Gerasim is able to connect with his master precisely
because of his simple peasant background and the way that he honestly accepts death as
part of the process of life. Note what he says in the first chapter of this story in
response to an inquiry about his master's death:
"It is God's will. We shall all come to it some
day."
It is because of this
acceptance and recognition of death that he is able to connect with Ivan Ilyich and this
distinguishes him from Ivan Ilyich's family, who persist in holding on to the "lie" that
abhors Ivan Illyich so much:
What tormented Ivan Ilyich most was the
deception, the lie, which for some reason they all accepted, that he was not dying but
was simply ill, and that he only need keep quiet and undergo a treatment and then
something very good would
result.
In contrast,
Gerasim's simple acknowledgement that Ivan Ilyich is dying and that he is happy to help
a dying man shows his sympathy and his desire to empathise with Ivan Ilyich's
position:
He
saw that no one felt for him, because no one even wished to grasp his position. Only
Gerasim recognised it and pitied him. And so Ivan Ilyich felt at ease only with
him.
Death is therefore shown
through the character of Gerasim to not be an unpleasant inconvenience that must be
ignored as much as possible but a natural process. Gerasim thus stands as a harsh
criticism about the civilised life that offers only despair to Ivan Ilyich up until a
few moments before his death.
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