Ivan Illych and Bob
...ning, yet he keeps saying that he will just have to live his life being sick. "The pain did not grow less. But Ivan Ilych made efforts to force himself to think that he was better. And he could do this so long as nothing agitated him." (123) After hearing from doctors that he is turning for the worse, he ignores them and goes into denial about his health. He believes if he keeps his mind off his illness and stays calm his illness will pass, or at least he can ignore it. Bob knows that he has cancer of the kidney and that it is a dangerous type of cancer. Bob denies the fact that death will come soon for him. He does not want to believe that he has only a few months to live and looks for other diagnosis’s. Bob’s denial is not just saying to himself he is not going to die, but he makes fun of death. There is a scene where he is in the kitchen with his mother-in-law and wife and they are talking about his medicine and his special diet, he cracks a joke about death and does not show any worry. Both Ivan and Bob deny the fact that death is upon them. They are too afraid to listen to the doctors they go to and spend their time waiting for someone to say that they are fine and they will live a long life. After getting many opinions from any doctors both Ivan and Bob become angry. They have trouble showing their pain and suffering to people so they turn all that pain and denial to anger. Anger is the next logical stage to go through because when a person overcomes their denial they become upset form knowing the truth. After seeing many doctors and hearing the same thing over again Ivan’s fear of death started becoming reality. He finally saw that death was coming, and like any person he felt he was not ready. "It was true that now the quarrels were started by him," "At first she retorted and said disagreeable things to him, but once or twice he fell into such a rage at the beginning of dinner that she realized it was due to some physical derangement brought on by taking food, and so she restrained herself and did not answer, but only hurried to get the dinner over." (120) Ivan feels the pain from his illness and is afraid to show it or share it with people around him because he feels no one understands him. He is also angry because he realizes he is slowly dying and is not happy with his life. From all these locked up feelings he takes his anger out on his family by complaining how nothing is right and finding something wrong with everyone. When he becomes weaker and can not go through his usual routine anymore he looks into a mirror and is horrified by what he sees. He also was angry against his whole family not for just being healthy, but because none of them understood him. "Everything she did for him was entirely for her own sake, and she told him she was doing for herself what she actually was doing for herself, as if that was so incredible, that he must understand the opposite." (143) Ivan feels that his wife and the rest of his family are helping him because that is in good taste. They are not sincere with what they do for him and even when his wife kisses him he feels disgust. Bob’s anger came with his denial. In the scene when bob and his wife Gale are in the doctor’s office, the doctor tells them that Bob has only 3 to 6 months to live. When they walk out Bob runs back in and screams at the doctor, "who are you to take away my hope!" He starts to feel upset because he is finally starting to realize that death is coming soon and he may not l...