Choose the correct alternative from the given options and complete the sentences.
1. What did the two sisters talk about when they met in ‘How
Much Land Does A Man
Need? ’ ?
a. about Pahom
b. about the devil
c. about their lives
d. about buying land
2. Why, according to the younger sister, is the life of a
peasant better than that of a
tradesman?
a. The peasant is connected to nature through the land he works
on.
b. The peasant is not troubled by temptations and anxieties.
c. The peasant enjoys his rough, coarse lifestyle.
d. The peasant has enough land of his own.
3. What did the Devil want ‘How Much Land Does A Man Need?’?
a. to give Pahom as much land as he wanted
b. to see what Pahom did with his life
c. to bring Pahom under his thumb
d. to make Pahom suffer
4. What boastful claim did Pahom make?
a. Though a peasant’s life is not a fat one, it is a long one’.
b. “If I had plenty of land, I shouldn’t fear the Devil
himself”
c. We peasants have no time to let any nonsense settle ‘ in our
heads’.
d. We need not bow to anyone.
5. Who is referred to as the ‘Evil One’ ‘How Much Land Does A
Man Need?’?
a. Pahom
b. the Devil
c. the Chief of the Bashkirs
d. the old lady’s steward
6. Why was Pahom unhappy with the steward?
a. The steward wished to buy the rich lady’s estate.
b. He kept fining Pahom for things he couldn’t help.
c. The steward didn’t allow Pahom to till his soil.
d. The steward cut down some of Pahom’s trees.
7. What happened when the lady decided to sell the estate?
a. The Commune bought the land collectively.
b. The land was bought by an innkeeper.
c. Each individual paid for as much land as they could buy.
d. The Tsar bought the land
8. How did Pahom put together the deposit money for the land he
wished to buy?
a. He borrowed money from the Commune.
b. He toiled day and night on the landlady’s estate.
c. He broke his savings and made a deal with the Evil One for
the rest.
d. He sold some possessions and borrowed some money from a
relative.
9. Why did Pahom become discontented despite being a prosperous
landowner?
a. The neighbouring peasants didn’t respect his boundaries.
b. He was always thinking of acquiring more land.
c. The neighbouring peasants were trying in drive him off his
land.
d. His estate was too small and too cramped to be comfortable.
10. Who told him about the better land available beyond the
Volga?
a. his wife
b. the leader of the Commune
c. his servants
d. a peasant from another village
11. What was Pahom’s situation in the communal land beyond the
Volga?
a. He was better off than before.
b. His condition improved a little.
c. His condition neither improved nor deteriorated.
d. He was worse off than before.
12. Why was Pahom discontented with the new land that he had
bought?
a. The communal land was not fertile.
b. He disliked the process of renting land each season.
c. His wife and sons wished to have more land in their name.
d. He wished to invest the money he had saved.
13. Who told him about the pristine land of the Bashkirs?
a. a passing dealer
b. his wife
c. the elders of the Commune
d. a friend
14. The Bashkirs were———-.
a. Rich landowners.
b. Uncultured nomads.
c. Cunning con men.
d. Peace-loving tribal.
15. Where did the Bashkirs live?
a. in a faraway Commune
b. near the sea
c. on the steppes
d. over a mountain range
16. What did Pahom give to the Bashkirs?
a. wine and mutton
b. tea and present
c. money and jewellery
d. kumiss and tea
17. How did the Bashkirs treat Pahom?
a. with fear
b. with respect
c. with indifference
d. with ridicule
18. Why did Pahom want land from the Bashkirs?
a. because they were willing to give it away for nothing
b. because they wanted only presents in return
c. because they were ready to sell it cheaply
d. because they were persuasive salesmen
19. How much land was the Chief of the Bashkirs to sell to
Pahom?
a. all the land Pahom could cover in a day
b. all the land surrounding a hillock
c. as much land as Pahom wanted
d. as much land as a man could cover on foot
20. Pahóm lay on the bed, but could not sleep because…….
a. the bed was not soft.
b. the Bashkirs made a big noise.
c. he kept thinking about the land.
d. he remembered his wife and sons.
21. Pahom heard……….in his dream.
a. somebody laughing quietly outside
b. big shouts of Bashkirs
c. birds crying for food
d. Devil accepting his defeat
22. The Chief put his ……. to mark a starting point for Pahom
to walk.
a. Boot
b. Bottle
c. Coat
d. Cap
23. The Bashkir women made cheese and a drink like beer
called……from the milk.
a. Vodka
b. Kismis
c. Kumiss
d. Kummus
Q. Answer the
following questions in about 80 words
Q. 1. What is the dream
Pahom had and why is it significant ?
Ans. The story ‘How Much Land Does a Man Need?’ is written by
Leo Tolstoy. It is about greed, ambition and how death makes them all
irrelevant. Pahom is a hero in the story. He is a small farmer. His dream is to
have enough land. He speaks with himself if he has plenty of land, he would not
fear the Devil himself.
Pahom’s
dream for plenty of land aroused from his wife and her sister’s conversation.
He is just a peasant. He has to be with pigs and calves. Howsoever hard-work he
would do, he and is children would have to die on a dung-heap. He has to work
for landowner just for a handful of rice. If he has his own land, he would be
free from this struggle. Therefore, his dream becomes significant for
him.
Q.2. Explain the line
‘Six feet from his head to his heels was all he needed’.
Ans. When a human being dies, he needs just six feed land to bury
himself. This line makes one aware that there is no need to have greed and
ambitions in life. In the pursuit of happiness and false prestige, a human
being forgets to live life happily and comfortably. In the story, “How Much
Land Does a Man Need?”, it is shown that greed and ambitions are the greatest
enemies of a human being.
Pahom
becomes extremely greedy. He undertakes a very large rout to cover maximum land
to obtain. In that attempt, he ignores the heat, hunger and thirst. He cannot
reach the decided spot before sunset. He tries hard for that and finally loses
his own life. In the attempt to obtain a large piece of land, he loses his
life. It is ironical that his servant buries him in the same piece of land. He
needs just six feet of land to take a permanent rest.
