The first step in the prewriting stage is to gather relevant information to support the topic. Then organize the information. Create an outline for the essay that clearly shows its different sections or subtopics.
Your essay outline should be similar to this one:
I. Thesis
Ivan Ilyich’s biggest torment is the pretense of his family and friends because he realizes that he very much has been a part of their shallow society.
II. Tolstoy’s larger message to readers in the excerpt
Through Ivan Ilyich and his friends, Tolstoy portrays the loss of moral values in the Russian middle class during the nineteenth century. The excerpt also shows that their lives had not prepared them to face death.
III. Textual evidence in support of thesis
Ivan Ilyich is distressed by the deception of his friends and family in several ways:
his interaction with his wife
his interaction with his children
the insincere attitude of his doctors
IV. Explanation of Tolstoy's larger message
Tolstoy had a spiritual experience in the period before writing this novella, owing to which its key theme is mortality versus morality. Tolstoy’s larger message is the importance of living an authentic life.
