Contents

Abstract
Acknowledgement

1. Introduction
2. Aim and Objectives
3. Literature Review
3.1 Biogeaphy of Leo Tolstoy
3.2 Plot Overview

4. The study of themes of the short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?’’
Through Charactenzation
4.1 Themes Analysis of ‘‘Greed’’ through Pagom
4.2 The Social Status of the Two sisters
4.3 THe control of God and The Devil

5. Research Methodology
5.1 Class and Society
5.2 Greed and Envy
5.3 The Corruptiny Power of Greed
5.4 Temptation
5.5 Death and Pride

6. Findings and Discussion

7. Conclusion
References
1. Introduction
The Short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” is written by Leo Tolstoy.

It is one of the 19th Century short stories In this story, the author explairs a harsh critique

of Russion Socity in which possessions and material wealth defire social class and high

standard. We can find the themes of this story through analyzing each character. There are

many characters in this story. Among them, Pahom, the two sisters and God and the Devil

are the main characters. This story includes three main sections In the first secton, we can

see the conflict of the two sisters The elder sister’s boastfulness about her city life is the

reason of the beginning of Pahom’s greed Pahorn’s wife, the younger sister is content with

her peasant life. But pahom wants more land to show their perfect life. In the second

section, we can find the greedy Pahom as a victim of the Devil. Pahom dedares that if he

had enough Land, he wouldn’t fear the Devil. When the Devil Overhears about that, he

decides to Fulfil Pahom’s desire. In the third section, we can view the influence of God

upon Pahom who can’t see the right and wrong because of his greed. Before he tries to

possess the land in his life, God appears in his dream to realze how greed is danger and

insatiable. As he didn’t follow God’s warning, he foced with death. In this otory, the

author depicts both the contorl of god and the Devil and the human’s nature to show the

main pont of recommended themes.

2. Aim and Objectives
This term paper studies the themes through characterization of the human characters

and The Devil characters in ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” by leo Tolstoy. It is

shown that nothing is permanent and the readers can see the narrator’s philosophy and many

messages about the common nature in human’s envy and greed. The aim and objectives of

this paper are as follows.

1. To discover how the narrator depicts his themes vivdly

2. To make the readers know how it is difficult to msist the control and temptation of the

Devi.

3. To make the readers realize that human’s greed has no boundry and it is the

beginning of human’s evey.

4. To know the readers the harmful outcome of greed is only death.

3. Literature Review
3.1 The Bioraphy of Leo Tolstoy who is
Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is a Russian author widely regarded as one of the greatest

authors of all time. He is also known as Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy He is a well-re-

garded philosopher, authoring docens of papers revealing his thoughts on government,

Russian Society and relision. He wrote five novels including the trio Childhood, Boyhood

and Youth lossely based on his own life, Dozens of short stoies and six plays to his record

Among Tolstoy’s shorter works. ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?”(1886) is actually

the best examples of the greed ansd the Devil.

Tolstoy was born at the famiy estate about 130miles (210 kilometres) south of Mos-

cow, where ge was to live the better part of his life and wrote his most important works. His

mothers Mariya Niklolayevna, nee Princess Volkonskago died before he was two years old

and his father Nikolay I kich, Graf (Count) died in 1837. He educated at home by tutors,

Tolsto enrolled int the University of Kazna in 1844 as a student of Onental languages. His

poor record soon forced him to transfer to the less-demanding law faculty. After leving the

university in 1847 without a degree, Tolstoy retumed to Yasnays Polyana where he planned

to educate himself, to manage his estate and to improve the lot of his serfs. Despite frequent

resolutions to change his ways he loose life during stays in Tula, Moscow and st-Peter,sbur

Especially during his last three decades Tolstory also achieved world renown as a

moral and rdligious teacher. (Although Tolstry’s religious deas no longer command the re-

spect they once did, in personality end interest in his life has, increased over the years Most

readers will agree with the assessment of the 19th-centurcy British poet that a novel by Tolstoy

is not a work of art but a piece of lif. later, TOstoy is widely Hunored in both Russia and

round the world today. Some viewed Tolstoy as the embodiment of nature and pure vitality,

others saw him as the in carnation of the world’s conscience, but for almost all who knew

him or read his works, he was not just one of the greatest writers who ever lived but a living

symbol of the search for life’s meaning

3.2 Plot Overview
In this short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” Leo Tolstoy depicts the

fact tat once the process starts, there is no end until the death.The story has two setting. The

first setting is in a small unnamed village in the Russian countryside where Pahom lives with

his family on the farm that he owns and operates. At first, he is completely content with his

peasant life.However, after hearing the boastfulness of the elder sister, he desires to possess

more land. When he knows that a woman in this village is selling her land, he sells his farm

and buys 40acres of her land Although the new form is even more successful than Pahom’s

original form, Pahom becomes frastrated when his neighbors allow their cattle to graw on

his new Peasant land. These frastration changes Pahom into anugly peasant who mistreats

the local peasants and accuses his neighbors of the theft with little proof.

