The details of his life are as mundane as Felicite's, if more lucrative. As he grows more obsessed with his work he loses touch with his family and other things that presumably used to bring him joy. He begins to suffer all the more when he learns that he is dying. Death is not easy for him, either; he suffers from a pain in his side for a long time first. The reason an ordinary life is considered so terrible is because Ilyich is blind to the ordinariness. Only on his death bed does he realize the difference between a true life of fulfillment and an artificial life of selfishness and greed. Ilyich was not exactly a miser in life, but he was so focused on work that he missed the genuine moments of life that he could have had with his family and other experiences. It is ordinary to...
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