The futility of socioeconomic ascension
Pahom's initial desire to become a landowner is understandable: upward mobility will purportedly grant him financial independence and relieve his subjection to the upper class's exploitation and mistreatment of peasants. However, Pahom faces massive hardships in his quest to acquire as much land as possible: he goes into debt, travels hundreds of miles by foot, abandons his family, loses his empathy and moral decency, and finally dies of exhaustion. When Pahom meets his demise, Tolstoy depicts economic ascension as not only an infeasible endeavor—but a trivial one. Pahom’s avarice and devotion to land ownership merely amount to the burying of his lifeless body in a small grave, as evidenced by the concluding line of the story: "Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed" (24). Despite the hundreds of acres Pahom purchases over the years, his chase for wealth means nothing in death.
Powerlessness
Disempowerment pervades Pahom’s life, both as a peasant and a landowner. As a peasant, he must pay the soldier’s senseless fines for minor transgressions that fall outside of his control. He wishes to become a landowner to activate his independence, elevate his living conditions, and escape structural class limitations. However, even when he acquires hundreds of acres of land and ascends to a higher socioeconomic status, Pahom adheres to the ideals of an economic system that equates property ownership with freedom. Because of this, he feels trapped and unfulfilled in each one of his estates and embarks on a zealous pursuit for more land to attain a rewarding and meaningful life. This pursuit is fraught, as Pahom is stuck in an inescapable cycle that will never reach a point of complete satiation. His attempts to attain freedom, ironically, only lead to discontent and entrapment. Through this, Tolstoy presents the theme of illusionary autonomy in the quest for upward mobility.
God and the Devil's control
In addition to economic institutions, Tolstoy shows how religious forces control a man’s life. In Part 1, the Devil decides to tempt Pahom with land, catalyzing his descent into greed and sin. The Devil also amplifies the peasants’ discord as they attempt—but fail—to equitably allocate the land in Part 2. The Devil's steering of characters onto morally treacherous paths illustrates mankind's aptitude to succumb to evil.
Unlike the Devil, God does not appear as an actual character in the story, but nonetheless profoundly impacts Pahom’s sense of free will. When attempting to secure a formal contract with the Bashkirs, Pahom attributes his lack of autonomy over his own future to God: "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" (15). Moreover, as he struggles to reach the hillock in Part 9, he again questions if God will allow him to enjoy material success in the future: “There is plenty of land...but will God let me live on it? I have lost my life, I have lost my life!” (23). Here, Pahom recognizes God’s power to determine his fate and ultimate death. Using the Devil and God in tandem, Tolstoy cautions against placing too much value into ambition and material wealth, as we are all subject to outside forces who can undo these traditional markers of success.
The exploitative upper class
A devotion to generating profit and accumulating material possession define the wealthier characters in the story. The extremity of this characterization varies among different characters; for instance, the wealthier sister merely brags about her status and access to superficial luxuries in the city. Others, such as Pahom and the innkeeper, actively use their position of power to maintain peasants' unequal status in society. In the beginning parts of the story, Pahom himself endures the exploitative wrath of the wealthier class. The old soldier, who becomes the female landowner’s property manager, enforces fines on Pahom and other peasants in the commune for minor offenses beyond their control, such as cattle wandering into the landowner’s estate. Despite the agony Pahom faces at the hands of the exploitative upper class, he imposes even crueler, more excessive fines on peasants when he becomes a landowner himself. He values the procurement of wealth, power, and cultural capital over moral decency and compassion toward peasants—and, as such, perpetuates the very cycle of dehumanization and inequity he wished to escape.
Greed
Tolstoy presents greed as a destructive force that can overtake and corrupt a person’s character. In his attempt to procure as much land as possible, Pahom undergoes extreme tumult and begins to neglect notions of community, compassion, and morality: he capitalizes on peasants’ perilous financial predicaments, sells his belongings, goes into debt, and leaves his family. His desperation for material status only begets more greed and unfulfillment. He never feels satisfied with his estates—even the one in Part 4, where he grows multiple crops and experiences successful harvests, owns three times as much land as he did in prior estates, and shares plentiful communal land. Pahom’s expansive land purchases only prompt him to want more, culminating in a greed so irrepressible that it fuels his rush to claim Bashkirian land, even as he feels his body deteriorating.
