Ivan Ilyich Thesis
KR Miller
Mr. Harrison
English 111
10 June 2008
Thesis: Just as Ivan Ilyich experienced in his lifetime, many people today also live hollow, materialistic lives and fail to realize the true meaning of life until it is too late.
1. Tolstoy describes Ivan Ilyich’s desire to conform to the standards of his society and his belief that he was leading right life. 2. Ivan adopts the values and beliefs of other members of high society believing those values are the mark of a successful life. a. He’s obsessed with society’s proper and decorous standards of conduct b. Fails to develop his own set of values. Adopts those expected by society. c. Stays detached and distant in his relationships. d. Lives …show more content…
Throughout his life, Ivan was convinced that a successful life was measured by adapting to, and meeting, the expectations of the bourgeois society in which he lived. Tolstoy described the standards that the society expected one to adhere to as “proper” and “decorous”. Ivan pursued those standards with blind ignorance much “as a moth is to light” (44). Rather than looking to his inner self, developing his own set of values and living a moral life according to those values, Ivan lived a hollow life detached from emotional ties, always doing what he thought others would accept as being the right conduct. His interpersonal relationships, including his marriage, were perfunctory and served merely to advance his social status or promote his own agenda. As a result, the relationships were superficial, self-serving, and materialistic and towards the end of his life, resulted in Ivan being isolated, terrified and in great despair at a time when he needed compassion and true friendship the most. Ivan did not realize until his death was imminent that in order to live a fulfilled and right life, he should have shunned material things and superficial relationships, and instead, he should have embraced love, compassion, and spirituality throughout his
Mr. Harrison
English 111
10 June 2008
Thesis: Just as Ivan Ilyich experienced in his lifetime, many people today also live hollow, materialistic lives and fail to realize the true meaning of life until it is too late.
1. Tolstoy describes Ivan Ilyich’s desire to conform to the standards of his society and his belief that he was leading right life. 2. Ivan adopts the values and beliefs of other members of high society believing those values are the mark of a successful life. a. He’s obsessed with society’s proper and decorous standards of conduct b. Fails to develop his own set of values. Adopts those expected by society. c. Stays detached and distant in his relationships. d. Lives …show more content…
Throughout his life, Ivan was convinced that a successful life was measured by adapting to, and meeting, the expectations of the bourgeois society in which he lived. Tolstoy described the standards that the society expected one to adhere to as “proper” and “decorous”. Ivan pursued those standards with blind ignorance much “as a moth is to light” (44). Rather than looking to his inner self, developing his own set of values and living a moral life according to those values, Ivan lived a hollow life detached from emotional ties, always doing what he thought others would accept as being the right conduct. His interpersonal relationships, including his marriage, were perfunctory and served merely to advance his social status or promote his own agenda. As a result, the relationships were superficial, self-serving, and materialistic and towards the end of his life, resulted in Ivan being isolated, terrified and in great despair at a time when he needed compassion and true friendship the most. Ivan did not realize until his death was imminent that in order to live a fulfilled and right life, he should have shunned material things and superficial relationships, and instead, he should have embraced love, compassion, and spirituality throughout his