His wife talks to Peter about obtaining more money from Ivan's petition and worries over how much the funeral and Ivan's burial are costing. Everyone wants to know what they will get from his death. Their second concern is appearing proper, but they are really thinking of how to get away. These people are materialistic, shallow, and selfish. Ultimately, they are all relieved and happy that "It is he who is dead and not I" (Tolstoy 1185). When Peter looks at Ivan in his coffin, he thinks, "He was much changed . his face was . above all more dignified than when he was alive. The expression on the face said that what was necessary had been accomplished, and accomplished rightly. Besides this there was in that expression a reproach and a warning to the living. This warning seemed to Peter Ivanovich out of place, or at least not applicable to him. as he himself was aware" (Tolstoy 1186). In death, Ivan is trying to tell his friend something. Ivan's expression foreshadows his later, or in actuality his earlier, accomplishment.
Tolstoy tells us that "Ivan's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible" (Tolstoy 1189). He could be any one of us. He is an ordinary man, just like any other person in his society, and that in and of itself is terrible, to be like these people that the reader sees in Section I. .
Ivan is a successful bureaucrat, conformist, and creature of habit. He excludes his own emotions, personal opinions, and his individuality. He is characterless and featureless except for how he resembles other people of his class. The approval of others is what is most important to him, especially the approval of his superiors. Ivan is the best of his siblings. He does everything he thinks he is supposed to do.
He married because it was what he was supposed to do, and he made sure that his wife was acceptable to everyone. "Praskovya Fedorovna came of a good family. it was considered the right thing by the most highly placed of his associates" (Tolstoy 1192).
