How Much Land Does a Man Need

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Reading Check

1. Who is sitting behind the oven in Pahóm’s house?

2. Why is Pahóm angry with the Elder and the Judges?

3. Which two items does Pahóm present to the Chief?

4. How do the Bashkir measure the price of land that they offer to Pahóm?

5. What is the time stipulation that Pahóm must meet to receive his land?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Describe the conversation that Pahóm overhears between his wife and her sister. What comment does he make to himself?

2. How does Pahóm come to have “land of his own?” (Part 3) Summarize the steps that precede his initial purchase.

3. Why does Pahóm move his family to the territory beyond the Volga?

4. What information does Pahóm learn from the tradespeople? How does this change the course of his life?

5. Describe Pahóm’s dream. How does he react upon waking?

Paired Resource

“Was Tolstoi a Colonial Landlord? The Dilemmas of Private Property and Settler Colonialism on the Bashkir Steppe”

• Bojanowska’s 2022 article in Slavic Review analyzes Tolstoy’s connection with the Bashkir people.