The Death of Ivan Ilyich

As an adult, Ivan Ilyich focuses his energy on constantly pursuing upward career social movement. This includes advancing in his profession and moving from one location to the next in an effort to land in a more socially advantageous house and neighborhood. Moreover, he uses movement to avoid emotional entanglement, fleeing his house rather than deal with his wife or children. The novella’s structure echoes this endless motion, galloping through decades of Ivan Ilyich’s life in the space of a few chapters.

This movement slows as his health fails. Within a matter of months, Ivan Ilyich no longer goes to work, becomes housebound, and then confined to bed. Without his regular cycle of movement, and no longer physically escape the home he frequently avoided, Ivan Ilyich has nothing to do but reflect on his life. The novella also slows down here, chronicling Ivan Ilyich’s circular, iterative thoughts as he tries for the first time to think about the meaning of life.

In the final chapter of the novella, Ivan Ilyich reaches complete stillness as he listens for an answer to his question, “What is the right thing?” (301). He “suddenly becomes aware of the real direction” of his life (301). For so long, Ivan Ilyich lived according to how he expected he should, but now he sees that this direction was wrong—as he was moving upward outwardly, he was going downhill.