Extra Cred- Tolstoy Cool

a. How does Ivan's quest for status, advancement, prestige, and generally the approval of others endanger his chance to live a more meaningful life?

In this story Ivan Llynch is a man who has chosen to live life of status and decorum. Its a lot about the inner life and the outer life. He conforms to the values and rules of society and admires those with high social status and wealth as a result Ivan is fixated on obtaining material things. His social interactions, even with his own family are very proper. In the novel social prestige depersonalizes human relations necessary to living a fulfilling and meaningful life.

Even though Ivan is able to obtain those knick knacks, it doesn't make him happy, when his death bed he reflects on his life and the things he has now and it seems very fake and artificial to him. No one in his family is able to confront the fact that he is dying. The only person capable of facing death at all with courage and grace is Gerasim, Ivan's nurse, who accepts that this is something everyone must face someday. Gerasim is the only character in the story that can interact with people in an authentic and meaningful way. He breaks down isola†ion and creates meaningful bonds. Gerasim is able to comfort the dying man and interact with him and develop a meaningful relationship. Gerasim, who is a peasant is content with his social standing and what he has and he is able to develop mutually fulfilling relationships that give him the courage and strength to confront death. That is why it is not a coincidence that Ivan questions his life while looking on Gerasim's face.

"His mental sufferings were due to the fact that that night, as he looked at Gerasim's sleepy, good-natured face with it prominent cheek-bones, the question suddenly occurred to him: "What if my whole life has been wrong?" "



Because Ivan was so focused on obtaining social standing and material items, he pushed other more important things to the side, like developing meaningful human relationships. "It is as if I had been going downhill while I imagined I was going up. And that is really what it was. I was going up in public opinion, but to the same extent life was ebbing away from me. And now it is all done and there is only death."

The pain in his side comes from his body's rejection of the way he has been living life. In the end he realizes that none of the social gain made him happy, that he was happiest moments were before he obtained any of it and that the more he is able to gain materialistically, the less fulfilled and empty he felt. He realizes that he has actually been traveling opposite direction intended in his life. When Ivan realizes his mistake and comes to a fuller understanding of the nature of life, he is reborn spiritually and experiences extreme joy. This novel shows how Ivan's quest for advancement and prestige endangers his chance to live a more meaningful life because he misses the point to what life is actually about, compassion and developing an emphatic connection with other human beings.