— Abdulla Al Sudman
I feel like this story, The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Tolstoy, is very relatable especially due to our current circumstances. It speaks on how human beings naturally follow a specific path and for the longest time they believe that that’s the only path that should be taken. And this routine isn’t interrupted until a certain significant event occurs that makes them rethink everything that they did and the way that they did it. This event for Ivan Ilyich was his profound illness, which presented itself after his fall from the ladder. This illness is what led to him questioning the entire way that he lived his life. Ilyich thought about the way that he acted with his kids, he thought about the things that he desired, he questioned what he believed was important in the past. He was a person that held material gains very highly. He wanted to be one of those people that look like they had wealth. He did his best to present himself as a man of higher stature, but that held little importance when he was near his death. He realized that the things that he should have been paying attention to the most were right in front of them, it was his family. And seeing them cry in front of him, due to the idea that he was going to pass, made him feel that he probably did something right. This is something that I can relate to especially during this immensely disruptive and uncertain time. I’m the type person that stays home a lot and doesn’t like to go out that much. It’s not that I don’t want to have fun when I’m out, it’s just that I’m too lazy to leave the house in the first place. But after this long in captivity I’m generally beginning to question the way that I used to live my life. If you stay in one place and do nothing, you don’t have any genuine or important memories. Everyday feels the same and that’s not a good way to live life. Yes getting good grades and staying in shape are important things but they’re not what makes life worth living. If you allow it there’s a lot more to experience, which is why this text is so crucial during this time. It makes you question the way that you live your own life and see if there’s any real way to improve it. It makes you appreciate things that you would’ve never thought about in the past, the basic things are so much more valuable.
