Death of Ivan Ilych" "The Essay

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It may be too late but he does come to understand what is right and good.

In "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," we find another type of struggle, which aims at working toward solving a mystery. This story is noted for being one of the first of its kind and the narrator reaches his conclusion through analysis. How Dupin comes to his conclusions is his struggle because he is working with disarray. The atrocity of the murders and the chaos of the of Mademoiselle L'Espanaye's apartment set the scene for a rather messy situation. The furnishings in the apartment were "broken and thrown about in all directions" (Poe 63) and the bed was tossed in the middle of the floor. Someone had stuffed the daughter in the chimney, "head downward" (63) in such a way her body had been "thrust up and disengaged" (63). The mother's throat was cut "so entirely cut that, upon an attempt to raise her, the head fell off" (63). This is a struggle. While Ivan has a mental mess to contend with, Dupin must contend with a physical one. He must unravel the web Poe weaves for him and he does so successfully with intension.

Struggle is never easy and, most of the time, we resist it. We brace ourselves for the worst and often find ourselves fearing what we do not know. Struggle is rarely useless, however.
Almost always, we find something worthwhile in our struggles and these things often make the struggles worth it. Ivan and Dupin face struggles of different kinds but they handle them in ways that allow them to grow. Ivan discovers the importance of life and frets over if he lived his life the right way, when secretly knowing he had wasted most of his life worrying about things that do not matter. Dupin, on the other hand, faces a physical disaster that must be cleaned up and worked out if there is going to be any solution to the crime. Both men have to face these struggles; there is no way out for them if they are to do what they need to do. Both men realize this, even in the midst of knowing the struggle may be tough. Because they are open to them and allow themselves the ability to work through them, they reach success, which can should be aim for any struggle, large or small.

Work Cited

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Murders in the Rue Morgue." The Complete Tales of Mystery and Imagination.

Minnesota: Amaranth Press: 1984. Print.

Tolstoy, Leo. The Death of Ivan Ilych. The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction. Shorter Sixth Ed.….....

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