Transnational Crime

Material Goods

In this story Tolstoy point of view is that instead of Ivan wasting his life living for materialistic reasons, he should have done the exact opposite, which is to live for a more divine purpose. He thought that Ivan priorities was out of order because instead of him worrying about how much money he had, how he could get more money, and how he could live like the other people in the high class; he should have been worrying about his wife, children, and what things he could do to better the people so his name could be remembered for good things. Tolstoy thought that if he have done more for the betterment of his people and instead of worrying about himself, Mr. Ilyich name would have been remembered. Ivan Ilyich thought that it was necessary to have material things and that he never had enough, he always needed more. It was not just Ivan view that was different, but it was also his wife, Praskovya Fedorovna. At her husband funeral, "she again began talking to Peter Ivanovich and brought out what was evidently her chief concern with him-namely, to question him as to how she could obtain a grant of money from the government on the occasion of her husband death" (1426). Instead worrying about the money later and giving her heart time to heal, this was the only thing she seemed to care about at the time; which is was not the right time or place for this action. Ivan made it seem as though she was asking for something else. "She made it appear that she was asking Peter's advice on her pension" (1426). Praskovya knew that if people knew what her actual motive was, they would have thought badly of her. Ivan Ilyich married his wife mainly because of materialistic reasons. "Praskovya Fedorovna came of a good family, was not bad looking, and had some little property" (1430). This means that he on married her because it would improve his status. He was so worried about high status and higher income to support his expensive living that he abandoned his position for a new one. "Next day, despite many protests from his wife and brothers, he started his new post with a salary of five thousand rubles a year" (1433). By making this much money a year it made him happier and this will help to buy more expensive things to make him look like his was rich. "He returned to the country more cheerful and content than he had been in a long time; he needed more time to settle into his new place, to move his belongings, and to buy additional things" ( 1434). He was so obsessed with his house and wanted everything to be perfect that he did the decorating himself. "Ivan Ilyich himself superintended the arrangements, chose the wallpapers, supplemented the furniture, and supervised the upholstering" (1434). Even his sleep he thought about spending money and how he wanted his house to look. "On falling asleep he pictured how he wanted his reception-room to look"