Analysis of the authentic life in the three works Tolstoy (1886) had a dark and brooding view of life, filled with the oppressed and the oppressor. In this work, the oppressed is the hero Ilych, while the oppressor is life itself and the many trials the hero has undergone. The author portrays a life that is filled with misery and wretchedness. This is the manner in which Russian authors such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and others attempted to describe life. When the ‘hero’ Ivan Ilych attempts to recall the past in an attempt to justify his claim that he had led a simple and ordinary life, and wants to raise questions as to why he has to die in such a painful manner. “… then all became confused, and there was still less of what was good; later on again there was still less that was good, and the further he went, the less there was… .” However, when he tries to remember the life, all he recollects is pain, even events of his childhood when he was presumably leading an innocent life. The life portrayed by Tolstoy speaks of disillusionment and dissatisfaction, and this is not a very authentic description of life. Boethius (526) believed that life was a treadmill and his account of life and philosophy during his imprisonment is but an expatiation of sin and remorse that a condemned man feels when on the verge of death. He suffered from the inherent dread of death, and his outpourings are a confession and begging for mercy for the sins he committed during his lifetime. Boethius was a prisoner when he wrote the books and was assured of horrible and painful death, and consequently, his writings assume an extreme nature, that of forgiveness a man seeks in his final moments when everything he has done or imagined he has done comes back to haunt him. ‘Now he lies there; extinct his reason’s light, his neck in heavy chains thrust down, his countenance with grievous weight downcast; ah! the brute earth is all he can behold” . This is different from the manner in which Tolstoy interprets life, so while Tolstoy believed that life did not have any pleasures and joys, Boethius believed that life should be lead in a frugal manner that frowned on amassing wealth and indulging in pleasures. While Tolstoy believed that there were no moments of joy and pleasure in life, Boethius believed that it was only a rigorous life that gave any hope for life. While Tolstoy believed that life was a curse and it was better if one never lived at all, Boethius argued that we are born so that we can expatiate for our sins and give up worldly pleasures. Boethius’s work shows great elements of fatalism and doom, and one cannot say that this is an authentic description of life. A reading of the work would lead us to believe that life was morbid. He tries to argue that men are essentially good but only when they take to wickedness do they become similar to animals. The overall tone of the work is to discourage a person into giving up the urge to collect material wealth and worldly possession, and this is in line with what the Greek philosophers such as Socrates attempted to preach, but few rarely followed. If there is no urge to grow rich and gain wealth and power, then man would exist and lead the life of animals. It is an ambition that drives the man. Tolstoy’s writing is often torturous and reveals the pain and self-torture that he underwent while writing the book. The work by Boethius shows the deep remorse and repentance the author went through