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Summary and Analysis of Chapters 1-2
Chapter One: Summary: During an interval in a trial, several legal professionals converse in a private room. Fëdor Vasílievich and Iván Egórovich discuss a court case while Peter Ivánovich reads a newspaper. Their discussion takes a new course when Peter Ivánovich reads in the obituaries that Iván Ilych has died. Iván Ilych had been terminally ill for some time. He was the colleague of the men present. The men immediately think, each to himself, of how Iván Ilych's death may result in promotion for them all. They discuss the death briefly and return to discussing other matters. Each man thinks gratefully that Iván Ilych is dead and not he. They also think of how they will be forced to go through all the tedious business of paying respects and visiting the family. Peter Ivánovich has known Iván Ilych since their student days. Later that day he goes to Iván Ilych's house. A coffin rests against a wall downstairs. Other people are there to pay respects, and among them Peter Ivánovich sees his playful colleague Schwartz. Schwartz will wait for him so that they can make arrangements to play bridge later. Peter Ivánovich goes upstairs, to the room where they body is. Peter Ivánovich knows that probably he should cross himself but is unsure of how much bowing he should do. He improvises repeated self-crossing with a kind of half-bow and makes his way toward the body. A Reader is reciting the appropriate ritual readings, while various family and friends pay respects to the body. Peter Ivánovich sees Gerásim, the butler's assistant who'd also been Iván Ilych's sick nurse, strewing something on the floor. When Peter Ivánovich feels he's been crossing himself too long, he stops and looks at the corpse. Iván Ilych's face seems somehow handsomer in death than in life, and is marked by some kind of expression of satisfaction, "that what was necessary was accomplished, and accomplished rightly" (114). The face also seems to bear some kind of warning to the living. Peter Ivánovich becomes uncomfortable and hurriedly leaves the room, ignoring propriety. He sees Schwartz again, and the two make plans for bridge. Just then, Praskóvya Fëdorovna, Iván Ilych's wife, comes out and announces the service is about to begin. Schwartz stays quiet, not committing to staying for the service, but the woman approaches Peter Ivánovich directly, and so he has no choice. She leads him to an inner drawing room. There's some trouble when her shawl catches on something, but once she has extricated herself she pulls out a handkerchief and weeps. Sokolóv, the butler, enters to inform Praskóvya Fëdorovna of the price of various funeral plots. Once this discussion is over and the butler leaves, she tells Peter Ivánovich of the terrible pain Iván Ilych was in at the end. The last three days, he screamed the entire time. He was wholly conscious. She talks about the dreadful sufferings of her husband, in terms of the effects they had on her nerves, and then asks Peter Ivánovich advice about pensions and governments grants. He sees quickly that while she feigns ignorance, she clearly knows more about the money to which she is entitled than he does; she only is trying to see if she can get a little more. Once he proves to be of no help, she seems eager to be rid of him. He goes, and in the dining room he meets a priest and a few acquaintances. Iván Ilych's daughter and her fiancé are there, as well as Iván Ilych's young son. He attends the services. On the way out he comments to Gerásim about the sadness of the occasion, but the peasant says simply that it's God's will and the fate of all men. Peter Ivánovich still has plenty of time that evening to play bridge. AnalysisThe inevitability of death is one of the central themes of The Death of Iván Ilych. There is no suspense about whether or not the protagonist will die. His death is the title, and in the first chapter of the novel his death has already happened. Tolstoy wants to bludgeon his reader with the presence of death: the novel begins with, ends with, and takes its name from death. The events of Chapter 1 happen chronologically after the events of all of the subsequent chapters. Iván Ilych's struggle forms the true story of the novel, but by making a prelude out of his death's aftermath Tolstoy provides context for his central story. Certainly, Chapter 1 would be out of place if placed according to chronology, at the end of the novel. The social commentary of the first chapter, while brilliant, is not meaty enough to follow the spiritual crisis and struggle with mortality that finally ends in Chapter 12. But the observations in Chapter 1 are brilliant, scathing, and thematically loaded. The theme of inner reality versus outer appearance dominates this chapter. Throughout the entire chapter, characters think one thing but present another; even when characters are aware of the act, and aware that others are aware of the act, the act continues. When Peter Ivánovich and Praskóvya Fëdorovna are talking, both are presenting what they believe to be appropriate emotions. Even genuine sorry is mixed with hypocrisy: "The thought of the sufferings of this man he had known so intimately, first as a merry little boy, then as a school-mate, and later as a grown-up colleague, suddenly struck Peter Ivánovich with horror, despite an unpleasant consciousness of his own and this woman's dissimulation" (117). The whole chapter has forced the reader into a similarly unpleasant consciousness, nearly from the beginning. On hearing the news of Iván Ilych's death, "the first thought of each of the gentlemen in that private room was of the changes and promotions it might occasion . . ." (111). No one talks about it, but all are guilty of the same selfish and uncompassionate reaction. The observations continue throughout, along this same track: the men are annoyed about having to live up their obligations on such an occasion (112); Peter Ivánovich must go comfort Praskóvya Fëdorovna when he'd really rather play cards (115; Praskóvya Fëdorovna only finds the tears to cry after her shawl has been disentangled (116); and Praskóvya Fëdorovna seeks comfort but really needs advice about how to wheedle the government out of more money (116). Propriety is a constant theme, and the demands of propriety move people to behave contrary to their genuine (usually selfish) emotions. Propriety