The short story, "The Death of Ivan Ilych," written by Leo Tolstoy, takes the reader through the life, the suffering, and the death of a man and the reactions of those around him. In the opening of the story, Tolstoy demonstrates the theme surrounding the characters. All of the characters in this story lead selfish lives. There is no regard for the feelings or sufferings of others. The story is made up of a conglomerate of shallow lives not daring to look within at the feelings deep inside them for fear of realizing their unfulfilled lives. Everything that was accomplished by Ivan Ilych was for his social stature. He lived his life with these types of principles even though he realized in the end that everything was a facade.
             Ivan Ilych's motto for living life was to fulfill his duty. He felt that his duty was to be what those in authority considered appropriate. Ivan Ilych married Prakovya Fedorovana for the following reasons: he felt that the marriage would give him personal satisfaction, and it was considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates. Even when it came to love, Ivan Ilych put his social image before his happiness. Ivan Ilych saw her as "...well connected, and was a sweet, pretty, and thoroughly correct young woman (47)." Ivan Ilych realized once his first child was born that he would have to adopt the same attitude to his family that he had to his official duties. Ivan developed an attitude of complete indifference towards his family, "He only required of it those conveniences---dinner at home, housewife, and bed-which it could give him (48)."
             After more children and a terrible marriage, Ivan Ilych made a drastic decision. He traveled to St. Petersburg with the intentions of obtaining a salary of five thousand rubles a year. Ivan Ilych stumbles upon some good fortune and obtains a position two levels above his former p
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