61 pages 2 hours read

Leo Tolstoy

The Death of Ivan Ilyich

Fiction | Novella | Adult | Published in 1886

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Answer Key

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-blurred text
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