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The Five Stages Of Grief In The Death Of Ivan Illyich

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From the beginning of "The Death of Ivan Illyich," it is clear that Tolstoy believes there are two types of lifestyles in this world. Those like Ivan, his wife Praskovya, and essentially everyone else around them who are artificial and shy away from the actualities of life, but also those like Gerasim who live an authentic life and realize existence is about compassion and individualized thought. The reality of death is a central theme of Tolstoy's novel and the experiences and choices made by characters within "The Death of Ivan Illyich" provide a detailed explanation of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's five stages of grief. In her book Death and Dying, published in 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross defines the five stages of grief as: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance (Axelrod, "Stages of …show more content…

Kübler-Ross defines depression as a reaction to practical implications relating to the loss. Sadness and regret predominate this type of depression…It is our quiet preparation to separate and to bid our loved one farewell (Axelrod, "Stages of Grief"). A key feature of this stage is the separation from others and society and Ivan proves this through his detachment from his wife and friends. "Latterly during the loneliness in which he found himself as he lay facing the back of the sofa, a loneliness in the midst of a populous town and surrounded by numerous acquaintances and relations but that yet could not have been more complete anywhere - either at the bottom of the sea or under the earth - during that terrible loneliness Ivan Ilyich had lived only in memories of the past. Pictures of his past rose before him one after another. (Tolstoy, "The Death of Ivan Illyich" pg. ###). Even though Ivan is surrounded by people, his artificial life and the similar lives of those around him, create a certain disconnect and the only comfort he experiences comes from the reliving of his own

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This means that it shows how humans truly act and feel in situations that could happen and how humans care or hate for others. The five stages of grief are denial, anger, depression, bargaining, and acceptance. In Elsewhere, Liz experiences this. When she first dies, she does not believe that she has died. She thinks she is in a dream and that she will wake up and be home.

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His life is held under a microscope where the reader can see how despite him seeming to be in the best of all circumstances, his marriage is horrible and he is infallible alone with the exception of Gerasim as his death draws near. This will never fail to be relevant as eventually, everyone will face death as Ivan did and the struggle to cope with it shown in this book is nothing but common to a human being. However, another thing is revealed in the progression of Ivan’s suffering- he struggles with dying because when he looks back- he begins to realize that he never truly lived. In a way, he is like Candide accepting Pangloss’ teachings in the way that he

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Sansom writes, “He faces his mortality and realizes the failure of constructing a life on preferences and abstract relationships” (421). Shallow relationships and a focus on outward appearance lead to a neglect of Ivan’s actual purpose. In this time of Ivan grappling with death, Tolstoy proposes the idea that before we die “the choice is not how to act in ways so that we can control our death and question the meaning of life, but whether there is a reality to which we can find real value as individuals that is not nullified by the existential syllogism” (Sansom 424). The control that he sought as a way to defend himself against chaos does not lead him to peace; instead, it disappoints him and helps move Ivan to a place of deeper understanding. At the very end during an interaction with his son, Ivan finally “empties himself of meaningless false images of human purpose, [and] he then sees how to respond honestly with integrity to his destiny” (Sansom 427).

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Raskolnikov has an immediate change in attitude after Marmeladov’s death, deciding he no longer wants to be a prisoner of his illness and that he is ready to truly live his life. Raskolnikov states: "Life is real! haven't I lived just now? My life has not yet died with that old woman!” The stark contrast between Raskolnikov’s new excitement for life, and his previous mindset that even lead him to consider suicide, demonstrates how much an event can affect one’s

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The death of Ivan Ilyich, explored by Leo Tolstoy is comparative to the Buddhists concepts of suffering. I shall begin to explain this through breaking down each Buddhist concept of suffering and comparing it to Ivan Ilyich. The first Buddhist concept we learn is from the Four noble truths. “All life is Dukkha” Dukkha is usually interpreted as suffering but is means more then this. It can be referred to the basic fact that something about human existence is ‘out-of-wack’.

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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).

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Tolstoy portrays to us that Ivan’s life is soon coming to an end by providing us (readers) with many recollections and details from his childhood. Tolstoy also demonstrates how Ivan will die without truly living because he never thought about how death would turn the corner and take him and never lived his own, unique life. Throughout his adulthood, Ivan made choices and completed actions, not for his own sake, but because that is what society accepted, and he wanted to be accepted by society. The details in Ivan’s life are present, but he doesn’t notice those details and goes right along with his work and card games; never showing any emotion towards practically anything in his life.

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During the stages of grief, people usually go through denial first. Denial is the stage where an individual will not accept the loss or death of someone or something. They will usually be overwhelmed with emotions they never felt before and get confused. After this, most people will proceed into the next stage, anger. Anger is when the victim of grief will express themselves negatively and will be mad at themselves or others for not doing something to prevent this.

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After the bargaining stage for the grieving process come the stage of depression where people shut themselves out of the world because of the loss of a loved one. Depression Depression is a big reaction that people go through when it comes to having just lost a family member close to them. When people go though this stage they many times send less time with family and friend who may need them. According to Friedman states that the sign of depression are “inability to concentrate, disturbance of sleeping patterns, upheaval of the eating patterns, rollercoaster of emotions, and lack of energy” (Friedman, & James, 2008).

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Raskolnikov’s accumulating debt owed to his landlord prevents him from moving outside of Saint Petersburg and causes massive emotional damage. Each time he leaves his apartment, he fears seeing his landlady, The stress and anxiety arising from the debt he owes to his landlord causes him to become unruly and he had, “fallen into a state of nervous depression akin to hypochondria,” feeding into his detachment from society. Not only does Raskolnikov’s living situation seem grim, but his room itself furthers his emotional detachment from society. Raskolnikov’s room allows him to dehumanize himself.

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