demands that Iván Ilych's friends attend a service and offer condolences. Generally, the characters of the novel are more concerned with propriety than with kindness. Tolstoy gets humor out of the fact that people are concerned with propriety, but not always sure of its dictates: note the scene where Peter Ivánovich is unsure of the appropriate ritual when approaching the body, and ends up improvising an odd mix of bowing and crossing. Propriety is a public concern; the inner world of characters is allowed to fester, and no one seems concerned with the deplorable state of their morals. Tolstoy allows his narrative voice to inject some scorn when he refers to Peter Ivánovich and his colleagues as Iván Ilych's "so-called friends" (112). Genuine emotions tend to be selfish. Peter Ivánovich is horrified not by the death of Iván Ilych, but by being forced to confront his own mortality. He spends the whole night with only a twinge of sorrow for his friend, whom he has known since boyhood. At the end of the evening, he goes to play cards and casts thoughts of his friend's death out of his head. The inevitability of death is an important theme of a novel, and the theme of man's unwillingness to confront death is its companion. Peter Ivánovich, like all of the others, refuses to think about his own death. Iván Ilych's friends all feel that Iván Ilych is dead, and not they: they do not reflect on the fact that his fate is in store for all of them. Peter Ivánovich flees from the body because he does not want to ponder the lesson it offers. The only character who seems at ease with death is the peasant servant Gerásim, who takes for granted that death comes to all. Gerásim is a literary creation based on Tolstoy's somewhat idealized beliefs about the Russian peasantry. His simplicity and acceptance of nature's process are wholly alien to the urban characters of the novel. Chapter Two: Summary: "Iván Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible." His death at age 45 follows a nondescript career as a member of the court of justice. To start Iván Ilych's life at the beginning: his father is Ilyá Epímovich Golovín, a kind of man who serves in unnecessary positions, earning money for doing little. He is a "superfluous member of various superfluous institutions," and Iván Ilych is his second son. The eldest son is like his father, soon to live off the fat of bureaucracy. The third son is a failure. Iván Ilych is the happy medium between the wildness of the third and cold formality of the first, and great things are expected of him. He is "le phenix de la famille" ("the phoenix of the family"). As the School of Law, where his younger brother fails and Iván Ilych does quite well, Iván Ilych is exactly the man he remains for most of the rest of his life: "capable, cheerful, good-natured, and sociable . . . though strict in the fulfillment of what he considered to be his duty: and he considered his duty to be what was so considered by those in authority" (121). He is unquestioningly admiring of those in high station, and seeks to imitate them however he can. After law school he qualifies for a position in the civil service and treats himself to the conventional pleasures: nice clothes from a fashionable tailor, farewell dinners, other necessities. He attaches a medallion that reads respice finem ("look to the end") to his watch chain. His work takes him to the provinces as an official serving the governor. He is conventionally efficient and appropriate for his work. In social settings he is witty and well-liked. He has affairs with numerous women and occasionally visits prostitutes, but all is approved by his superiors and therefore does not trouble him. The demands of his career force a move, and though he no longer works for a governor his new position carries more power. Iván Ilych enjoys treating subordinates and those in his power well, because it makes him feel powerful. He loves acting self-important, and graciously condescending. When he moves again and becomes examining magistrate in his new town, he makes friends with the local society and takes up card-playing. There he meets Praskóvya Fëdorovna, the best girl in his set, and she falls in love with him. He marries her. At first their married life is very pleasant, but once Praskóvya Fëdorovna becomes pregnant things change. She becomes jealous, and disturbs the propriety of their domestic life. She demands attention and makes scenes. Iván Ilych deals with her by devoting himself more fully to work. He comes to realize that marriage is often an obstacle to the decorous life and propriety he adores, and that he must adopt a definitive attitude toward his wife and child just as he has a definitive attitude toward his work. He and his wife settle into a mode of mutual aloofness, through moves and various promotions and the births and deaths of several children. Years pass: at last, his eldest daughter is sixteen and his one surviving son is a schoolboy. Both seem to have turned out satisfactorily. Analysis: Iván Ilych is a man of wholly conventional aspirations and tastes. He is not without some success, but his life is not at all out of the ordinary. He strives to imitate his superiors, he enjoys the petty powers of his position without abusing them, and he is always conscious of what society in general tells him what to do. He is likable, even charming. The excesses of his youth are normal, within the range of bourgeois propriety. His normalness is driven home by a metaphorical placement in his family: the middle son, the one who is in temperament between the other two, the happy mean. He is someone with whom most readers can identify. Death is far from his considerations, but Tolstoy drops several reminders of mortality into young Iván Ilych's life. He is called "le phenix de la famille," meaning the most promising of the three sons. But the phoenix is also a creature of death and rebirth, and it foreshadows Iván Ilych's end. Young Iván Ilych carries a medal on his watch chain. The medal reads "respice finem," Latin for "look to the end." Young Iván Ilych probably interprets the end as the goal, the success that follows hard work. But the saying seems also to refer to death, the ultimate end. The medal is attached to a watch chain, a metonymy for time. Every second brings Iván Ilych and every other human being an increment closer to death. The theme of death's inevitability is seen in both the phoenix