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Strangers death

Why do we have a holiday that celebrates evil and death?

Also, we tell kids to not to take candy from strangers, then we let them go door to door and do just that.
It doesn't celebrate saints anymore, but witches and devils

Halloween comes from All Hallow's Eve, the night before All Saints Day. Saints are those who have gone to be with the Lord in death and we pray for them. The night before unfortunately has morphed into something more sinister. The candy and costumes and frivolity are not at fault, but the food tamperers, predators, pumpkin smashers, violence and the like have destroyed whatever redeeming quality "trick or treating" may have once held. Parties held in safe places with politically correct and nonviolent costumes appears to be the trend.

The Life of Death: An analysis on The Death of Ivan Ilych

 

The Life of Death

“He married his wife not because of love, but because it was highly viewed through his associates.”

BY MICHELLE NING

One life is granted to every person; therefore, it is expected for one to live his life to its best. In order to live happily, one must first know how to mandate his life. The way a life is authorized should be determined by only the individual who owns it. Every act decided upon should be based on one’s own desire- not for another’s pleasure. In Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych, a character lived to make everyone but himself happy. At times, he made life changing decisions against what he believed in, just for the merriment of others. Thus, this forced him to live in a controlled life of misery. The controller of his miseries was the society, and Ivan was the puppet.

The novella begins with the tragedy of Ivan’s death. Having received the news, his friends do not show any sign of sadness, and they quickly start to debate on who will be promoted to Ivan’s position as a judge. It is surprising that Ivan’s wife seems to care more about receiving the death inheritance granted than Ivan’s recent death. “She made it appear that she was asking … about her pension, but he soon saw that she already knew about that to the minutest detail.”(8)  Tolstoy’s perspective on the notion of death unravels the truth of the amount of respect Ivan really obtained. His friends did not befriend him for friendship; rather they dealt cards with him because he was highly viewed. It could very much be assumed that Ivan had once also acted similarly – following the ways of his other high positioned associates. Without a solid friendship, Ivan lived a bitter life.

Leo Tolstoy’s definition of the good life is where one is honest to oneself. The Death of Ivan Ilych portrays the exact opposite of the real meaning of life. Ivan Ilych lived a life that was wrong and much of a lie. Throughout his life, Ivan had done what the society wanted him to accomplish. As a young child, he was neither perfect nor disastrous. Instead, he rested in the middle ground. Soon, Ivan grows into a young adult and starts to develop his own ideas and opinions. Rather than allowing Ivan to live the life he deserved, Tolstoy steps in and twists the storyline. He places a noose around Ivan’s neck and hands the lead of the rope to the higher classmen of the society. From this point onwards, most of all that Ivan accomplishes is the unjust way to live a proper life.

The reader may notice that as Ivan grows older, he begins to care more about how the society views him. At first, he makes a simple decision that affects his job. Ivan used to think that lawyers were horrible and menacing people, but he voluntarily became a lawyer because the society “accepted” it. In time, life changing decisions were placed upon his shoulders. He married his wife not because of love, but because it was highly viewed through his associates. “Ivan Ilych had at first no definite intention of marrying… [but] He was swayed by both these considerations: the marriage gave him personal satisfaction, and at the same time it was considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates.”(49) The marriage soon resulted to him living a lie. Ivan does not notice – even after his wife bears him children, - that he immerses himself mostly into his job.  Ivan pays little attention to his kids or the fact that his marriage is falling apart. Most of the time, Ivan blames his wife for not being a good mother, rather it is in fact he, himself that does not spend enough time to realize what is happening. Ivan no longer ‘knows’ his family. Tolstoy slowly crafts Ivan into a stranger of the household whose only job is to pay the family’s rent.

Ivan did not live a life in which he was sincere to himself. The way he treated his wife showed that he did not have compassion. Lacking the ability to love others or himself, he was living in his own death. Before Ivan realizes that all his life had been lived as a lie, Tolstoy inserts himself into the novella through Ivan’s servant, Gerasim. Gerasim symbolizes the true, authentic way one should live, while Ivan symbolizes the corrupted life. Although Gerasim was only a servant and did not even have a fraction as much as Ivan did, he was content and happy. Gerasim gave himself all that he could – he was true to his own self. The authentic man must learn to give and share what he has to offer. In a satirical twist, Tolstoy makes the humble help the one with everything but his own moral. Throughout the process of Ivan’s death, Gerasim helps to ease Ivan’s pain – both physically and psychologically.

“After that Ivan Ilych would sometimes call Gerasim and get him to hold his legs on his shoulders... Gerasim did it all easily, willingly, simply, and with a good nature that touched Ivan Ilych. Health, strength, and vitality in other people were offensive to him, but Gerasim's strength and vitality did not mortify but soothed him… Only Gerasim recognized it and pitied him. And so Ivan Ilych felt at ease only with him. He felt comforted when Gerasim supported his legs (sometimes all night long) and refused to go to bed, saying: "Don't you worry, Ivan Ilych. I'll get sleep enough later on," or when he suddenly became familiar and exclaimed: "If you weren't sick it would be another matter, but as it is, why should I grudge a little trouble?" "We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble?" -- expressing the fact that he did not think his work burdensome, because he was doing it for a dying man and hoped someone would do the same for him when his time came.”(102)

 In the society where status is most important, only Gerasim knew how to show compassion and sympathize. Gerasim sacrifices his own comfort and holds Ivan’s legs to ease his pain.  In this tender moment, Tolstoy wants the reader to understand what the authentic life is, and how money does not buy one everything.

A good life does not account for the need of luxuries. Rather, a life well lived accounts for true friends and pursuing what the heart wants for one to follow. Greg Mortenson from Three Cups of Tea lived part of his life sleeping in hallways infested with roaches. Mortenson failed, had been kidnapped, and shook Death’s hands a number of times. However, he was content with the way he lived and always wore a smile across his face. Greg’s  life was the combination of all he wanted to accomplish. He wanted to climb the K2, and he did – even though he stopped halfway. Mortenson wanted to bring education to the lives of the many children in Skardu, and that he also completed. Instead of living the life many would have wanted him to live – pursuing his medical career rather than to jeopardize his future to help others – Greg was true to his own self and established his own set of guidelines and  rules to follow. With his own intentions, Mortenson amazingly succeeded.

            The definition of the good lifestyle lies partially in the hands of Greg Mortenson. The idea of one’s actions should be from himself – not other. Living a life similar to Ilych’s only conflicted pain upon oneself later in the long run. In the last few minutes of Ilych’s life, he comes to realize that he had been unfaithful to his family – having lived his life in reverse. The realization of never having had a loved family or a friend bore him more pain than his bruised kidney had. In the last moments of his life, he tries to make his wife forgive him, but fails to do so. His last breath arrives and he mutters that death has finally ended. “Death is finished," he said to himself. "It is no more!” (129) Ivan understands that he had lived his life as another character. Having never lived the way he wanted, his ‘death’ came upon him long ago. Though other people in the society may have thought for Ivan to be well privileged, he had lived his life in a black sack– a sack that confined him to the boundaries the society enacted. Ivan followed every pull and tug that was administered until it was the inevitable – death- that finally freed him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tolstoy, Leo. The Death of Ivan Ilych. New York, New York: Bantam Dell, 1981.

About the Author

A high school student.

A Place to Bury Strangers - Ego Death