American Literature

Leo Tolstoys The Death of Ivan Ilych written at the end of the nineteenth century and Franz Kafkas The Metamorphosis published during the first part of the twentieth century are both not only timeless masterpieces but also testaments of the physical and mental suffering that coexisted with bourgeois lifestyle. Both authors were once participants in this suffering and, just like the protagonists in their works, they have gone through a significant period of existential crisis in their lives and have somehow resolved it before death. The Death of Ivan Ilych and The Metamorphosis tell of the struggle of two men against the society that depersonalized and desensitized them until they were able to break free from this pressure at such a great cost  the cost of death. Both novels lend themselves to several striking parallelisms and a few obvious differences as to the problem of suffering and alienation. The goal of this paper is to discuss such similarities and differences.

Parallelisms as to the Agents of Suffering and Renewal
Apart from the fact that the authors of both novels both were strong enemies of bourgeois tradition and that either used flashback or reversal approach, there are a number of significant similarities between The Death of Ivan Ilych and The Metamorphosis. The protagonists are similar as well as many other factors including financial pressures and a seeming lack of choice. Also, the characters of one novel have corresponding counterparts in the other one.
As previously mentioned, one of the most obvious similarities between the two novels is the presence of the protagonist who lives an artificial life, i.e., a life that he believes he does not want to live but nevertheless a life he has adopted. Both Ivan Ilych and Gregor Samsa somehow live their lives not out of a free personal choice but rather either because of an inner craving for approval or a mere lack of resolve to assert himself and his own personal convictions. Both Ivan and Gregor are portrayed as weak men in the sense that throughout their lives prior to their ill-fated conditions, they have been subservient to societys expectations of them. Ivan lives a life according to what society expects of a young legal gentleman who believes he belongs to the upper class. In a similar way, Gregor has religiously conformed to the expectation of a typical bourgeois society that the most capable member of the household should be the one to handle and fulfill all familial obligations.
The complaints of Ivan and Gregor are similar. One of Ivans complaints is expressed by the line He alone knew that with the consciousness of the injustices done him, with his wifes incessant nagging, and with the debts he had contracted by living beyond his means, his position was far from normal. Gregors complaint, in a similar way, is echoed by his own words when he said, Ive got the torture of traveling as a salesman,eating miserable food at all hours, constantly seeing new faces, no relationships that last or get more intimate. From these complaints, we can clearly see the agents of suffering in both protagonists. For Ivan, it is society itself, his wife and the pressures of his creditors. For Gregor, it is the pressures of work and his superiors.
The aforementioned complaints are nothing but manifestations of a seeming absence of free will, which is another parallel theme for both protagonists in both novels. Ivans helplessness is shown in the line It was then that it became evident on the one hand that his salary was insufficient for them to live on, and on the other that he had been forgotten, that what was for him the greatest and most cruel injustice. Ivans whole family treated him with utmost indifference when finances had become low and this made him feel so much alienated that he had to push himself to find immediate solutions to the problem at hand. Similarly, Gregors lack of right to make his own choices is evident in So it was just a sum Gregors savings that really should not be touched and that had to be put away for a rainy day but the money to live on had to be earned by him. Gregor himself, his parents and sisters helplessness are justification for his decision to be the one to make money for the family. This absence of free will in both characters is one of the most obvious signs of their own suffering.
Financial problems seem to be another major cause of the suffering of both Ivan and Gregor and are a recurring theme in both novels. Ivan wanted money badly when he realized in 1880 that his salary was insufficient for the family to live on and that somehow he felt that he had been forgotten. Gregors financial problems, on the other hand, are reflected in the line Once Ive gotten the money together to pay off my parents debt to himIm going to do it without fail. Both characters have shown subservience to money in that they seem to have somehow chosen jobs they did not enjoy doing and that they have chosen them only out of their despair for the mere helplessness of the people who depended on them.
Unsupportive characters seem to dominate the stories and in a way help perpetuate the suffering of the protagonists. Ivans wife Praskovya Fedorovna was a jealous and overbearing woman and as more and more children came, she became increasingly querulous and ill-tempered. She was also fond of blaming and nagging him. Gregors whole family, on the other hand, seem the burden that traps him in his endless and difficult routine. Despite the fact that he had transformed into a vermin, we could still hear him pleading to his superior, I also have my parents and my sister to worry about...Dont make things harder for me than they already are.
Some characters in the The Death of Ivan Ilych and The Metamorphosis are somehow neutral, which means they have a vague attitude towards the protagonist, i.e., either totally indifferent to him or sometimes supporting him and at other times opposing him. Ivans friend and colleague Peter Ivanovich, Ivans fellow judge and closest friend, was the first to notice the expression on the dead mans face during the wake and somehow felt remorse and sympathy towards Ivans death. However, during the funeral service, Peters apathy was witnessed when he did not yield to any depressing influence and was the first one to leave  and that right after Ivans death Peter thought that he would apply for his brother-in-laws transfer of office as Peter believed this would make his wife happy, making readers wonder if he was really Ivans closest friend or just another one of his colleagues. In The Metamorphosis, Gregors sister Grete was too indifferent towards him when she raised her fist at him while glaring at him with piercing eyes and when she accidentally caused a bottle of corrosive medicine to fall on Gregor causing a glass splinter to wound him in the face and the corrosive fluid to flow around him. Moreover, Grete was the first person who suggested that they should get rid of Gregor as he was disturbing the boarders. In both novels, Peter and Grete are almost insignificant in the protagonists spiritual, thus not helping them at all in their spiritual transformation and recovery.

