These actions make him feel as if he’s embarking on an unsavory life.

While in school, though, he begins to do certain things that repulse him: spending money frivolously, drinking, and having casual sex. As a young man, he studies law and benefits from his father’s reputation.

The story of Ivan Ilyich’s death is one of suffering, misery, and gradual decline. Finally, when Pyotr admits that he doesn’t know how to help her, they return to the ceremony, and Pyotr leaves as soon as possible, spending the rest of the evening happily playing whist with Schwartz. As she speaks, Pyotr notices that she only talks about her husband’s suffering in terms of how it affected her, and then she asks him to help her receive the most money possible from the government in the aftermath of his death. Before Pyotr Ivanovich can leave the funeral, though, Praskovya Fyodorovna Golovina-Ivan’s wife-takes him by the arm and leads him into the sitting room, where she tells him about Ivan’s prolonged, terrible death. When he first enters the ceremony and sees all the sad faces and grieving family members, he becomes depressed, but soon spots a colleague named Schwartz, who winks at him and smiles in a way that conveys a lack of true sentiment, as if Schwartz is unwilling to let the morose proceedings interfere with his plans to organize a game of whist that evening. And yet, this thought remains abstract, and he manages to push it out of his mind by focusing on the idea of playing cards after the funeral. Not only does this make him feel sorry for Ivan, but it also reminds him that he, too, will die someday. At the same time, though, Pyotr Ivanovich is unsettled when he goes to Ivan’s funeral and hears about his friend’s suffering. Ivan Ilyich’s friends don’t just think about the professional opportunities that his death has introduced-they also consider mortality, relieved that they weren’t the ones to die. However, none of the men say these thoughts aloud, instead expressing their sorrow that Ivan finally succumbed to his long, painful illness.

Pyotr Ivanovich, who was friends with Ivan Ilyich for many years, realizes that he might be able to help his brother-in-law transfer because of this new vacancy, and Fyodor Vasilyevich fantasizes about getting a promotion. Upon learning that the judge Ivan Ilyich Golovin has died, Ivan’s friends and colleagues at the courthouse think privately about how they might benefit from his death.

A Morte de Ivan Ilich by Leo Tolstoy