and the Latin saying. As always, also present is the theme of man's unwillingness to confront death, made clear when the characters see these references to death but interpret them in other ways. In this novel, not understanding death seems closely related to poor understanding of life. As Iván Ilych gets older, he detaches himself from life. His work is described as a kind of exercise, detached from human realities: ". . . he very soon acquired a method of eliminating all considerations irrelevant to the legal aspect of the case, and reducing even the most complicated case to a form in which it would be presented on paper only in its externals, completely excluding his personal opinion of the matter, while above all observing every prescribed formality" (123). Justice is no longer a thing of supreme interest and importance, concerned with human beings and Truth. Under Iván Ilych's hand, it becomes an exercise in paperwork, all "externals." His attitude toward work is reflection on the themes of propriety and inner reality versus outer appearance. Iván Ilych is mostly concerned with outer appearance. His work, rather than letting him live more fully in the reality of his life, allows him to live in a world without real concern for truth, without real feeling, and without real involvement. His family life has the same effect. His marriage does not allow him to live more fully; rather, he becomes more and more detached. The description of one of his family's moves clarifies how misplaced his family's priorities are: "They moved, but were short of money and his wife did not like the place they moved to. Though the salary was higher the cost of living was greater, besides which two of their children died and family life became still more unpleasant for him" (127). That "besides which" turns the death of two children into an afterthought. The concerns of cost of living and the unpleasant location come first to Iván Ilych and his wife. They do not dwell on the deaths of their children; Tolstoy describes no effect on them, no change wrought by this kind of loss. Although infant mortality was more common in Tolstoy's death, that fact alone does not account for the detachment seen here. The themes of refusal to contemplate death and detachment from life are both at work. Iván Ilych and Praskóvya Fëdorovna seem more concerned with money and convenience than their children's lives; their priorities are askew.
Summary and Analysis of Chapters 3-4
Chapter Three: Summary: The propriety and upwardly mobile course of Iván Ilych's life are disturbed in 1880, when Iván Ilych is passed over for promotion. The man favored is named Happe, and Iván Ilych quarrels with him and his superiors. As a result, feelings sour and Iván Ilych is passed over again and again in the future when other positions open up. Living beyond his means makes his salary insufficient, and to save money that summer he goes with his family to stay with his brother's wife in the country. Without work, Iván Ilych becomes depressed. He decides to go to Petersburg and raise hell with the bureaucrats until he obtains a post with a five thousand ruble annual salary. Long-term career plans and choosiness about the position are put aside, so long as the salary is high enough. His little quest is successful, due to some luck: personnel changes in the department of Justice have brought some of Iván Ilych's friends to prominence, and they help him get a good position with the desired salary. He returns to the country, happy, and he and his wife get along better. He leaves for Petersburg before the rest of his family, and finds an excellent house. He throws himself into decorating. One day, when draping hangings, he slips and bumps his side. The pain goes away before long. The family settles into their new life, making friends with the right sort of people, and Iván Ilych does his job adequately. He lives life as he believes life should be lived: "easily, pleasantly, and decorously" (133). The routine of life is only disturbed occasionally, as in the instance when Iván Ilych orders too many sweets for a party and he and wife argue about the bill. His chief pleasure in wife is to play cards. If he can't play cards, he does work. Idling away time with his wife does not appeal to him. A young examining magistrate named Petríschev begins to court Lisa, Iván Ilych's daughter. AnalysisAfter some disappointment, Iván Ilych seeks out a new position with salary as the only consideration. Iván Ilych does not see work in the government as providing a vital service, or impacting the lives of others positively. He only wants to line his pockets, and for the rest of his life his career will be shaped by this consideration alone. He throws himself into decorating, again placing importance on the unimportant. After the house if complete and the new routine settles in, Iván Ilych is extremely fussy about the house: "Every spot on the table-cloth or the upholstery, and every broken window-blind string, irritated him. He had devoted so much trouble to arranging it all that every disturbance of it distressed him" (133). The preoccupation with the unimportant isn't the only point here. The finished house also suggests stagnation: "When nothing was left to arrange it became rather dull and something seemed to be lacking . . ." (133). Iván Ilych and family then throw themselves into their empty social lives. They are horrible middle class snobs, although Tolstoy always points this fact out indirectly. Regarding their "shabby friends," the Golovíns are unanimous in their policy of exclusion: "Soon these shabby friends ceased to obtrude themselves and only the best people remained in the Golovíns set" (135). The Golovíns buy into an extremely shallow value system for evaluating people's worth. They are all taste, and no brains. Regarding career and his social life, Iván Ilych values the wrong things. These misplaced priorities are shared by the whole family, and show up in Iván Ilych's marriage. Tolstoy mentions a particularly violent quarrel between Iván Ilych and his wife, in which they argue over some surplus pastries he ordered. During the fight, Iván Ilych makes "angry allusions to divorce" (134). What a fine marriage it is, when divorce is brought up in an argument over pastries! Chapter Four: Summary: A pain in Iván Ilych's left side grows, and he now has a chronic unpleasant taste in his mouth. The pain grows, Iván Ilych becomes