“How Much Land Does A Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy

“How Much Land Does A Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy is a short book that is made up of two short stories translated from Russian into English. The first short story is “How Much Land Does A Man Need?” and it is about men’s greed and selfishness; it tells the story of a modest farmer in Russia that owns very little land in his hometown. He then wishes for more land, but by doing so he also provokes the Devil. Consequently of making this newfound enemy, the farmer finds a couple of opportunities to expand his land and increase the quality of his crops, but that entails having to move to another town. The farmer, along with his family, moves to another town south of the Volga for agricultural reasons, but that too doesn’t seem to be enough for him; he still feels cramped, without enough air to breathe, and with “bad” soil. He isn’t satisfied, so he moves to another town that offers very large areas of amazing soil but he is challenged to walk as much as possible in one day, and all the land he will have marked would be his. He sets off to conquer as much land as possible, but it never seems to be enough, he always wants more. As the sun starts to set, he realizes he is very far from his starting point and making it back would be difficult. So he runs and runs, until he reaches the starting point, and as the chief of the town is congratulating him, the farmer drops dead. This short story symbolizes human greed, and how men never have enough, and it’s that greed that will lead humans to death. The second short story is “What Men Live By”, a story with similar themes as the first one. It’s based around the themes of generosity, kindness, harmony between men, and religion. It is the story of a Fallen Angel, punished by God, and forced to live on earth as a mortal to learn three crucial lessons: “ what dwells in man, what is not given to men, and what men live by.” He would only be welcomed back into heaven after learning these lessons, which he finally does at the end.