Nicolay Gogol's The Overcoat

Joey Fowler

Analysis Of “The Overcoat”
In Nicolay Gogol’s short story, “The Overcoat”, there are many key points which explain the hardships and struggles of living as a poor citizen in 19th century Russia. The economy was awful and most of the authority figures did not care about what happens to these poor people living in the city. The workers in Russia were treated as filthy slaves and had to go through hard working labor for their landowner. If they wanted to leave or get married, it was either not allowed or it required permission first. This story is about a common man named Akakiy who is moving through the oppression with his simple, content life and his job as a document copier. He doesn’t make a lot of money or care about his
Petersburg where he spends all of his time copying letters and documents in the office for all of his superiors. Sometimes when he finishes his work for the day he copies one more paper before he walks home because he enjoys doing it. This is all that he does in the office because he is unable to complete a task such as altering the heading of a letter. Akakiy’s peers make fun and ridicule him and the way he looks. For example, one of the co-workers said that his torn-up cloak looks like a cape. Some of them tear paper up and crumble it over his head, simulating snow fall. Terrible rumors would spread around about how Akakiy’s landlady beats him at his home. Akakiy had to endure all of these horrible remarks and this shows how tough it was standing out in the 19th
Some of them were even impressed with his action. Even though they showed a little more respect towards him, they did force him to throw a celebration party for himself. After the party, as he begins to walk through the dim, plain, and dreary part of the city back to his apartment, two bearded men approach him. One of the men grabs him by the collar saying “The coat is mine!” as the other man punches Akakiy in the face. Akakiy was feeling distressed and worried because when he gets a new coat, he sees it as getting a new wife. He roams around the street and goes to the location of the watchmen and files a complaint. Carelessly, the watchmen tell Akakiy to come to the police station the next day. When he finally tells the police what happened, they completely go against Akakiy story asking why he was out so late in the first place. No authority figures cared about what unfortunate thing happened to a low class, strange looking