What I really took out of The Death of Ivan Ilyich was the emphasis on material things and on how truly selfish and vain these people are. Ivan hanging up a curtain is essentially what causes his horrific death. This idea is twisted but it’s also comedic in a sense, I’m not sure exactly how to feel about it. If Ivan hadn’t hung that curtain and gotten so hurt he never would have discovered truth so his death isn’t necessarily tragic in that sense. But that’s just a side note I don’t care to expound on. The characters in this story are so focused on status and the vanities that they become numb to anything that doesn’t revolve around them- these people lack humanity. They can’t sympathize with this man who was supposed to be a father, a friend, and a husband. He is suffering and their only emotions are centered on themselves. That’s a sad reality to live in. But it is realistic. People can be so vain and self-involved that it destroys our humanity, it stifles the good of humankind. Gerasim and Ivan’s son were like a tiny flicker of hope. Without them the whole story is a tragedy, even with Ivan’s discovery of truth. I liked that in them there was humanity, compassion, and selflessness.
commented on Callie Georges post.
I feel the same way. After reading of Ivan's death, it is shocking how conceited these people really are. They are experiencing a friends death and they think of only themselves. They are materialistic people who care only of great position or money. For Ivan, apparently he was a good man, yet all those who were his "friends" were really not his friends at all.
ReplyDeleteWhat is truly sad is this is how most people act in society today. They do not even care that a life has been lost. Poeple just want to see how another man's death can benefit themselves. I am not saying that all people are like this. It just seems like this is becoming a more common thing now.
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