A poor peasant's hunger for land devours everything he touches, including himself.
Who drives the story
A poor, ambitious young peasant of Pripas who wants land more than anything alive. He schemes his way into Vasile Baciu's property through Ana, wins the lawsuit, and dies in the dirt on the road near the church, killed by Maxim's hoe.
Vasile Baciu's plain, timid daughter, secretly in love with Ion and blind to his calculations. Beaten by her father, then by her husband, she hangs herself in the stable after her child dies.
The proud, suspicious wealthy farmer whose land is Ion's obsession. He fights Ion with an axe and then in court, loses everything, and curses Ion publicly: the land will be his grave.
A poor widow, pregnant and abandoned by Ion, later married to the brutish Maxim. She takes Ion back as her lover, and that affair gets him killed.
Florica's brutish husband, who discovers the affair and ambushes Ion on the road near the church, striking him down with a hoe.
Also in the story
A young man also courting Ana, publicly humiliated by Ion at the village tavern.
How they are connected
He schemes his way into Vasile Baciu's property through Ana, wins the lawsuit, and dies in the dirt on the road near the church, killed by Maxim's hoe.
He schemes his way into Vasile Baciu's property through Ana, wins the lawsuit, and dies in the dirt on the road near the church, killed by Maxim's hoe.
He schemes his way into Vasile Baciu's property through Ana, wins the lawsuit, and dies in the dirt on the road near the church, killed by Maxim's hoe.
Vasile Baciu's plain, timid daughter, secretly in love with Ion and blind to his calculations.
A poor widow, pregnant and abandoned by Ion, later married to the brutish Maxim.
A poor widow, pregnant and abandoned by Ion, later married to the brutish Maxim.
A young man also courting Ana, publicly humiliated by Ion at the village tavern.
A young man also courting Ana, publicly humiliated by Ion at the village tavern.
Go deeper
Land hunger as destiny · Women as currency · The community as chorus · Violence begets violence
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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