In Lev Tolstoy’s novella “The Death of Ivan Llych”, Tolstoy examines the life of Ivan Llych, who seemed to have lived an impeccable life. Llych appeared to have attained what society viewed as important; social position, a powerful job, and wealth. Although, he appeared to have what society deemed important, he failed to gain any human connection. Ivan lived a life that is “most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.” He spent his life climbing the social ladder, focusing on his job; while his family became less tolerable. After a fall hanging curtains, his health problems begin. As his pain became more intense, his behavior towards his family becomes more irritable. It was during his long and painful process of death was when he came face to face with his mortality; and forced him to confront the emptiness of his life. …show more content…
Many spend their whole life’s dedicated to social climbing, preoccupied with material things, social conformity, and careers and never question themselves if these things are more important than personal relations. Wealth can be earned with hard work, money can buy material things, which for a moment can feel good, but it is only momentary. In the other hand, human connections make the journey of life joyful and meaningful. It wasn’t until Llych was bedridden that he began to see everything differently, as he reflected on his life, he noticed that during his childhood, was when he was the