more irritable, and the easy, proper life the family leads gets disturbed. He picks fights with his wife, who begins to wish that he would die; but she knows that if he does, she'll lose his salary, and her dependence annoys her. After a bad fight, he excuses himself by speaking of his illness, and Praskóvya Fëdorovna tells him to get to a doctor. The doctor behaves toward Iván Ilych with the same self-importance and detachment that Iván Ilych has honed in his own work. The doctor seems to lean toward a problem with the appendix being the culprit, and although his diagnosis is dressed in jargon, Iván Ilych takes the meaning as bad. As time passes, Iván Ilych realizes that he is getting worse. Iván Ilych goes to see numerous doctors, and in each case the diagnosis and prescription are different. Others around him don't seem to be all too concerned with his illness. Iván Ilych's wife and daughter seem mostly annoyed by his irritability and depression, as if the illness is his fault. Praskóvya Fëdorovna always complains to others that her husband does not keep to his prescription. At work, others seem to be waiting for Iván Ilych's position to become vacant. Colleagues tease him as if his illness is a laughing matter. One night, while playing cards, Iván Ilych becomes conscious of the taste in his mouth and the pain. Distracted by these things and the way others treat him, Iván Ilych misses an easy play. His partner, Mikháil Mikháylovich, is upset, but Iván Ilych is not, "and it was dreadful to realize why he did not care" (142). His friends see that he's suffering, but he insists on playing. Despite the effort, Iván Ilych's gloom is cast over all of his friends. After they leave, Iván Ilych has time to reflect: ". . . his life was poisoned and was poisoning the lives of others . . ." (142). Yet he must continue to live and work, isolated, "on the brink of an abyss, with no one who understood or pitied him" (142). Analysis: Chapter Four marks Iván Ilych's break with the pleasant and decorous life that he treasures. It is a break that the unfortunate man must make alone, as no one has sympathy to spend on him. Isolation is a key theme. New understanding separates Iván Ilych from his former world. He now is forced to contemplate that which no one wants to think about, and his very presence threatens to remind them of that thing. The thing is death, and because this illness is Iván Ilych's, the others don't seem too concerned. Iván Ilych is amazed to see the doctor dealing with him in the same manner Iván Ilych uses in his work. Throughout the novel, people trivialize the lives of others, condescend to them, and see them as little more than a part of a routine. The doctor doesn't seem moved by the fact that he's dealing with Iván Ilych's very life, just as Iván Ilych doesn't seem aware of his case decisions' impacts on the lives of real people. Like Iván Ilych, the doctor seems wrapped up in the fun and self-importance of a workplace mask. His priorities and thought processes seem askew. Iván Ilych realizes that he has become the enemy of the thing he previously treasured most: cheerful living, in accordance with the standards of propriety, without disturbances or too much thought. At the card game he realizes that he has ruined his friends' evening. He sees in Schwartz "what he himself had been ten years ago" (142), and correctly apprehends that he is now "poison," a thing that makes it impossible to live life glibly.
Summary and Analysis of Chapters 5-6
Chapter Five: Summary: When Iván Ilych's brother-in-law comes to visit before New Years, he is shocked to see how Iván Ilych has changed. After admitting that he sees a change, the brother-in-law refuses to speak more about it to Iván Ilych. Iván Ilych locks himself in a room to examine his reflection in the mirror, comparing it to a portrait of himself taken with his wife. The change is immense. He then goes out and eavesdrops on his brother-in-law and wife in the drawing room. Though Praskóvya Fëdorovna denies that the change is great, her brother insists: "Why, he's a dead man! Look at his eyes there's no light in them" (143). Iván Ilych returns to his own room, lies down, and tries to imagine the "floating kidney" some of the doctors have diagnosed. He tries to imagine reattaching it. He decides to go see Peter Ivánovich, a friend who is friends with a doctor. This doctor tells him that the illness is a small thing in the vermiform appendix, and curing it requires the stimulation of one organ and checking another organs activity, so that absorption can take place. That evening, after completing some work, Iván Ilych has tea, followed by piano-playing and singing with the family and friends. He seems more cheerful than usual. That night, Iván Ilych retires to the single bedroom by his study, the bedroom that has been his since the illness began. He tries to imagine his appendix. He tries to cure it mentally, and takes his medicine, but despite his positive thinking the pain and disgusting taste in his mouth seem to become stronger. Then the issue transforms for him, from a matter of diagnosis to a question of philosophy and metaphysics: "It's not a question of appendix or kidney, but of life and . . . death. Yes, life was there and now it is going, going, and I cannot stop it. . . . When I am not, what will there be? There will be nothing. Then where shall I be when I am no more? Can this be dying?'" (145). Iván Ilych despairs, asking "What's the use?" and mentally condemning his friends and family for not caring, and for not recognizing their own deaths in his. He tries to think about the illness, remembering that first day when he bumped his side, but nothing helps. He is always led back to staring death in the face. He works himself into a frenzy, short of breath, and falls. His wife comes to investigate the noise. She asks what's bothering him, but Iván Ilych does not try to explain, because he realizes that his wife wouldn't understand. She suggests bringing in Leshchetítsky, the famous specialist, in on a house call. The specialist would be expensive. She kisses Iván Ilych on the forehead to say goodnight. At that moment, Iván Ilych hates her "from the bottom of his soul" (147). He can barely keep himself from pushing her away. AnalysisIván Ilych attempts to cure himself with the power of positive thinking in this chapter, but he soon realizes that mortality is not a problem that can be overcome with