The second setting of the story is that after pahom’s relationship with his neighbors

become filled with hatrds be sells his land and moves to a new village hundreds of miles

away There, he buys even larger plot of land and his new form is even larger plot of land and

his new form is even more successful This story is presented by third person point of view.

So, the reader of the story knows all events

In this story, the rising action starts when pahom visited to bashkirs leaders to buy the

land. According to their. deal, the one condition that pahom must follow is that pahom can

have all the land that he can walk around in a day for one thousand rubbles but if he does not

return on the same day to the spot at which he began, the money will be lost. The turning

point of the story is the right before Pahom walks the Bashkirs’ land, he has a strange dream

in which he encounters each of the men who try to buy the land The author clearly depicts

the images of the people in Pahom’s dream. Pahom sees himself in his dream wearing only

a shirt and trousers, dead on the ground on the foot of the devil.
 The falling action began when Pahom realizes about this figures he sees in his dream

are not actually these men ‘‘but the devil himself with hoofs and horns, sitting there laugh

his head off’’ These transformation suggests not only the control of the devil pushing Pahom

forward every step of the way but also all men in his dream have the capacity to have in evil

ways. The resolution of the story began when Pahom questions if God allows him to enjoy

material success in the future.

‘‘There is plenty of land.........but will God let me live on it?”

At the beginning of the story, like his wife, Pahom is a content peasant with his farm.

But his mind changed if he had planty of land, he would not fear the Devil himself to be a

alandownership. So,he dedares THe devil decided to timpt Pahom until he met his death .
4. The Study of Themes of the short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man
Need?” Through Characterization
4.1 Theme Analysis of ‘‘Greed”throug Pahom
The short story‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?”by Leo Tolstoy is pointed out

the the corrupting power of Greed There are main theme and sub-themes in it.We can see the

main theme of the story through the character of Pahom He is a peasant farmer who operates

his farm. At first he is content with his peasant lofe and his family However, when he hears

the boastfulmess of his siste-in-law about her wealthier city lifestyles, he also wants to pos-

sess those life In this case, we can see the human nature. When we see the others’s lofestyle,

we envy their lifestyle and we conted with our lifestyle. We think that gheir lifestyle is

supenor than our lifestyle.

In This story, Pahom evies other’s city life. So, he decides to buy more and better land

and a higher economic status He thinks that if he had plenty of land, he would not fear the

Devil himself When the Devil overhears about thant, he decides to arrouse of his neig acre

Pahom’s greed. firstly, the Devil tempts Pahom with forty Then he atteats with ten times of

these land. The human nature ‘‘The more we have, the more want” is dearly descnbed through

the character of Pahom. When pahon bears about the land of Bashkirs from a asesman, he

tries to buy those land too He entirely becomes a victim of the Devil. Thus, we can see that

the envy is the beginning of the greed. This story teaches us that we must content sith the

things we have If we envy the others, We will be devoured by our greed and the Devil. It can

be summarized that the main character of Pahom vividly shows us the danger of greed and

the temptation of the Devil.

4.2 The social Status of the Two Sisters
The short story‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?”has many minor

characters.Among them, the two sisters the elder sister who is a merchant’s wife and the

younger sister who is a peasant’s wife depicts the social status between the country life and

the city life. The difference between the nural lifestyle and the city lifestyle is also one of the

sub-bhemes of the story. In this story, the elder sister boasts her younger sister that her city

life is supenor than her sister’s nural life. In the city, they can have better clothes, good

things to eat and drink and various entertainments such as the theater, cinema, etc. Accord-

ing the elder sister, we can see the things that don’t have in the nural The city life can have

more modern things than the nural. So, the elder sister proudly boasts about her city life.

Unlike the elder sister, the younger sister is content with her peasant life. She shows

the readers that her peasant life many be rough, but she and her husband are free and will

always have enough to eat and are not tempted by the Devil to indulge in such worldly

pursuits The character of the younger sister is content and doesn’t even other’s possession.

