detail and a sharper focus on his day-to-day moments as Ivan
weakens. As the story reaches Ivan’s last day, it slows down
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of his life.o Except for the opening chapter, 7KH'HDWKRI,YDQ,O\LFK starts
out as fast-paced exposition and becomes slower and more
dramatic as it goes on, until the end, where it lingers over the
very last moment in Ivan Ilyich’s life.z Let’s compare this story with Alice Munro’s “The Beggar Maid.” This
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relationship between its two main
characters, Patrick and Rose.
o Instead of segregating
the exposition and
putting it all at once at
the beginning, the way
Tolstoy does, Munro
shifts effortlessly back
and forth between
vividly dramatized
moments and sharp
passages of exposition.o At the center of
the story is a fully
dramatized scene in
which Rose breaks up
with Patrick, which
is then followed by a
more expository scene
in which she changes
her mind. Then, in
the last three pages
of the story, Munro7KHQDWXUHRI$OLFH0XQUR¶V³7KH
Beggar Maid” dictates the story’s
pacing, starting slow and speeding
up to lead us to the devastating scene
at the airport in the end.© vadimguzhva/iStock/Thinkstock.