Sunday, April 27, 2014

A matter of life and death

I read the last pages of The Death of Ivan Ilych with a skeptical feeling taking over, more and more intensely every line I read. After almost a semester of attempting to understand Tolstoy better, I feel that I can read into what he was getting at in his writing fairly easily. In the story of Ivan Ilych, the same themes that are present into his previous works appear: doctors are useless, society life goes hand in hand with falsity, and death is a chance for revival ( maybe? - I am questioning this still).

However, I just could not buy into this wonderful death of Ivan Ilych. I understand that Tolstoy tried to emphasize that the spiritual trumps the physical and unless one understands that, they are not able to die. Accepting death comes with an understanding that one is headed towards a better world, an acceptance of light and what comes next. Andrew went through this process when he died and now we see similar thought-processes in Ivan Ilych. It seems to me though, that Tolstoy is using a cliche statement about what death is supposed to mean and be like. It sort of feels like a cop-out. The ending of this story does not do justice to the Christian ideals ( which I believe are close to Tolstoy's ideas) where you need to lead a good, meaningful life to be able to walk into the light and it offers a simplistic, idealized view of death. While the pain and real sufferings of Ivan are painted in a grotesque light, his final revelation does not make any sense to me. I refuse to believe that death could be as plain as Tolstoy describes it.

One of my favorite Romanian novels ( Adam and Eve by Liviu Rebreanu) is made up of multiple stories that make up a larger story. It is based on the idea that one keeps reliving one's life until they meet and are able to be with their soulmate. It walks the reader through the ancient ages all the way to modern (WW2) Romania, where the protagonists meet, have a romantic encounter although they are engaged to other people and when death arrives for the man in the couple, this is a different kind of death, that leads him to a different universe. While this story is very romantic, the variety of deaths that we see in this books have nothing to do with final revelations and perfect endings achieved upon first attempt. It presumes that the soul learns through a variety of lives and is able to move towards the final light once it has an existence that satisfies the need for love - not after a life lived in falsity, with no meaning until 3 days before death.

I might be a little over Tolstoy's tendency to turn everything into a revelation, to connect everything to a higher meaning in near-death moments. What do you think? Are you satisfied with Ivan's death or is it too Tolstoyan?

5 comments:

  1. I am definitely with you on this, Iulia. It just doesn't seem that Ivan Ilychs death can really justify his life, like he was trying at least somewhat to excuse himself for how he lived. This also makes me think of the way people, particularly some Christians, are very focused and concerned about their death and the afterlife, almost more than doing their best with the life they have. I'm not sure Tolstoy necessarily thought that way, but he was becoming religious at this point and he might have seen life and death through that sort of lens.
    Tolstoy also tends to employ epiphanies in general a fair amount so that's part of it.

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  2. I completely understand what Alex and Iulia are saying and I think you both make a great point about Tolstoy's use of epiphany as well as the importance of finding meaning and goodness while living life rather than awaiting death.....but I still love this story and the ending! I think that whether we would like to admit it or not, there is a bit of Ivan Ilych in each of us-after all, he was a perfectly ordinary person and I think that is why readers might be so frustrated with him: we recognize our own flaws in his character. I also believe that the narrative concerning public mentality surrounding death is still very relevant today; there is so much denial and fear among family members and doctors alike, which makes it all the more difficult for the person who is actually dying. Ivan's death is so wonderful because in his death he has agency for he first time; he frees himself and his family of suffering.

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    1. Alosha - I like the perspective you have on the story! It is true we can all relate to parts of Ivan's story, which makes it hard to evaluate him from the distance. Still, while I like the argument that he has agency in his death for the first time, I don't know if that is enough for him to step into the light? My problem with the ending of the story is that it kind of implies that no matter what you do in life, at the very end you will find peace even if it is 2 hours before your death. I am definitely not as obsessed with this idea as Tolstoy was, and I do want to believe that it is true that each and every one of us will accept death before we have to die, but what if that's not true?

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  3. I'm also tempted to take a more positive view of the story, if not of Ivan's final "revelation". I think the criticism of Ivan's life is brilliant; the line "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible" in particular seems incredibly incisive. One of Tolstoy's main points seems to be that even a person lauded by society as "successful," "correct," etc., may lead a completely hollow life; in that respect I think it's a pretty moving story, especially given that the natural question for the reader upon finishing the story is "How does my life compare with Ivan's?"

    As for Ivan's death, while his final "revelation" definitely seems kind of overly optimistic, I think that Tolstoy might not be making such a wild supposition in supposing that death might some people to certain kinds of introspection. I think Iulia and Alex definitely make good points in pointing out the high frequency of these deathbed epiphanies in Tolstoy's works and the Christian lens with which Tolstoy might well have viewed death as he wrote the novella.

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    1. What I would add to the first part of your argument is that what society thinks is usually criticized by Tolstoy in one way or another. I feel that whatever is respected by society, Tolstoy sees as shallow and unimportant.

      The fact that you brought society into discussion made me think of something else. Remember Lise and Helene? We didn't see their deaths closely ( as we know, Tolstoy wasn't very good as showing us a woman's mind prior to Anna Karenina) but we know about Lise's death that she was not meant to die so young and that Andrew feels guilty and her face is like a punishment for him. These women were described as shallow members of society ( although Lise was far more decent than Helene). How do you think their deaths compare to Ivan's? Did they have an epiphany or did they just die? Also, Anna was not ready to die and she had second thoughts about her suicide. I just think Tolstoy is being unfair in giving men the right to see the light before they die and the capacity for introspection, while women lack insight. I am not necessarily making the gender argument here though - my larger issue is with finding peace before death - if that is always what happens or not and if so, why do some characters get it and others don't.

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