Which statement best summarizes the central theme of this excerpt from leo tolstoy’s the death of ivan ilyich? and suddenly it grew clear to him that what had been oppressing him and would not leave him was all dropping away at once from two sides, from ten sides, and from all sides. he was sorry for them, he must act so as not to hurt them: release them and free himself from these sufferings. "how good and how simple! " he thought. "and the pain? " he asked himself. "what has become of it? where are you, pain? " he turned his attention to it. "yes, here it is. well, what of it? let the pain be." "and is it? " he sought his former accustomed fear of death and did not find it. "where is it? what death? " there was no fear because there was no death. in place of death there was light. a. acceptance of death causes less pain. b. death is painful and cannot be avoided. c. death should be feared since it is painful. d. freeing oneself from death is impossible.

A) Acceptance of death causes less pain.

Explanation: In literature, the theme is the underlying message of a story, it is  what critical belief about life is the author trying to convey in the writing of a novel, play, short story or poem. Usually this belief, or idea, is universal and transcends cultural barriers. In the given excerpt from "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" by Leo Tolstoy, we can see developed the theme that acceptance of death causes less pain, this is shown in how the speaker doesn't fear death anymore, because he knows that it will free him from all the sufferings.

gilgamesh is a hero by birth as the epic explains it. in the epic the birth is explained in the way which tells us that gilgamesh’s creation was made perfect by the contribution of various god and that signifies the goal in his life, which was to become a hero and save mankind. an example from the text says. "the glorious sun shamash bestowed upon him glory; adad the terrible god of storms bestowed upon him courage. the great gods perfected his magnificence beyond all others, terrible like the great wild bull. two thirds god they made him; one third man they made him." a man born with superhuman qualities and partly god is destined to be a hero.

the heroic deeds carried by him later in his life also prove the heroic character of gilgamesh. for example hi battle with the ultimate beast humbaba is a proof of his bravery and characteristic heroism. gilgamesh was warned about the beast as the text says about humbaba “whose roar is a flood, whose mouth is fire, whose breath is death". but with the superhuman strength gilgamesh did the job

i think it is c. good luck!