I liked this story very much, it kept my attention, and kept to teaching one lesson it set out to teach. The beginning dialogue between the sisters about how the rich will always end up being tempted “with card, wine, or women.” The poorer sister believes that while the rich are easily swayed by the devil, the simpler, poorer people are unable to be corrupted. Her theory is that the reason the rich are swayed is because they are allowed to be idle, where as the poorer people are constantly working and never have time to partake in the evil things.
The overall message is that greed is in everyone, even in the poor. Pahom is the individual that represents the lower class that is supposed to be incorruptible. However, his journey throughout the story clearly shows, that given an opportunity, we can all be corrupted quite easily. While Pahom’s motives were never completely selfish, he was mainly getting this land for his own greed, and as the title would indicate of his attitude, no amount of land seemed to be enough. The story ends up representing the power of greed, and how no one can easily escape it. The final message from the author being that material possessions are not what life should be about, being laid out in Pahom’s death, leaving him not with the land he struggled to acquire, but just enough to be buried in.
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I see exactly what you're saying. There is however, more to the story. I don't think it's only about greed. It is also about optimism, that 'the grass is always greener', and that those who are envious don't always prevail. I think we can both agree that the main lesson remains the same.
ReplyDeleteI like the point you make about how there is greed in everyone, though I'm not really sure how he could be considered incorruptible. Perhaps it's because he is a peasant who works so hard on the land that he doesn't have enough time to indulge in evil. I think you've proved here that nobody can escape sin or death.