the mind. The pain and the foul taste in his mouth are metonymies for approaching death. Despite some initial success in making himself feel better, the insistent return of his symptoms drives home that forced hope and optimism will not change the inevitable. His inability to overcome his symptoms leads him to thinking about death. Iván Ilych drives himself into a frenzy when thinking about mortality; his futile frenzy reminds one of a fish thrashing in a net, and probably is based on Tolstoy's own contemplation of death. Because he is facing death, Iván Ilych's perception of life is altered. His despairing question, "What's the use?" is not the only result of his struggle with mortality. He also sees hypocrisy and stupidity more clearly. When his wife speaks of the specialist, "regardless of the expense," she is trying to comfort him by expressing that money matters less than his life. In their marriage, such a thing needs to be said, and a Iván Ilych is aware now of the hollowness that suggests. Her words also seem to be partially intended to demonstrate her own benevolence as a wife. She apparently thinks that paying an extra bit of money is a grand and generous gesture. The theme of misplaced priorities is subtly here, as Praskóvya Fëdorovna has no idea of how trivial her considerations are. For the sensitive reader, who sees the situation by Tolstoy's lamplight, the truth is clear: of course life is more valuable than money, and the only surprise is that the specialist has not been brought sooner. From Iván Ilych's perspective, this expression of his wife's supposed concern and love is disgusting. It taints the other gesture of love, the kiss on the forehead, because the hollowness of the verbal expression of love lays bare the emptiness of the kiss. No wonder Iván Ilych hates her at this moment. Chapter Six: Summary: "Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal." This old syllogism, learned in Logic class, flashes now before Iván Ilych with new immediacy. While he certainly felt the syllogism to be true to Caius before, accepting that it applies to himself is considerably more difficult. He remembers the emotions and the sensations of his whole life, from boyhood on, and cannot believe that a creature with such experiences must also die. The former screens against mortality (work, propriety, decorous and amiable living) no longer work. He is distracted at work, and "It" (the specter of death) continually haunts him. He searches for consolations, "new screens" (149), but nothing works for long. He tries to fuss over the drawing room, where he now is forced to reflect ironically that he died for decorating, as the illness began that day he feel while hanging some drapes. He argues with his wife over arrangement. These distractions don't work for long, and he is always left facing death. Analysis: Chapter Six scarcely needs analysis, as Tolstoy is stating themes directly and forcefully. Iván Ilych's new understanding of the classic syllogism illustrates the theme of Denial. Much of this chapter deals with man's denial of death, achieved in part through the use of "screens" that shield men from thinking too hard about mortality. Now that he is sick, Iván Ilych is no longer protected by the usual screens. Also clear to him now is the triviality of much of what previously occupied all of his time and energy. Tolstoy juxtaposes the silly fussiness of Iván Ilych's previous concerns with the grim "It" facing Iván Ilych now. As Iván Ilych considers the accident that started his illness, he cannot believe the irony, the terrible contrast between his superficial old world and the new grim truth facing him: "It really is so! I lost my life over that curtain as I might have done when storming a fort. Is that possible? How terrible and how stupid. It can't be true! It can't, but it is'"(149).
Summary and Analysis of Chapters 7-8
Chapter Seven: Summary: In the third month of Iván Ilych's illness, he and all those around him become aware that he is going to die. The only questions now are when. The sooner the better, as his death will leave a job open and release all from the burden of caring for him. Opium and morphine do not relieve the pain. Special foods are made for him, but they disgust him. Iván Ilych can no longer take care of his own excretions. Oddly enough, this becomes a source of comfort, because the young man who has to take care of him is Gerásim. Gerásim is a young peasant land, on the stout side, who is clean, kind, and pleasant. The boy doesn't complain, and carries out the filthy duty of cleaning up Iván Ilych's excrement cheerfully and efficiently. One day, Iván Ilych apologizes for the filthiness of the job. The boy cheerfully says that it's nothing, and to be expected, as Iván Ilych is sick. Gerásim helps Iván Ilych to bring his pants up, and helps him to the sofa. While Gerásim is lifting Iván Ilych's legs onto a chair, because elevation helps ease the pain, Iván Ilych feels that the higher his legs are, the easier the pain is. He asks for a cushion, to elevate his legs even higher. Iván Ilych feels that the only real relief comes when Gerásim is actually holding his legs. After that, Iván Ilych often asks Gerásim to hold his legs up. The young man's company is one of Iván Ilych's few pleasures: "Health, strength, and vitality in other people were offensive to him, but Gerásim's strength and vitality did not mortify but soothed him" (152). Iván Ilych is mortified by the hypocritical illusion that all insist on maintaining, that he is not dying but is only ill. The lies feel degrading to Iván Ilych. They are in the service of the same decorum Iván Ilych once loved: "The awful, terrible act of his dying was, he could see, reduced by those about him to the level of a casual, unpleasant, and almost indecorous incident (as if someone entered a drawing-room diffusing and unpleasant odour) and this was done by that very decorum which he had served all his life long" (153). Others don't want to recognize the fact of death. Only Gerásim treats the dying man with real compassion, and only he refuses to pretend that Iván Ilych is not dying. One day, he says openly, "We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble'" (153). Secretly, Iván Ilych wants to be petted and comforted as a child is petted and comforted. Only the peasant boy comes close to treating him this way. With others, Iván Ilych must continue to play the role of