Social Ladder of Death

            Three Deaths is a short story that I believe serves for comparison. In the story, we are exposed to two difference people in difference areas that are going through the same experience of death. In one scenario, we have a woman who seems to be in the upper class of society. In the other society, we have a man who seems to be in the lower class of society. The manner in which both individuals approach death is drastically different. In one case, the idea of death is not mentioned in a straightforward manner to the woman. In the other case, the idea of death is extremely apparent to the man and society does not seem to care much about it.

            The woman, Marya Dmitrievna, seems to belong to a family that is in the upper class. This becomes apparent to the reader when we are first introduced to Marya and her maid when the narrator states, “One was a lady, thin and pale; the other, her maid…” (page 578). People in the lower class do not normally have maids, so it becomes evident that Marya is from a higher class on the social ladder. Her family members surround Marya when she is on her deathbed. Marya is also young and tries to run away from death when it confronts her.  She is also extremely stubborn as seen when she says, “If I had not listened to you for so long, I should at this time have been in Berlin and have entirely recovered” (page 581).  She passes away in the spring, which could potentially signify the loss of young life.

            The man, Uncle Feodor, seems to belong to a society that is in the lower class. This becomes apparent to the reader when nobody is readily trying to help him when he is close to his death. Seryoha, without inquiring about Uncle Feodor’s health, seems more interested in the boots that Uncle Feodor owns than anything else. He is extremely selfish and this is seen when Seryoha states, “Now I should like to know where he should need them [the boots]” (page 583). Uncle Feodor is not stubborn and readily gives the boots to Seryoha, only requesting that Seryoha buy him a stone when he is dead. When Uncle Feodor is on his deathbed, nobody is at his side. Rather, he is alone. Furthermore, nobody hides the fact that Uncle Feodor is close to death, nor does Uncle Feodor try to escape death. He passes away in the fall, which could potentially signify the loss of an elderly person.

            Overall, I think this short story was created to serve as a comparison of the different classes in society and how they perceive death. We see the clear distinctions between the classes in the story when we compare the death of Marya and the death of Uncle Feodor.