The Death of Ivan Illych Study Guide Questions
Chapter 1
1. Where does the chapter open?
2. What do the reactions of Ivan Illych's co-workers reveal about their character and values?
3. What emotions does Pyotr feel at the funeral?
4. What does Schwartz suggest that he and Pyotr go do? What does this reveal about Schwartz's character and values?
5. Praskovya Fyodorovna (Ivan's wife) is most interested in discussing what matter with Pyotr?
6. What does Praskovya's telling of Ivan's final hours reveal about her character?
7. Describe Ivan's son's behavior at the funeral.
8.How does Gerasim, the pantry boy, express himself in relation to Ivan's death?
9. Add up all of the behaviors of Ivan's friends and family and, based on them, explain what emotion Tolstoy wants us to feel toward them and toward the deceased Ivan?
Chapter 2
1. What made Ivan's life "most horrifying"?
2. Describe Ivan in relation to his brothers.
3. How had Ivan conducted himself in his college days and early career?
4. What is his degree and what type of career did he pursue?
5. As an examining magistrate with additional power, how did Ivan treat others under his control?
6. Explain exactly why Ivan married Praskovya.
6. How does Ivan respond to his wife's becoming unpleasant in their marriage?
7. What does Ivan's "entire interest in life" become?
8. Explain what Ivan's fascination with life's being "pleasant" reveals about his character and motivations.
Chapter 3
1. Why is 1880 the most difficult year in Ivan's life?
2. What is the most important factor in the new job Ivan seeks?
3. What new job ends Ivan's difficulties?
4. How is the marriage impacted by the new job?
5. What does Ivan's obsession with the decoration and style of his apartment reveal about his goals in life?
6. Describe the accident that occurs while Ivan is decorating.
7. Describe the décor of Ivan's home.
8. Where does Ivan derive "genuine pleasure" What do you think Tolstoy is trying to reveal about his approach to life when Ivan's only "genuine" pleasure comes from this?
9. How does the last line of the chapter sum up Ivan's nature?
Chapter 4
1. How does Ivan initially react to his sudden illness?
2. How does Praskovya react to Ivan's sudden illness?
3. How do the doctors treat Ivan, and why is it ironic?
4. What becomes Ivan's "preoccupations" after the visit to the doctor?
5. What does Ivan blame his illness on as it progresses?
6. Whom does his wife blame? Show.
7. How is the persistent pain in his side affecting him at work?
Chapter 5
1. What is the impact on Ivan of his brother-in-law's visit?
2. What's the new diagnosis from the new doctor and what must Ivan do to effect it?
3. What is Ivan's initial reaction to recognizing he is dying?
4. When his wife shows sympathy, how does Ivan react?
Chapter 6
1. What constant state is Ivan in now?
2. Write the syllogism (formal argument) Ivan recalls from his logic class.
3. Why does he believe the syllogism does not apply to him?
4. How does Ivan try to "screen" himself from death?
5. What is "It"?
6. What symbolism is reflected in Ivan's trying to keep the drawing room in perfect order?
Chapter 7
1. In the third month of his illness, what is now the only interest (for Ivan and others) in relation to Ivan?
2. What physical symptoms are now plaguing him?
3. What is Gerasim's attitude toward Ivan and his illness?
4. What unusual method of relief does Gerasim provide Ivan? Is this method perhaps more placebo than actual physical relief? Explain.
5. What does Ivan suffer "most of all from"? Elaborate.
6. How does Gerasim explain his actions in helping Ivan?
7. What does Ivan "crave"? Who is the one person who provides what he craves?
Chapter 8
1. What does Ivan believe motivates the footman Pyotr who serves him?
2. What are Ivan's feelings and thoughts toward the doctor?
3. Why does Ivan hate his wife "with every inch of his being"?
4. Explain the reverse irony in Praskovya's claim she is taking care of Ivan for her own sake.
5. What makes the scene where the family is leaving to the theater awkward for all concerned?
6. Who is the only person, other than Gerasim, whom I Ivan feels "understands and pities him"?
Chapter 9
1. What does Ivan imagine he is being "thrust into"?
2. Echoing the words of Jesus on the cross, what does Ivan say to God?
3. Explain the argument Ivan has with God or his soul.
4. What period of his life was the most pleasant and real to Ivan?
5. What is Ivan's assessment of his adult life compared to his childhood?
6. What realization about his life does Ivan keep coming back to?
Chapter 10
1. What two moods have been competing in Ivan since he became ill? Which one is now winning the competition?
2. What memories of childhood are enumerated here?
3. Explain Ivan's notion of the "stone hurtling downward" and what it reflects about his view of his life and his predicament.
4. What ugly truth about his life does Ivan once again flirt with at this chapter's end?
Chapter 11
1. What longed for joyful event is disclosed at the beginning of this chapter?
2. Describe how Ivan reacts to this morning's visits by his wife, daughter, the doctor.
3. What pain exceeds Ivan's physical pain, and what is the cause of this pain?
4. What argument does Ivan make to himself to reject that he has "squandered" his life?
5. Taking the sacraments (Eucharist, Confession, perhaps Anointing of the Sick—all performed by the priest) causes what reactions in Ivan?
6. What is Ivan's feeling toward his wife at the chapter's end? Why?
Chapter 12
1. Ivan screams in agony for three days. Three is a holy number in Christianity—the Trinity, three hours Christ suffers on cross, Christ is dead, in Hell, for three days before Resurrection, Christ is 30 when he begins his mission, 33 when he dies. That’s a lot of threes. Explain why Ivan's three days of agony could be a use of Christian symbolism.
2. What keeps Ivan from climbing into the "black sack"?
3. What might the black sack symbolize?
4. What does Ivan experience when he finally plunges into the sack? What realization does he acquire?
5. What event immediately follows Ivan's epiphany, bringing him back to the physical moment?
6. What new response does this event elicit from Ivan?
7. What is Ivan's final gesture does Ivan do for his loved ones?
8. When Ivan says "Forget" but means "Forget," what is he trying to communicate to his wife? Who is the "He," with a capital "h" who "understands"?
8. After this gesture, what does Ivan experience and what does he realize about his pain?
9. What does Ivan conclude about "Death"? Why?
10. The final sentence is so matter of fact in its tone, with no drama. What does this reflect about Ivan's changed view of death and its power?
11. Explain exactly what has changed in Ivan in the course of his illness and confrontation with his own mortality. What motivated him before? What motivates him at the end? What has he learned that would qualify as a spiritual awakening for him?