Willy Loman And Ivan Ilyich Essay

Death is a complicated concept that people define and evaluate differently. Many people face death with fear, whereas some people view death as an entrance to freedom and release. In the play Death of Salesman by Arthur Miller and the book The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, both Miller and Tolstoy discuss the meaning of death through the main characters Ivan Ilyich and Willy Loman. Family plays an important role that can be either negative or positive in Ilyich and Loman’s life. Their tension and bond with their family indirectly leads to their death. While both Ivan Ilyich and Willy Loman are unsatisfied about their family situations, Loman’s family is willing to take action and care about Loman when he encounters hardship and stress, whereas Ilyich 's family gives him less sympathy about his illness. Willy Loman and Ivan Ilyich have the similar stress from taking care of their family and

The tension within their family pushes them more toward depression, making Loman uses death as a release, and Ilyich feels even more painful about his illness. However, the caring and support from the Loman family causes the essential difference between he and Ilyich, death for Loman is nothing to afraid of because part of the reasons he committed suicide is that he believes that it can bring freedom to not only him, but also his family. However, Ivan Ilyich spends a long time trying to accept his family and the misfortune he has encountered, and his death is not as meaningful as it is supposed to be because his family shows him little care about him even after he passed away. Even though the realities Ilyich and Loman has experienced are similar, the love and support from family eventually makes their death have different meaning. While Loman’s suicide is a release for both his family and him, Ilyich’s death is nothing special but the end of his own