The19th Century Russia as Presented in "The Death of Ivan Ilych"

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The Death of Ivan Ilych
Leo Tolstoy the author of the novel The Death of Ivan Ilych wrote the story during a period where he had questions about life’s meaning that after all will be erased by death. Was there really any meaning in his life that death which inevitably awaited him won’t destroyCITATION Leo17 \p 24 \l 1033 (Tolstoy 24). His mixed belief in religion led to his answers on the mortality questions he had. The Death of Ivan Ilych is a mirror of these questions that the author had.
Ivan Ilych realizes that the life he has been living which has been materialistic is also meaningless and understands how wrong it has been. He can only face death and accept it joyfully after he has let go of the false trivialities in his life. Evidently, the author is very disgusted by the Upper-class society of Russians. He cannot help but turn away from a life dominated with materialism and his critical disruption of Russian society during the 19th centuryCITATION Leo17 \p 43 \l 1033 (Tolstoy 43). However, he is a bit sensitive to social life theatrics.
A mid-level Russian bureaucrat, Ivan is in a bitter marriage and sinking into debt slowly. Withal, things change when he gets a promoted to a new position where he is working and get a salary increment of 5,000 rubles a yearCITATION Leo17 \p 56 \l 1033 (Tolstoy 56). He goes out searching for a residence befitting a man who has a pay like his. He buys antiques that are cheap with the aim of making his house have an aristocratic look. He says that his house is glamorous in a unique way but it is just the way the upper-middle-class people who wanted to appear rich, houses looked like in the 19th century.
When Ivan slips on a step ladder and hurt himself, his pain gives him a slow pain and he also gets to reflect on the choices he made in life and how his friends and family are reacting to his slow death. Ivan’s wife and daughter come to his room a few minutes before going out for the opera a scene that looks like total convection. It wasn’t right that they were going out to have fun even though Ivan had asked them not but they saw him as a burdenCITATION Leo17 \p 34 \l 1033 (Tolstoy 34). However, in a contrasting twist, after they leave Ivan feels good as if the falsity had left with them. Evi...