Tolstoy Death Of Ivan Ilych Analysis

Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich exemplifies many true historical situations. The life of a Russian work camp prisoner was that of misery, constant fear, and loss of human dignity. By means of cruelty and hazing by the hand of a warden, guard, or trustie, the workers are forced to live in ignominy. This novel portrays the life of one prisoner, Ivan Denisovich Shukhov, in an impressive manner; the book contains no chapters, and takes place in a time span of one day. The storyline implements a solid structure of the everyday lifestyle within the mind of the reader; it certainly did this for myself. To elaborate with emotion and realism, Solzhenitsyn writes the thought process of Shukhov for every single event, without skipping a beat.

The two novellas “The Metamorphosis,” and “The Death of Ivan Llych” both describe the stories of two men suffering from dramatic events in their lives. The two men both suffer from the feeling of alienation from their families. The two stories can be compared in many ways, and give insight into the way these two characters found peace in their deaths.

In The Complete Maus, Art Spiegelman uses his style of illustration to convey the theme of power in his graphic novel. In 1980, cartoonist Art Spiegelman wrote the first volume of Maus. Before Art’s work came into prominence, comics had not been truly acknowledged as art. His work would practically evolve graphic novels into a recognized form of literature. Art Spiegelman was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1948 to Vladek and Anja Spiegelman, but his family immigrated to Rego Park in Queens, New York three years later. His father, Vladek, was a wealthy textile salesperson and manufacturer in Poland. Both of his parents survived confinement to the Jewish ghettos and imprisonment in the Auschwitz Nazi Concentration camp in Poland. His mother, Anja,

Through numerous concentration camps, his first son’s death, and Anja’s suicide Vladek is left a shell of his former self. Vladek becomes stingy, fidgety, anxious, and slightly depressed, Due to him losing all he once held dear to him, Vladek towards the end of his life is just going through the motions. The love which kept him strong and optimistic got tragically taken away from him. His new “broken” mentality is demonstrated through his interactions with Spiegelman and Mala. Vladek no longer seems capable of being the loving father and husband he once was.

In conclusion, Shukhov learned to deal with life in the horrible gulags. In One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, we discovered that he deals with the destruction of human solidarity, created a ritualization for eating, and most important, he treats time as a precious

In Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s, Notes from Underground, we are presented with a complicated character named The Underground Man. He is exceedingly egocentric and believes that he is more intelligent than those in his surroundings. Despite all this, he is also a man who hates himself and often times feels humiliated. As a person who has isolated himself from society, he consistently analyzes and critiques every interaction with another person. For example, when an officer casually shoves the Underground Man In order to deescalate the situation in the tavern, the Underground Man takes offence to this and plots a long term solution to a meniscal problem. Rather than moving on with his life, he draws up plans to exact his revenge on the officer who probably doesn’t know he exists. These kinds of actions would be supported by Dostoyevsky because it requires strategic and calculated planning for the success of the mission.

The overcrowded apartments and rooms foster poverty. Eviction from his greedy landlord is an ever-looming fear for Raskolnikov. He becomes trapped within the vicious cycle of poverty and place. For example, he pawns a watch to his landlady who offers him a meager amount for the watch. Raskolnikov, Raskolnikov cannot accept anything lower due to his debt to her. 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.

Survivors of these tragic times are forced to remember the pain and suffering caused by one man’s paranoia. Along with that, hundreds of thousands of lives were lost, and many families will never be the same again. Also, the purges caused skepticism about the government’s actions among Russian citizens. This will have a negative effect, because the citizens can not trust the government, and have fear towards it. These series of unfortunate events, will forever be remembered as a tragic time in Russian

At the scene of Marmeladov’s death, the police officers seem to be more cooperative with Raskolnikov because…

As Ivan Illyich settled in St. Petersburg. He acquires a beautiful house with over the top finishes. Tolstoy wrote, "Thus the continued to live. And everything went on as if it would ever be so, and everything was very good" (30). The passage just oozes the tone of satirical. At the very start of the book it explains that Ivan Illyich dies and in the chapters before this passage it explains that Ivan Illyich leads an immoral life, has an abusive wife, and has a lot of miscarriages. Ivan Illyich's life is definitely not good, people could even say it is superficial, and this sarcastic tone the author expresses about Ivan's superficial life only helps the theme. One other example of the authors changing tone would be in the end of the book. At the very end of the book the authors tone dramatically changes to a tone of joy. As Ivan Illyich is in his last hours of life, he has an

However, he would have gone on to say that “there is no higher happiness than to leave the camp” (Grossman 76). Even though Ivan states this, if he were to return to the camps, he would never want to leave again. He would remain in the Gulag because of his difficult life and the subculture he could count on. Ivan demonstrates these feelings as he walks throughout Leningrad. While his visit to the Hermitage leaves him “cold and bored,” he feels “calm and abstracted” as remembers being “surrounded by prison faces and the sound of camp conversations” (Grossman 52). Just like many of the other prisoners who returned to civilian life, Ivan cannot stop thinking about his time in the Gulag. The only thing that can bring Ivan peace is the memories of his life in prison. For over 30 years, Ivan was in prison and that was the only life he knew. He tries to adjust to freedom, but he hopes for his old life back. As he further explores Leningrad “his eyes now looked for other things” (Grossman 53). These “other things” that Ivan is searching for are the certainty and companionship he felt while in the camps. In the Gulags, Ivan was certain he would have food to eat and a place to sleep. Furthermore, he knew he had friends around him that were going through the same struggles. However, when he experienced freedom he was unsure where he would eat and sleep next. He was also enduring

Loyalty is a common literary theme because it is something that all people seek. Military companies, sports teams, and employers actively seek those they feel will be the most loyal to their cause. Loyalty provides a sense of stability and comfort. In many great literary works we see that the most loyal characters are those of meager existence. In the short stories “A White Heron,” “The Death of Ivan Ilych,” and “A Rose for Emily” a theme of undervalued loyalty becomes evident.

Within the first sections, Akhmatova employs melancholic diction to convey her grief. In “Prologue,” she writes “that [Stalin’s Great Purge] was a time when only the dead could smile” (Prologue, Line 1), which suggests it was preferable to die than to live and emphasizes her despondency. Death became a means of

All in all, Chekhov used death and illness as a prominent theme in many of his works. Through these themes, he arrived at a larger picture of the human experience and established a profound amount of realism within each story. Unlike many authors, Chekhov seemed haunted by the notion of human vulnerability since he was diagnosed with tuberculosis for much of his adult life. Rather than using death and illness to end a character or create a tragic ending, Chekhov uses death and illness to outline and capture the inner experience and external response of his characters. Given his medical background, Chekhov’s own experiences contributed to the realism of his mature stories. After these Chekhovian themes are presented to the readers, we can take our own thoughts and further relate to the characters. Additionally, Chekhov leaves room for his readers to interpret the symbolic experiences of the characters and draw our

Three Sisters is a play authored by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Set in a small town used for garrisoning troops, the Prozorov family struggles to live their fullest lives in the backwater town. Accompanied by several military men, the three sisters, Olga, Masha, and Irina, and their brother Andrei attempt to navigate a somber and seemingly predestined life. Anton Chekhov uses the lives of the Prozorov and the people they interact with to insinuate beliefs about the Russian nobility and educated society. Throughout Three Sisters, Chekhov suggests that noble people live somber dissatisfying lives, are disconnected from the struggles of the average Russian, and suffer from various moral pitfalls.