Being Active
The unexamined life is not worth living ' Preferred language Plato wrote : ``The unexamined life is not worth living ' Apply this quote to the main characters of ``The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Ivan , ``The Metamorphosis (Gregor , ``Death in Venice (Gustav ) and ``To Room 19 (Susan and Mathew . Focus on the quote as it relates to the characters and the stories . Do not retell the plots . Give specific examples to back up your responses .
This is a response paper . I want to hear your ideas about the texts . This is NOT a research paper -- do not use any outside source . ---------------------------------------I agree with the statement that unexamined life is indeed worthless . People who are respected everywhere are those who follow the path of reason rather than allow themselves to be lead by moods and impulses . Most people , however , are guided by their desires and impulses and come to grief . They never pause to think what they are doing - to critically analyze the consequences of their thoughts and action .
They take life for granted and choose to follow the conventional path . Animals have to follow their instincts , but why should human follow them . All the evils of life spring from this unthinking habit .Even good characters have to suffer because of the wrong decisions taken uncritically . Examples and illustrations may be taken from literature in support of this argument . Leo Tolstoy 's hero Ivan Ilych is a good case in point . He is driven by excessive ambition for money and status which makes him insensitive to other important issues of life .
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Only after he falls ill he begins examining his life to discover a rationale for his suffering . At different situations of his life he reacts emotionally : frustrated at not being promoted to the post of presiding judge , he becomes a workaholic and neglects his relationship with family .Once he joins the rat race of success , he gives up thinking about the consequences of his actions . Being uncritical he makes a series of blunders which lead to mental depression and his ultimate death . Before the death of his body , his mental decay sets in . All disastrous actions in his life are the result of his giving up of thinking habit . First , his impusive marriage to a woman , Praskovya , and her pregnancy prove to be a stumbling block to his career advancement .
In reaction he turns into a workaholic and gets more and more isolated from his family .He leads a life of impulse and set his priorities in the wrong way . Again , when denied the coveted promotion , he irrationally takes leave to settle down in his brother-in-law 's country house and then faces financial hardship . Owing to his lack of self-knowledge , he always moves from the frying pan into the fire . His curious disease and mental depression further degenerate into an abnormal preoccupation with death . Even his estranged wife does not show sympathy which in turn antagonizes him . Ambition , isolation and hostility spring from his clouded judgment .
the confused state of...
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