A Genuine Understanding of the Artificial
The primary theme of Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilych is an examination of the dichotomy between selfish nature and a selfless nature. The Death of Ivan Ilych opens with the late Ivan’s colleagues receiving notice of his passing. Instead of the expected empathy, they respond with immediate selfish thoughts of promotion: “On receiving the nest of Ivan Ilych’s death the first thought of each gentleman in that private room was of the changes and promotions it might occasion among themselves or their acquaintances” (Tolstoy 1504).