Character Analysis Of 'How Much Land Does A Man Needs'

Analysis of “how much land does a man needs”

“How much land does a man needs”.is a story written by the author Tolstoy with a proverbial message that it is better to love the life you have and not covet another person for their possessions. He believed this because eventually everything we aquire in life will all be loss when we die. Through the ideal tone and the author’s use of different characters such as the protagonist, Pahom and two sisters who lived opposite lives, he clearly illustrates in his story the importance of being content. Tolstoy wrote this story after being inspired by Henry George’s book “Progress and poverty” which conveys the message that individuals should not be able to own property on earth because of vanity.

Tolstoy skillfully conveyed the message that greed has no boundaries and will lead to misery. Through the use of the two sisters in a scenario where an elder sister visited her younger sister and they both got into an argument about who has a better

The irony of the story is that in the end he only needed enough land to bury him. This scenario clearly illustrates that efforts used to gain wealth through greed is futile and those efforts will lead a person to their downfall in life and even death. This is very common in today’s society. Many people work hard to earn materialistic belongings which they will eventually lose when they die. They compete and covet what they see others have, and as a result, a lot of people are living with anxiety caused by the pressure to do better or achieve more than the other person. A lot of the time people who end up achieving more than what they need to survive in life feel that they do not have sufficient and become unsatisfied, ungrateful and unhappy and this story highlights that. Pahom was a successful peasant farmer and had a modest life but ironically his lust or desire to have more made him lose