Simple Ivan

Leo Tolstoy author of "The Death of Ivan Ilych, has written that "Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible". He quickly categorizes Ilych's life with only one simplistic quotation although the lawyer's life was everything but simplistic. In the second part of the quotation he goes on to say that because Ivan's life was so ordinary it was most terrible. In the novel Ivan is a workaholic he focuses most of his life constantly striving for a new level in society.Much of his life passes him by because he is unable to enjoy life. He views all aspects of his life much like his job. Ivan believes everything should be done and then moved on from like tasks to be checked off. Much of his time was committed to pleasing others around him and at the end of his life he had nothing to show for it. I believe that his fear of death is rooted in the fact that he would not matter anymore and his legacy would be forgotten.