But, in spite of numerous dissimilarities, Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich are both very fine men.
A sense of comic irony underlying the tale is instilled very early on through the repetition of a particular phrase used to describe both men named Ivan in this story. The first occurrence is “A very fine man, Ivan Ivanovich!” and the first recurrence of this exact assertion pops up just a few paragraphs later. About a page later it shows up again in reference to the other man: “A very fine man also is Ivan Nikiforovich.” The repetition hardily establishes the fact—or assertion, at least—that the two men are quite similar to each other besides the obvious element of name. But at the same time, as the quote above indicates, they are also situated as being starkly different.
“Here’s a stupid woman,” thought Ivan Ivanovich.
…
Thereupon Ivan Nikiforovich felt about him, and got hold of his snuff-box. “That stupid woman! So she hung the gun out to air.
Most plot summaries and even many analyses of this story locate the central conflict driving the narrative on the failed bartering of Ivanovich to make a satisfactory trade for the Turkish rifle owned by Nikiforovich that he desires so obsessively. His offer of a pig and oats in exchange for the rifle sparks a disagreement between the two men which simmers into outright detestation. Very often overlooked in this summarizing is the key point of yet another replication identifying the two men as being similar to each other even in their dissimilarities. Both men pointedly reference the cleaning maid as a “stupid woman” though for different reasons. Most importantly is that it is only because of the actions of this woman that the disagreement arises between the two men because until she reveals it, Ivanovich as completely ignorant of the fact that Nikiforovich even had the rifle he comes so desperately to desire. The “stupid woman” thus becomes an enigmatic representation of the “evil woman” trope which runs throughout Russian literature.
If Ivan Nikiforovich had not uttered that word, then they would have quarrelled, but would have parted friends as usual; but now things took quite another turn. Ivan Ivanovich flew into a rage.
Or, to be more precise if the “stupid woman” has not made it known to the one Ivan that the other possessed the Turkish rifle which became the obscure object of desire, then things would never have reached the point where Ivan Ivanovich had angrily exclaimed “You go on like a fool about that gun of yours, Ivan Nikiforovich” and Ivan Nikiforovich would not have angry retorted “And you, Ivan Ivanovich, are a regular goose!” All of which is important because it is here with that particular use of the insult “goose” that things spin wildly out of control. Which leads to a question: is the “stupid woman” to blame or the twin desires to own the rifle or the seemingly overblown reaction to one simple word to blame for the myriad problems which follow that seems to serve no point other than making both men waste what is left of their lives engaging in a constant battle with each other.
