The Overcoat Essays

In Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat, Akaky Akakievich’s perspective of life changes as he goes through a journey of events. It all changes through the purchase of a certain new overcoat, replacing his old, tattered one. Akaky has no concerns for how he is portrayed by those around him because he embraces the life he is trapped in. That is, at least, until he gets a new overcoat. This overcoat brings about new meaning to his life, and his colleagues are happy that he has finally seen the light of day

There are some different types of identity in the society. People can maintain the identity as a member of a community such as a country or religion, and the identity as an individual, or personality. Thus, the theme of identity can be argued in some ways. For example, “First Muse,” the poem written by Julia Alvarez is about the Mexican-American girl who faces the problem to have her identity as an American. The Catcher in the Rye, the novel written by J. D. Salinger, is also based on the process

In the short story “The Overcoat”, and in the book The Namesake several comparisons are made. The main characters in both the book The Namesake and in “The Overcoat” are facing two different challenges, but both have to find out how to overcome them or struggle to the very end of their life. Akaky Akakievich in “The Overcoat”, is contemplating the struggle of having to get a new coat made, and losing his new coat after the tailor has just made it. He was so grateful to have his new coat and then

In the final paragraph of "The Overcoat", the ghost that has been stealing overcoats from people is confronted by a watchman, and he seemed to be purposely confusing. One may view it as the ghost of poor Akaky, that is now haunting the unjust society that allows the victimization and bullying of the weak and the poor by the higher class that is strong and mighty. The way the ghost is described in this paragraph is " this apparition, however, was considerably taller and adorned with immense mustaches

make them think, as part of the fundamental human experiences. One of the main themes that traverse Gogol’s repertoire is exactly the theme of irony. Analysing it in-depth, his irony may reveal fruitful to enter the 'bottomless pocket ' of The Overcoat as well as lots of his other works. The ironic tissue that he weaves is the keystone that most matters to try to understand what really hides beyond and behind apparently logic and harmless details. In fact, Gogol enjoys his writing by making use

having a view that 5 years ago they were having difficulty obtaining reliable supplies of high-quality wool and so they stopped production of the popular alpaca overcoat, but now they can again produce alpaca overcoat as they now have a new fabric supplier. The vice president gives certain reasons of the prediction that the new overcoats will also have many customers and they will definitely have more profit scale than ever before. Albeit the argument sounds good at a cursory glance, there are many

In the other two stories the duality of a person becomes intertwined with the dual image of the city. In "The Nose" and "The Overcoat" the duality reflected both in microcosm of a person and the macrocosm of the city serve as a source of characters ' madness. The duality of the city develops through the Hoffman tradition of grotesque and surrealism. Gogolian Petersburg is the city of a "struggle between the dream and materiality" . In this city the real intertwines with imaginary to such an extent

September 2014 The movement of existentialism, the idea that we as individuals have control over our destiny and we’re free to live and act by will, emerged in the 20th century in philosophy and literature. In both works, the Metamorphosis and the Overcoat, the concept of existentialism is illustrated very explicitly through the actions of the main characters; Gregor and Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin. They had the freedom to choose what they want to do with their lives but did not take their chances

concepts of existentialism which had become popular during the 1900s, influencing famous works such as “Metamorphosis” and “The Overcoat”. Humans are selfish by nature, and because of this they can easily be misled if morals and wisdom are eliminated. Greediness and its negative impact can be demonstrated

In his two short stories The Overcoat and The Nose, Gogol writes about Russian society during the 19th century. Using a form reminiscent of magical realism, Gogol places rational people in wholly irrational situations, documenting how the characters respond. Gogol comments on the Russian rank society and by narration. The way Gogol narrates his stories is quite unpredictable. In his The Nose, he mainly narrates in a third person point of view; however, switching to a first person standpoint at the

personification, a somber and remorseful tone, and symbolism to make sure the reader understands that history is ever-present and ever- important. The poems speaker is referred to as I and I borrows History’s coat, but History is very angry that I took the overcoat. The use of personification in, “ The Lesson”, further develops the figurative meaning of the poem. When you are first introduced to History you notice that the word history is uppercased. Personification is used in this instance because normally

