How Much Land Does a Man Need?
How Much Land Does A man Need?
The main character of "How Much Land Does A man Need?” is a clear example of an insatiable desire for possessions and wealth which at the end destroys the person.
Pahom was living a life "free from anxiety" as his wife said and "without time to let any nonsense settle in his head" according to Pahom's words. As the story develops it reveals Pahom's real problem was inside him because he was never content or please with the land and the possessions he had.
At the beginning of the story, Pahom was a peasant without land of his own, working daily to support his family and thinking "Our only trouble is that we haven't land enough. If I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the devil himself"; when in reality the avarice within Pahom lied dormant and he was not aware that his desire to obtain "plenty of land" will inevitably awaken the monster inside him that could never be satisfied.
The first time Pahom had a land of his own was a farm of forty acres. "So he became a landowner, plowing and sowing his own land, making hay on his own land, cutting his own trees, and feeding the cattle of his own pasture. When he went out to plough the fields, or to look at his growing corn, or at his grass meadows, his heart would fill with joy". This farm seemed to him unlike any other land, fulfilling his dreams until he heard the story of a better place where he will be able to have more land of his own. At this moment the greed in him began to blind Pahom to the simplicity of his life and to be grateful and fulfilled for what he had.
The second farm he acquired had 125 acres and Pahom, "had three times as much as at his former home, and the land was good corn land. He was ten times better off than he had been. He had plenty of arable land and pasturage, and could keep as many head of cattle as he liked."
Obviously greed does not have limits and it is a part of our human nature some posses a greater level of greed than others but
The main character of "How Much Land Does A man Need?” is a clear example of an insatiable desire for possessions and wealth which at the end destroys the person.
Pahom was living a life "free from anxiety" as his wife said and "without time to let any nonsense settle in his head" according to Pahom's words. As the story develops it reveals Pahom's real problem was inside him because he was never content or please with the land and the possessions he had.
At the beginning of the story, Pahom was a peasant without land of his own, working daily to support his family and thinking "Our only trouble is that we haven't land enough. If I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear the devil himself"; when in reality the avarice within Pahom lied dormant and he was not aware that his desire to obtain "plenty of land" will inevitably awaken the monster inside him that could never be satisfied.
The first time Pahom had a land of his own was a farm of forty acres. "So he became a landowner, plowing and sowing his own land, making hay on his own land, cutting his own trees, and feeding the cattle of his own pasture. When he went out to plough the fields, or to look at his growing corn, or at his grass meadows, his heart would fill with joy". This farm seemed to him unlike any other land, fulfilling his dreams until he heard the story of a better place where he will be able to have more land of his own. At this moment the greed in him began to blind Pahom to the simplicity of his life and to be grateful and fulfilled for what he had.
The second farm he acquired had 125 acres and Pahom, "had three times as much as at his former home, and the land was good corn land. He was ten times better off than he had been. He had plenty of arable land and pasturage, and could keep as many head of cattle as he liked."
Obviously greed does not have limits and it is a part of our human nature some posses a greater level of greed than others but