61 pages • 2 hours read
Leo TolstoyA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
“So on receiving the news of Ivan Ilyich’s death the first thought of each of the gentlemen in that private room was of the changes and promotions it might occasion among themselves or their acquaintances.”
Ivan Ilyich’s death comes as somewhat of a surprise to his colleagues, which means—given the fact that he was severely ill for weeks—they did not know, or care much, that his condition was serious. Tolstoy highlights their selfishness: Each colleague thinks immediately about potential promotions and career movement. Ivan Ilyich also had this selfish mindset, gaining professionally from the departures and deaths of others.
“Besides this there was in that expression a reproach and a warning to the living. This warning seemed to Peter Ivanovich out of place, or at least not applicable to him.”
Peter Ivanovich sees Ivan Ilyich’s death as “an accident natural to Ivan Ilyich but certainly not to himself” (253). His reaction is typical, as Ivan Ilyich’s death prompts mostly self-preservationist thoughts like, “Well, he’s dead but I’m alive” (248). Peter Ivanovich is no more self-centered than Ivan Ilyich or anyone else in his circle—shallow people who believe that moving through life only on the surface makes death is not applicable to them.
“He felt that Schwartz was above all these happenings and would not surrender to any depressing influences.”
Another of Ivan Ilyich’s colleagues to attend the funeral, Schwartz is preoccupied with the evening’s card game. Unlike the deceased, Schwartz is “playful, well-groomed, and elegant” (250). However, just like Ivan Ilyich, Schwartz remains above depressing influences and moves forward purely with self-interest.
“She stopped weeping and, looking at Peter Ivanovich with the air of a victim, remarked in French that it was very hard for her.”
Praskovya Fedorovna has long since given up on having a meaningful relationship with her husband. Most of their marriage was purely a business transaction, as he was unable to emotionally connect. At his funeral, she is primarily worried about her income going forward. Tolstoy describes her with markers of the educated upper and striving middle classes: She peppers her speech with French phrases and hopes for a suitable match for her daughter.
“It’s God’s will. We shall all come to it some day.”
Gerasim stands out as a character with a different take on death. He trusts in God’s will and does not avoid the topic of death. Unlike so many characters who struggle with thoughts of their own mortality, Gerasim accepts that each human life will end.
“Ivan Ilyich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.”
Tolstoy tells readers early in the story that Ivan Ilyich has not lived well. Tolstoy is not criticizing simplicity—Ivan Ilyich’s simple childhood pleasures are examples of true happiness and personal connection. The terribleness of Ivan Ilyich’s life stems from his shallowness, his dedication to keeping up appearances above all else. He is obsessed with status and social position, and it is this materialism that Tolstoy scorns.
“So Ivan Ilyich got married.”
Like steps in his career, Ivan Ilyich’s marriage is only a step forward in life’s progression, but nothing more. Marriage was an expected step for a man of his social and economic standing, and Praskovya Fedorovna is a fine enough choice. Their marriage lacks significant personal connection and quickly deteriorates after the deaths of three of their children, and Ivan Ilyich intentionally pulls himself further from his family and home life.
“In the country, without his work, he experienced ennui for the first time in his life, and not only ennui but intolerable depression, and he decided that it was impossible to go on living like that, and that it was necessary to take energetic measures.”
Ennui is a feeling of listless dissatisfaction often associated with lack of meaningful vocation. For most of his life, Ivan Ilyich has been moving both professionally and geographically, constantly making a change as he climbs social and professional ladders. Facing intense disappointment, he faces the emptiness of his work for the first time.
“He was no longer bent on any particular department, or tendency, or kind of activity.”
Ivan Ilyich’s frustration over being passed over for promotion pushes him to focus on two things: standing and salary. The work itself does not matter, only that each subsequent position elevates him and pays significantly more. This highlights the protagonist’s priorities, as he bases much of his life on pursing only professional standing and social admiration.
“She began to wish he would die; yet she did not want him to die because then his salary would cease. And this irritated her against him even more.”
Praskovya Fedorovna now only values her husband for his financial resources. She cannot sympathize with Ivan Ilyich’s suffering—just as he could not sympathize with her earlier trauma—and now only resents the inconvenience he causes her. It is in large part this trauma—the deaths of three of their children—that Ivan Ilyich will pity his wife for when he has a moment of epiphany and empathy just before he takes his last breath.
“To Ivan Ilyich only one question was important: was his case serious or not? But the doctor ignored that inappropriate question.”
Whether Ivan Ilyich’s illness is serious is actually the question of whether he will soon die—but the doctors who treat him do not want to face existential dilemmas and instead focus on concrete diagnoses. Every character except Ivan Ilyich and Gerasim avoids the subject of death, much like Ivan Ilyich himself avoided the tragedy of death in his household earlier in his life by escaping to work. Now, however, Ivan Ilyich must face the knowledge of his fate and its associated realizations alone.
“They had supper and went away, and Ivan Ilyich was left alone with the consciousness that his life was poisoned and was poisoning the lives of others, and that this poison did not weaken but penetrated more and more deeply into his whole being.”
