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Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych (1886) “Ivan’s
life had been most simple and commonplace—and most horrifying.” (Chapter Two) Historical
Context: In
the spring of 1874 the Narodnik intelligentsia left
the cities for the villages, "going to the people", attempting to
teach the peasantry their moral imperative to revolt. They found almost no
support. The
Imperial secret police responded to the Narodniks'
attempt with repression: revolutionaries and their peasant sympathizers were
beaten, imprisoned and exiled. In 1877, the Narodniks
revolted with the support of thousands of peasants. The revolt however was
swiftly and brutally crushed. In
response to this repression Russia's first organized revolutionary party
formed: Narodnaya Volya
("People's Will"). It favored secret society-led terrorism,
justified “as a means of exerting pressure on the government for reform, as
the spark that would ignite a vast peasant uprising, and as the inevitable
response to the regime's use of violence against the revolutionaries”. 1874:
Land and Liberty forms. 1879
August: Land and Liberty splits into
the moderate Black Repartition and the radical terrorist group People's Will.
1881
10 March: Alexander II assassinated by
Ignacy Hryniewiecki of
the People's Will. His son, Alexander III, becomes tsar. 1882
3 May: Alexander III introduces the
May Laws, which expel Russian Jews from rural areas and small towns and
severely restricted their access to education. 1894
1 November: Alexander III dies. His son Nicholas II succeeded him as tsar. 1898
1 March: The Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) holds its
first Party Congress. 1886:
Tolstoy is fifty-eight years of age (he would live another twenty-four
years): we are after War and Peace,
after Anna Karenina, The Death of Ivan Ilych
was his first published work after his conversion to Orthodoxy and a decade
long immersion in theological reflection and writing. During these years
Tolstoy deliberately avoided writing fiction. (Interestingly, Tolstoy would
be excommunicated from the Eastern Orthodox Church a few years later.) The
style of The Death of Ivan Ilych stands in stark contrast to his earlier
fiction. The miracle of Tolstoy’s great novels is in the way they generate a
sense of real time passing. Reading Anna
Karenina, you feel as if in the presence of living, breathing people amid
the dense detail and complicated circumstances of reality. The Death of Ivan Ilych distills
experience down to its essentials. Tolstoy is deliberately writing a parable,
shorn of details of time and place. This story can be read on many different
levels and can be usefully interpreted as a psychological study and as a
political statement. It
is also a masterful work of art built around one stunning insight into life.
Initially, we watch a man make choices which sap all the meaning from his
life. Amid all the material pleasures of career, family and society, Ivan’s
personal life possesses no substance. Then a miracle happens. He accidentally
injures himself, slipping from a ladder and bumping his side, hard—and he has
three months to live. Then. Gradually, through experiences of horror and
profound physical suffering, Ivan achieves birth into consciousness within
moments of his death. Tolstoy would argue that Ivan achieves salvation. Tolstoy’s
lesson? Without
consciousness of death, we lead lives devoid of any substance. Tolstoy, The Death of Ivan Ilych
(1886) Before
the chronicle of Ivan Ilych’s life, we learn what
it was worth and how it should be judged by observing the reaction of people
who knew him to the news of his death. [Irony is Tolstoy’s weapon against
vanity, and he is absolutely clear in his judgement of Ivan and his
colleagues, friends and family. Their predatory self-interest is only barely
concealed beneath the routine expressions of condolence.] The
announcement comes during
one of those respites from judicial lablor that
Ivan loved so much: people are smoking, drinking tea, talking office
politics—official appointments and the like… (35) What is the first reaction of his
colleagues? (35-37) Hey,
glad it’s not me, and then, “Hmmmm…..” What effect will Ivan’s death have on transfers
and appointments? How do the details Tolstoy reveals of
Ivan’s funeral and wake reflect the substance of Ivan’s life: its atmosphere,
values and modes of behavior? (37-46) 1.
friendship? His childhood
friend Peter Ivanovich is in a hurry to get to a whist game. (Ivan Ilych’s passion for cards… 2.
marriage? Ivan took
from his wife Praskovya Fyodorovna
only the conveniences of room and board, so she is now only concerned with
the monetary conveniences to be gained from his death. 3.
