Tolstoy maintains a romance with the eternal question: what is the meaning of life and are people living correctly by it? Tolstoy reminds the reader that death is inevitable and the hope that tries to control it is displaced by fear, and finally regret. In The Death of Ivan Ilych Tolstoy portrays the protagonist in an empty existence to illustrate the naked truths of reality. By comparing Ivan's character with one of Tolstoy's heroes from the novel Anna Karenina, Constantine Levin, the reader recognizes Tolstoy's ideals on the process of living, and through Ivan's pitiful example, Tolstoy provides an archetype for a life wasted and misled. Both characters are met with opposition and depression; but their differences in behavior when dealing with death signify their respective levels of happiness. After living a depraved and humble life, Levin acts upon life and deals with the immovable by compromise. On the other hand Ivan struggles in a tug of war with death and life, and in return death forces him to abandon his family in a pool of regret. Tolstoy is sending a powerful message to the reader: wealth can be accrued, sickness can be held at bay, but death and consequence are inevitable and what one gives is an accurate fortune of what one will receive.
             The fulfillment of one's life cannot be measure by material possessions. This maxim can be applied to Tolstoy's use of the Ilych home to symbolize the emptiness of Ivan's life; the facade of bargain antiques don't even bring the reputation that Ivan craves, let alone true happiness. The Ilych home is nothing extraordinary and is exactly like every other middle class home that wants to "appear" rich (Tolstoy 31). The carefully decorated yet mediocre home is a mirror image of it's lord in that Ivan has delicately groomed himself as a "phenix" yet his adherence to his "duty" according to normalcy makes him indis...