Tolstoy was one of the great nineteenth century realists. Realism was a revolution about liberating the individual. In a realistic novel you find real names, a unique individual, and a lot of description. Very specific detail on everything is found in a realist novel. For a specific character there was a life history, time, and setting. This type of detail gives a reader the sense of being there and looking at a real situation. “The Death of Ivan Ilych” is a great story. It is written to interpret what death and life really mean to us. “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” dove deep into the realities of the death of Ivan. Tolstoy can make us, the reader, see ourselves in one of these cha