According to the German philosopher Karl Heinrich Marx, “In bourgeois society capital is independent and has individuality, while the living person is dependent and has no individuality” . Marx defended this idea in chapter 2 of his Communist Manifesto, which is a critique of bourgeois society, much like Leo Tolstoy's “The Death of Ivan Ilyich”. The main theme of this book is the purpose of life and Tolstoy uses Ivan Ilyich to personify the bourgeoisie and criticize their way of life. In addition to this, the book refers to criticisms leveled at the manifesto at various points in history. In the book, point of view is an essential tool for readers to understand society in terms of bourgeois values ​​versus proletarian values, and for Tolstoy to intensify his criticism of it in a profound way. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In the first chapters, the story is told from the point of view of Peter Ivanovich, and this is essential for readers to understand the superficiality of friendship in bourgeois society, since Tolstoy presents the character as false already at the beginning, since he is it is clear that he thinks one thing, but says another: “'Now I must ask for my brother-in-law's transfer from Kaluga,' thought Peter Ivanovich. "My wife will be very happy, and then she will no longer be able to say that I never do anything for her relatives." I thought he would never get out of bed again,” Pyotr Ivanovich said aloud. 'It's very sad.'” The story continues and, after Pietro told his wife about his friend's death, he had to "sacrifice" his nap to go to Ivan's house: "Peter Ivanovich sacrificed his usual nap, he wore his evening dress and drove to Ivan Ilyich's house. ” In this excerpt we can see that Ivan is more worried about sacrificing his nap, than about the death of his friend. Later, talking to Ivan's wife, she hears how Ivan suffered in his last days: "Oh, terribly!" He screamed incessantly, not for minutes but for hours. For the last three days he has been screaming incessantly. It was unbearable. I can't understand how I put up with it; you could hear it three rooms away. Oh, how I suffered! ' This excerpt from this conversation shows how superficial bourgeois society was, as Ivan's wife doesn't even care about him, as she only cares about her own suffering and boredom while Ivan screamed in pain. Therefore, we can conclude that the point of view used by Tolstoy in the first chapters was essential to begin to develop a criticism of bourgeois society and its superficiality. Secondly, we will look at Ivan Ilyich's point of view from chapters 5-8. During chapter 5, Ivan finally realizes that he is dying and that everyone has lied to him: “'It's not about the appendix or the kidney, but about life and... death. Yes, life was there and now it goes, it goes and I can't stop it. YES. Why deceive me? It's not obvious to anyone except me that I'm dying, and that it's just a matter of weeks, days... it could happen right now. There was light and now there is darkness. I was here and now I'm going! Where?' A shiver came over him, his breathing stopped and he heard only the beating of his heart. This passage describes how he begins to think about falsehood, and when he complains to Praskovya that he feels worse and she talks about the specialist, he begins to hate her for being so false to him: “While she kissed him, he hated her from the bottom of his heart. courage and with difficulty refrained from rejecting it." Then Ivan talks to Gerasim and tells him the truth, that he is dying and that everyone dies, one day or another. Ivan Ilyich now feels positive towards Gerasim and feels even more angry about the falsity of his life:“And in Gerasim's attitude towards him there was something similar to what he wanted, and therefore that attitude comforted him. Ivan Ilyich wanted to cry, he wanted to be cuddled and cried over, and then his colleague Shebek would come, and instead of crying and being cuddled, Ivan Ilyich took on a serious, severe and profound look, and by force of habit expressed his his opinion on a decision of the Court of Cassation and would stubbornly insist on this point of view. This falsehood around him and within him contributed more than anything else to poisoning his last days." Therefore, in these chapters, Tolstoy constructs Ivan's change and recognition through Ivan's point of view. Tolstoy treats this as a process and using Ivan's perspective of desperation, hatred and love is essential for the reader to understand Ivan's progress within this process and understand the criticisms Tolstoy is trying to make. Third, in the last chapters, when Ivan is closer than ever to death, the story is still told from his point of view, but unlike before, his point of view is now used to represent his change and his recognition of the superficiality of his life, and then he could face death, accept it, and die peacefully. Gerasim, who represents the proletariat, is the opposite character to Ivan Ilyich, as he has an authentic and purposeful life, and is honest and emphatic. Later in the story, Ivan realizes that Gerasim is the example and that his whole life had been wrong: “His mental sufferings were due to the fact that that night, as he looked at Gerasim's sleepy, good-natured face with cheekbones prominent, suddenly the question came to his mind: 'What if my whole life had gone wrong?'” After this point, Ivan begins to think about life. He thinks of his son kissing his hand and feels sorry for him, who was a good child, but he also feels sorry for Praskovya, because he doesn't know what it was like to live an authentic life. He begins to think about doing the right thing, and also begins to accept his mistakes, as we can see in: “At that very moment Ivan Ilyich fell and saw the light, and it was revealed to him that despite his life had not been what should have been, this could still be corrected. He asks himself, “What is the right thing?” and froze, listening. Then he felt someone kissing his hand. He opened his eyes, looked at his son and felt sorry for him. His wife approached him and he looked at her. She gaped at him, with unwiped tears on her nose and cheek and a desperate look on her face. He felt sorry for her too. When Ivan finally accepted his death, the pain became non-existent and he could now die: “For those present, his agony continued for another two hours. Something rattled in his throat, his emaciated body twitched, then the wheezing and wheezing became less and less frequent. "It's finished!" " said someone close to him. He heard these words and repeated them in his soul. “Death is over,” he said to himself. “It's no longer here!” He took a breath, stopped mid-sigh, stretched, and died. He uses Ivan's point of view in these chapters, especially in the last one, to show how he changes and finally accepts death: Forgive, love present: This is just an example. Get a custom paper now from our expert writers Get a custom essay To wrap it all up, the story “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” is an attempt by Leo Tolstoy to make people aware of the importance. to live an authentic life and uses point of view throughout the story to represent the thoughts and actions of the bourgeoisie in the best possible way. Therefore, its excellent use of point of view adapted to different.