GROUP MEMBERS LUADINA OMENAKO

MICHEAL LAWRENCE OBENG

GIDEON QUAYE

OSAFO THOMAS

ODURO KWABENA PATRICK

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

KNUST

GHANA.

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‘HOW MUCH LANDDOES

A MAN NEED’

By; Leo Tolstoy

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AUTHORLeo Tolstoy

Born in Yasnaya Polyana, Russia on

September 9th ,1828.

Died on November 20th 1910 in

Astapavo, Russia

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Author BackgroundLeo was a Russian writer who wrote several novels

and short stories.

One of his short stories include;

‘How much land does a man need’

Most famous work is titled War and Peace.

Married a woman 16 years

younger than him.

He had Christian beliefs.

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Work Summary The story starts out with Pahom, a peasant, who is working on someone else's farmland. As the plot progresses, Pahom is able to purchase about forty acres of his own farmland. As time goes by, he is still not satisfied. When he hears that there is land for sale in another city, he sells everything he owns and moves there to try buying more land. Pahom succeeds with his quest and ends up ten times better of than he was before. But, after awhile he is still dissatisfied. Pahom hears about the far away land of Bashkirs where he can get as much land as he can walk around in a day for only a thousand rubles. Pahom sells everything again and heads of to the land of Bashkirs. He arrives safely and finds out that everything he had heard about the land was true. However, in the end, things do not turn out so well and he learns to late a very valuable lesson on self-discipline.

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SCENES AND CHARACTERS

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Pahom ( Peasant)Pahom, the protagonist. He is a poor farmer, and he desires more land. He claims he

would not even fear the devil if he had enough land. So the devil gave him land. As he got more land, he became dissatisfied and wanted more. When given the opportunity to have as much as he pleased (provided he could walk the length of it), his greed ended up causing his death, as he ran until he died

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The DevilHe set a trap for Pahom, and gave him more and more land until he died from his greed.

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Poor Sister(peasant’s wife) She is the poor sister of the two and knows how to live with

her life and is proud of being a peasant’s wife.

She doesn’t like her sister bragging about being wealthy.

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Wealthy Sister One of the two sisters who introduced the story.

She is very wealthy and thinks she has it all, and loves

her life. She lives in the city with her husband where they

enjoyed greener pastures. She bitterly against the idea of her

sister married to a peasant .

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Lady( land owner) She is a lady who lived close to the village of the peasant.

Also a landowner who had an estate of lands of about three

hundred acres. She ones serve as the peasant’s manager.

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Simon Simon ,one of the peasants neighbors who was summoned by

Pahom for unlawfully striping trunks of his crop.

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Neighbors The Neighbors of Pahom are angered by Pahom, since he has so

much land Pahom blames his neighbors for letting their cattle

roam around his crops and land , yet it wasn’t the peasants fault.

Pahom continues to be angry towards them and send them to the

village council for sanction.

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Bashkir's They were giving out land to anyone who wanted it - provided they could walk the perimeter of it in one day. They indubitably set many traps for greedy people, so they could get more money. They took advantage of the greed of others, and in a sense it gives them what they deserve. They are sympathetic to Pahom's death, but as it was his greed that caused it, they don't seem to be too upset

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Minor CharactersThese incudes Pahom's servant, brother-in-law, a passing land dealer, and a passing peasant.

Pahom had an encounter with the passing peasant a dealer which led him to subsequent search for new lands in the greener areas.

The brother –in-law who help in purchasing of his first land and a servant who help him on his land.

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PlotSCENES

Scene 1- The sisters had an argument of which life is better and easier to live. Pahom is then introduced in the middle of the argument.

Scene 2- Pahom thought to himself that if he ever had land, he wouldn’t be afraid of anything, not even the devil himself. Little does he knows that the devil over heard his thoughts.

Scene 3- The devil gives Pahom the opportunity to have lots of land, to see if what he said is true.

Scene 4- Pahom works on his land that he bought from a woman(lady landowner). The devil gave him the opportunity and Pahom took it, and started working and growing crops.

