Guide for Responding
Pahom pays for “success” with his life. What price are you willing to pay for success?
I want to achieve success with effort, not with my life, because afterwards I can't enjoy what I got.
Check Your Comprehension
What does Pahom believe is the only trouble that peasants face?
He believes that they don't have enough land.
How does Pahom come to buy his first parcel of land?
He had a 100 rubles, they sold a colt and one half their bees, hired out one of their sons as a farmhand and took his wages from a brother in law, with this he got half of the money to buy the land.
List three problems Pahom experiences as he increases his land holdings.
The first one is that he tries to get more land so he decides to move to another village and he sold everything he had; the second one, was that poor farmers were entering Pahom´s land to steal and finally the third one is the envy that farmers had of Pahom.
How do the Bashkirs determine how much land a man can own?
They sell the land based on how much territory the buyer can mark throughout a day.
Briefly summarize what happens on the last day of Pahom's life.
Pahom tried to rest the night before the day but he had a nightmare and he didn't sleep. The last day, he had to mark the land that he wanted with a hoe, but the thing about it was that he had to be in the initial point before night. He did arrive on time because of his desire for the land, but he died and he couldn't get the land that he wanted.
Critical Thinking
How and why does Pahom's attitude toward his first plot of land change?
He said that having small lands is not going to give profits to the owner, so he saw that having more land is going to be more profitable.
How do Pahom's and the Bashkirs' attitudes toward landownership differ?
Unlike Pahom, the Bashkirs don't give much thought to the amount of land they own and the huge profits they could make out of it. They are satisfied and conformed with what they have as long as they can live comfortably.
Literary Focus
What is the lesson that Tolstoy's parable teaches?
Be happy with the things that you have.
Parables are often used as a means of moral instruction. How might "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" be used for this purpose?
It helped a lot to describe and to teach how envy and the need for more material objects can damage people, leading them to tragic consequences.
How does the last sentence in the story reflect the message that answers the title question?
It reflects it because this man wanted to have a lot of land but sadly this ended with his death and his grave only took six feet from his head to his toes.
Build Vocabulary
The landowner stormed into the house, holding a sheaf of bills in his hand.
His mind has gone forbore; he hasn't read a book in a month.
Although the area used to be a desert, irrigation made the land arable.
Pahom's sister-in-law disparaged the country.
The aggrieved peasants complained to the landowner.
Pahom was piqued by his neighbor's inconsiderate behavior.
Build Grammar Skills
Pahom’s heart kindled with desire.
He gave away about one hundred rubles’ worth of silk robes and carpets.
It was the Bashkirs’ custom to sell land by the day.
The chief’s real identity is revealed at the end of the story.
Elements of literature
Mood: Greedy, blunt.
Tone: Satirical, complex.
Theme: The consequences of greediness and how social hierarchy and money can influence people.
Characters' inner traits: Pahom is a greedy, irritable, ambitious, and dissatisfied man.
Characters' physical traits: (From pictures on the internet) Pahom is a light-skinned man, with long light brown hair and messy beard, who appears to be in his late 30’s or early 40’s.
Setting: In an unnamed village in the countryside of Russia during the 19th century.
Internal conflict: Pahom becomes a greedy man when tempted by the Evil One, which makes him want more and more throughout the years, without thinking of aspects such as the stability of his family life. This guides him through a path of questionable decisions, and eventual death.
External conflict:
Man Vs Man: The Chief was the one between Pahom successfully getting his land or not. Despite him not being the direct responsible for Pahom’s death, he was involved in it, given that if he hadn’t decided the said rules of land ownership, the story could have had a different outcome.
Man Vs Society: Pahom is constantly exposed to temptations (like new or better lands) that ultimately drive him to make wrong decisions for him, his family, and his business.
Man Vs Nature: Pahom is hurt from walking shoeless on the soil, and extremely hot from the incandescent sun.
Man Vs Super power: At first, Pahom is sure that if he had plenty of land he wouldn’t fear the Evil One; however, he is a supernatural force that eventually gets to Pahom and tempts him to sin and cause his inevitable death.
Climax: Filled with greediness, Pahom wants to mark much more land than what he really needs; exceeding his limits almost to the point of fainting, and risking to lose all of his money unless he arrives at the hillock on time.
Resolution
Real: Pahom is able to reach the top of the hillock on time, gaining a lot of land; however, he dies in the spot because of extreme tiredness.
Made up: Pahom arrives on time, extremely exhausted, but still surviving. He thinks he succeeded and gained the wanted land; however, the Chief played him dirty, and stole his money and left him all alone without resources, causing his death soon after.
Step 10
