Ivan Illych
In the Bible the Pharisees were the Jewish upper class. They socialized with the Roman governors and Israel's finest citizens. The Pharisees were the richest and most educated men in the area; they were also the leaders in the Hebrew society. They appeared to be the most successful men of their day, but in reality it was all a smoke screen they used to look successful. The Bible shows that they were hypocrites who only cared for themselves. The Pharisees did not care about their families or their religion. In one instance Jesus was preaching to a crowd of people and said, " Everything they do is done for men to see" (Matthew 23:5). The Pharisees only about how people saw them. Leo Tolstoy's novella The Death of Ivan Ilych focuses on a modern "Pharisee". In the story Ivan Ilych's self-centered formula for success was really a failure. Ivan failed in his family and official life. He also placed too much emphasis on material possessions, and he ruined his social life. Part of Ivan Ilych's formula for success was to make others think he had the perfect family, but his family was only for show. Ivan married Praskovya Fedornva for social acceptance and not love. When Ivan decides to get married Tolstoy tells us, "To say
Ivan did not care about what ministry he was moved to or where his new post was located; all he cared about was the money. that Ilych married because he fell in love with Praskovya Fedornva and found that she sympathized with his views of life would be as incorrect as to say that he married because his social circle approved" (525). Gary Jahn wrote, "The entire direction of the narrative is toward the display of the falseness, insincerity, and consequent spiritual inadequacy of [Ilych's] life" (11, 12). He went to a good university and became an acclaimed writer. The lust and drive for money causes more problems than the money can fix. Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Ilych devoted much of his time to making his house appear high-class, but "in reality it was just what is usually seen in houses of people with moderate means who want to appear rich" (Tolstoy 530). After he graduated from Law School "Ivan Ilych ordered himself clothes at Scharmer's, the fashionable tailor" (Tolstoy 522). When Ivan left for Petersburg for his new rank "all he now wanted was an appointment to another post with a salary of five thousand rubles" (Tolstoy 528). Leo Tolstoy's life in many ways paralleled that of Ivan Ilych. Today's society is just like Ilych's world because people are constantly judging the appearance of others instead of their character.
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