One in the Same

In the aptly named short story Three Deaths by Leo Tolstoy, three different deaths occur under different circumstances - the death of a rich woman, a poor peasant driver, and a young tree in the woods. Unlike most literary works that deal with death, Tolstoy takes on a very detached and distant tone.  The fact that the title of the story itself gives away the ending of each plotline also draws the reader’s attention away from the plotline. By doing so, the focus of the story is shifted from the actual events to the story to the way the setting, characterization, and structure portray how death, in all the ways it can occur, is vastly different but surprisingly similar.

There are four chapters in the story, which alternate between the two plotlines: one revolving around Marya Dmitrievna, a rich and seemingly young woman who has been afflicted with a terminal illness, and a poor driver known as Uncle Feodor.  By alternating between the stories, Tolstoy juxtaposes their lives, how others around them treat them, and how the reactions to their inevitable death. Marya is obviously wealthy and has her own maiden to look after her; she is under the watch and care of her husband and doctor but does not seem to appreciate their concern. In fact, she is angry at her husband for trying to take her home so she can live longer, and scorns him by saying that “if I had not listened to you so long, I should at this moment be at Berlin and have entirely recovered.” Feodor, on the other hand, lays dying on top of an oven, surrounded by people but cared for by very little but is still kind-hearted and even gives another driver his new boots in exchange that he simply get him a stone for his grave.

Although the differences between their lives are more than clear, the earthly possessions and the amount of (or lack of) people who care for them are not what completely set them apart. Feodor had completely accepted his death, symbolized by his willingness to give up his boots and his desire to ensure he would be properly buried, while Marya, even on her death bed, insists that she would have been well if her husband had let her continue on her journey. No matter how they perceive and react to death, however, both ultimately die, just as the tree falls in the forest. Perhaps Tolstoy is showing us that no matter what kind of lives we live, or how wealthy we are, or even how we try to avoid or welcome death, that we all will die. This statement, however, does not have to be taken negatively; perhaps Tolstoy is making a comment on the circle of life. Just like “the branches of the living trees slowly and majestically waved over the dead and fallen tree,” so will the lives of those who knew Marya and Feodor continue.