How does the acquisition of land affect Pahom's personality?

It turns him into a greedy, grasping little man, completely obsessed with acquiring more and more land. And the more land he acquires, the more he wants. Other peasants in Pahom's village also acquire land, but they see it as a means to an end, an opportunity to improve their quality of life. Pahom, however, sees land ownership as an end in itself, and this leads to growing tensions between him and his neighbors. There is widespread resentment toward Pahom for his rampant greed, so much so that threats are made to burn his house down.
But Pahom is undeterred. He continues adding to his ever-growing portfolio of land-holdings by whatever means necessary. As well as becoming more and more greedy, Pahom's also developing a nasty streak of dishonesty. We see this on display when he tries to cheat the naive Bashkirs out of land, which he knows is much more economically valuable than they realize. But it's the Bashkirs who have the last laugh. They have a much healthier, more natural relationship to the land; and so they really do have a much better understanding of its true value, in contrast to its merely monetary worth.