what Tolstoy is trying to convince us of, what he's trying to argue, by illustrating the claim, I take it, that Tolstoy is making, is that most of us are actually in Ivan Ilyich's boat.

托尔斯泰试图通过这个故事，阐述给我们，要说服我们相信的东西，我认为他要说的是,我们中大多数人都像Ivan，Ilyich一样。

耶鲁公开课 - 死亡课程节选