How Much Land Does a Man Need?

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Here, the narrator describes the Bashkirs’ lifestyle and values to sharply magnify Pahom’s moral degradation throughout the story. Pahom has abandoned his family and previous communes out of sheer self-interest and greed. He no longer latches on to ideas of family and community—intangible markers of a rewarding, fulfilling life—and instead prioritizes the ownership of immensely sized estates and higher socioeconomic standing in turn. Late in life, James Joyce wrote to his daughter that it is "the greatest story that the literature of the world knows"; [1] Ludwig Wittgenstein was another well-known admirer. [2] Motifs from the short story are used in the 1969 West German film Scarabea: How Much Land Does a Man Need? directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg. [3] The story was adapted into a graphic novel by Martin Veyron. [4] "Zameen" an episode from the 1986 Indian anthology series Katha Sagar was adapted from the story. Pahóm is thrilled. He is certain that he can cover a great distance and that he will have more land than he could have ever imagined. That night, Pahóm has a foreboding dream in which he sees himself lying dead at the feet of the Devil (who changes appearances – peasant, tradesman, chief of the Baskirs), who is laughing.

So now Pahóm had land of his own. He borrowed seed, and sowed it on the land he had bought. The harvest was a good one, and within a year he had managed to pay off his debts both to the lady and to his brother-in-law. So he became a landowner, plowing and sowing his own land, making hay on his own land, cutting his own trees, and feeding his cattle on his own pasture. When he went out to plow his fields, or to look at his growing corn, or at his grass-meadows, his heart would fill with joy. The grass that grew and the flowers that bloomed there, seemed to him unlike any that grew elsewhere. Formerly, when he had passed by that land, it had appeared the same as any other land, but now it seemed quite different. But I should like to be sure which bit is mine. Could it not be measured and made over to me? 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. Pahom, p. 15 He stopped, dug a large hole, and heaped up pieces of turf. Next he untied his flask, had a drink, and then turned sharply to the left. He went on and on; the grass was high, and it was very hot.Other people are buying,' said he, 'and we must also buy twenty acres or so. Life is becoming impossible. That steward is simply crushing us with his fines.' Why, we shall go to any spot you like, and stay there. You must start from that spot and make your round, taking a spade with you. Wherever you think necessary, make a mark. At every turning, dig a hole and pile up the turf; then afterwards we will go round with a plough from hole to hole. You may make as large a circuit as you please, but before the sun sets you must return to the place you started from. All the land you cover will be yours.' If he had only cut one here and there it would have been bad enough," thought Pahom, "but the rascal has actually cut down a whole clump. If I could only find out who did this, I would pay him out." The story employs skaz, a Russian narrative form that emulates the dialect and expressions of oral speech. Using unsophisticated, informal language typical of skaz, an omniscient narrator begins the story with a peasant named Pahom eavesdropping on an argument between his wife and her elder sister. Married to a merchant, the elder sister proclaims city life as superior to country life, while Pahom’s wife defends the self-sufficiency and dignity of peasantry. Thinking to himself, Pahom shares his wife’s position, yet proceeds to declare, “If I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil!” (5). Sure enough, the Devil himself is crouched in the oven behind Pahom and overhears his inner proclamation. He vows to grant Pahom the land he desires, at the cost of instilling a insatiable avarice that grows over the course of the story—and can only end tragically. As soon as Pahóm and his family arrived at their new abode, he applied for admission into the Commune of a large village. He stood treat to the Elders, and obtained the necessary documents. Five shares of Communal land were given him for his own and his sons' use: that is to say—125 acres (not all together, but in different fields) besides the use of the Communal pasture. Pahóm put up the buildings he needed, and bought cattle. Of the Communal land alone he 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.

He went on in the same way for three years; renting land and sowing wheat. The seasons turned out well and the crops were good, so that he began to lay money by. He might have gone on living contentedly, but he grew tired of having to rent other people's land every year, and having to scramble for it. Wherever there was good land to be had, the peasants would rush for it and it was taken up at once, so that unless you were sharp about it you got none. It happened in the third year that he and a dealer together rented a piece of pasture land from some peasants; and they had already plowed it up, when there was some dispute, and the peasants went to law about it, and things fell out so that the labor was all lost. See,' said he, 'all this, as far as your eye can reach, is ours. You may have any part of it you like.' It will all be yours!' said he. 'But there is one condition: If you don't return on the same day to the spot whence you started, your money is lost.' He went on in the same way for three years; renting land and sowing wheat. The seasons turned out well and the crops were good, so that he began to lay money by. He might have gone on living contentedly, but he grew tired of having to rent other people's land every year, and having to scramble for it. Wherever there was good land to be had, the peasants would rush for it and it was taken up at once, so that unless you were sharp about it you got none. It happened in the third year that he and a dealer together rented a piece of pasture land from some peasants; and they had already ploughed it up, when there was some dispute, and the peasants went to law about it, and things fell out so that the labour was all lost.So Pahóm began looking out for land which he could buy; and he came across a peasant who had bought thirteen hundred acres, but having got into difficulties was willing to sell again cheap. Pahóm bargained and haggled with him, and at last they settled the price at 1,500 rubles, part in cash and part to be paid later. They had all but clinched the matter, when a passing dealer happened to stop at Pahóm's one day to get a feed for his horse. He drank tea with Pahóm, and they had a talk. The dealer said that he was just returning from the land of the Bashkírs, far away, where he had bought thirteen thousand ​acres of land all for 1,000 rubles. Pahóm questioned him further, and the tradesman said: All one need do is to make friends with the chiefs. I gave away about one hundred roubles' worth of dressing-gowns and carpets, besides a case of tea, and I gave wine to those who would drink it; and I got the land for less than twopence an acre [3]. And he showed Pahóm the title-deeds, saying: So Pahóm was well contented, and everything would have been right if the neighboring peasants would only not have trespassed on his corn-fields and meadows. He appealed to them most civilly, but they still went on: now the Communal herdsmen would let the village cows stray into his meadows; then horses from the night pasture would get among his corn. Pahóm turned them out again and again, and forgave their owners, and for a long time he forbore from prosecuting any one. But at last he lost patience and complained ​to the District Court. He knew it was the peasants' want of land, and no evil intent on their part, that caused the trouble; but he thought: How Much Land Does a Man Need?” opens with a conversation between two sisters. One sister is married to a merchant and gloats about the luxuries of city life. The younger sister—married to Pahom, a peasant—defends her humble, independent life in the countryside. She additionally declares that wealthier people are more at risk of losing everything in their lives without notice. Pahom eavesdrops on the conversation and considers the advantages of owning an expansive estate, determining, "If I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil himself!" (5). Overhearing Pahom’s thoughts, the Devil vows to grant Pahom land, at the cost of coaxing him into a life of greed and moral indecency. As far as the men were concerned, drinking kumiss and tea, eating mutton, and playing on their pipes was all they [the Bashkirs] cared about. They were all stout and merry, and all the summer long they never thought of doing any work. The narrator, p. 13