The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Reading Check

1. Pyotr Ivanovich (Chapter 1)

2. His wife’s pregnancy (Chapter 2)

3. Because he realized in this year that “his salary was not enough to live on” and “everyone had forgotten him” (Chapter 3)

4. Because he “did everything one ought to” during the course of his life (Chapter 9)

5. His “moral sufferings” (Chapter 11)

Short Answer

1. Praskovya Fyodorovna is Ivan’s widow. She is primarily concerned with the financial obligations after Ivan’s death, namely her pension and the expense of his funeral plot. (Chapter 1)

2. After traipsing around Russia in various professional posts, Ivan receives employment as an examining magistrate, where he moves to a new province, forms a new social circle, and settles down to marry a “respectable” match. (Chapter 2)

3. After a fall while decorating his new home, Ivan begins to feel a pain in his side. Despite multiple visits to a variety of different doctors as well as following medicinal routines, his condition does not improve, and he becomes mentally preoccupied with his declining health. (Chapters 3-4)

4. Ivan’s main torment is that his family and companions are lying to him “that he was merely ill and not dying.” Gerasim is different in that he supports Ivan with compassion because he is dying and does not try to lie to him. (Chapter 7)

5. With his death imminently approaching, Ivan has a change of heart as he touches his son and realizes the torment he has caused his family during his illness. Before he dies, he feels a sense of joy and relief, saying “‘Death is finished’ [...] ‘It is no more’” before taking his final breath. (Chapter 12)