Ivan Ilyich, a member of the Court of Justice, faces death at young age of forty-five. When Ivan was informed that he was dying, it completely changed his views on life. Before his death sentence, Ivan was completely involved in his work, and did not make time for anything else, such as having any relationship with his family. As it says, "Ivan...[spent] less and less time with his family, and when obliged to be at home he tried to safeguard his position by the presence of outsiders..... The whole interest of his life now centered in the official world and that interest absorbed him" (Tolstoy 1194). It was not until the day that he injured himself, that his life started to take a different turn. When he finally went to see a doctor and was told that he was dying, he realized what his life was really about, and who his friends and colleagues really were. When Ivan's so-called friends were told about his death they all had the same reaction: They focused only on how they could benefit from this sad news, and did not think once to pity Ivan. Each, in his own wa

At the very end, Ivan learns a most important lesson: how to face death. He recognizes his own downfall in life, and unfortunately this recognition could only be attained through death. Ivan sees that nothing in his life was a source of true happiness, such as his need to move up in the social class, or his marriage which was a mere accident, that caused him more grief than happiness. All Ivan could say was: " It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up...I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me. And now it is all done and there is only death" (Tolstoy 1217). Over the next couple of weeks, until Ivan was really on his deathbed, all he could think about was how he lived his life, and how he should have lived his life. The very last day of Ivan's life he came to the conclusion that he could still rectify everything that he had done incorrectly. He started to feel sorry for all those around him, and asked for forgiveness. This was the first time that instead of death Ivan Ilyich saw light.

Ivan could no longer just sit back and ignore his illness, because the pain was too strong. This helped him realize that he really was dying, and this time he could not ignore his death. As it says, "and he could no longer forget It, but could distinctly see it looking at him from behind the flowers...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" (Tolstoy 1208).

y, was thinking that he could now have Ivans' position in the court. Besides these considerations, the fact that one of their colleagues had died brought up the thought, "it is he who is dead and not I" (Tolstoy 1185). One of the few colleagues mentioned that went to Ivan's funeral was Peter Ivonovich. When Peter views Iva

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1251
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)