The Metamorphosis And The Death Of Ivan Llych

Tolstoy’s ability to interweave the environment with themes of materialism and death makes The Death of Ivan Ilych stand out as a piece that criticizes societal values. In his article “Tolstoy and the Moran Instructions of Death,” Dennis Sansom focuses on the influence of fighting chaos in Ivan’s eventual acceptance of his own death. Socrates wrote, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” and Ivan’s life mirrored this until the end (qtd. in Sansom 417). Until he examines what his life amounts to and finds triviality in all of his pursuits, he is unable to see beyond his environment and accept his death as anything more than meaningless.

He has been doing the best he can. Gregor turned into a bug and now his parents have to provide for themselves without the help of their son. Gregor takes on freedom, responsibility, and love through out the story “The Metamorphosis until he turns into a bug. He then cannot do anything to help his family and they have to help themselves. Gregor did all he could do as the man of the house until he had enough.

Gregor shows that he cares for his 7 year old little sister, Boots. When Gregor and she had fallen through a grate in the laundry room of their apartment building, Gregor went to go find her sister. Before Boots and Gregor had fallen through the grate, Gregor’s mom had told him to watch his younger sister. Gregor started to panic

Gregor in a sense is treated like a tenant in his own home; his parents never enter his room, only reminding him of waking, eating and leaving. This emphasizes the strained relationship between Gregor and his family. However, after his metamorphosis his family treats him more so like a burden, for Gregor no longer provides

The Death of Ivan Ilych is a short story written by Leo Tolstoy during the late 18th century. In this short story, Leo Tolstoy writes about a man named Ivan Ilych a very ambitious government official who has an untreatable illness who dies slowly, lonely and without the support of his family. This paper will convey Tolstoy’s theme in the Death of Ivan Ilych of Ivan Ilych superficial values and how it is reflected on his family and himself. This could be seen through Ivan Ilych and his wife throughout the short story as both express superficial values to each other.

This is the reason he isolated himself from his family. Gregor is forced to work in an environment he hates but his transformation overlooks that. He doesn’t have to suffer from his occupation and allows him to spend more time with his family. However, this change only had a positive affect temporarily.

Gregor was a man who sacrificed himself working to pay his father's debts, instead off on his own where he could prospered. Gregor never was recognized by his family of all the efforts that he did, he was taken for granted and he was expected

Gregor began to resent his father for throwing household items at him, squashing him like a bug. Even his beloved sister Grete began irritating Gregor by removing all of his belonging from his room, leaving him with nothing. The cruelty performed on Gregor by his own family sends him into a dark pit of despair. With nothing to live for he began to slowly end his life, making one final sacrifice for the ones he loves

“We use detail to focus, to fix an impression, to recall. We snag on it,” - Wood’s Chapter on Detail (43). Detail enables us to picture things from literature into our mind in an instant. Although, detail is not used constantly, but when it is utilized, we as readers should be experienced enough to realize the complexity and vividness of that specific detail. There are countless examples of detail in The Death of Ivan Ilyich, but, the one I will be focusing on is, “the raw, shrivelled French prunes he had eaten as a child.” 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.

The narrator said, “During the first fortnight, Gregor’s parents could not bring themselves to enter his room…” He has been disconnected from his family to the point where they’re emotionally unstable and unable to treat him as he deserves with affection and comfort to help him cope with his metamorphosis. The narrator shows this disconnection before the mutation,”Gregor later earned so much money that he was in a position to cover the expenses for the entire family…” He later described the exchange not “particularly warm”. Gregor feels alienated by his parents because of the lack of affection for him providing for them.

After Gregor’s metamorphosis the cruelty his family showed him changed. He was now not just confined to his house but his bedroom with very little human interaction. His sister Grete who seemed to show Gregor the most compassion in the begining changed and in the end was the one to say “it has to go”. Grete’s sudden change of heart towards Gregor triggered his death as he crawled back to his room and died at 3

The rejection of Gregor by his family is evident throughout the whole story. The first time it happens is before anyone has even seen his new form. A detail in the story says, "In the room on his right there followed a painful silence; in the room on his left his sister began to cry." (Page 5)

Gregor also has become an unwanted responsibility. Not many people would wake up and want to take care of an insect out of the blue. With Gregor in the house, at least one person need to stay in the house to watch him. One of the maids after learning the

When Gregor's father saw his condition he didn’t feel empathetic and only hated Gregor,“his father gave him a hard shove, which was truly his salvation, and bleeding profusely, he flew into his room”, Gregor's father is never really ever able to understand him and is always impatient with him and even. Grete although is nothing like the father, she is very kind to gregor and with her new responsibilities she has been helping the family a lot. “ whereas until now they had frequently been annoyed with her because she had struck them as being a little useless”, right when the family thought she was useless, Gregor’s condition had lead the family to discover how useful Grete really is. Mrs. Samsa protects Gregor because she care about him deeply and cannot stand the fact that he is a bug, “Let me go to Gregor, he is my unfortunate boy! Don't you understand that I have to go to him?”

Gregor’s mother tried to justify her son being late for work because he is sick due to being a workaholic. Everyone tries to get Gregor to come out of his room,