Rhian Sympathy-posting - Tumblr Posts

These quotations from The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy reminded me of Rhian, mostly from Rise:

“But however much he thought, he found no answer. And when it occurred to him, as it often did, that it was all happening because he had not lived right, he at once recalled all the correctness of his life and drove this strange thought away” (47).

“The dreadful, terrible act of his dying, he saw, was reduced by all those around him to the level of an accidental unpleasantness, partly an indecency [...] in the name of that very ‘decency’ he had served all his life; he saw that no one would feel sorry for him, because no one even wanted to understand his situation. [...] This lie around and within him poisoned most of all the last days of Ivan Ilyich’s life” (37-38).

There's this emotional suffering to it, or if I skew my interpretation, a restlessness, or failure to find love. Rhian's treated like his love life is something barely pitiable, his troubles minimized. He's not awarded any understanding, even by Rafal, his own brother!

No one bothered to sympathize with him because they didn't see his problems as worthwhile. Everyone saw his losses as shallow, generally, I'd say, like: his crush didn't work out, so what? He fell for a major red flag, so what? Even Rafal. Rafal failed at his job as a sympathizer. He lacked empathy, so we have to fault him for that.

Also, I'm pretty sure Rafal would be the type of child to pop Rhian's balloons intentionally when they were younger to spook him.