Why all the furniture? Tolstoy
dwells on descriptions of the furniture—the material commodities of Ivan’s
life are inventoried: the upholstered sofa in pink cretonne, the antique
clock, etc. All were more important to Ivan than the people in his life. 4.
Emotion? The
conventional expressions of sorrow precisely correlate to the actual emotions
Ivan felt in his own life. We know Ivan Ilych’s
life will be as shallow and impersonal as his friends’ and family’s
seeming sorrow. 5.
YET…. There is a thirteen year old boy crying beneath
the stairs, and there is a highly efficient servant briskly spreading
incense: “It’s God’s will, we shall
all come to it someday.” 6.
AND…. There is that
terrifying description of Ivan’s body.
[Quote 39] and there are the casual mentions of some of the harrowing details of his death:
[Quote 43] What
is Tolstoy up to?
·
Describe Ivan’s life as a student. ·
His first act after graduation? ·
Describe his life style during his early
career. ·
What about his new job does he find most
interesting? ·
What becomes the
love of his life? ·
Why does he marry his wife? ·
What causes Ivan’s marriage to go quickly awry? ·
How does he respond?
His new goal in life? ·
How does he respond to the deaths of his children?
·
What is the
most terrible thing that happens to Ivan (before his injury)? ·
How does he bounce back to his feet? ·
How does he decorate his new apartment in
the city? ·
How is he injured? ·
What is his first reaction to his injury? ·
Describe Ivan’s theory of propriety just before
his illness became acute. ·
What is the first indication of the gravity of his physical situation?
·
Describe the first stages in his descent: the taste in his mouth, his mood swings ·
How does the
doctor treat Ivan when he examines and diagnoses him? ·
What does Ivan do to try to get better? ·
Through it all, his body never lies to him even
when everyone is. What is his body
saying? [Quote 80] ·
How do his
wife and family respond to all of his ailments? ·
What happens to the great love of his life?
·
What is his brother-in-law’s reaction
when he sees Ivan? (85) ·
What does Ivan recognize? [Quote 88] ·
The moment comes when he could have confided with his wife, and he does not. Why?
[Quote 90-91]
·
As Ivan gradually comes to grips with the fact
that he is going to die, something completely unexpected happens: memories from his childhood—un-thought
of for years—start to recur in amazing clarity. What does he remember? ·
What is Tolstoy doing? ·
When does he realize that he can no longer work? ·
What should Ivan be doing? What is the best way to
die? ·
Then “It”
returns. “It” is not possible. “It” can’t be true. “It” is not happening….
But it is.
·
What are the effects of pain killers on Ivan’s suffering? ·
What does Ivan need instead? ·
What is the most humiliating aspect of
being sick for Ivan? ·
How does Gerasim
comfort him? ·
What is Gerasim’s attitude towards Ivan and his affliction?
(104) ·
What torments
Ivan the most about the way his family treats him?
·
How do the hours pass for someone who is
terminally ill? ·
Describe the boredom and unchanging routine of
illness. ·
What is the cruelest thing that the celebrated specialist can say
to Ivan? Why does he say it? ·
What is cruel
about the family’s visit to Ivan before they go to the theatre? ·
Who alone
understands what is happening to him?
·
How do pain killers like opium make matters worse for a terminally
ill patient? ·
Look at Ivan’s
prayer. (118) For
what does he wish? ·
What memories
come to him? ·
Why does he begin to think that he did not live a good life
even though he did everything he was supposed to do?
·
What answers
does Ivan receive to his prayers? Not health, but truth. ·
What reason
exists for his torment? [Quote 121] ·
What memories
flood him once he has accepted his pain? ·
How does he describe the way he understands the trajectory of his life now that
he is convinced that he will die?
·
How does Ivan respond to the news of his daughter’s engagement? ·
What moral
question tortures him? ·
How does he respond to his wife’s desire that he confess his sins? ·
Is Ivan’s pain relieved? (For how long) What is
Tolstoy’s point? What riddle must he solve?
·
Describe the final three days of Ivan’s life. ·
Instead of asking for repentance, what does he do? ·
How is Ivan’s soul saved? [Quote
132] |