True Friends

I think that there are a couple of reasons why Ilyich’s funeral is at the beginning of the story rather than at the end. First, it introduces many themes that are found throughout the novella: fear of death and cultural attitudes that define the Russian upper class. As seen in Love in the Time of Cholera, as the men age, they become more aware that they are getting closer and closer to dying. In the ‘Death of Ivan Ilyich,’ the men are constantly found saying that it is better that Ivan is dead rather than them.

It is obvious that Tolstoy is poking fun at the upper class through the use of irony. First of all, all that those can think of at Ilyich’s funeral is how can they prosper now that he is dead. His own wife pulls Peter to the side to find out how she can cheat the government and receive even more money. One situation that I found particularly humorous was the first part of the scene between Praskovya and Peter. Praskovya starts off the conversation by saying, ‘I know you were a true friend of Ivan Ilyich..’ and then Peter responds with, ‘Believe me..(29)’. This is the same man that when he first heard of Ivan’s death thought, ‘with a complacent feeling, “it he who is dead and not I (16).”—Hardly the response of a true friend.

Being in the upper class is all about materialism. The majority does not have any understanding about the true meaning of life. Money is everything to them. It is all about lying and cheating your way to the top. If you do not fit the standard mold, then you become an outcast. This is best shown in the second section with one of the Ivan’s brothers—‘the third son was a failure. He had ruined his prospects in a number of positions….his father and brothers, and still more their wives, not merely disliked meeting him, but avoided remembering his existence unless compelled to do so (58).’ His own family pretended to not know him only because they feared what other people would think if they were related to a failure. Throughout the story, Tolstoy makes fun of the worthless lives that many of these characters lead.

Second, the positioning of the funeral allows the reader to see the true nature of the characters of the story. This way, the reader is able to read the rest of the story with those perceptions in mind, whereas if the funeral were at the end, we would see a false image of the Ivan’s friendships. Right away we see that as soon as Ivan dies, one of the first things that comes to one of his friend’s minds is that his brother in law can take Ivan’s job. It seems that the only reason his friends were nice to him was because of his high authority. Having the funeral at the beginning of the story gives us the chance to shape our thoughts on the true actions of Ivan’s friends. (509)