The Death of Ivan Ilyitch (Tolstoy)
Short summary
Russia, 1880s. News of Ivan Ilyitch's death reached his colleagues at the Law Courts. Their first thoughts turned to potential promotions rather than genuine grief. Only his former schoolmate Pyotr Ivanovitch felt obligated to attend the funeral.
Ivan Ilyitch had lived an ordinary, proper life. The son of a government official, he studied law and built a successful career in the judicial system. He married Praskovya Fyodorovna not from love but because it seemed agreeable and socially appropriate. Their initially pleasant marriage deteriorated during her pregnancy, as she became quarrelsome and demanding. Ivan Ilyitch increasingly found refuge in his work.
After seventeen years and several children, Ivan Ilyitch expected a promotion that went to another candidate. Determined to improve his situation, he traveled to Petersburg and secured a better position through connections. While decorating his new apartment, he fell from a ladder and bruised his side. The injury seemed minor but gradually developed into persistent pain and an unpleasant taste in his mouth.
Multiple doctors provided different diagnoses but no relief. His brother-in-law's shocked reaction revealed the truth - he was dying. Only the peasant servant Gerasim showed genuine compassion, holding Ivan Ilyitch's legs for hours to ease his pain and acknowledging death's reality without pretense.
For three months Ivan Ilyitch suffered, screaming in agony while his family maintained the fiction that he would recover. He realized his entire life had been wrong - a series of trivial, meaningless pursuits. Two hours before death, his son took his hand, and Ivan Ilyitch suddenly understood he could still make things right by freeing his family from suffering.
In the place of death there was light. 'So this is it!' he suddenly exclaimed aloud. 'What joy!'
Death was no more.
Detailed summary by chapters
Chapter titles are editorial.
Chapter 1. Colleagues learn of Ivan Ilyitchs death; funeral visit
During a break in the Melvinsky case at the Law Courts, members of the judicial council gathered in the private room of Ivan Yegorovitch Shebek. While discussing the celebrated Krasovsky case, their colleague announced that Ivan Ilyitch was dead. The news came from a newspaper obituary stating that Praskovya Fyodorovna Golovin informed friends and relatives of her beloved husband's death on February 4th, with the funeral scheduled for Thursday at one o'clock.
The colleagues' first thoughts turned to how Ivan Ilyitch's death might affect their own promotions and transfers. Each man calculated his potential advancement, with some hoping for better positions and increased salaries. Beyond these practical considerations, the news evoked the familiar feeling of relief that accompanies such announcements - the thought that 'it is he that is dead, and not I.'
Pyotr Ivanovitch felt obligated to attend the funeral and pay his respects to the widow. At Ivan Ilyitch's apartment, he encountered carriages and mourners. His colleague Shvarts was leaving and winked at him, suggesting they arrange their card game for later. Inside, Pyotr Ivanovitch awkwardly crossed himself and viewed the corpse, which bore an expression suggesting reproach for the living. The sight made him uncomfortable, and he quickly retreated to find Shvarts waiting to discuss their evening plans.
Chapter 2. Ivan Ilyitchs background, education, and marriage
The previous history of Ivan Ilyitch was the simplest, the most ordinary, and the most awful.
Ivan Ilyitch died at forty-five as a member of the Judicial Council. He was the son of an official who had worked through various Petersburg ministries, eventually receiving a sinecure position with a substantial salary. Ivan Ilyitch was the middle son - neither as rigid as his eldest brother nor as wild as the youngest, who had made a mess of his career. Ivan Ilyitch was considered the family's phoenix, a shrewd, pleasant, and well-bred man.
At the school of jurisprudence, Ivan Ilyitch proved himself intelligent, good-humoured, and sociable, but always strict in doing what he considered his duty. He was attracted to persons of good standing and assimilated their manners and views. Though he committed actions that initially seemed base to him, he later forgot about them when he saw that men of good position did the same things without considering them wrong.
After graduation, Ivan Ilyitch took a position as secretary on special commissions for a provincial governor. He performed his duties with exactitude and incorruptible honesty while maintaining an agreeable social life. When new judicial procedures were established, he became an examining magistrate, a position that gave him greater power and satisfaction. He enjoyed the authority to bring anyone before him as defendant or witness.