Her passionate defense of her nural proves that the peasant life allows for self-sufficiency

and outhorities and perceives immoralities of city life She claims that as peasants, her family

is ‘‘afrced of no one” and they rely only upon themselves to survive However, unlike her, the

boastfulness of her elder sister arouses Pahom’s greed and changes him into a landowner-

ship.

In this story, we can see the difference between rural and the city through the charac-

ters of the two sisters The character of the elder sister seves as a symbol of high society and

the upper class Her critiesism of her sister’s rural life and her brother-in-law’s lifestyles sets

of the chain of events and results in Pahom’s death. The ounger sister’s character depicts a

peaceful life. Her character teaches the readers that the humans should content with the

things the possess A greedy person can only possess the bad effect. From these characters,

one of the sub-themes, the social status appears.

4.3 The Control of God and the Devil
The short story‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?”by Leo tolstoy includes the

two character (not human characters). They are God and the Devil The control of God and

the Devil plays a central role in this story. firstly, the Devil makes his first appearance when

Pahom boasts to the elder sister of his wife from the city that if he has enough land, he will

not fear the Devil. So, the Devil tries to tempt Pahom with more land than he has. We can see

the fact the the Devil is always around us whenever we consider to do the bad thing. If we do

not control or mind, the Devil will Devour our soul.

In this story, Pahom’s resistence to the Devil’s control is inadequate. Pahom can deny

the Devil’s temptation if he wishes But Pahom tries to possess the land without knowing

they are the temptation of the Devil Pahom only realizes the control of the Devil in his last

breath.

The author also represents the character of god as the ower of the ultimate power

over humans. Unlike the Devil, god does not appear as a real character in the story. Pahom

be free to decide how he will live in his life. Howerer, his fate is in the hand of god.When

pahom attempts to secure the deal with the bashkirs, he attributes his lack of autonomy over

his own fature to god. We can see the fact in the following line ‘‘Life and death are in God’s

hands you good people give it to me, but your children might wish to take it away again”.

Moreover, as he struggles to reach the place he starts, he again questions if God will allow

him to enjoy material success in the future. The readers can see this fact in the line ‘‘There

is plenty of land but will God holds absolute power over humans. From these two characters,

the readers can know that although God always reminds us before we meet the danger, the

Devil always tries to take the advantage from our unconscious mind.
5. Research Methodology
5.1 Class and Society
By analyzing the short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” , the readers can

research the fact that the status of a person does not depend on their location and surround-

ing. It only depends upon themselves. It is the main point of this story that the readers have

learned. Although class and society are not the society are not the main themes of the story,

they are the main points that creats the main theme. The author describes a critcal lens on the

social hierarchy of Russian society and class. Russian society is depicted as consisting of

two separate classes the urban and the rural.These class differences are portrayed by the

elder-sister of Pahom’s wife. She strongly believes that people living in town are inherently

superior than those in the country. She says ‘‘What do you know about nice clothes and

good manners!’’. In her opinion, her sister’s poverty is a personal failing that will inevitably

be passed down from one generation to the next.

Unlike her elder sister, Pahom’s wife is content with her peasant life. She never thinks

like her sister. She says ‘‘One day you are rich and the next you might fail yourself out in the

streets. Here in the country, we don’t have those ups and downs’’The readers can learn a

moral lesson from the younger sister.The more one person has the, the more he stands to lose

because the world is full of temptation. She thinks her peasant is peaceful and they are free

and will always have enough to eat. So, each sister is ultimately judgemental of the other.In

this story, the readers can learn that possessions and material wealth define social class and

personal status. Throughout the story, the private landownership is associated with the devil

and is often the cause of social unequality.

 5.2 Greed and Envy
By reading the short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” , by Leo Tolstoy,

the readers can learn the message that once desire starts, it grows and grows and it will never

stop. In this story, Tolstoy teaches his readers this meaningful messages through his charac-

ters. Tolstoy clearly shows the readers the changing from the envy to the greed.

In this story, Pahom’s envy changes him into a greedy person. At first, he is a honest

peasant who content with his farm which he owns. But the moment when he hears the

boastfulness of his sister-in-law to his wife changes him to be a greedy man. Pahom has not

learned to be satisfied with what he has. He convinces that ‘‘if he had plenty of land, he

shouldn’t fear the devil himself. It is not as if he wants great wealth in order to spend it and

live in a comfortable lifestyle. He thinks if he becomes a landownership, he will be superior

than others.

