Connections between ‘Punishment’ and ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’

After reading ‘Punishment,’ I noticed one of the central themes within the text, as well as one of the greatest issues the characters faced was the death of Radha. Additionally, how the characters responded to her murder were equally as significant to the story, because this is what led Chandara to confess to a murder she never committed. An intestresting aspect in the story ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’ has a similar textual context, in that although Ilyich’s death is one of the main focal points, the reactions of his peers shortly before and after his death are also notable. Firstly, in Punishment, one of choices Chidam makes after an additional witness to the murder appears, Ramlochan, is to lie about what happened, so as to try to protect his brother from being charged for the murder he committed by pinning the blame on Chandara. As the story writes, “But why is Dukhi crying so?’ asked Ramlochan, stepping towards the verandah. Seeing no way out now, Chidam blurted out, “In their quarrel, Chotobau struck at Barobau’s head with a farm-knife.” (p. 894) According to the story, Chidam’s rash thinking placed a higher value over his brother than his wife, which caused him to put the blame on her. From this, we can see that Chidam was quick to make decisions, but did not think them through before proceeding. At first glance, this is understandable, in that Chidam is trying to protect his only brother from incrimination, but this false accusation spirals into Chandara being executed for Dukhiram’s crime. On the other hand, when looking at The Death of Ivan Ilyich, the character’s reactions to the death are not so consequential, but still very notable. When being faced with Ilyich’s death, his colleagues responded with thinking, “Well, he’s dead but I’m alive!” (p. 741) They anticipated the “very tiresome demands of propriety by attending the funeral service and paying a visit of condolence to the widow.” (p. 741) From this, we can see that Ilyich’s peers did not care that much about his death, and were very pleased to remember that they still had their own lives to live and enjoy, although their peer had lost his life. In this light, although in both stories the characters have to deal with a death, their reactions to the death adds even more details and textual evidence to their character traits, and who they are as a person, and what their values are.