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Unit 6: How Much Land Does a Man Need by Leo Tolstoy

ecological awareness; and we can read it in the context of our consumer-driven economic system. Notes
Let us take each of these in turn.

Religious Aspect

The story teaches that humans need to the state of their soul, rather than material wealth, with
an eye to eternity rather than temporal, earthly reality.
When you own so much (stuff) that you lose track of all that you possess, you have passed the
point of owning too much. When you become so enslaved to acquiring more and holding on to
what you have, you have lost sight of the real purpose of living.

Social Aspect

Here we would ask how the ambitions of an individual to acquire great wealth affects the
greater affected? Does Pahom have any responsibility to the human community of which he is
part? Or is it true that individual effort to improve one’s prospects is his only thing that should
concern each person, and that others have to look out for themselves?

Ecological Aspect

In today’s world, a world of overpopulation, dwindling natural resources, and the increasingly
destructive affect that human activity has on the environment, we can raise the question of how
the drive to acquire more and more wealth by the many individuals and groups of individual’s
affects the natural environment of which we are all part. In other words, we can point out that
nobody acts in a vacuum, isolated from natural world. What we do has significant effect on the
quality of our environment (air, water, land). We use up the earth’s resources and add to the
waste that accumulates in our lands and oceans. When our contemporary Pahoms work to
accumulate more and more wealth, are the needs of the earth and environment respected?

Task How much …………………… does a person need?
While completing this task, you might also distinguish between need desire and merit.
How much wealth does a person need?
How much population that the earth need?

How much wealth and power does a society need? At what point does it become
inconsistent with a good life for the citizens?
Take great care in how you respond. Remember, the Devil might be listening!

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. The famous novel …………………… was published in 1869.

2. How Much Land Does a Man Need? was is published in …………………….
3. Tolstoy’s book What I Believe is about …………………….
4. …………………… visits Pahóm dream.
5. “If I had plenty of land, I wouldn’t fear the devil himself,” said …………………….

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