How Much Land Does a Man Need

Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1886

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Download PDF

Summary

Background

Story Analysis

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Background

Authorial Context: Leo Tolstoy

Although “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” has its origins as a folktale, Tolstoy drew on personal experience in depicting the Bashkirs. He knew the Bashkirs and their land well. In 1862, he had a bout of ill health, and his doctor recommended that he travel several hundred miles southeast of Moscow to Samara, where the nomadic Bashkirs lived in felt tents and drank kumiss. Kumiss (also written as “kumys”) is a fermented drink that is sometimes compared to beer, although it contains less alcohol. It was believed that drinking kumiss produced health benefits. In A Confession, an essay Tolstoy wrote in 1882, he describes an unhappy time in his life when he was confused about the purpose of life, and he states that the illness he suffered was mental rather than physical. He writes that he “threw up everything, and went away to the Bashkirs in the steppes, to breathe fresh air, drink kumys, and live a merely animal life” (Tolstoy, Leo. A Confession, in A Confession, The Gospel in Brief and What I Believe, translated by Alymer Maude. Oxford University Press, 1967, pp. 14). Tolstoy stayed with the Bashkirs for nearly two months, adopting their customs, talking history and religion with their elders, and running and wrestling with the younger men. By the time he was ready to return, he had recovered his health.

Tolstoy returned to Samara in 1871 and bought 6,700 acres of land for only 20,000 rubles, which he considered an excellent price. Like Pahóm in the story, Tolstoy clearly had a good eye for a bargain, although the purchase of 13,000 acres for 1,000 rubles makes Tolstoy’s deal look expensive by comparison. Tolstoy likely exaggerated the figure for dramatic effect, wanting to sharply contrast the Bashkirs’ willingness to part with their land cheaply with Pahóm’s acquisitiveness. For the next 12 years, Tolstoy returned frequently to the area, often bringing his entire family with him.

Historical Context: 19th-Century Russia

In “How Much Land Does a Man Need?,” peasants are free to own land, but that was a comparatively recent development as of the story’s writing (the mid-1880s). Until 1861, many of the poorest peasants were serfs who lived on the land only with the permission of a landowner for whom they worked, cultivating the land. Talk of emancipation had been in the air since the mid-1850s, and Tolstoy, who was a landowner with serfs of his own, lobbied government officials to speed up the process. Tolstoy thought of himself as a forward-thinking individual. In 1856, he offered his peasants their freedom; they would lease the land for 30 years and then own it outright. Unfortunately, the peasants became suspicious and they and Tolstoy were unable to reach an agreement. Several years later, in 1861, Tsar Alexander II ordered the emancipation of the serfs. The peasants, no longer the virtual property of wealthy landowners, joined village communes that supervised the allocation of land to individual peasants (as happens in the story).

Later in his life, sometime after he wrote “How Much Land Does a Man Need?,” Tolstoy changed his views radically. He condemned all private ownership of property, arguing that it involved exploitation of those who labored on the land and caused economic distress, political disorder, and deprivation. His target, however, was the landed, wealthy aristocracy rather than small landholders like the fictional Pahóm.