distinguished older official, even as he is dying. "This falsity around him and within him did more than anything else to poison his last days" (154). AnalysisIn the juxtaposition of Gerásim's attitudes to the other attitudes in the novel, Tolstoy is suggesting a relationship between one's treatment of death and one's attitude toward life. Gerásim glows with health and vitality. He understands kindness. He also does not deny death. He accepts it as part of life, and refuses to pretend that his master is merely ill. The others insist on the shared lie that Iván Ilych is not dying, not for Iván Ilych's comfort, but for their own. Adherence to decorum and propriety, a theme the novel, proves a poor substitute for honest living and human decency. The rules of decorum seem to include dishonesty, especially when it comes to death. Decorum, as Tolstoy sees it, can only be superficial. It is an enemy of truth. Decorum is woefully inadequate in the face of mortality: people act as though Iván Ilych has merely committed an indecorous act. He spoils their surface thinking and living, and they resent him for it. His illness is a reminder of death, and they resent him for it. The lies poison the poor man's last days. Iván Ilych needs real human comfort. When Gerásim helps to elevate his legs, Iván Ilych seems to feel relief not from the elevation alone. No height of elevation seems to help by itself; the pain only decreases when Gerásim actually touches him. Although Iván Ilych never seems to make the connection explicity, human contact seems to be the real medicine when Gerásim holds up his legs. This compassion, with the warmth of actual physical contact, is what Iván Ilych craves as his death approaches. Chapter Eight: Summary: One morning, as Iván Ilych is mentally wrestling with death, Peter the footman offers him tea. Iván Ilych reflects that the footman wants things to be normal, as if no one is dying, but all Iván Ilych says aloud is no. All of Peter's questions annoy him, as Iván Ilych senses the motives behind each question, and sees hypocrisy in everything. Yet when Peter is leaving, Iván Ilych tries to find excuses to make Peter stay. He gets Peter to give him his medicine, but the taste repulses him, and he reflects on the futility of taking medicine at this point. He sends Peter to fetch tea. Peter helps him dress and take care of his teeth and hair. Iván Ilych's own face's appearance terrifies him, and he avoids looking at his own body when dressing. A moment of feeling refreshed ends with the tea, because Iván Ilych is reminded of the awful taste in his mouth. The routine is awful: "Always the same. Now a spark of hope flashes up, then a sea of despair rages, and always pain . . ." (156). The doctor comes, and greets him blandly. Iván Ilych feels sick of the doctor's hypocrisy, and would like to say something about it, but instead only complains of his physical pain. The doctor examines Iván Ilych, but the examination is an empty ritual. ". . . Iván Ilych submits to it all as he used to submit to the speeches of the lawyers, though he knew very well that they were all lying and why they were lying" (157). Praskóvya Fëdorovna arrives, and proceeds to try to prove that she has been up a long time already. Praskóvya Fëdorovna is characteristically hypocritical; she and the doctor chide Iván Ilych for not taking his medicine and lying with he legs propped up by Gerásim. Michael Danílovich and a specialist are coming: Praskóvya Fëdorovna insists that these extra consultations are for her own sake, but her husband reads different meanings into her words (see below). The new doctors come and go, always eluding the real issue. Iván Ilych's pain is awful, and they give him an injection. He sleeps. He wakes that evening, and after dinner his wife enters his room dressed and in full makeup to take the children to the theatre. He had forgotten that they were going, and her dress irritates him, but he was the one who insisted that they get the tickets originally. Petríshchev, his daughter Lisa's fiancé, is also going with them. They are all going to see Sarah Bernhardt. Lisa's fiancé wants to come in to see Iván Ilych. Lisa comes in, in a dress that shows off her healthy young flesh. She is impatient with her father because his illness interferes with her happiness. Her fiancé enters, dressed to the nines. And finally, Iván Ilych's young son Vladimir Ivánich (aka Vásya) enters. The boy looks pathetic and frightened, and has dark circles under his eyes. Iván Ilych feels that Vásya understands him, and has real sympathy for him. As mother and daughter have a banal argument about Sarah Bernhardt's acting, Petríshchev watches Iván Ilych. The others eventually look too, falling silent. Iván Ilych is staring straight ahead, "with glittering eyes," apparently offended by their presence. Everyone is afraid to break the silence, because the truth will become evident. Lisa finally speaks up, saying it's time to go. Iván Ilych feels slightly better when they're gone, but the pain grows worse. He keeps thinking of Death coming, and he has Peter the footman send for Gerásim. Analysis: This chapter is a sequence of moments in which Iván Ilych is disgusted by the gap between outward show and inner reality. This gap is an important theme of the novel, and can be phrased in different ways: hypocrisy, illusion, ritual without meaning. The footman, the doctors, and Iván Ilych's own family parade themselves before Iván Ilych, one after another, all saying and performing one set of things while feeling and thinking another. The hypocrisy is so deeply ingrained that Iván Ilych is probably the only one that notices the gap between inner and outer worlds. The others live with these two worlds fundamentally disconnected, and to Tolstoy this is one form of spiritual crisis. Iván Ilych is able to recognize their falsity in part because he once used to live this way himself. When he's dealing with the doctors, Iván Ilych is reminded of his old life as a lawyer: ". . . Iván Ilych submits to it all as he used to submit to the speeches of the lawyers, though he knew very well that they were all lying and why they were lying" (157). Illness and mortality are horrible to contemplate, but at least this contemplation has separated Iván Ilych from the hypocrisy of his old life. His awareness of falseness, that of others and of his former self, is a painful but necessary step toward something deeper.
