Caius and the problem with Mortality

I was struck by one paragraph in particular in Tolstoy’s story, the one pertaining to the humanity of Caius. I was especially drawn to the fact that I could identify in his assessment of life and humanity and that I was of the same mind set. “Caius is a man, men are mortal, therefore Caius is mortal.” This logic is inherent in all of us as humans but so is the following logic as referenced by Ivan; while Caius is a man and mortal, Caius is not Ivan so therefore the same logic does not apply to Ivan. Ivan is horrified to find that these principles of mortality apply not only to the generic Caius but also to little Vanya, to Ivan Ilych, to Jean, to his entire being. The fact that after death the person he has been and the person he is known as will cease to exist horrifies him just as it horrifies anyone who thinks about their own mortality a little too closely.

The Russian society of the time was of this mindset of immortality, or at least non-mortality. We see in Ivan’s “friends” the same disregard for his illness and death as something that happened to someone else. Even his childhood friend Peter Ivanovich brushes off the feeling of horror with thoughts “that this had happened to Ivan Ilych and not him.” It was not just the Russian society, society as a whole has this same mindset on human mortality. Even today no one thinks of their own mortality unless forced to stare it straight in the face. People do not like to think of their own mortality, as far as anyone is concerned there is no such thing as death until they are dead.

I empathize with Ivan in his thinking, and so do most people I know. Death, pain, hardship, these are all things that occur to other people. I personally think about my own mortality more often than most people but I still hold to the same hope that maybe death does not apply to me. That is the way we live as a society, anything that challenges our normal life is wrong. We block out these thoughts about death or being robbed or losing everything because it is easier to deny that they happen than it is to face them and realize that they are real and very well may happen, or in some cases will indeed happen. Mankind is afraid of facing their mortality because once you admit it it becomes truth. We are not comfortable facing our own mortality as a species and we hide our fear of death under a façade of bravado and confidence. Our mortality is a part of our culture no matter where we live humans have adapted their customs around death and our mortality. Some embrace it such as the Dia De Los Muertos in Hispanic culture and some try to hide that it exists by ignoring it completely like in Western culture. No matter who you are or how you like to think you deal with your own mortality the same holds true for everyone, every human hides from their own mortality in some way and until we are faced with the inevitable end we like to think we are exempt. (548)