Being Active

The unexamined life is not worth living ‘ Preferred language Plato wrote : “The unexamined life is not worth living ‘ Apply this  quote to the main characters of “The Death of Ivan Ilyich (Ivan , “The Metamorphosis (Gregor , “Death in Venice (Gustav ) and “To  Room 19 (Susan and Mathew . Focus on the quote as it relates to the  characters and the stories . Do not retell the plots . Give specific  examples to back up your responses .
This is a response paper . I want to hear your ideas about the texts . This is NOT a research paper — do not use any outside source . —————————————I agree with the statement that unexamined life is indeed worthless . People who are respected everywhere are those who follow the path of  reason rather than allow themselves to be lead by moods and impulses . Most people , however , are guided by their desires and impulses and come  to grief . They never pause to think what they are doing – to critically  analyze the consequences of their thoughts and action .
They take life  for granted and choose to follow the conventional path . Animals have to  follow their instincts , but why should human follow them . All the evils  of life spring from this unthinking habit .Even good characters have to  suffer because of the wrong decisions taken uncritically . Examples and  illustrations may be taken from literature in support of this argument . Leo Tolstoy ‘s hero Ivan Ilych is a good case in point . He is driven by  excessive ambition for money and status which makes him insensitive to  other important issues of life .

Only after he falls ill he begins  examining his life to discover a rationale for his suffering . At  different situations of his life he reacts emotionally : frustrated at  not being promoted to the post of presiding judge , he becomes a  workaholic and neglects his relationship with family .Once he joins the  rat race of success , he gives up thinking about the consequences of his  actions . Being uncritical he makes a series of blunders which lead to  mental depression and his ultimate death . Before the death of his body , his mental decay sets in . All disastrous actions in his life are the  result of his giving up of thinking habit . First , his impusive marriage  to a woman , Praskovya , and her pregnancy prove to be a stumbling block  to his career advancement .
In reaction he turns into a workaholic and  gets more and more isolated from his family .He leads a life of impulse  and set his priorities in the wrong way . Again , when denied the coveted  promotion , he irrationally takes leave to settle down in his  brother-in-law ‘s country house and then faces financial hardship . Owing to his lack of self-knowledge , he always moves from the frying pan  into the fire . His curious disease and mental depression further  degenerate into an abnormal preoccupation with death . Even his  estranged wife does not show sympathy which in turn antagonizes him . Ambition , isolation and hostility spring from his clouded judgment .
the  confused state of…