Modernity, Isolation, and Nature Theme Analysis

City-dweller Ivan Ivanych feels plagued by the isolation that he believes is inherent to modern lifestyles. In late 19th-century Russia, where the story is set, it was becoming increasingly common for people to live in cities or to be able to own land. And while Ivan rails against the idea of rural living—that is, relegating oneself to an insular plot of land in the countryside—throughout the story, he also reveals that he’s miserable with his own lifestyle in a town, as he feels alienated from the other people there. The only instances in the story when Ivan seems truly happy are fleeting moments when he’s able to be out in nature without the trappings of modern life. This suggests that the lifestyles of both rural landowners and city-dwellers are isolating and unnatural—instead, Ivan favors complete freedom and an unbridled immersion in nature.

Ivan’s brother Nikolai owns a country estate, the very idea of which Ivan finds limiting and isolating. When Nikolai first shares his dream of becoming a landowner, Ivan is skeptical: he thinks that “I never sympathized with this desire to lock himself up for life in his own country place. It is a common saying that a man needs only six feet of earth. But it’s a corpse that needs six feet, not a man.” In likening rural living to a kind of symbolic death, Ivan suggests that the modern tendency to resign oneself to a confined swath of land is unnatural and restrictive. Furthermore, as Ivan recounts Nikolai’s story to his friends Burkin and Alekhin, he’s adamant that “To leave town, quit the struggle and noise of life, go and hide in your country place, isn’t life, it's egoism, laziness, it's a sort of monasticism, but a monasticism without spiritual endeavor. Man needs, not six feet of earth, not a country place, but the whole earth, the whole of nature, where he can express at liberty all the properties and particularities of his free spirit.” With this, Ivan makes the case that to leave the city for an isolated rural lifestyle is to leave behind the richness that makes life worth living. And just because people who live in the countryside are closer to nature doesn’t mean they’re truly immersed in it—one needs “the whole earth, the whole of nature,” not a limited piece of land that’s manicured and cultivated to the owner’s liking.

But for all of Ivan’s complaints about rural landowners, he also admits that he isn’t satisfied with city life. After Ivan goes to visit Nikolai at his estate, Ivan returns to his town and finds it miserable and isolating. He tells Burkin and Alekhin that “it has become unbearable for me to live in town. I'm oppressed by the peace and quiet, I'm afraid to look in the windows, because there’s no more painful spectacle for me now than a happy family sitting around a table and drinking tea.” Having experienced Nikolai’s isolated life in the countryside, Ivan seems to find that the city isn’t all that different in comparison—there’s more “peace and quiet” than “the struggle and noise of life,” as even city-dwellers tend to live insular lives within family units rather than immersing themselves in the outside world. With this, Ivan implies that living in a city isn’t any better than owning land in the country—in his estimation, both of these versions of modern life are lonely, limiting, and depressing.

Instead, the story suggests that Ivan’s reverence for “the whole earth, the whole of nature” is preferable: people should experience nature in a free, unbridled way rather than trying to avoid it (in the city) or trying to mold and control it (in the country). There are only two points in the story when Ivan seems genuinely happy: the first occurs in the opening paragraph, when he and Burkin are wandering through the vast fields outside of a village. Ivan and Burkin are “imbued with love for these fields, and both thought how great, how beautiful this land was.” In this instance, the two friends are able to experience nature in a way that’s spiritually uplifting rather than deadening—they’re not limited to an isolated “six feet of earth” and are therefore able to feel free and happy and to appreciate the natural beauty around them. The second time Ivan seems happy occurs when Burkin suggests that they seek cover from the rain at Alekhin’s house, and Alekhin invites them to wash up in his bathing house. Rather than joining Burkin and Alekhin, though, Ivan chooses to swim in Alekhin’s pond in the rain, repeatedly diving under the water and exclaiming “Ah, my God.” The lighthearted way Ivan swings his arms, dives to touch the bottom of the pond, and cries out in delight indicate that interacting with nature in this way is preferable to sheltering oneself from it.

But even Ivan falls victim to the human tendency to buffer oneself against the elements and indulge in the comforts of modern life—for instance, he takes comfort in the warmth of Alekhin’s house, clean clothing, and tea served by Alekhin’s beautiful maid Pelageya. And at the end of the story, when Ivan and Burkin go to sleep in Alekhin’s guest bedroom, Ivan says, “Lord forgive us sinners!” before pulling the bed covers over his head. This exclamation seems to suggest that he sees himself as a hypocritical “sinner” for decrying modern comforts yet taking solace in the amenities of Alekhin’s home. The story’s final line, “Rain beat on the windows all night,” leaves readers with an image of Ivan and Burkin insulated from the harsh outside world as they sleep—suggesting that even though it’s more freeing and fulfilling to immerse oneself in nature, the comforts of a sheltered life are often too tempting to resist.