The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

What are some of the expectations that different cultures or societies have for an individual’s maturation and adulthood? For example, what are the traditional milestones that a person like you typically experiences in life? Have these milestones changed over time? Why or why not?

Teaching Suggestion: This question orients students with the sociological context of the novel. Tolstoy’s protagonist, Ivan, is preoccupied with the external and social expectations of society. Ivan does everything “right” in his life: He attends university, travels during his youth, settles down to marry and have a family, and preoccupies his time with advancing his career and salary. Although Tolstoy’s story takes place in late-19th-century Russia, these milestones mirror the traditional expectations that are valued in contemporary Western capitalist societies (i.e., education, career, marriage, and child-rearing). However, while Ivan “checks the boxes” of such societal expectations, he realizes in his final moments that he really had Misplaced Priorities in pursuing superficial norms and that he should have focused on developing relationships with his family and peers, as opposed to focusing on amassing wealth and acquiring material items.