World Literature

“The syllogism he had learnt from Kiesewetter’s logic: “Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal.” had always seemed to him correct as applied to Caius, but certainly not as applied to himself. That Caius – man in the abstract — was mortal, was perfectly correct, but he was not Caius, not an abstract man, but a creature quite, quite separate from all others.” (71)

Ivan Ilych a man who held a high position within the society at the courts is now living under denial with the situation he was living at that moment, desperate to the thought that his days were numbered and death was something he could not fathom. He knew the truth about the Kiesewetter’s logic that Caius as a mortal man would eventually die, but that truth did not cut for himself. It was very difficult for him to understand. Caius although a man Ilych calls him an imaginary or abstract man that had not experienced life; with so many thoughts and emotions, which Caius (an abstract man) never had, it was not time to go. Tolstoy now brings a comparison which makes us, the readers, see him with  different eyes as he is confronted by his gloomy reality;  A man who was able to play the part as he entered the courts to do his job and was able to separate work and pleasure is now consumed by his own demons.