Tolstoy

Tolstoy's novella on Ivan Ilyich is a story of a middle aged man thats life is cut short due to a self aquired injury. Ilyich finds his greatest joy in life to be his progession up the "social ladder." When he hurts himself, he knows that he is going to die even though the doctors try to decieve him into thinking he will get well. While reading the story I felt as if Ilyich was dying mentally from his lack of sympathy, as well as physically from his pain. I can relate to this because this summer I had my wisdom teeth taken out, and it was the worst pain I have ever had to endure in my 18 years of life. However no matter how intense the pain was, nothing made me more mad than when my family thought that I was faking/exagerating about the extent of the pain. When having to go through a hard time in your life, especially when faced with death, it is important to have a huge support group for continuous comfort. Ivan Ilyich was deprived of this, and I believe that is one of the main reasons his death was so tragic.

"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
Leo Tolstoy

This quote from Tolstoy is implemented in the novella because up until the end Ivan Ilyich does not think that he of all people deserves to die, and this may be true, but he puts the blame for his life on everyone else but himself. When he realized he was going to die he could have tried to become a better father to his kids, or a better husband to his wife, but instead he chose to remain bitter towards everyone around him.