The concept of freedom constantly rings throughout the texts of Alexander Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman and Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat. These stories are both key elements of Russian literature and Russian history. During 19th century Russia, there was a prominent distinction that many peasants and people of lower class didn’t have the rights that the bourgeoisie potentially possessed. There are also freedoms that do reign on the main characters of these pieces as they go along in their respective

Nikolai Gogol's Petersburg tales give rise to an image of Petersburg as a ghostly and mysterious city inhabited by poor clerks and artists. Among all the aspects of Petersburg myth the author creates, the idea of madness is a prevailing theme. Characters' madness in the short stories intertwines with the demonic elements and constant reference to dreams. Lack of a clear boundary between the reality and fantasy, sleeping and waking create a specific "gogolian" atmosphere of a surrealistic and mystical

The themes found in this short story are supernatural, society vs. the individual, a new type of hero (little man crushed by larger forces) Supernatural because after Akakii dies, a ghost that is hunting people’s coats on the Kalinkin Bridge appears, and the rumor of its existence spreads all over St. Petersburg. The ghost takes revenge on society and takes the coats of anything he sees, whether is a civil or someone with power. The ghost exists and everyone knows that, the see him, and even

Black humor is a mode of artistic expression in literature, drama and film in which usually serious or tragic subject such as war, death, atrocity are treated in darkly comic fashion in order to express the cruelty or absurdity of the contemporary world. Humor can also be a natural outcome of fear and it is not surprising if some dire events in Vonnegut’s narratives incite laughter rather than tears. Then, Vonnegut believes in laugh less jokes or what some critics prefer to call „black humor‟. “True

teamwork in steering a boat, and the fatherhood in the captain’s advice. First, the care in the captain’s tone is clearly visible throughout the excerpt. According to The Open Boat by Stephen Crane 1897, the captain had suggested an idea to try his overcoat at the end of the oar, so that he could give the two boys a chance to rest. He wanted to make sure the boys don’t overdo themselves causing them to enervate themselves. Evidence is also clearly stated in the excerpt when the narrator states “The

Police officers in the United States are given considerable amount of authority to perform their duties. New York City’s officers are given the authority to Stop, Question and Possibly Frisk (SQF) an individual based on reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. SQF is also known as the Terry Stop. This procedure is conducted when an officer has reasonable suspicion to stop and question a suspicious individual. Next, a possible frisk can be conducted if the officer has a reason to believe that the

When a child becomes an adolescent, they will start trying to figure out their own identity. They may try new things or stick to the ballet lessons that their mother put them in since the age of five. Identity is more than just what one does or will do, it also covers one’s name, culture, and heritage. Throughout Lahiri’s novel, The Namesake, the protagonist has struggled with creating his identity. Lahiri presents the struggle to create identity in the novel in order to emphasize how it isn’t easy

name has deep significance for the baby's parents, it is never intended to be used by anyone other than family. Gogol turns 14, he has developed a disliking for his unique name “Gogol. The same night, he receives a gift from his father, it's the Overcoat by Nikolai Gogol, Gogol Gunguli is very displeased with the gift as he doesn’t like his name and the namesake behind it. As the years do by from the day of his 14th birthday Gogol becomes very unhappy with his name and overall who he is as a person

The collection of short stories written by James Joyce, Dubliners, manifests the writer’s outlook on Ireland. Joyce views Ireland as a stagnant, quiescent nation, which he effectively portrays in his longest written short story, “The Dead.” Although what may seem to the average reader as a narrative with a weak plot and a somber denouement, “The Dead” brims with a plethora of enigmatic descriptions of Joyce’s home country. Throughout the short story, James Joyce utilized various literary devices