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Count Leo Tolstoy's classic novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886/1981) is examined from the perspective of a health care professional for its portrayal of a helping relationship between the central character and his servant Gerasim. The purpose of the article is to extrapolate helping behaviors depicted in the story and construct a caregiving model. Tolstoy's work, literary critiques of the novel, biographies of Tolstoy, and principles from feminist ethics are used as sources. The model will be of assistance to those who care for the terminally ill.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich has been acclaimed by literary critics as one of Count Leo Tolstoy's superb shorter works (Charney, 1986) . The piece is notable for its exploration of mankind's fear of its own mortality and the meaning of existence, dilemmas with which Tolstoy struggled throughout his adult life. This essay examines the caregiving behaviors of Gerasim, Ivan Ilyich's peasant servant, towards his dying master. The character's simple, gentle approach provides the only real comfort Ilyich receives in his final months. It is suggested that these caregiving behaviors constitute a model for those who work with the terminally ill. Tolstoy's Background
Tolstoy was born the into the nobility, and early on he lived the "usual dissipated life of a man of his class; however, his inner compulsion to moral self-justification led him on a different path" (Charney,1986, p. 536). The single greatest influence on Tolstoy's moral development was the work of Jean Jacques Rousseau, the french author and philosopher (Wilson, 1988). Wilson, one of Tolstoy's recent biographers, has stated that Tolstoy was profoundly affected by Rousseau's opposition to the existing social structure and his propositions for new social development and moral purification. He longed to follow Rousseau's teaching and live a more spontaneous and natural life. Tolstoy struggled throughout his life with a dualistic moral code. His dichotomy of personality was related to the influence of his aristocratic childhood and its sharp contrast with the rural peasant lifestyle his philosophical mentor Rousseau espoused and Tolstoy sought to emulate. Even the setting in which Tolstoy wrote is illustrative of his deep conflicts. He spent the summer of 1885 at his estate alternating his time between drafting The Death of Ivan Ilyich and working in...