In his new town, Ivan Ilyitch met Praskovya Fyodorovna Mihel, the most attractive and clever girl in his social circle. Their courtship began as a light flirtation during dances, but she fell in love with him. Ivan Ilyitch married her not from passionate love but because it was agreeable to himself and approved by society. The marriage initially went well, with new furniture, crockery, and house linen creating a pleasant domestic atmosphere.
Chapter 3. Seventeen years of marriage and career; the fatal accident
During his wife's pregnancy, their harmonious life was disrupted. Praskovya Fyodorovna became jealous, exacting, and quarrelsome without apparent reason. Ivan Ilyitch tried to maintain his previous lighthearted approach, but his wife's persistent demands forced him to create a separate world in his official work. As children were born and his wife grew more irritable, Ivan Ilyitch increasingly transferred the center of his life to his career.
After seventeen years of marriage, Ivan Ilyitch expected promotion to presiding judge in a university town, but another candidate secured the position. This setback occurred in 1880, the most painful year of his life. His salary proved insufficient for expenses, and he felt forgotten by everyone. What seemed to him monstrous injustice appeared to others as commonplace. Even his father offered no assistance.
Determined to take decisive action, Ivan Ilyitch traveled to Petersburg seeking a new position with a five-thousand-rouble salary. Fortune smiled upon him when ministerial changes brought his friend Zahar Ivanovitch to power, who promised him an appointment in the justice department. Ivan Ilyitch received a position two stages higher than his former colleagues with the desired income.
Returning to the country in better spirits, Ivan Ilyitch found charming apartments in his new city. He personally supervised the furnishing, choosing antique furniture that gave the rooms an elegant, aristocratic character. While arranging hangings one day, he climbed a ladder to show a workman how to drape them properly. He made a false step and slipped, knocking his side against the corner of a frame. The bruised place ached but soon seemed to pass off.
Chapter 4. Onset of mysterious illness; futile medical consultations
Ivan Ilyitch's new life proceeded smoothly until he began experiencing a queer taste in his mouth and uncomfortable feeling on his left side. This sensation gradually increased, becoming not exactly pain but a continual sense of weight and irritability. His temper grew worse, leading to frequent quarrels with his wife. Praskovya Fyodorovna blamed his awful temper, though she admitted it had worsened recently.
At his wife's insistence, Ivan Ilyitch consulted a celebrated doctor. The medical examination followed the familiar pattern of professional dignity, questions with foregone conclusions, and significant airs. The doctor discussed the balance of probabilities between a loose kidney, chronic catarrh, and appendicitis, but ignored Ivan Ilyitch's real concern about whether his condition was dangerous. The doctor's brilliant summing-up left Ivan Ilyitch feeling that things looked bad.
Ivan Ilyitch began taking medicine and following the doctor's directions, finding initial comfort in the routine. His principal occupation became observing his ailment and listening to discussions about illness and health. The ache persisted, and he could deceive himself about improvement only when nothing disturbed him. Any mishap or unpleasant incident made him acutely aware of his condition.
Consultations with other doctors only increased his doubts and terrors. A second celebrity said almost the same as the first but asked different questions. A friend's doctor diagnosed the disease differently, and a homeopath provided yet another diagnosis. Each consultation deepened Ivan Ilyitch's confusion and strengthened his suspicions that something terrible was happening to him.
Chapter 5. Brother-in-laws visit; confronting the reality of illness
Just before New Year, Ivan Ilyitch's brother-in-law arrived for a visit. When the healthy, florid man saw Ivan Ilyitch, his stare revealed everything - there was indeed a change. Ivan Ilyitch locked himself in his room and examined his reflection in the mirror, comparing it to an old photograph. The change was immense. He overheard his brother-in-law and wife discussing his appearance, with the visitor noting that Ivan Ilyitch looked like a dead man.
Ivan Ilyitch visited his friend who had a doctor acquaintance, learning that his condition involved the intestinal appendix. The doctor explained that strengthening one organ and decreasing another's activity could lead to absorption and recovery. This gave Ivan Ilyitch temporary hope, but that evening, while lying in bed, the familiar gnawing ache returned with full force.
Chapter 6. Accepting the approach of death; the mortality of Caius
It's not a question of the appendix, not a question of the kidney, but of life and... death. Yes, life has been and now it's going, going away, and I cannot stop it.
