The pouf represents Ivan Ilyich as it also showed kindness to Peter and Praskovya. The humans should give each other sympathy but they are only interacting for the sake of interactions and their own selfish reasons and gains and not for consoling each other. At the funeral Praskovya's shawl is stuck and she couldn’t detach it. Peter gets up to help her and the pouf gives him a push so he could get up easily to assist her. Thus the pouf acts as Ivan, showing understanding and concern for the loved ones. “Peter Ivanovich rose to detach it, and the springs of the pouf, relieved of his weight, rose also and gave him a push”. (Tolstoy)
Thirdly, the sound produced by the pouf is similar to the expression on Ivan’s dead face and is a warning bell for both
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Comprehension of death, perhaps following long periods of uncertainty and struggle, can ultimately lead to the attainment of a superior level of humanity that is characterized by the discovery of a capacity for unselfish love. This approach is sharply conflicted with the hypocrisy, insincerity and selfishness of Ivan Ilyich’s family, friends and associates. At the end of the day, however, the dying man comes to understand the pain he has caused and to feel, instead of self-pity, selfless pity for his family. When he hounded for wealth, social status, and authority all his life, he had lost himself in the process. He had forgotten about the fact that he had led a simple life some time ago that but he was happy. He had put his family out of his mind and overlooked the verity that there are other people whose concerns and issues are much more significant than his. While death has always been understood to be the end of everything, for Ivan Ilych the prospect of death makes him appreciate the truth about life that has been veiled from him all his life. He has absorbed himself in the mediocrity and phoniness of life that he is blank over how it is to care and to love other people but