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| Name: _________________________ | Period: ___________________ |
This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.
Short Answer Questions
1. Who calls Pahom's land a "narrow hole"?
2. When Pahom feels "aggrieved," what is he feeling?
3. What does Pahom's wife say may happen to a man in town?
4. What does the stranger staying at Pahom's house overnight tell Pahom?
5. Which character thinks "I'll give you land enough; and by means of that land I will get you into my power"?
Short Essay Questions
1. In Chapter I, what is ironic about where Pahom is while he listens to his wife and her sister talk?
2. What changes the relationship between the woman who owns land near the village and the peasants, and how does the relationship change?
3. What sacrifices do Pahom and his family make for the first plot of land that they buy?
4. In what two ways is Pahom's first decision to buy land different from his later decisions?
5. What prevents the peasants from buying the nearby landowner's land as a group instead of as individuals?
6. What sequence of events with Simon follows Pahom's discovery of the stripped trees?
7. When the devil overhears Pahom's thoughts, what does he vow to do?
8. In Chapter I, what is ironic about the conversation between the two sisters?
9. How does Pahom's relationship with his community change, and what are two specific pieces of evidence for this change?
10. Pahom is most angry at the neighbor who has cut down his trees because whoever it was did not just take one or two trees but instead cut down a whole clump of trees. Why does this make Pahom angry, and what is ironic about his anger?
Essay Topics
Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:
Essay Topic 1
In the seventeenth century, the Cavalier poet Robert Herrick wrote a two-line poem about poverty:
Who with a little cannot be content,
Endures an everlasting punishment.
Write an essay in which you explain the meaning of Herrick's poem and discuss how his theme connects to Tolstoy's story "How Much Land Does a Man Need?"
Essay Topic 2
At the beginning of Chapter III, Tolstoy tells the reader that "Pahom was well contented, and everything would have been right if the neighboring peasants would only not have trespassed on his corn-fields and meadows." What evidence argues that this is not true? Why would Tolstoy have had his narrator say this if it is unlikely to be true? How does this affect the reader's understanding of the narrator's tone, and why does it matter?
Essay Topic 3
When Pahom decides to take his neighbors to court, he thinks "I cannot go on overlooking it, or they will destroy all I have." Pahom likely means this sincerely; what undermines this statement for the reader, however? Write an essay in which you both explain at least two ways in which this statement proves to be ironic.
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This section contains 1,056 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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