Question

How does Tolstoy set up Gerasim to be a foil to Praskovya Fedorovna in these two excerpts from The Death of Ivan Ilyich? Gerasim alone did not lie; everything showed that he alone understood the facts of the case and did not consider it necessary to disguise them, but simply felt sorry for his emaciated and enfeebled master. Once when Ivan Ilyich was sending him away he even said straight out: "We shall all of us die, so why should I grudge a little trouble?"—expressing the fact that he did not think his work burdensome, because he was doing it for a dying man and hoped someone would do the same for him when his time came. . . . When the examination was over the doctor looked at his watch, and then Praskovya Fedorovna announced to Ivan Ilyich that it was of course as he pleased, but she had sent today for a celebrated specialist who would examine him and have a consultation with Michael Danilovich (their regular doctor). "Please don't raise any objections. I am doing this for my own sake," she said ironically, letting it be felt that she was doing it all for his sake and only said this to leave him no right to refuse. He remained silent, knitting his brows. He felt that he was surrounded and involved in a mesh of falsity that it was hard to unravel anything. Both Gerasim and Praskovya Fedorovna are honest about their motives, but only Gerasim genuinely cares for Ivan Ilyich. While Gerasim is kind to Ivan Ilyich and offers him all the help he can, Praskovya Fedorovna is cruel to Ivan and torments him. Gerasim attends to Ivan Ilyich’s needs and gives him all his medicines, while Praskovya Fedorovna does not care and neglects his health. Both Gerasim and Praskovya Fedorovna want Ivan to beat his disease and survive, but only Gerasim cares about Ivan Ilyich’s happiness.

Answer 1

Answer:

While Gerasim is kind to Ivan Ilyich and offers him all the help he can, Praskovya Fedorovna is cruel to Ivan and torments him.

Explanation:

This is the main difference between the behaviour of Gerasim and the behaviour of Praskovya Fedorovna. In the first excerpt, we see that Gerasim is a kind man who cares about Ivan. He realizes that his illness is something very difficult to tolerate, and tries to help him in any way he can. On the other hand, Praskovya Fedorovna is cruel to Ivan. She talks to him in a way that betrays her selfishness and makes the reader think she does not care for him.

Answer 2

This excerpt portrays Gerasim and Praskovya as foil characters in that Both Gerasim and Praskovya Fedorovna want Ivan to beat his disease and survive, but only Gerasim cares about Ivan Ilyich's happiness. 

This comes across in the text, because Gerasim seems to just want to keep Ivan happy, whereas Praskovya wants to make him better, but wants to do so in her own way, whether or not it is what he wants.