"Three Arshins of Land" or "How Much Land Does A Man Need"
A character analysis...
Leo Tolstoy is a Russian classic writer who has a very lucid writing style. He is apt to producing stories with a moral lesson vividly traced from the dialogues, actions, descriptions of the characters and the story flow. Leo, as a litterateur, is breeding kinds of characters who are realistic and existing in real life stories. In the story, “Three Arshins of Land” or popularly known as “How Much Land Does a Man Need?”, candidly speaking, Leo’s description of the character Pahom or Pakhom (in other books) showcases a rousing locution which can be traced in the storyline such as, “What a large tract I will mark off!” thought he…, “I will go on for another three miles,” thought he, “and then turn to the left. This spot is so fine, that it would be a pity to lose it. The further one goes, the better the land seems.” These dialogues clearly expose the kind of person Pahom is.
Pahom is a peasant who in the first part of the story longs to tilt his own land. He dreams to become a landowner. His great desire does not change even until the end of the story. Pahom is being blinded with his fancy of gaining hundreds of acres of a virgin soil. He became a landowner but he wasn’t contented of the land he accumulated. He seeks for greener pasture and he, together with his wife, moves to another village. This characteristic of Pahom justifies human nature of being malcontent. His furiousness of grasping and embracing what he wants was tested by a devil. “All right,” thought the Devil. “We will have a tussle. I’ll give you land enough; and by means of that land I will get you into my power.” The character of a devil is being presented by a man who dropped by at Pahom’s abode. He served some food to the man and the man told him about a land of the Bashkirs. This news rings on Pahom’s ears and gets very interested about the land the man said.
The man’s role is to deceive Pahom. Pahom was being hooked up by the story of the man. And it only proves the intense aggressiveness of Pahom to capture his yearns for a virgin enormous land. This aggressiveness pushes him to become greedy. He is so rapacious. And this characteristic of him causes his death. He wants to palm gargantuan land area for wealth and power. Yes, he did make it but when he reached the starting point he collapsed and succumbed.
In the conclusion of the story, the chief who waited on the starting point exclaimed…“Ah, that’s a fine fellow!” “He has gained much land!” But as he reached he lied down and died because of too much land he travelled. This incident strongly supports the greediness of Pahom turning his dream in vain. As a character Pahom is a flat one and as a human he only needs six feet of land from his head to his heels or three arshins of land where his corpse was buried.
Note: Please click the link for the copy of the whole story.
Refs
cafetalk, 14-07-31 19:30, 14-08-02 22:07, Marz
Pakhom haven't thought of the exact measurement of the land, all he thought was that it must really be vast. Hectares probably!
18-01-30 18:55,
I agree Quenny.
18-01-30 18:53,
man can never have enough. because we are aggressive we only think our own happiness not knowing the consequences of our actions.
18-01-26 11:49, queeny
How large a tract of land does Pahom decide he will mark off?
18-01-22 01:27,
What character trait of pakhom led to his death? Trace the gradual development of this trait.
17-08-31 12:34,
What was the character trait of pakhom led to his trait?
17-08-28 22:13,
What is the theme of the story?
17-02-09 11:13,
Hi Marwen!
The moral lesson of the story is that we must not be greedy. We must know how to be contented and we must not go beyond our limits. Note: Too much greediness will put us into trouble and eventually will endanger our lives.
16-10-09 09:11, Marz
Hi Marwen!
The moral lesson of the story is that we must not be greedy. We must know how to be contented and we must not go beyond our limits. Note: Too much greediness will put us into trouble and eventually will endanger our lives.
16-10-09 09:11, Marz
what is the moral lesson of the story that you can get.
16-08-11 13:02, marwen