How does this excerpt from leo tolstoy’s the death of ivan ilyich contribute to the plot of the novella? suddenly some force struck him in the chest and side, making it still harder to breathe, and he fell through the hole and there at the bottom was a light. what had happened to him was like the sensation one sometimes experiences in a railway carriage when one thinks one is going backwards while one is really going forwards and suddenly becomes aware of the real direction. "yes, it was not the right thing," he said to himself, "but that's no matter. it can be done. but what is the right thing? " he asked himself, and suddenly grew quiet. ivan ilyich starts to focus on the good things in his life. ivan ilyich still thinks that his illness, pain, and suffering are unfair. ivan ilyich questions his past life and accepts his final journey. ivan ilyich realizes that he has lived a good and honest life. ivan ilyich realizes the right and wrong in his life.