The Unexamined Life

For my blog, I would like to talk about two of the prompts, number three and number five. I think they highlight significant points in The Death of Ivan Ilych. First of all, the fact that Tolstoy condemns Ivan is significant. The reader can infer Tolstoy’s condemnation from a variety of sources. I believe the most notable example is the fact that Ivan is unable to face death, which shows that he has not truly lived. As we discussed in class, part of living a full life is being prepared for death, which Ivan obviously is not.
Blythe also notes that despite his flaws the reader sympathizes with him and with his death. I found myself initially liking Ivan: he had an admirable career and a respectable life. But, as Blythe mentions, it was filled with vanity. Because Tolstoy gives the reader such a thorough description of Ivan’s life, one can examine it to find where Ivan goes wrong.
One of the most striking things about Ivan’s life is how unremarkable it is. His suffering is not some poetic justice for a life of debauchery, just a life of insignificance. Ivan chose to focus on superficial things like furniture, so he is unable to cope when he is forced to face a significant thing like dying. This brings me to prompt number five, where Blythe suggests that Ivan is “a man. . . who had not taken the trouble to grow up, morally speaking, while he was passing through [life], and. . then [shows] how salvation could overtake a slowing pulse rate, bringing maturity at the last.” I do not know about the end part of that quote, whether in dying Ivan finally finds salvation, but the beginning part makes a lot of sense. He is so proud of moving on up the bureaucratic ladder that he never stops to ponder his true position in life. Ivan is shallow because he equates doing what others perceive as appropriate or proper to be a fulfilling life. Obviously, the way he equates success with his job and his house as opposed to how well he has lived his life is the ultimate showcase of his vanity. Another equally important example though is his marriage. Tolstoy makes Ivan’s marriage another source of poetic justice for Ivan. His marriage, which Tolstoy makes clear is nothing more than a marriage of convenience, is, ironically, anything but convenient. His wife, who he never really got to know, turns out to be annoying and possibly psychotic. Ivan, true to his character, marginalizes the problem instead of fixing it, disconnecting him from his wife further. Their utter lack of affection for each other adds more misery to Ivan’s life when he is dying.
The Death of Ivan Ilych reminds me of the Socrates quote “the unexamined life is not worth living,” which (I think) means that a person who does not question their existence is living an unfulfilled life. Ivan does not make any attempt to think about his life; instead, he seems content to skim the surface. Therefore, when he realizes as he is dying how empty his life was, it seems as though Tolstoy is giving the reader the ultimate example of this quote.