Analysis Of How Much Land Does A Man Need By Leo Tolstoy

In the 19th century, Russia was a huge country with millions of extremely poor farming peasants called serfs. They believed that the Tsar was second only to god in power, and that tsar had control over everyone.

Russia struggled to provide food for its populations. Citizens took control into their own hands, Ludovic Naudeau wrote in October 1917, “One morning recently I was awakened by the cries of my neighbor in the next room. His boots had been stolen. The same day the manager of a newspaper office told me that he had been robbed six of pairs of pantaloons, … “Four hundred thefts every night!” he cried; that is the average for the last two weeks,”(One Aspect of Bolshevist Liberty). Russia could not even uphold itself because the economy was not successful compared to other countries. This led people to desire a change in the government; therefore this led to the Russian Revolution. People went to different maters to get what they wanted such as stealing since they were not getting the aid that they needed and they needed financial support. This caused them to protest against their government because many people from the lower class could not take care of their families. This cause led to a greater impact compared to Tsarist weak authority.

Tolstoy talks about a sort of scholarly emergency that he endured late in his life, and his recuperation from it. In spite of the fact that Tolstoy appreciated what might conventionally be viewed as a successful and agreeable life, he started feeling tormented by worries of unimportance. Specifically, he reports starting to question why he should think about things that he once thought about, or why he should do the things that he would choose to do. At last, he discovered it inconceivably hard to give answers to these inquiries. The outcome, he reports, is feeling as though his life were a doltish, pointless trap played someone has bestowed upon him. He felt as though every individual task he attempted, and also his life in its totality, were without importance.

K.H. Connell, in his paper “Land and Population in Ireland, 1780-1845”, describes and explains the significant population growth in Ireland prior to the famine of 1845 and how the uses of the Irish land changed with the population growth.

Furthermore, in Leo Tolstoy‘s The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and analysis will demonstrate that the character Ivan Ilyich struggles throughout his life to achieve the ideals of liberty, life and the pursuit of happiness. It is through Ivan’s death and his friend’s narration of Ivan’s life that the reader comes to the realization the the middle-class Ivan has few strength’s besides his hard work to drive him towards his ideals for wealth and property. Ivan lived his whole life with the purpose of enjoying himself. He did this through winning power at work, spending money, buying things to impress his friends, throwing parties, and playing bridge. His pursuit of happiness in material things and pleasures is so great that his deliberately avoids anything unpleasant. This means that when he settled down with a family, which was expected of him, he never grows close to them.

The strive for socialism goes far beyond the torture and rape of an unfortunate few, rather the idea that everything under communism was free and that there was no such thing as selling products for profits would lead to “the greatest human disaster in Europe since the Black Death.” Still, many more unfortunate others found themselves on market displays to be sold as food. Even with the prospect of cannibalism and the terror that Lenin’s secret police caused, the masses still believed that he was their savor and didn’t know anything of the horrors that occurred under his rule. Many families worshipped Lenin as a god and to speak otherwise was seen as a great disrespect. The amount of hope that they poured into Lenin and his idea of communism just serves to show how desperate the Russian people had become.

Leo Tolstoy, an incredible Russian writer, captures this idea in a quote; “The

Leo Tolstoy was a Russian author who was born September 9, 1828 at Yasnaya Polyana, Russia and died of pneumonia in the winter of 1910. Today Tolstoy is buried at his Yasnaya Polyana estate in Russia. Both of his parents died when he was just a child, and he was raised by

One major theme that is present in the entire novella is the inevitability of death. Death is something that happens to everyone. No matter how high your social status is, there will come a time when you will wither and die. It does not matter how rich you are or how poor. The major turning point in the story is when Ivan realized that he was getting closer to death every day. Ivan Ilych realized that the customs and traditions of the aristocracy which he had thought were important was the cause of his metaphorical death. He had lost himself while he chased after wealth, social status, and power. He had forgotten about how to live a simple, happy life. He had forgotten about the that there are other people whose concerns and issues that are much more important that his. He has been immersed in the mediocrity and artificiality of life that he has forgotten how it is to care and to love other people.