Ivan Ilyitch realized he was dying but could not grasp this reality. The syllogism he had learned - 'Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal' - seemed correct for Caius but not for himself. He had always been different from abstract man; he was little Vanya with his mama and papa, with childhood joys and griefs. The idea that he, Ivan Ilyitch, should die seemed impossible and awful.
Chapter 7. Gerasims compassionate care; family deception and isolation
During the third month of Ivan Ilyitch's illness, everyone became aware that his death was imminent. He slept less, received opium and morphine injections, but found no relief. The most unpleasant aspect was his physical needs, which required assistance. Comfort came from an unexpected source - the peasant who waited at table.
Gerasim alone showed genuine compassion and understanding. He performed the most revolting tasks cheerfully, holding Ivan Ilyitch's legs for hours to ease his pain. Unlike others who maintained the deception that Ivan Ilyitch was merely ill, Gerasim acknowledged the reality of approaching death with simple acceptance.
Ivan Ilyitch's great misery was due to the deception that for some reason or other everyone kept up with him—that he was simply ill, and not dying.
Chapter 8. Daily suffering; doctors and familys uncomfortable presence
Ivan Ilyitch's days blended into endless suffering. Whether morning or evening, weekday or Sunday made no difference - there was only gnawing, agonizing pain and the sense of life ebbing away. The doctor continued his cheerful, professional manner, examining and prescribing while maintaining the pretense that recovery was possible. Praskovya Fyodorovna persisted in her reproachful attitude, blaming Ivan Ilyitch for not following treatment properly.
A celebrated doctor was called for consultation, leading to grave conversations about kidneys and appendices. The specialist's serious but not hopeless demeanor briefly kindled hope in Ivan Ilyitch, but this gleam quickly faded. His family prepared for an evening at the theater to see Sarah Bernhardt, their normal life continuing despite his suffering.
The family visit before the theater was awkward and painful. His daughter appeared in evening dress, her healthy young body a contrast to his suffering. Her fiancé arrived in formal attire, and conversation turned to Sarah Bernhardt's acting. Ivan Ilyitch stared with glittering, furious eyes, and an uncomfortable silence fell over the group. When they left, he felt both relief and continued pain.
Chapter 9. Restless night; the terrifying dream of the black sack
That night Ivan Ilyitch slept miserably until three o'clock. He dreamed that he and his pain were being thrust into a narrow, deep, black sack. They kept pushing him further and further in, but could not thrust him to the bottom. The operation was awful and accompanied by agony. He was afraid yet wanted to fall into it, struggling while trying to get into it. Suddenly he slipped, fell, and woke up to find Gerasim still sitting patiently at the foot of his bed.
Chapter 10. Reflecting on lifes meaning; questioning his choices
Can it be I have not lived as one ought? But how not so, when I've done everything as it should be done? But what is this? What for? It cannot be! It cannot be that life has been so senseless, so loathsome?
Ivan Ilyitch reviewed his entire life, finding that what had seemed joyful now appeared trivial and disgusting. Only childhood memories retained genuine pleasantness. His marriage, official career, and social success all seemed increasingly worthless as he approached death. The further from childhood, the more deadly life had become, though in public opinion he had been going uphill while life ebbed away from him.
Chapter 11. Daughters engagement; sacrament and spiritual crisis
What if in reality all my life, my conscious life, has been not the right thing? Everything else might be not the right thing.
During this period, his daughter's fiancé made a formal proposal. When Praskovya Fyodorovna came to share the news, she found Ivan Ilyitch in a different position, staring with hatred. He took the sacrament, which brought temporary relief and hope, but when his wife congratulated him on feeling better, rage and physical suffering returned with renewed intensity. He screamed for them to leave him alone.
Chapter 12. Three days of agony; final reconciliation and death
For three days Ivan Ilyitch screamed continuously, struggling against being thrust into the black hole while unable to get right into it. His justification that his life had been good held him back and caused more agony. On the third day, two hours before death, his son crept into the room and took his hand. At that moment, Ivan Ilyitch saw light and realized his life had not been right, but that it could still be corrected.
And all at once it became clear to him that what had tortured him and would not leave him was suddenly dropping away... How right and how simple!
He felt sorry for his family and wanted to free them from suffering. Trying to say 'forgive' but managing only 'forgo,' he understood that the One who mattered would understand. The pain and fear of death disappeared, replaced by light. His agony lasted two more hours for those present, but for Ivan Ilyitch, death was over - it was no more.