Which statement best summarizes the central theme of this excerpt from Leo Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich?

And suddenly it grew clear to him that what had been oppressing him and would not leave him was all dropping away at once from two sides, from ten sides, and from all sides. He was sorry for them, he must act so as not to hurt them: release them and free himself from these sufferings. "How good and how simple!" he thought. "And the pain?" he asked himself. "What has become of it? Where are you, pain?"

He turned his attention to it.

"Yes, here it is. Well, what of it? Let the pain be."

"And death...where is it?"

He sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it. "Where is it? What death?" There was no fear because there was no death.

In place of death there was light.

1.Acceptance of death causes less pain.
2.Death is painful and cannot be avoided.
3.Death should be feared since it is painful.
4.Freeing oneself from death is impossible.

Respuesta :

The Death of Ivan IIyich, written by Leo Tolstoy and published in 1886, tells the story of a judge from the Court of Justice, Ivan, who has to face first a life without any substance or depth in it, which he embraces even if it hurts him and he is unhappy, an unhappy marriage with a family that barely cares for him, an accident that at first seems harmless but later on becomes the reason for his passing, his contact with innocence through his servant boy, Gerasim, which forces him to realize the difference between an artifical and an authentic life, and finally, his contact with death and its inevitability. In the end, Ivan realizes that death cannot be avoided and that embracing it and accepting it can be much less painful than fighting it. This is why the correct answer is 1. Acceptance of death causes less pain.

Answer: The Answer Is 1.) Or A.)

Explanation: Acceptance of death causes less pain.