The Death of Ivan Ilych Symbolism, Imagery & Allegory

So what's up with Tolstoy starting the story with Ivan's funeral? If you think about it, that's only one respect in which the pacing of this novella is strange. We start the story after the main ch...

That mysterious long, narrow, deep black sack makes two appearances in the novella. The first time it shows up is right after Ivan's been given some opium in Chapter 9. While in the opium haze he f...