The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Through the character of Ivan Ilyich, Tolstoy offers a critique of affluent Russian society in the nineteenth century. Tolstoy describes Ivan’s life as the “most simple and most ordinary and therefore the most terrible.” What makes Ivan’s life terrible? What aspects of his contemporary society is Tolstoy trying to critique? You might also consider how the servant Gerasim is presented as an alternative approach to life.