How Much Land does a man need?
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
In Leo Tolstoy’s short story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” he attempts to answer that very question. Some of the themes of the story are: learn to be content with what you have, having more doesn’t always make you happier, and greed can consume and destroy your life. Tolstoy uses this story to entertain and at the same time communicate with the reader valuable lessons about life. The story shows us that the prospect of becoming wealthy, even if we have enough, can cause us to risk all that we have.
Tolstoy’s exposition tells of a peasant, Pahom, who overhears his wife and her sister arguing about which life is better: a peasant’s or a tradesman’s. Pahom agrees with his wife, a peasant’s life is best, with this thought: “‘Our only trouble is that we haven’t land enough. If I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself!’”(Tolstoy) The Devil overhears the argument and decides to tempt Pahom by granting his wish. This granted wish fuels Pahom’s obsession and greed of wanting more land. His obsession ultimately pushes Pahom to his grave. Being content with what you have doesn’t mean you settle in life and never strive to improve. Many times we start out innocently to improve our station in life but as life begins to improve we always seem to want more. We become like Pahom wondering “Why should I suffer in this narrow hole, if one can live so well elsewhere?” (Tolstoy) Even with means enough to provide the necessities of life and then some, we become obsessed with acquiring more. We never are content. We should all learn to be content with what we have.
Society would have us believe that we need possessions and wealth to be happy. Having more doesn’t always make you happier. It gives us the allusion of making us happier. However, it requires more of our time and energy to maintain all we’ve acquired so we have little time for what is really important to us. Truly less is more! Tolstoy portrays this
In Leo Tolstoy’s short story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” he attempts to answer that very question. Some of the themes of the story are: learn to be content with what you have, having more doesn’t always make you happier, and greed can consume and destroy your life. Tolstoy uses this story to entertain and at the same time communicate with the reader valuable lessons about life. The story shows us that the prospect of becoming wealthy, even if we have enough, can cause us to risk all that we have.
Tolstoy’s exposition tells of a peasant, Pahom, who overhears his wife and her sister arguing about which life is better: a peasant’s or a tradesman’s. Pahom agrees with his wife, a peasant’s life is best, with this thought: “‘Our only trouble is that we haven’t land enough. If I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself!’”(Tolstoy) The Devil overhears the argument and decides to tempt Pahom by granting his wish. This granted wish fuels Pahom’s obsession and greed of wanting more land. His obsession ultimately pushes Pahom to his grave. Being content with what you have doesn’t mean you settle in life and never strive to improve. Many times we start out innocently to improve our station in life but as life begins to improve we always seem to want more. We become like Pahom wondering “Why should I suffer in this narrow hole, if one can live so well elsewhere?” (Tolstoy) Even with means enough to provide the necessities of life and then some, we become obsessed with acquiring more. We never are content. We should all learn to be content with what we have.
Society would have us believe that we need possessions and wealth to be happy. Having more doesn’t always make you happier. It gives us the allusion of making us happier. However, it requires more of our time and energy to maintain all we’ve acquired so we have little time for what is really important to us. Truly less is more! Tolstoy portrays this
Cited: Tolstoy, Leo. "How Much Land Does a Man Need?." The Literature Network. N.p.. Web. 6 Sept 2013. .