“The Death of Ivan Ilyich” was written by Leo Tolstoy. Leo Tolstoy was born in 1828 in the midst a period of realism, and consequentially included realism ideology into his text (Ng, Tolstoy). At the end of “The Death of Ivan Ilyich,” the main character, Ivan, has a great realization that he lived a life absent of interpersonal relationships which ultimately led to an artificial life. Ivan comes to this realization when he realizes that he is dying and suddenly feels alone. How does Ivan’s great realization relate to the realism ideology that influenced Tolstoy’s writing? First of all, the meaning of realism must be understood. Realism is an ideology that was prominent through the years 1856-1904 (Ng, Realism and Naturalism). The definition …show more content…
Tolstoy gives his audience the most truthful representation of Ivan’s in a way that shows no real emotion. Tolstoy shows us a glimpse of the absence of raw emotion when the text reads, “Each one thought or felt, “Well, he’s dead but I’m alive! (741)” Within the first two pages of the text the evil self-centeredness shows what is in fact reality, that many people only think about themselves in the presence of tragedy. Another characteristic of Realism ideology, sympathy being drawn from middle or lower classes, is clear when Ivan’s servant, Gerasim, delightedly holds up Ivan’s legs up when it is the only bit of comfort for Ivan (Tolstoy, 766). The social class interaction between Gerasim and Ivan is quite unusual in the sense that there is a emotional relationship between the two characters. Gerasim really cares for the well-being of Ivan, and Ivan sees that Gerasim truly “felt sorry for his emaciated and enfeedbled master (Tolstoy, 767).” Succeeding the care of Gerasim, Ivan realizes that nobody in his life empathizes with him the same way as his servant does. Tolstoy tells the reader that everything Ivan’s wife did, she did entirely for her own sake (770). Again, the evil, selfish nature of human personality is a realism trait that ultimately kills