I believe this means that just because you live a normal life, does not mean you have lived your life. Ivan Ilych lived up to the role of being a Judge, being wealthy, etc. He did what everyone around him, that he respected, told him to do. In which he succeeded in. However it is not until he is on his death bed that he realizes that he really did not live his life to its fullest potential. I believe the narrator is making a point to say that there is more to life then what society says how you should live your life. Most importantly we need love in our lives. That is something in life that Ivan did not show. Not even to his own son until he was dying. Maybe his life would not have been so "terrible" if he learned to love and show love.
"I believe the narrator is making a point to say that there is more to life then what society says how you should live your life."
ReplyDeleteI agree 100% with you. I think people try so hard to fit in with society that we lose our uniqueness. By trying to fit in with everyone else, we become invisible and lost with the crowd. I say we should do what we want to make us happy, and make others around us happy. Without love there is no life.
I agree as well, I believe that sometimes we try too hard to fit in with the "norm" that we forget about ourselves and how we want to live our lives, not how we think we should live our lives. I can't help but feel bad for Ivan Ilyich, at least he was able to feel redeemed before he passed.
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