Parallelisms as to the Phenomenon of Suffering and Alienation
The previously mentioned causes of suffering that surrounded our main characters are the ones responsible for the perpetuation of their suffering.
The existential crisis in the lives of both Ivan Ilych and Gregor Samsa was a rather long process that started with a first symptom  feelings of alienation or the feeling that they are not living their lives according to their own true nature and that something seems to be a miss. This, however, did not make them question the way they live but rather made them choose to continue the masquerade until only some time before death when they finally had to confront the very questions that they had chosen to ignore ever since.
In Ivans case, his pretenses somehow started when he was a child of a rather neutral character He Ivan was neither as cold and formal as his elder brother nor as wild as the younger, but was a happy mean between theman agreeable man. Such neutrality of character was an indication of an inner struggle to walk the thin line of approval. No matter how heroic it might have seemed to Ivan himself and to others, his true self was longing for a clear authentic expression. Tolstoy pointed out this inner conflict in the line  He had done things which  made him feel disgusted with himself when he did them (7). Ivans lack of authenticity and lack of truthfulness towards himself was also very clear when he slipped, fell and hurt his side with the knob of the window frame  but never has he mentioned anything about his pain until his transformation into a vegetable.
Gregor Samsas fake life, on the other hand, had perhaps started with his work. An inner struggle can be seen in Gregors words when he said If I didnt hold back for my parents sake, I would have quit long ago. I would have marched up to the boss and spoken my piece from the bottom of my heart. He would have fallen off the desk. Gregor was clearly living a double-life satisfying his bosses and at the same time cursing them. This was exactly the same attitude he had towards his overbearing family, whose youngest member  his sister Grete  he could not even bear to ask to help him with the chores though God knows how much he wanted to. Little did Gregor know that when he got accustomed to such pride and pretenses, it further blurred his identity  until one day he too, just like Ivan, was forced to answer his own questions. Just like Ivan, Gregor too was indifferent towards his own internal conflict, his own internal pain. Though he was already in an animal state, he struggled to get up and get dressed and he even condemned himself by saying Just dont stay in bed being useless . Gregor was not ignorant of the fact that he was not human anymore at that time. He was rather indifferent to it, remaining blind to the truth that was already staring in his face, or maybe he just simply got used to not seeing the truth.
The perpetual feelings of guilt, pretenses and inner conflicts experienced by both protagonists have little by little dragged them further and further towards their inevitable fate  the so-called punishment for all their lies and self-imposed suffering. Both Ivan and Gregor, in the end, have become horrible mutations whose short lives spoke of everything but the ones they used to live. Ivan turned into a vegetable who even needed to have someone help him with his excretions. Gregor, on the other hand, turned into a monstrous vermin whose many legs lay helplessly before his very eyes. Ivans and Gregors active lives of self-sacrifice suddenly turned upside down. They have become everything that they were not and as men of change and action, they were both forced to accept for the very first time something that they could not change.
In these situations, both men were forced to admit the truths about themselves and for the very first times in their lives, they have ceased to act artificially, having stopped manipulating their lives, themselves and others and began confronting the things that they could never change, including death. Ivan was forced to confront unpleasantness and pain versations with his inner voice in the last part of the novel, Ivan was enlightened as to the shallowness of the life he has lived. Eventually, however, he gave up his life with the words Death is finishedit is no more. These last words of Ivan mean that finally his physical life which he looked at as death was indeed finished and that he welcomed new life. His death has therefore become the vehicle of his salvation (Ivan Ilych). Gregor, on the other hand, was forced to question his previous existence while he was a monstrous vermin. Right before his death and upon hearing his sisters suggestion of having to get rid of him, Gregor, for the first time after several months of hateful sacrifice, felt an unadulterated deep emotion and love towards his family and upon hearing his sisters suggestion that he should be gotten rid of, his head sank down to the floor and he breathed his last.
Some Noteworthy Differences
One of the biggest differences between The Death of Ivan Ilych and The Metamorphosis is mainly on the degree of difficulty that the protagonists have experienced. Obviously, Ivan was rather more fortunate of the two. He had a nurse in the person of Gerasim, his personal helper whose example of patience and insight somehow intrigued Ivan himself and eventually opened him up to a world where he could accept helplessness, discomfort, pain and most of all, death. Gregor, on the other hand, was shunned by everyone including his own family and unlike Ivan who died in the midst of his loved ones Gregor died alone and was uncared for, his wounds untreated and his body ill-fed.