Gogol, Nicolai V.: The Overcoat

Ran across some old notes from one of my undergraduate classes and thought I'd transcribe here so I can keep them without having the paper cluttering things up :p Based on the collection of titles in the notebook, this looks like a reading journal kept for my existentialist literature class.....Will most likely try to transcribe one at a time so you will most likely see these periodically as I find time to type them in :p Am debating whether or not to also transcribe professor comments that were written in the journal......


Gogol, Nicolai V.: The Overcoat

Societal Message: Very Important Person treats Akaky badly because Akaky is not as high in the world--Very Important Person is accosted by Akaky's ghost (who steals his overcoat). Very Important Person is not as likely to treat people so badly after this experience. The Overcoat gives a lesson in treating people as human beings no matter what their rank.

Akaky is a bit of a drone--he works at the same thing, copying, everyday; he has no outside interests--he lives only for his work. And he holds a very small place in society and commands little respect. And yet, Gogol shows us that Akaky is much more--he is a person with feelings and dreams (even if they are "small"). To Akaky, a new overcoat is extremely important. It may not be much to us, but to him it was everything. When he loses his coat and no one pays any attention to him, he cannot take it and after death haunts people until he gets a replacement coat from Very Important Person.