The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Creative Writing: Perceptions of Ivan”

In this activity, students will write a creative piece from the perspective of one of Ivan’s friends or family members during Ivan’s final days.

In the beginning of the novel, Tolstoy establishes that Ivan’s death does not profoundly impact his peers; however, the reader does not receive direct insight into most of these characters’ perspectives. In this activity, you will write a creative piece that explores one of Ivan’s friends or family members in the days before his death. As you draft your piece, consider the following questions:

• Which character are you writing the perspective from?
• How is this character related to Ivan in the story?
• How does this character feel about Ivan’s impending death?
• Is Ivan’s perception of how this character feels correct or incorrect?
• What will this character focus on after Ivan’s death?

Share your creative piece with the class, taking note of any similarities or differences in creative approaches among your classmates.

Teaching Suggestion: This activity invites students to approach Tolstoy’s story from a creative perspective. In the story, Ivan is certain that only Gerasim is honest with him about the reality of his impending death; consequently, he chooses to spend his time in the compassionate company of this character instead of his children or wife. Overall, he desires to be pitied by his companions for his sufferings, but he pushes most of the people who would pity him away. Students may choose to focus on this complexity, such as the grieving process from the children’s perspective or the wife’s true feelings about her husband and her preoccupation with finances, as well as Gerasim’s feelings as Ivan’s chosen caretaker. Students should use a similar narrative style to Tolstoy in their writings (i.e., third-person omniscient narrator) and be encouraged to include the theme of Light Versus Darkness into their narrative style.

Differentiation Suggestion: Students with an interest in fiction writing could expand this Activity to include their chosen character’s perspective of Ivan over the course of his life (e.g., Praskovya’s impressions of Ivan from their first date, the children during their childhood, etc.). Students might even develop a full narrative arc for their characters, with the death of Ivan as a major plot point.

Paired Text Extension: Dostoevsky’s “Bobok”

Fyodor Dostoevsky, Russian author and contemporary of Tolstoy, explored similar themes related to social expectations, the meaning of life, and philosophy. In his 1873 short story “Bobok,” the narrator realizes that he is able to hear dead people converse with each other from their coffins in the cemetery.

Read Dostoevsky’s short story and consider the following questions:

• Based on the short story, what is Dostoevsky’s opinion on death and life after death?
• How does Dostoevsky’s representation of death and the meaning of life compare with Tolstoy’s representation?
• Imagine that Ivan is one of the characters that the narrator can hear conversing in “Bobok.” What would be some of the thoughts that he would share in the afterlife? What would be his concerns and his objectives?

Finally, share your responses with the class.

Teaching Suggestion: This Paired Text Extension allows students to make connections among Russian authors. Dostoevsky’s short story presents a different afterlife than what is alluded to by Tolstoy; in particular, the former suggests that there is indeed a temporary life after death, which is not necessarily religious. This Paired Text Extension works as either a writing assignment or an in-class discussion.