Summary and Analysis of Chapters 9-10
Chapter Nine: Summary: Iván Ilych's wife returns late that night; he tells her to go away. She tells him to take some opium, which he does, and then leaves. Until three in the morning, he is in terrible trancelike misery, as if "he and his pain were being thrust into a narrow, deep black sack, but though they were pushed further and further in they could not be pushed to the bottom. . . . He was frightened yet wanted to fall through the sack, he struggled but yet co-operated" (161). He regains consciousness to find Gerásim holding up his legs, but he sends the young man away. Iván Ilych calls out to God, asking why this has been done, weeping "because there was no answer and could be none" (162). He begins to talk to himself about what he wants, and when he starts to wish for his former life he begins to think about how he lived before. Suddenly, his former life seems less satisfying than what it was. His childhood memories of simple things are untainted, but when he considers all of his life since then he realizes that his life has been "something trivial and often nasty" (163). Yet when he asks himself if he has lived as he should have, he quickly tells himself that he did everything correctly, according to the laws of decorum and propriety. AnalysisThe deep searching of Chapter Nine leads to two new developments. First, Iván Ilych, for the first time, wishes unconsciously for death. Second, he questions directly and consciously the way he used to live his life. The black sack of his opium-induced stupor is part hallucination, and part literary metaphor. The bottomless sack, whose depths are an unfathomable destination, suggests death. In Iván Ilych's terrible pain, his feelings toward the sack are ambivalent: though terrified of it, part of him wishes for the release of death. The sack also might suggest the womb, as Iván Ilych is going to emerge from the sack and experience a rebirth at the end of the novel. Although Iván Ilych has been disgusted by falsity, here is the first time he seriously wonders if he has lived correctly. He cannot yet make the final step, of realizing that propriety and decorum were hollow excuses for living detached from a deeper life. But on some level he has realized that his previous ideas of proper living created a life that was "trivial and often nasty" (163). Chapter Ten: Summary: Two more weeks pass, and Iván Ilych eventually can no longer leave his sofa. His agonized questions are always the same now. He asks himself if this is death, and his inner voice answers that it is. He asks himself why such sufferings are, and the inner voice answers that they exist for no reason. As time passes, his vacillations between hope for recovery and dread of death swing more and more toward continuous contemplation of death. He often thinks of his childhood, but the pleasant memories bring him pain because he is aware of what he has lost. His life's development seems to parallel his illness: as time passes, his life, like the disease, has grown worse and worse with time. He imagines life as a stone, dropping at increasing velocity. Life is a series of increasing sufferings, flying toward a terrible end. He feels that resistance is impossible, and comprehension of death is impossible. And he still cannot admit completely that his life has not been lived properly. Analysis: The stone falling with increasing velocity parallels Tolstoy's technique for this novel. The chapters at the start of the book are longer, and cover more time. As the chapters progress, the amount of time covered decreases and the chapters decrease in length. While Chapter Two covers decades, Chapter Nine measures time elapsed as a single fortnight. Paralleling this development, Iván Ilych's range, intellectually and spatially, decrease. In space, his world shrinks as he is confined to increasingly smaller spaces. By Chapter Ten, he in confined completely to his sofa.. Intellectually, he can only contemplate the same questions, again and again. The questions are unanswerable.
