How Much Land Does a Man Need by Leo Tolstoy
The Bashkirian land (Simile)
"It was all virgin soil, as flat as the palm of your hand, as black as the seed of a poppy, and in the hollows different kinds of grasses grew breast high" (19).
Here, the narrator employs heightened sensory language and a simile to describe the Bashkirian land. The phrases "as flat as the palm of your hand" and "as black as the seed of a poppy" conjure a vivid image of vast, sublime land to highlight its profound allure to Pahom, whose eyes glisten after examining the land. Notably, the description of this setting deviates from the stark, objective descriptions of land that permeate the rest of the story. As such, the simile draws particular visual attention to Bashkiria over Pahom’s previous properties, thus signaling to us that the Bashkirian land will play a significant role in the forthcoming climax of the story.
The narrator’s closing remark (Verbal Irony)
"Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed" (24).
After the workman buries Pahom in a small, six-foot grave, the narrator concludes the story with this ironic, poignant declaration. The quote invokes verbal irony to illustrate the futility of Pahom’s devotion to cultivating land, wealth, and prosperity. He travels hundreds of miles, purchases hundreds of acres of land, drifts from commune to commune without forging meaningful connections, becomes a pariah, and abandons his family—all for an insatiable desire for land. His greed becomes so all-consuming that it fuels him beyond physical limits to claim as much Bashkirian land as possible, naturally culminating in his death of exhaustion. However, the narrator does not acknowledge any of these efforts. Rather, by claiming that Pahom only needs six feet of land, the closing remark sardonically understates and refutes Pahom’s grand and overzealous exertions, all of which lead, in the end, to a small grave. Despite all the land Pahom acquires over years, he only needs six feet of soil to bury his body into the ground. The understatement thus reveals the counterproductivity of chasing wealth: no matter how much material success we achieve in life, we cannot escape the inevitability of death.
Foreshadowing
Pahom's dream of the Devil laughing at the sight of his dead body foreshadows Pathom's death. The image of the "red as blood" sunset disappearing from the day foreshadows the image of Pahom's blood flowing from his mouth as he faces his demise (23).
How Much Land Does a Man Need?
