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Pakhom
The Devil makes frequent appearances in Tolstoy’s story and requires little in the form of introduction. He is eavesdropping during Pakhom’s debate over the merits of peasant life with his wife and her elder sister, and he takes Pakhom’s claim that enough land would protect him from the Devil as a personal affront. The Devil proclaims, “I shall see that you have plenty of land and that way I’ll get you in my clutches,” thus beginning Pakhom’s quest. The Devil disguises himself as the Bashkir elder, the traveling peasant, and the passing merchant, inserting himself into Pakhom’s life at key points during the story and tempting Pakhom to give in to his greedy impulses. Each time Pakhom acquires a new piece of property, the Devil is behind the transaction. Ultimately, the Devil’s attempts are successful in bringing about Pakhom’s demise, as he lures Pakhom to his death and ostensibly to Hell.
The Devil Quotes in How Much Land Does a Man Need?
The How Much Land Does a Man Need? quotes below are all either spoken by The Devil or refer to The Devil. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 1 Quotes
“It's true what you say,” he said. “Take me. Ever since I was a youngster I've been too busy tilling the soil to let that kind of nonsense enter my head. My only grievance is that I don't have enough land. Give me enough of that and I'd fear no one—not even the Devil himself!”
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This is Pakhom’s own response to the elder sister’s criticism of his peasant life. Pakhom’s wife, the younger sister, maintains that city life is little more than the Devil’s playground, tempting husbands left and right with drink and women. Pakhom agrees with his wife, and his own life is proof of the comparative safety of country living. Pakhom does not regret his simple life of hard work; however, he is too proud to allow his sister-in-law’s insults go unchallenged. This pride causes Pakhom to boast that enough land would protect him from evil, and it sets off the chain of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperior
“Good,” he thought. “I'll have a little game with you. I shall see that you have plenty of land and that way I'll get you in my clutches!”
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When Pakhom claims that enough land would protect him from all evil, including the Devil himself, the Devil receives this sweeping declaration as a personal dare. While he is surely insulted, he welcomes the chance to interfere in Pakhom’s life. The Devil vows to tempt him with land, preying on Pakhom’s vulnerability to the common human condition of always wanting more. The Devil banks on the self-perpetuating nature of Pakhom’s greediness—in other words, the Devil knows that Pakhom’s greed will only lead to more greed, and that he can thus entice Pakhom with more and more land. This quote illustrates Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesci
Chapter 2 Quotes
They met once, they met twice, but no progress was made: the Devil had set them at loggerheads and there was nothing they could agree upon. In the end they decided to buy the land in separate lots, each according to what he could afford.
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When the local lady landowner suddenly decides to sell her small estate, Pakhom and the other peasants, having grown tired of her hired manager’s fines, convince her to sell them her land to be used as a village commune. With more land, it is less likely they will be fined if their cattle and other livestock have more room to roam. Unfortunately, they are unable to come to a consensus over how much each will pay, and they cannot buy the land in the name of the commune. Tolstoy writes that Devil made them foolish, halting their progress. Just as Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia
Chapter 3 Quotes
“The land is so fertile,” he said, “that rye grows as high as a horse and it's so thick you can make a whole sheaf from only five handfuls! One peasant arrived with a copeck and only his bare hands to work with and now he has six horses and two cows.”
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Once Pakhom secures thirty acres of property from the landowner near the village, he lives happily on his land. However, his happiness is short-lived when the local peasants begin trespassing on his land and all Pakhom’s efforts to keep them off his property only make matters worse. A traveling peasant, who arrives just as Pakhom is feeling cramped and in need of more land, tells Pakhom about a much larger commune, just south of the Volga river. However, unbeknownst to Pakhom, the traveling peasant is the Devil in disguise, influencing Pakhom’s actions and enticing him with more land. Unlike the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impe
Chapter 7 Quotes
And then Pakhom saw that it wasn't the peasant, but the Devil himself, with horns and hoofs, sitting there laughing his head off, while before him lay a barefoot man wearing only shirt and trousers. When Pakhom took a closer look he saw that the man was dead and that it was himself.
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The night before Pakhom walks the Bashkirs’ land to secure his new property, he has a terrible and ominous dream. In it, the elder Bashkir transforms into the passing merchant who first told Pakhom of the Bashkirs’ land, who then suddenly turns into the peasant, who proves to really be the Devil in disguise. Each of the men the Devil masquerades as have a hand in providing land to Pakhom in some way, just as the Devil had sworn to do early in the story. Through these characters, the Devil tempts Pakhom with more and more land, providing plenty of Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a.
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The Devil Character Timeline in How Much Land Does a Man Need?
The timeline below shows where the character The Devil appears in How Much Land Does a Man Need?. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
...had more land, claiming that with enough land he would “fear no one—not even the Devil himself!”
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Nearby, the Devil sits listening to the family’s conversation. He receives Pakhom’s claim as a personal dare and...
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Chapter 2
...to sell her property to them in the name of a village commune. However, the Devil turns them into “loggerheads,” and they are unable to agree upon a price. As a...
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Chapter 7
Pakhom’s dream soon takes an even stranger turn, and the traveling peasant transforms into the Devil himself, complete with horns and hoofs, laughing. Pakhom discovers that his own dead body is...
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