Summary and Analysis of Chapters 11-12
Chapter Eleven: Summary: Fëdor Petróvich (also called Petríshchev) finally proposes to Lisa. When Praskóvya Fëdorovna goes into Iván Ilych's room the next morning to inform him of the happy news, he seems in terrible pain. When she begins to remind him of his medicines, he looks at her with such hate that she falls silent. He tells her to let him die in peace. Lisa comes in, and gets the same hostile look. He informs his wife and daughter that he will free them of himself soon. After the two women leave, Lisa complains to her mother. She doesn't like being treated as if her father's illness is her fault. The doctor arrives, and receives the same hostile treatment. Iván Ilych dismisses him, telling the doctor that the doctor knows he can do nothing. The doctor tells Praskóvya Fëdorovna that the only thing to do now is give him opium. Though the doctor perceives correctly that Iván Ilych is suffering physically, Iván Ilych's mental anguish is far worse. Late at night, when looking at Gerásim's good face, he is forced to ask the question: "What if my whole life has really been wrong?'" (167). He worries that real goodness, which he felt in his childhood, was a great gift that he squandered. He feels that he has wasted his life and can do nothing to get it back. When he sees his family the next day, his revelation seems confirmed. "In them he saw himself all that for which he had lived and saw clearly that it was not real at all, but a terrible and huge deception which had hidden both life and death" (167-8). These feelings make him hate his family more. He's given opium, but at noon he's in pain again. His wife encourages him to take communion, and with some prodding he agrees. The priest arrives, and taking communion momentarily revives Iván Ilych's hope and desire for life. When his wife comes in afterward, he's struck once again by how much he hates her. He tells her to go away and leave him alone. AnalysisIván Ilych can no longer deny the hypocrisy of his life. And now that the awfulness of his wasted life is unavoidable, he cannot stomach reminders of what he once was himself. His wife and daughter and the doctor are not particularly awful people. They are completely typical. But because he sees his former self in them, their presence is unbearable (167). He ceases to treat them with any measure of civility. As Tolstoy sees it, courtesy is merely another empty and dishonest ritual. Iván Ilych dismisses his wife, his daughter, and refuses to go along with the doctor's chicanery. He refuses to indulge pretense. He refuses to hide his hatred of his family. Detachment from life is a great theme of the novel. Refusal to recognize death and detachment from life go hand in hand. Iván Ilych has a terrible revelation in evaluating all that he once prized: ". . . [he] saw clearly that it was not real at all, but a terrible and huge deception which had hidden both life and death" (167-8). Propriety and emulation of his peers and superiors make for a spiritually impoverished life. Chapter Twelve: Summary: After he tells his wife to go away (see end of Chapter Eleven) Iván Ilych begins the screaming that lasts three days, continuing until he dies. During this time, Iván Ilych seems outside of time. He is trapped in the feeling that he is being pushed deeper and deeper into the black, bottomless sack. "He felt that his agony was due to his being thrust into that black hole and still more to his not being able to get right into it. He was hindered from getting into it by his conviction that his life had been a good one" (169). Suddenly a force seems to strike him in the chest and side, and he falls through the hole and sees a light. The sensation is described as being like the feeling "in a railway carriage when one thinks one is going backwards while one is really going forwards and suddenly becomes aware of the real direction" (169-70). He accepts, once and for all, that his life was not lived rightly, and asks what the right thing would have been. This event occurs on the third day, two hours before his death. His son has come to his bedside, and it is at the moment when the boy catches Iván Ilych's hand, presses it to his lips, and cries, that Iván Ilych sees the light. Iván Ilych opens his eyes and feels sorry for his son. He sees his wife, and pities her as well. He begins to apologize. He tries to ask for forgiveness, but he lacks the physical strength to say the words, and an attempt to say "Forgive me" becomes "Forego." He is comforted "knowing that He whose understanding mattered would understand" (170). When he sees them, and realizes that he must let them know of his sorrow and release them from sorrow, the things oppressing him seem to drop away, at all sides. He feels the pain, and yet it seems not what it was. He asks where Death is, and cannot see it. In place of Death, there's light. For Iván Ilych, the last two hours seem a single revelatory instant. For the others watching, his pain seems to be continuing. As he dies, he hears someone by his side saying "It is finished!" (171), and repeats the words to himself: "Death is finished'" (171). He stops in the middle of a sigh, stretches out, and dies. Analysis: The death is rife with Christian imagery: the screaming lasts three days, referencing the three days between Christ's death and resurrection. The sudden force that hits Iván Ilych, before he sees the light, is a pain in his chest and his side. According to the Gospel of John, Christ was pierced through the side after being taken down from the cross. Although Iván Ilych has struggled with revelations about the hypocrisy of his life, he does not irrevocably and definitively accept that he has not lived well until Chapter Twelve. Before, seeing hypocrisy made Iván Ilych nasty and hateful, but here on the last day Iván Ilych finds a truth to replace the lies he has always lived. The revelation seems to come from both outside and inside. The acceptance of compassion comes after months of pained questioning, and is the final conclusion of a long, internal process. But the realization coincides with the feeling of his son pressing Iván Ilych's hand to his lips, and crying. Vladimir Ivánich's simple and sincere act is the strongest expression of his concisely sketched character. The boy feels genuine pity for his father, and sorrow at his passing. The others are merely waiting for him to die. The physical contact, combined with the internal questioning, come together in Iván Ilych at the moment of realization. Compassion and living fully can both be done even when there is no time left. And the revelation, even if it cannot be communicated, has a truth that transcends communication between people. When Iván Ilych cannot complete his plea for forgiveness to his wife, he takes comfort knowing that God hears his pleas. Penitence has a value of its own; the internal process leading up to penitence, and the final plea, are what count. If no one hears the penitent man, the truth and value of the repentance are undiminished. Compassion must flow out without distinction. When Iván Ilych realizes the truth behind life, his compassion is felt not only for his sincere young son, but also for his wife. The experience of this kind of love is like medicine for Iván Ilych: "How good and how simple!'" (170). Goodness and simplicity, as exhibited in Gerásim, can now be experienced by Iván Ilych. Ironically, his death helps him to escape the barriers that have constrained him for all of his adult life. Tolstoy uses the metaphor of the train, which seems to be moving in one direction but in fact is going the other way. At last, at the sight of the light, Iván Ilych realizes that his pained agonies and questioning have not been a descent into a horrible pit. He has been moving toward a revelation, toward compassion and acceptance. This realization is more substantial than the rest of his life put together. As he dies, Iván Ilych realizes what his life has been missing. For him, there is no more gap between behavior and truth. His whole being is caught up in "an unchanging moment," a blissful spiritual awakening. Those watching him see agony, but Iván Ilych dies at peace.
ClassicNote on The Death of Ivan Ilych
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