Greed is longing more and more and it is not related to actual need. Pahom thinks that

the possession of more land is a way of freeing himself from anxiety. But in fact, the more

land he acquires, the more anxious he becomes. Fulfilling one desire only leads to the birth

of a greater greed until finally Pahom’s greed causes him to be a blind person. So, it is about

the sins of greed and envy presented by Leo Tolstoy based on his protagonist, Pahom.
5.3 The corrupting Power of Greed
In the short story‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” , the corupting power of

greed is the central theme of leo Tolstory’s story. Tolstoy presents the readers that greed is a

destructive weapon that can braing a person to death. Its corrupting power upon hurmans is

very enormous. It is extremely difficult to free from the influence of greed as we are humans

Thus, the readres can observe that oncethe process starts, there is no end until the deah In

this story, Pahom attempts to buy as much land aspossible. His desre to own land grows as he

acquires more land He never feels satisfied with his possession.

Pahom’s behavior rdflects the message that greed has no boundry. As Pahom’s land

expands, disturbance with his neighbours which lead him to move to new and larger land

whenever he diputes with his neighbours, he moves into new land to satify himself. When

he hears about the land of Bashkirs from a tradesman, his greed is fucled and grows more

and more In this story, the readers can learn that the greedy humans are easily tempted by the

Devil. At last, they become the victims of the Devil. It can be summed that this story shows

the human nature. The humans firstly envy the others. Then, their envy the others. Then,

their envy change into the greed. But this greed overwhelms upon them. As a result, they

can’t decide what is right or wrong.

5.4 Temptation
In the story‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” ,Leo Tolsto gives the readers the

message that temptation of the Devil does not depend on the location. Although humans may

believe that people who live in the peasant life less likely to surrender to temptation than

people who live in town, Pahom ultimately proves that people everywhere are equally likely

to surrender it way In this story, Pahom thinks that he possesses easily the land by his own

effort and good fortune. But in fact, it is the temtatic of the Devil. The Devil is helping

Pahom to acquire more land Pahom does not realize the tematation of the Devil throughout

the story. At the end of the story, the Devil qppears in Pahom’s dream.Pahom sees the Devil

laughing and holding his sides. Thus, the readers can research ‘‘Temptation of the Devil

only depends upon ourselves”by reading this story. The humans do not need to worry the

temptation of the Devil if they content with the things they pas. They must learn to content

with the things they own without enving the others’ life.
5.5 Death and Pride
Leo Tolstoy’s description of death and pride in his short story ‘‘How Much Land

Does A Man Need?” is complete and powerful The readers can learn the fact that no amount

of land or material wealth can protect pahom during his attempt from the death By linking

death and pride, Tolstory suggests the readers that the greed has a powerful influerice that

leads only to ruin and moral decay. In this story, death first appears in the form of an omen

in Pahom’s dream the night before he walks the land of bashkirs. Pahom sees himself in his

dream wearing only a shirt and trousers, dead on the group on the foot of the Devil. But

Pahom only responds to the as a distrubing imagery.

Pahom realizes the connection between his dream and his greed behavior when he

reaches the top of the hill. Pahom’s foolishness describes the depth of his pride as he fails to

notice this dear omen in his dream Pahom’s pride keeps him from forfeiting

the land of Bashkirs. Even when Pahom finally admits the fear that death is upon him.But

Pahom’s problems. Pahom’s pride is wounded when his sister insults his wife for being a

peasant farmer’s wife.His fear of returning to such a peasant life after obtaining land only

serves to fuel his greedy behavior.

6.Findings and Disscussion
By reading the short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?” , by Leo Tolstoy,

the readers come to know the theme of greed in this story.The story is told from the third

person point of view. So, the readers can know all events.It is found out that the author

describes his vivid themes by using not only the human characters but also the characters of

God and the Devil. The readers can find one main theme and four sub-themes. Overall

themes concern with the common nature of human beings. The main theme is ‘‘Greed and

Envy’’ . Other sub-themes are class and society, the corrupting power of greed, temptation

and death as pride. The genre of the story is historical fiction. the readers can see the main

characters Pahom (a peasant farmer) , the younger sister( Pahom’s wife) , the elder sister,

God and Devil. In this story, Tolstoy attempts to answer that very question ‘‘How Much

Land Does A Man Need?’’. The readers can learn to be content with they have having more

does not always make you happier and greed can consume and destory their life.

