Pros And Cons Of Gerasim

I. On Annoying People and Ivan
Nights ago, after each devouring a Binz French roll sandwich, my roommate of three years and I marched our way across campus to the library. We had never used the underground tunnels as a way of passage, but figured there was no time like after dark during a Minnesota winter to try them out. We ducked out of the cold and into the basement of JRC where we began our search for the library. After taking the first dimly lit, lengthy tunnel—completely unoccupied if not for us, we somehow ended up in Murray. Lost, and utterly confused, we spun in circles until we located a sign directing us to the library. We then hiked up three flights of stairs to her favorite study floor where we selected a table directly next to

Ivan Ilyich (and mostly everyone surrounding him) represents the wrong way—the way that leaves you miserable. Gerasim represents the right way— the David Foster Wallace way of thinking. As David Foster Wallace says, “There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship.” Gerasim worships God, and is therefore unafraid of death; when he is asked about Ivan’s death he says: while smiling “It’s God’s will. We’ll all be there,” (38). Gerasim has no reason to fear death because he’s confident in the way he has led his life: He has consistently made choices, over and over, to care and sacrifice for others. He gives Ivan a deeper type of support than just holding his legs. He helps to lesser the feeling Ivan has that he is all alone in his suffering by sharing it with

Most people like to believe they are leading a life they chose, even if they’re not—but Ivan admits to making decisions based on what those whom he views as successful believe. Ivan held a characteristic “of being drawn to people of high station like a fly toward the light; he adopted their habits and their views on life…” (Tolstoy 40). Tolstoy is literally describing Ivan Ilyich as someone who took on the habits and views of others—absorbing them as his own—never once suggesting that in building his life he thought of himself, things that might make him happy. Then again, this same idea is suggested (the idea of Ivan being “other people,”) when he meets his wife. She falls in love with him, but the feeling isn’t mutual. Yet, he decides to marry her due to it being a “good match”—not a great one, and to his superiors thinking it “a right thing to do” (46). So, there he goes again, doing something because it’s right by the standards of