Life and Death are two contrastive facts of this universe. Many literary authors have expressed their views and thoughts with diverse protocols of expression including philosophical, logical, rational, deep and shallow levels on the topics related to life and death.  However, the metaphysical style employed by some writers of high position for the description of the last days, especially of the ones in old age and suffering from an incurable disease, is entirely different from that of a healthy life. The study compares two literary works: one “Hazarpaya” an afsana from Pakistani author Khalida Hussain living in a collectivistic culture, and the other “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” a novella by Russian author Leo Tolstoy living in an individualistic culture. The study explores the attitudes of incurable persons and their family members in diversely opposite cultures. The protagonists of both literary works realize that they are suffering from incurable diseases and their deaths are imminent since their biological lives are almost over because of their old age and their diseases. The protagonist living in the collectivistic culture and having led an altruistic life remains in a better psychological state than the other.

Keywords: Comparative Literature, Individualism, Collectivism