makes him feel. He likes how Gerasim doesn’t act like he’s not dying but instead doesn’t even hide it and makes Ivan’s existence much more enjoyable for him. Unlike his wife and daughter who act as if they only care about themselves, Gerasim has the ability to make a special bond with this dying man and comforts as well as heals him at the same time. One scene his son Vasya sneaks into Ivan’s room when the rest of the family is in there. Ivan sees the look of fear on his sons face and realizes that his son understands the truth about what is happening to his father.
During all this, Ivan’s health begins to decline more and more. Nothing seems to make him happy anymore even his beloved bridge games. He starts having dreams about himself falling into a black sack but he cannot get all the way into it. He realizes that it has to do with death but still is unsure of it. As he gets closer and closer to death his wife separates herself more and Ivan’s only relief comes from Gerasim. In his last moment he is screaming uncontrollably and looks at his son and wife and feels sorry for them. In the middle of a sigh Ivan reaches out one last time before he dies. As a reader what I take away from this is that people that are dying should receive comfort and support from their loved ones because at times that person can feel very alone and depressed.
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Native Son & Black Boy 1. The point of view of this novel would be third-person narrator, which is neither objective or omni cent; just all knowing. Throughout the novel the narrator sees through the eyes of bigger which in turn helps get a really good picture and description of the way the black community is. Due to this the white people are kind of poorly described because it is described as ...