The readers can see that the story is devided into three parts. In the first part, a small-

unnamed village where Pahom, a peasant farmer lives with his family on the farm. When the

elder sister visits to that village of her younger sister, she boasts about her city class and

sociaeconomics of the city. She also says that her city life is superior than the rural life. the

readers can see that this part represents as one of the sub themes, ‘‘Class and Society’’. The

readers can also see that the first part is the main point to appear the main theme ‘‘Greed and

Envy’’. The author describes this part with Pahom’s declaration to the Devil. ‘‘If he had

plenty of lane, he shouldn’t fear the Devil himself’’.Pahom’s envy to the city life of his

sister-in-law arouses his greed. It can also be seen that the second part is associated with the

ending of Pahom’s life. In the last part, the readers can realize two critial thinkings. The first

one is even if we have money, luxury, prosperous time, we must face death one day. These

possessions are worthless for us where we die. Human beings must definitely die one day.

In this story, envy is clearly related the themes of pride and death. When the narrator

depicts Pahom’s envy to other’s life the readers can notice that envy is the beginning of the
 In this story, envy is clearly related the themes of pride and death. When the narrator

depicts Pahom’s envy to other’s life the readers can notice that envy is the beginning of the

greed. Pahom tries to be an owership of land. When he becomes a landowership, his pride covers

his eyes. He becomes a greedy man and his pride destorys his peaceful peasant life. The readers

can learn the difference between the greedy person and the content person (Pahom’s wife). The

greedy person is easily dominated by the temptation, the Devil, the liars and the theives. On the

other side, the content one is peaceful with her peasant life, the honesty of peasant farmers and

the fresh surrounding of the rural.

Finally, the human beings must learn to be content with their possessions. They must

know that there are many important things in the world that they forget such as

health,love,tolerance sacrifice, etc. Among them, love makes everything better, love makes

someone stronger and love makes peace. From this story the readers can learn that human beings

must inevitably die one day. No amount of security can keep death from arriving. Before coming

the death to us, the human beings must learn to appreciate the beautiful things of nature that God

gives us.
Abstract

In this term paper, an analysis of the themes of the short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A

Man Need?’’ written by Leo Tolstoy is presented. This story is based on the nature of human

beings. So, it deals with the study of the root of greed, envy and the corrupting power of greed on

humans. The propose of this paper is to examine the author’s main points through characteriza-

tion and settings in the story. This short story aims the readers to know that ‘‘Everything is not

permant.’’ We cannot know the end of our life. Our prosperity cannot prevent our death. After

reading this story specifically, I get the experience about envy and greed. Furthermore, the

readers can vividly see the impermanent world and the inevitability of death in this story.
Acknowledgements

First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to our honorable Rector, Dr Nay

Win Oo, from East Yangon University for his permission to carry out this paper. I also wish to

express my special thanks to Associate Professon Daw Aye Aye Maw, Head of English Depart-

ment for allowing me to attempt this term paper and providing me with important comments and

good ideas. Then, I would like to express my special appreciation and deepest gratitude to my

supervisor, Daw Aye Aye Mar, Lecturer of English Department, for her encouragement and

supervision to complete this paper. Finally, I would like to mention my thanks to those who

provide me to accomplish this term paper.

7. Conclusion

The short story ‘‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?’’ by Leo Tolstoy reveals the

conequences of envy and the corrupting power of greed. This paper states how the narrator gives

the readers a moral lesson about the greed and the human nature. Then, he continues to describe

how much land does a man needs in his life. First of all, the author states the class and society by

describing the boastfulness and conflict between the two sisters. And then the main theme ‘‘The

Corrupting Power of Greed’’ is stated in this story. The author describes the envy, the root of

greed through his protagonist, Pahom. The author vividly shows the changing of Pahon’s envy to

his sister-in-law’s city life into the greed. Secondly, the narrator describes the human nature.

Humans are content with their own things before they think others’ possessions are more superior

than their possessions. A revealing statement for this is that Pahom is first content with his farm

and peasant life. But when he hears about the various attractions of the city from his sister-in-

law, he cannot see and content with the peaceful and beautiful peasant life. Finally, the author

points out the fact that God is always with humans although they cannot see him. God reminds

Pahom to realize the Devil who is trying to destory his peasant life. Including Pahom, human

beings cannot decide what is right or wrong and they cannot follow the guidance of God when

their minds are covered with greed, ‘‘anger’’ and ‘‘ignorance.’’