The Theme in the Work
The word the novella uses for compassion is to feel pity (жалеть, жалко, our translation), and the book circulates it in a precise way: at the wake it is a question of courtesy; in the illness it is what Ivan Ilyich Golovin does not receive from his family and does receive from Gerasim; and at the end it is what he himself feels for others, in place of self-pity. The path goes from self-pity to pity for the other, and the protagonist's death happens at the point where one movement turns into the other.
In ch. I, Pyotr Ivanovich asks Gerasim, just to say something, whether he feels pity, and hears something else:
Что, брат Герасим? — сказал Петр Иванович, чтобы сказать что-нибудь. — Жалко? — Божья воля. Все там же будем, And so, brother Gerasim? said Pyotr Ivanovich, just to say something. Do you feel pity? It is God's will. We will all end up there.
In ch. IV, on a night of vint, Ivan Ilyich loses at Slam, sees that his partner suffers, and realizes with horror that this does not matter to him; in the same chapter he is left alone with the awareness that no one feels pity for him.
In ch. VII, the lack takes an exact form:
хотелось того, чтоб его, как дитя больное, пожалел бы кто-нибудь. Ему хотелось, чтоб его приласкали, поцеловали, поплакали бы над ним, как ласкают и утешают детей., He wanted someone to feel sorry for him, as for a sick child. He wanted to be caressed, kissed, and wept over, as children are caressed and comforted.
Only Gerasim understands his situation and feels pity for him, and he says so in the plural:
Все умирать будем. Отчего же не потрудиться?, We will all die. Why not take the trouble?
In ch. VIII, apart from Gerasim, only his son, Vasya, seems to Ivan Ilyich to understand and to feel pity; Praskovya Fyodorovna Golovina weeps as she goes out to pay the famous doctor, after her husband's look of hope. In ch. IX, after sending Gerasim out, he feels sorry for himself and weeps:
Он плакал о беспомощности своей, о своем ужасном одиночестве, о жестокости людей, о жестокости Бога, об отсутствии Бога., He wept for his helplessness, for his terrible loneliness, for the cruelty of people, for the cruelty of God, for the absence of God.
In ch. XI, Lisa tells her mother, outside the room, that she feels pity for her father, but asks why he torments them. In ch. XII, his son kisses his hand, and the pity changes direction:
Он хотел сказать еще «прости», но сказал «пропусти», и, не в силах уже будучи поправиться, махнул рукою, зная, что поймет тот, кому надо, He wanted to say "forgive" again, but said "let it pass," and, unable to correct himself any longer, waved his hand, knowing that the one who needed to understand would understand.
The order of ch. XII is the book's argument about compassion: first the son feels pity and kisses his hand, then Ivan Ilyich feels pity for his son and wife, then he wants to free them from suffering, and only then does he look for the fear of death and not find it. The pity he wanted to receive as a child, in ch. VII, frees him only when he gives it.
Who Embodies It
Gerasim is the charity that needs neither lies nor words of consolation, that of dirty service done without grief because everyone is going to die (ch. VII). Vasya is compassion without speech, the frightened look of ch. VIII and the kiss of ch. XII. Ivan Ilyich is the one who learns to feel pity, late, after a life in which the office excluded everything that is alive (ch. III):
Во всем этом надо было уметь исключать все то сырое, жизненное, что всегда нарушает правильность течения служебных дел, In all of this one had to know how to exclude everything raw and living, which always disturbs the regularity of official business.
Where It Appears
- Chapter I: Pyotr Ivanovich asks Gerasim whether he feels pity, and he answers that it is God's will and that everyone is going to end up there.
- Chapter IV: Ivan Ilyich sees his vint partner suffer without it mattering to him, and is left alone with no one who feels pity for him.
- Chapter VII: Gerasim carries the chamber pot and holds the master's legs, the only one who understands and feels pity; Ivan Ilyich wants to be consoled like a child.
- Chapter VIII: Apart from Gerasim, only Vasya seems to understand and feel pity for Ivan Ilyich; his wife weeps as she pays the doctor.
- Chapter IX: Alone, Ivan Ilyich feels sorry for himself and weeps over the cruelty of people and of God.
- Chapter XI: Lisa says she feels pity for her father and asks what fault they have.
- Chapter XII: Vasya kisses his father's hand, and Ivan Ilyich feels pity for him and his wife and wants to free them from suffering.
Where the Readings Diverge
Gerasim's compassion can be read as Christian charity or as reciprocity, and ch. VII gives both: he speaks of God's will in ch. I, and the narrator explains that he does not tire because he hopes someone will do the same for him when his turn comes.
The family's compassion is read as lack or as a poor form. The text records the lack (no one feels pity for him as he wished, in ch. VII) and it records the cracks (his wife's weeping in ch. VIII, Lisa's pity in ch. XI, the wife's tears in ch. XII). What separates Gerasim from them is not feeling pity, it is not needing to lie in order to feel it.