# Ivanushka — The Village character guide

> Ivanushka in The Village by Ivan Bunin.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0001-the-village

## Snapshot

A bandy-legged old beggar whose whole family died in the cholera year, Ivanushka roams Durnovka with staff and bag, refusing his son's roof for the open road.

## Who they are

Ivanushka lost his entire family in the cholera year of '92, and though his railway-guard son lives five versts away, he prefers to beg, striding bareheaded through farmyards where even the sheep dogs leave him alone. He sits on the floor against the wall, mumbles blessings, and eats the Bride's potatoes with horny, unbending fingers, speaking of a Tsar made of gold in a clumsy, ancient language. His eerie, saintly vagrancy unsettles Kuzma and gives the novel one of its most haunting images of Russian endurance.

## Relationships

### [Kuzma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_village_se/characters/kuzma)

_family_

Ivanushka is Kuzma's brother, and their relationship is distant and strained by family conflicts.

### [Kuzma](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_village_se/characters/kuzma)

_family_

Ivanushka is Kuzma's brother, and their relationship is distant and strained by family conflicts.

## In the story

### [IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_village_se/chapters/part-iii-ix)

An old, superstitious peasant who visits Kuzma and later dies from a cold caught on his way home.

### [Kuzma's Illness and Ivanushka's Death](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_village_se/chapters/part-iii-x)

His funeral and corpse are described, and his death triggers Kuzma's illness.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_village_se/characters/ivanushka
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_village_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/the_village_se/characters