Ivan Ilyich and his card-playing friends see that his health is failing, but everyone avoids paying attention to the seriousness of his situation. Ivan Ilyich’s noticeable mistakes make him self-conscious, feeling as though he must prove he is neither sick nor tired. Ivan Ilyich does not want to acknowledge in front of others how badly his health is suffering and tries to push through as though nothing is wrong. Whatever tenuous and shallow friendship he had with these people suffers from the lack of open acknowledgment of his impending death.
“It’s all the same to them, but they will die too! Fools!”
Ivan Ilyich is like everyone else around him. They all only focus on professional promotion and economic gain, unaware that their misplaced priorities will leave them suffering rather than satisfied at the end of life. Only Ivan Ilyich has the chance to see the selfish foolishness of his values.
“In the depth of his heart he knew he was dying, but not only was he unaccustomed to the thought, he simply did not and could not grasp it.”
Ivan Ilyich cannot accept his impending death. His usual approach to emotional discomfort is to escape to work, but now that he cannot leave his bed, he must come to terms with death’s inevitability.
“He would go to his study, lie down, and again be alone with It: face to face with It. And nothing could be done with It except to look at it and shudder.”
It is left undefined, though it is clearly some kind of existential dread. This parallels Tolstoy’s approach to religion, rejecting formal worship (which leads to rote performative actions like Peter Ivanovich’s meaningless sign of the cross at Ivan Ilyich’s funeral) and arguing that individuals should instead seek personal connection to Christianity.
“Don’t trouble about that, sir. There’s plenty of time.”
Unlike the people in Ivan Ilyich’s social and professional circles, Gerasim is selfless, unconcerned with social standing, and accepting of death. He unquestioningly stops doing chores to help Ivan Ilyich feel better. He understands that making a fellow person feel more comfortable in their dying days is more important than escaping the emotional discomfort of confronting mortality.
“What tormented Ivan Ilyich most was the deception, the lie, which for some reason they all accepted, that he was not dying but was simply ill, and that he only need keep quiet and undergo a treatment and then something very good would result.”
With the exception of Gerasim, everyone around Ivan Ilyich refuses to accept or acknowledge that Ivan Ilyich is dying, performing the same avoidance that Ivan Ilyich did when he refused to comfort his wife and live through family traumas. Ivan Ilyich, though, now facing the knowledge of his own unavoidable death, begins to see the emptiness in the actions of those around him.
“He hates her with his whole soul. And the thrill of hatred he feels for her makes him suffer from her touch.”
The relationship between Ivan Ilyich and Praskovya Fedorovna deteriorates as his health declines. Their misery and resentment for one another grows, Praskovya Fedorovna hating Ivan Ilyich for the inconvenience his death is causing, and Ivan Ilyich hating her for her transparently false appearances. Ivan Ilyich’s outlook changes to one of pity, though, when he experiences the physical touch of his son and realizes there can be joy at the end of life.
“He was frightened yet wanted to fall through the sack, he struggled but yet co-operated. And suddenly he broke through, fell, and regained consciousness.”
Ivan Ilyich’s dream of the black sack symbolizes his struggle to accept his fate. He fears its darkness, yet finds freedom and consciousness when he reaches its end, where he finds a kind of freedom. This foreshadows the light Ivan Ilyich will find at the end of his life. Instead of death leading to eternal darkness, Ivan Ilyich will experience a breakthrough leading him to light.
“Life, a series of increasing sufferings, flies further and further towards its end—the most terrible suffering.”
When Ivan Ilyich focuses on material success, he is heading in the wrong direction. Throughout his adult life, he has focused on moving upward in his career and in society. That focus now brings him terrible, lonely suffering.
“It’s as if we were to blame! I am sorry for papa, but why should we suffer?”
Just as Ivan Ilyich refused to be emotionally involved with his children, so too his daughter Lisa now refuses to empathize with him in death; instead, she sees herself as a victim of his illness.
“What if my whole life has been wrong?”
At this critical point for Ivan Ilyich, he finally stops avoiding the question of whether he has lived right. Ivan Ilyich has always insisted that he lived right because he lived to society’s standards. But now, he finally considers the possibility that caring only about those standards has led him astray.
“He tried to defend all those things to himself and suddenly felt the weakness of what he was defending. There was nothing to defend.”
Ivan Ilyich’s physical deterioration is drawn out, and so is his change in perspective. At first, he cannot consider that he might have lived incorrectly. He experiences a gradual change in perspective as he gets closer to death.
“When the priest came and heard his confession, Ivan Ilyich 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. He again began to think of the vermiform appendix and the possibility of correcting it.”
Ivan Ilyich has a brief moment of hope that perhaps he could recover and live again. This hope is misplaced, though. Ivan Ilyich misses the deeper meaning and connection of the sacrament, and Tolstoy reminds us that the time to amend our lives is now, since later, we might not get the chance.
“At that very moment Ivan Ilyich fell through and caught sight of the light, and it was revealed to him that though his life had not been what it should have been, this could still be rectified.”
When Ivan Ilyich’s hand falls upon Vasya’s head, he experiences a moment of clarity and a sudden empathetic epiphany. The physical connection with another person brings him joy in his final moments of life. But it is too late to forge relationships—Ivan Ilyich is unable to express this joy to his family. Still, Tolstoy leaves readers with hope. Even the most shallow, self-centered life can end in enlightenment, given time to reconsider.
By Leo Tolstoy