The spade (Symbol)
Pahom uses a spade, a tool commonly used for digging, to denote his progress throughout his walk in Bashkiria. As Pahom’s body decays from exhaustion, he removes several of his garments and materials, including his coat, shoes, flask, and cap. Notably, he still clutches onto the spade, an image signifying his devotion to claiming as much property as possible—even at the risk of his own life. The spade shows the figurative extent of his greed: it is Pahom's greed that propels him to use his spade to map out more Bashkirian land than he can possibly cover in a day. Later, the workman uses the spade to dig Pahom’s grave, illustrating how excessive greed can not only calamitously corrupt a person’s moral character, but can precipitate an untimely demise.
Kumiss (Symbol)
The Bashkirs drink kumiss—a traditional Central Asian alcoholic drink made from fermented milk—during celebratory gatherings, including Pahom’s arrival in Bashkiria and the clinching of his land acquisition. Kumiss thus symbolizes the joys of community and immaterial pleasures. Before Pahom embarks on his day of covering and claiming Bashkirian land, the Bashkirs offer him kumiss one last time, a gesture representing Pahom's final chance to choose life’s intangible pleasures over land acquisition and material status. Too preoccupied with starting his day as early as possible, Pahom declines the kumiss offering, thus foreshadowing his definitive fall into a rapacious, status-obsessed lifestyle devoid of spiritual meaning and interpersonal connection.
Impressionability (Motif)
Pahom often bases major life decisions on the rumors and opinions expressed by others. He internalizes the elder sister’s denouncement of peasantry and boasting of city life in Part 1, which catalyzes his desire for land ownership and belief that a large estate will protect him from evil. In later sections, passing figures—the merchant and peasant—inform Pahom of faraway villages with cheap, fertile, and expansive land available for purchase. Rather than accept his current estate, Pahom fully absorbs the strangers’ endorsements of these unfamiliar villages, traveling hundreds of miles to appraise them. Pahom is thus susceptible to external factors influencing his self-image and way of life, revealing a passivity informing his chase for wealth and, by extension, upward mobility. Through Pahom’s impressionability, Tolstoy constructs class ascension as an endeavor devoid of autonomy and self-sufficiency.
The sun (Symbol)
In Parts 8–9, Pahom’s sole companion is the sun, a symbol of his impending death. Throughout the day, Pahom gazes at the sky to cross-reference his progress against the sun’s rotation. As the sun descends closer to the horizon, Pahom frantically tries to outrun the sun to reach his goal. However, Pahom’s death is as inevitable as the sunset. The image of the sinking "red as blood" sun retiring for the day prefigures Pahom's blood flowing from his mouth as he collapses to the ground and dies (23).
Entrapment (Motif)
The motif of entrapment underscores Pahom’s greed and his equation of land ownership with a fulfilling life. Pahom often condemns his estates for provoking feelings of claustrophobia, making remarks like, "As it is, I am too cramped to be comfortable" and "In this crowded place one is always having trouble" (10). Never satisfied with his level of land ownership and material success, Pahom uses the small size of his estates as the basis for moving on and seeking out more expansive acquisitions. He thereby associates the spatial constraints of his estates with his spiritual unfulfillment —and increased land ownership with freedom, happiness, and the sole means of escaping his constrained position in life.
