Assigned the task of helping Ivan with his excretions,
Gerasim
soon begins passing the entire night with the dying man. To ease his pain, Gerasim supports Ivan’s legs on his shoulders. More than any other living person, Gerasim provides Ivan with the compassion and honesty that he needs.
Who is the only heroic or truly virtuous character in The Death of Ivan Ilyich?
Sensitive and quiet,
Vasya
has not yet been corrupted by the beliefs and values of his parents’ social world. He is capable of forming empathetic bonds with other people, and he is the only other person, besides Gerasim, who truly understands Ivan and his condition.
What does Ivan realize when he looks back at his life?
When Ivan thinks back on his life, what does he think is the best part? … When Ivan catches sight of the light, he realizes
that his life has not been a good one.
What are Ivan’s last words?
13. The story ends with Ivan’s last words and breath. Why does he say, “
It’s the end of my death
,” instead of “It’s the end of my life?”
How did Ivan Ilyich wife respond to his illness?
Ivan’s wife and daughter are annoyed at his depression and intolerance.
Praskovya adopts a formal attitude to
Ivan’s illness. It consists of the beliefs that Ivan’s condition is his own fault and that if he strictly follows doctor’s orders he will improve.
Who is Lisa in The Death of Ivan Ilych?
Lisa,
Ivan Ilych’s daughter
, is the first child he has with Praskovya Fedorovna and one of only two who survive. So far as we can tell, she’s about twenty when Ivan dies.
Is Ivan Ilyich a hero?
In The Death of Ivan Ilych by Leo Tolstoy, the protagonist Ivan Ilych overcomes his self-centeredness and cowardice to achieve the status of a hero by bravely confronting the realities of his life. Ivan Ilych’s desire for power and high social status drive him toward self-centeredness, which defines him as an
antihero
.
Why was Ivan unhappy at the end of the story?
First, Ivan’s
life was definitely unhappy
– he’s been aware of that for a while. It also seems to have been meaningless; Ivan’s life doesn’t seem to have had any purpose. … It’s probably because Ivan didn’t live as he was meant to that his life felt meaningless and was unhappy.
Who looked after Ivan Ilyich during his last days?
Vladimir Ivanich, the younger of Ivan Ilych’s two children, has not yet taken on the false social roles which the rest of Ivan’s family have assumed. He is comparable to
Gerasim
, the Russian peasant who helps Ivan Ilych in his last moments of life, in his sincerity and compassion.
What was Ivan doing when he died?
When Ivan the Terrible died, he left the country in disarrary,
with deep political and social scars
. Russia would not merge from the chaos until the reign of Peter the Great more than a century later.
Why did Ivan stop screaming?
Ivan
felt the boy’s kiss and tears
; he saw that he had not lived rightly; he knew it could still be remedied; he listened to hear the answer to what the right thing is; and he, while listening for the way to proceed, quit screaming.
What killed Ivan Ilyich?
Ivan Ilych led the wrong form of life in his pursuit of wealth and hypocritical relations. Therefore, his terminal illness—read as a form of
pancreatic cancer
—is a figure for an “unhealthy” upper middle-class life lived at the wrong side emotionally, socially and physically.
Why does the narrator describe Ivan Ilyich’s middle-class lifestyle as tragic?
When the narrator calls Ivan Ilych’s life horribly ordinary, he really means that
Ivan Ilych is just like everybody else in his class
. That would be the middle class, which the narrator really doesn’t like. Ivan is the very model of a modern middle-class man. … He wants to be recognized by all his middle-class friends.
What does Ivan Ilych realize?
When Ivan catches sight of the light, it is revealed to him that though his life has not been a good one, it can still be set right. He realizes that
life will be better for his family when he dies
, and desires to say as much, but not having the strength to speak, he understands that he must act.
How does Ivan Ilyich’s wife react to his death?
Praskovya Fedorovna is the wife of Ivan Ilych. From Ivan’s point of view, she just might be the worst wife ever. She’s moody, petty, artificial, and uncaring, and Ivan comes
to hate her once
her once he falls ill.
How did Ivan interpret his wife’s dream?
Ivan Aksionov’s wife’s dream is a premonition of the terrible fate that awaits him. In her nightmare,
she dreams that when he returns from the fair, he will have gray hair
. This could be interpreted as meaning that Ivan will be separated from his wife, and will only be able to return to her when he’s old and gray.
