Tolstoy, like many Russian writers across history, often writes in praise of the Russian peasantry, whose simple lifestyle evokes a sense of bucolic elegance and national pride. Toiling in the fields, owning only such luxuries as can be handspun, and the humble pride of self-sufficient labor are all tokens of the lifestyle Tolstoy and many others write of and honor. However, this short story takes up the potential for the Russian peasantry to be led astray, motivated by desires not befitting their station, such as greed and temptation. Pahom’s descent into ceaseless ambition leads him to reject all that he once held true in favor of the alluring prospect of material wealth and social standing. His pride in the labors of the peasantry and his pleasure at a well-earned harvest evaporate, lost in the whirlpool of devilish greed.

As much as the short story is a warning against greed and temptation, it is also a praise-laden elegy for the humble peasant, a class and a lifestyle he feared might soon be lost to time. Pahom’s failures act as a frantic look forward, predicting what might become of Russia’s most virtuous and admirable institution and fervently hoping no such change might come to pass.