“Ivan Ilych’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible” (Tolstoy 22). He married a woman named Praskovya Fedorvna, had two children and was a member of the Court of Justice as a Public Prosecutor. Ivan lived a normal, healthy life till he fell off his step-ladder and hit his side against the window frame. Since then he started to experience discomfort in his left side and unusual taste in his mouth. His discomforts started to gradually increase over time and Ivan started to become more irritable. Confused about what was happening to himself, Ivan decided it was time to see a doctor. Overtime Ivan began to feel more and more depressed that he couldn’t enjoy a game of cards with his friends. One night while lying alone, Ivan realized that his illness is not a question of health, but of life or death. A boring bureaucrat gets sick, feels sorry for himself and dies. So what? What does this matter?
Every life has meaning and should matter. My life matters and you’re life matters but why should the life of Ivan Ilych, a bureaucrat, sick man matter to me. Why would his life be important to mine? Ivan’s lived a life of caring about what other people thought of him and having to fit in society. It seemed to be that he was so focused on pleasing others that he forgot about himself till be became sick. When Ivan found out he was sick, his wife and daughter didn’t care. They didn’t believe that he was slowly dying. To them his life didn’t matter. Ivan might have been a boring sick bureaucrat but his life mattered. Ivan’s life mattered most when he started fighting to live and to not be a sick man. Ivan struggled with his life having any meaning when he was told he was sick. Before that he felt he was a normal man with a job and a family. A man who enjoyed playing bridge with his friends on occasion. He didn’t seem like the type of man that could handle a life altering illness but things happen for a reason. Maybe for Ivan, his illness is what gave him meaning. His illness taught him to look at life from a different perspective. I feel a person doesn’t understand or value life fully till a life changing experience happens. I know because I myself have an illness that changed me …show more content…
What if his life had been wrong would he still have ended up sick? A person chooses the path in life they want to go on and there is no turning back. For Ivan his illness is what gives him meaning because it is what teaches him the true values of life. In Ivan’s last moments he expresses joy of death. ““And death ... where is it?” He sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it. “Where is it? What death?” There was no fear because there was no death. In place of death there was light. “So that’s what it is!” he suddenly exclaimed aloud. “What joy!”’(Tolsoy 63). Ivan was no longer scared of death and was able find joy after all his suffering. For some in order to find the true meaning to life they must go through many life tests. For Ivan he was able to in the end find how his life had
Every life has meaning and should matter. My life matters and you’re life matters but why should the life of Ivan Ilych, a bureaucrat, sick man matter to me. Why would his life be important to mine? Ivan’s lived a life of caring about what other people thought of him and having to fit in society. It seemed to be that he was so focused on pleasing others that he forgot about himself till be became sick. When Ivan found out he was sick, his wife and daughter didn’t care. They didn’t believe that he was slowly dying. To them his life didn’t matter. Ivan might have been a boring sick bureaucrat but his life mattered. Ivan’s life mattered most when he started fighting to live and to not be a sick man. Ivan struggled with his life having any meaning when he was told he was sick. Before that he felt he was a normal man with a job and a family. A man who enjoyed playing bridge with his friends on occasion. He didn’t seem like the type of man that could handle a life altering illness but things happen for a reason. Maybe for Ivan, his illness is what gave him meaning. His illness taught him to look at life from a different perspective. I feel a person doesn’t understand or value life fully till a life changing experience happens. I know because I myself have an illness that changed me …show more content…
What if his life had been wrong would he still have ended up sick? A person chooses the path in life they want to go on and there is no turning back. For Ivan his illness is what gives him meaning because it is what teaches him the true values of life. In Ivan’s last moments he expresses joy of death. ““And death ... where is it?” He sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it. “Where is it? What death?” There was no fear because there was no death. In place of death there was light. “So that’s what it is!” he suddenly exclaimed aloud. “What joy!”’(Tolsoy 63). Ivan was no longer scared of death and was able find joy after all his suffering. For some in order to find the true meaning to life they must go through many life tests. For Ivan he was able to in the end find how his life had