We will begin with an analysation of his family situation. Praskovya, his wife, had been a love constructed from the start of an economic and sociological expectation rather than that of a true courtship. The happiness therefore of the union was derived solely of a necessity to fulfill a desire on the part of others for a “success” of sorts, surely her desire as well. “Ivan Ilyich could have counted on a more illustrious match, but even this one was quite good. He had his salary, and her income, he hoped, would bring in an equal amount. (Tolstoy, 56)” Tolstoy goes on to make several remarks on the benevolent nature of the relationship between he and his wife. The arrival of his children creates no great marker in his life, and proves to be little more than a factor in his ever-lengthening retreat into his life of solitude and work.

As we have read many stories in this class, a lot of the theme are about faith, sins, and how they all correlate and have some relations one way or another. Throughout all the stories and short poems, we’ve read, the theme teaches us readers one thing: DO NOT SIN. It has some faithful and valuable lesson that meets the readers eye. One of the short stories we had “How Much Land Does a Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy it captures the theme of greed and teach us having everything we want won’t make us truly happy. The story captures that Money (or in this case land) can’t buy us happiness. Let’s dissect this story and see what’s more to the theme that meets the eye.

Without a doubt, before he reformed the old judicial system, Russian people did not have many rights, nor did they have a chance at defending themselves if accused of a crime. Once, the aged judicial system reformed, trial by jury, fashioned for people who committed serious crimes, and for minor civil and criminal cases justices of the peace were created. Giving preference to the wealthy and upper class substituted with what, supposed to be equal before the law. Also, in 1864 Alexander II created a law in rural areas called the zemstvo. This law allows the now free serfs and peasant to work freely together. The zemstvo was responsible for education, medical care, veterinary service, insurance, local roads and the storage of food reserves. (Smitha) With the freedom of the serfs and now all this Russia people were starting to feel some enlightenment. Further, years and years with little money, poor health care for animals and family, getting paid close to nothing for working all day, life for the Russian people started to look

Accessibility is important for Tolstoy, but it is also important that the work be instructive and beneficial. It is in this idea of instruction that one can find similarities with Plato. Tolstoy, like Plato, does not emphasize the work of the artist, but how the work relates with the world around it. If the work is not good than it is useless. Again, what Tolstoy means by “good” is the work speaks to humankind's need for unity. It is the importance of unity, with God and one another, which supersedes all other ideas in art for Tolstoy. Again, it is emotions that unite men. Tolstoy writes:

84% of Russia’s population was either peasants or serfs, majority was very poor, uneducated, powerless and exploited. Like Frances 85% of peasants who also experienced no protection or representation and ultimately had no rights. Peasants in both instances lived lives of poverty and hardship were a massively oppressed sector of society. Majoirty of France’s population was comprised of peasants. In both countries, ownership of land was the most important source of wealth and power, and this was mainly in the hands of the nobles. In France, the Nobles were reserved the highest positions and best careers regarding pay and working conditions. When many peasants or bourgeoisie moved to cities to look for modern jobs, they lived in overcrowded and again impoverished areas with appalling living conditions. Working conditions were unsafe, factory workers worked ridiculous hours, were paid very badly and experienced harsh discipline in these factories. In France before any reforms, many peasants whose money all went to the taxation system and church were forced to turn to crime or

“How Much Land does a Man Require,” by Leo Tolstoy, is a story about greed. In the story, Pokhom, the main character, unknowingly challenged the Devil by stating that if only he had plenty of land, not even the Devil himself could frighten him. Using his greed against him, the Devil led him to his death. I do not think that Pokhom deserved his fate because he worked hard to earn money to make his life better, he seized opportunities that were presented to him, and he never intentionally challenged the Devil.