Honors Love of Things

Assessment Step 1: Select one of the following quotations that you will apply to "How Much Land
Does a Man Need?" by Leo Tolstoy.“

 “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, writer of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings
 “It’s been my experience that you can nearly always enjoy things if you make up your mind
firmly that you will.” ― L.M. Montgomery, writer of Anne of Green Gables “.
 “The grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and
something to hope for.” ― George Washington Burnap, writer of The Sphere and Duties of
Woman: A Course of Lectures
 “Men only likes to count his troubles; he doesn’t calculate his happiness.” ― Fyodor
Dostoyevsky, writer of Notes from Underground
 “The things you own end up owning you. It's only after you lose everything that you're free to do
anything.” ― Chuck Palahniuk, writer of Fight Club
 “A lot of people get so hung up on what they can't have that they don't think for a second about
whether they really want it.” ― Lionel Shriver, writer of Checker and the Derailleurs.

Step 2: Write a well-reasoned response to the quotation and use evidence from Tolstoy's short story to
support your perspective. There is no right or wrong response—your instructor will evaluate your
thoughts and how well you've supported and explained your points.

Answer:

I chose this quote, “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a
merrier world.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, writer of The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. In the first chapter of
Tolstoy’s story Pakhom, A peasant was told that if he had enough land, he wouldn't have to worry. He left
his family behind after being lured with land. The man didn't value what he had with his family because
he was so fixated on impressing his sister. He allowed himself to be ruled by greed.

Step 3: Use these questions to ensure you've addressed everything needed for a complete response.

1. Do you agree or disagree with your chosen quotation? Why?

I agree with my quote as it has been proven time and time again that greed and power always lead
to bad things and can twist the mind and values of an individual’s mind.

2. What evidence can you find in the short story to support your opinion?

In the short story Pakhom, the peasant leaves his family in pursuit of land and greed takesover his
mind and he lose his values and abandons his family.

3. What evidence do you have from one other literary work? This can be from another class or
from your personal reading.
In my history class we learn about a lot of wars between the government and the people and a huge
cause of this is tax. The main reason why the government implemented tax is because of greed and
this leads to wars where multiple people lose things, they had previously valued but snice their
judgement was clouded by greed they didn’t realize what they had and took it for granted. This is all
caused by greed and further supports my statement that greed twists the minds of people, and they
lose their values.

4. What evidence can you think of from real life that supports your opinion?

In real life there are many examples that can support my opinion on greed but one of the main ones
is taking advantage of someone’s desires like making a deal with them that is very one sided, but
they will take it anyways because that’s all they want. People are effective by doing this ruining other
people’s lives for a little gain of something.

5. You do not need to research for this response; your instructor wants to know what you think.

I think greed is one of if not the most horrible things to be controlled by, it will make you do things
you would have never even considered doing before all for something that wasn’t even worth what
you gave up for it.

6. As you discuss your perspective and explain your examples, be sure to give credit to the sources
of your examples using citations.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/208646/war-and-peace-by-leo-tolstoy-a-new-
translation-by-richard-pevear-and-larissa-volokhonsky/ - :~:text=War%20and%20Peace%20broadly
%20focuses,leaves%20his%20family%20behind%20to