Ivan protests that the social injustice surrounding everyone is perceived as “…evidently necessary; evidently the happy man only feels at ease because the unhappy bear their burdens in silence…” Chekhov commented to his brother in May 1886 that he desired his work to have “an absence of lengthy verbiage of a political, social, or economic nature; total objectivity, truthful description of persons and objects; extreme brevity; audacity and originality: avoiding stereotypes; and compassion.” Certainly, there is …showed first 75 words of 1438 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1438 total…and looked at the moon.” The sigh, the starring into the distance, the lighting of the pipe could simply be there to convey to the reader the image of a man in deep thought. Whenever Ivan is in thought, he is smoking, and we imagine that the pipe is always with him. It seems to be more than just a comforting possession but could represent his consciousness, just as the gooseberry symbolises his brothers’ delusion.