Character

Character The Character’s Struggle… Tolstoy’s “Death of Ivan Illich” and Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” are two fictional stories that describe man’s behavior when faced with the final act of life; the death. On the surface, the main characters in those two stories are quite different, as their death approaches however, they become more and more alike. Tolstoy’s Ivan Illich is an educated man who lives his live obeiding by all the written and unwritten rules. He likes the status quo and his happiness comes from conforming to what is publicly thought of as the right way to live. He acts as a decent person because it makes him happy when others say he is a decent man. Even his decision to marry was based on following the rules rather then the love for one another. According to Tolstoy, “Ivan Illich’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible. He had been a member of the Court of Justice and died at the age of forty-five.” The Yukon man, in London’s “To Build a Fire” is a simple individual who finds himself in an unfamiliar territory. He is walking back to the camp life, man, ivan, illich, death, yukon, last, himself, fire, final, dog, way, thought, though, realizes, out, moments, following, after, understand, take, said, one, lived, just, instincts, illich’s, however, dignity, die, cold, build, very, tolstoy, time