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Plot ContinuationScene 5- Pahom’s neighbors accidently destroy a bit of his land, by having there cattle roam and loose fire burning his land down. In Pahom’s perspective, he thinks his neighbors are destroying his land on purpose.

Scene 6-Pahoms’s neighbors are guilty of his land being destroyed, therefore get angered by Pahom’s prosecutions, leading to his neighbors destroying his land on purpose.

Scene 7-After a hard day of repairing his land and working hard all day he headed home with cuts and bruises on his arms and legs. His land, was so big that he could not make it back home.

Scene 8-Pahom realizes that he has lost and starts to think if he will survive or not. He was bleeding and doesn’t know where he is.

Scene 9-Poham eventually makes it back to his starting point, the Bashkir leader then congratulates him, but Poham then dies of exhaustion.

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PLOT

EXPOSITION: This is when the devil hears the thought of Pahom and decides to have a tussle with him by giving him enough land.

RISING ACTION: Here, we see Pahom moving from one place to another in search for land

CLIMAX: At this point, Pahom finally decides to go to the Bashkirs to seek cheap land to buy since he learnt from the stranger that he could get a vast land for one thousand rubles

FALLING ACTION: Here, we realize the greed of Pahom as he desperately tries to reach the finishing mark at the hillock where the Bashkirs had gathered

RESOLUTION: Struggling to reach the finishing point, Pahom finally loses his life in the quest of a vast land because he was exhausted and bruised and could not reach the hillock.

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Denotation MeaningThe contextual meaning of the short story “How much land does a man needs” inform us how the protagonist, Pahom manage to acquire land from the devil which is never enough for him until his thirst for land eventually killed him.

“ Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed’

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Connotational Meaning The land in the story indicates all man’s possession in life.

In the end we realize that man is never satisfied with what he has and always thirst for more possessions.

But these possessions amount to nothing as death is inevitable.

“ Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed’

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Literary InformationSETTING: The story took place in a village in Russia where plantation was their major source of

income. The steppes of their land are vast , treeless, grassy area with very fertile soil.

CONFLICT: Pahom, the peasant wants more land. Pahom has problem with greed and only thinks about himself

PROTAGONIST: A peasant named Pahom.

ANTAGONIST: the devil

FANTASY: Shows fantasy because you don’t normally see the devil behind a stove.

REALISM: The younger sister and elder sister were talking to each other while having tea.

ALLEGORY/PARABLE: The story teaches a life lesson because of religious background.

DYANMIC: Pahom develops through the story.

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Literary InformationTHEMES

Theme of over-ambition: A person only needs as much they can survive on.

Theme of Geed: Greed has no boundaries and will bring you to death.

Theme of discontentment: Getting what you want does not always mean good things will happen.

UNIVERSAL THEME

Dissatisfaction a problem to all people.

Can man be ever content with what he/she has?

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Literary InformationDRAMATIC IRONY : A contrast between what Pahom thinks is happening and what we (readers) know to be true. Pahom and his wife are adamant in a discussion in the story that living a more rural, simple life is much better than a life in the city because they are not tempted to participate in the Devil’s activities so rife in the cities. Pahom and his family made several moves to attain that goal. He boasts that he wouldn't be afraid of the devil himself if he just had enough land. The Devil overheard him and tricked Pahom, playing on his greed, into actions which lead to his death. We recognize the Devil at work, but Pahom does not.

SITUATIONAL IRONY: A contrast between what we and the characters expect to happen and what does happen in this story. The deal which Pahom made is to pay 1,000 rubles for whatever land he can walk around in one day; after he was tricked by the Devil and beaten by his own greed , Pahom did end up with all the land he needed—literally

“six feet of land on which to be buried”.

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Literary InformationPoint of View

The writer used the omniscient point of view.

He tells us about all the characters in the story.

Judgment

The writer makes use of clear and simple language and communicates effectively

to the reader.

The story was able to convey its message to the readers with

the fact that greed acquisitions in life is the road map to

death.

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Questions for thought How much land actually do you need to live

your life comfortably?

What lands(possessions) are u fighting for?

How far are you willing to go to achieve your lands

(possessions)

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◦ THANK YOU

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