Nikolai Gogol's "The Overcoat" ("Shinel"'), the story of a lowly clerk in a government office, marks an important stage in the development of nineteenth-century realism. Where did you get such ideas? The clerk’s face was white as snow and looked like that of a corpse, but the horror of the Person of Consequence was beyond all bounds when he saw the mouth of the corpse distorted into speech and, breathing upon him the chill of the grave, it uttered the following words: “Ah, so here you are at last! Akakiy Akakievitch's senses failed him; he staggered, trembled in every limb, and, if the porters had not run to support him, would have fallen to the floor. Several days after his death, the porter was sent from the department to his lodgings, with an order for him to present himself there immediately; the chief commanding it. "The Overcoat" featured a detached narrator, an unromantic portrayal of Russia, and an unflinching depiction of life's boredom and monotony. It's also a token and costume, allowing the wearer to play a role. no help for that, it is the Petersburg climate. He began to be called Petrovitch from the time that he got his freedom and began to drink rather heavily on every holiday, at first only on the chief holidays, but afterwards on all church holidays indiscriminately, wherever there is a cross in the calendar. "No, it would only be a waste of time and money," said Petrovitch; and Akakiy Akakievitch went away after these words, utterly discouraged. Far beyond all his hopes, the director awarded neither forty nor forty-five rubles for Akakiy Akakievitch's share, but sixty. He took off his cloak in the ante-room, looked it over carefully, and confided it to the especial care of the attendant. And so the Person of Consequence went downstairs, got into his sledge, and said to his coachman, “To Karolina Ivanovna,” while luxuriously wrapped in his warm fur coat he remained in that agreeable frame of mind sweeter to a Russian than anything that could be invented, that is, when one thinks of nothing while thoughts come into the mind of At last one of the clerks, indeed the assistant of the head clerk of the room, probably in order to show that he was not proud and was able to get on with those beneath him, said, “So be it, I’ll give a party instead of Akaky Akakyevitch and invite you all to tea with me this evening; as luck would have it, it is my name day.” The clerks naturally congratulated the assistant head clerk and eagerly accepted the invitation. Petrovitch's eye was, indeed, very much askew after Saturday: his head drooped, and he was very sleepy; but for all that, as soon as he knew what it was a question of, it seemed as though Satan jogged his memory. Wishing to divert his mind in some way, and drive away the disagreeable impression, he set out that evening for one of his friends' houses, where he found quite a large party assembled. I need your cloak; you took no trouble about mine, but reprimanded me; so now give up your own.". There was in it something which moved to pity; so much that one young man, a new-comer, who, taking pattern by the others, had permitted himself to make sport of Akakiy, suddenly stopped short, as though all about him had undergone a transformation, and presented itself in a different aspect. In the department of… but I had better not mention in what department. But he stopped short, and went on very quietly as before, wondering why he had quickened his pace. …”. But the snuff was of a sort which even a corpse could not endure. gained the reputation of being a very tiresome man. Their only protection lies in running as fast as they can through five or six streets in a wretched, thin little overcoat and then warming their feet thoroughly in the porter’s room, till all their faculties and qualifications for their various duties thaw again after being frozen on the way. For the lining they chose calico, but of a stout quality, which in Petrovich’s words was even better than silk, and actually as strong and handsome to look at. Do you understand who I am? It must be mentioned that the prominent personage was no longer a young man, but a good husband and respected father of a family. Akakiy's old overcoat, or "cape," provided the security of a familiar identity. There only, he finally began to collect his thoughts, and to survey his position in its clear and actual light, and to argue with himself, sensibly and frankly, as with a reasonable friend with whom one can discuss private and personal matters. "Just so, Stepan Varlamitch!" Akaky Akakyevitch would have said more about repairs, but Petrovitch, without listening, On perceiving Akakiy Akakievitch's modest mien and his worn undress uniform, he turned abruptly to him and said, "What do you want?" However that may have been, there is no doubt that the clerk lived in the better part of the town and consequently a very long distance from Akaky Akakyevitch. You had far better, when the cold winter weather comes, make yourself leg wrappings out of it, for there is no warmth in stockings, the Germans invented them just to make money.” (Petrovitch was fond of a dig at the Germans occasionally.) They turned to another page and found Pavsikakhiy and Vakhtisiy. See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Ask students to compare the tones of the two stories. Do you know to whom you are speaking? To say that he was zealous in his work is not enough; no, he loved his work. Next day he was in a high fever. In the department of -- but it is better not to mention the department. quite rotten; if you put a needle in it, it would give way.” deceive him, make promises and lead him a dance; that it would be best of all to go to the Fully satisfied, he recalled all the gay features of the evening just passed, and all the mots which had made the little circle laugh. Don't you know how such matters are managed? Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was a Russian novelist and short story writer. If there happened to be none, he took copies for himself, for his own gratification, especially if the document was noteworthy, not on account of its style, but of its being addressed to some distinguished person. Where did you pick up such ideas? if they try anything of the sort, it really is … !” Though possibly he did not even think that; there is no creeping into a man’s soul and finding out all that he thinks. Petrovitch helped him on with them, and it turned out that the sleeves were satisfactory also. The clerks dared say nothing to this, and one of them went to summon the superintendent. From that time forth his existence seemed to become, in some way, fuller, as if he were married, or as if some other man lived in him, as if, in fact, he were not alone, and some pleasant friend had consented to travel along life's path with him, the friend being no other than the cloak, with thick wadding and a strong lining incapable of wearing out. He checked himself at once, however, and again walked along very gently, feeling positively surprised himself at the inexplicable impulse that had seized him. We have mentioned it in order that the reader might see for himself that it was a case of necessity, and that it was utterly impossible to give him any other name. Pale, thoroughly scared, and cloakless, he went home instead of to Karolina Ivanovna's, reached his room somehow or other, and passed the night in the direst distress; so that the next morning over their tea his daughter said, "You are very pale to-day, papa." "Yes, a new one," said Petrovitch, with barbarous composure. When he opened them, to see whether he was near the end of the square, he suddenly beheld, standing just before his very nose, some bearded individuals of precisely what sort he could not make out. He flung his cloak hastily from his shoulders and shouted to his coachman in an unnatural voice, "Home at full speed!" “You mean what will it cost?” From time to time, however, he was disturbed by a gust of wind which, blowing suddenly, God knows whence and wherefore, cut him in the face, pelting him with flakes of snow, puffing out his coat collar like a sack, or suddenly flinging it with unnatural force over his head and giving him endless trouble to extricate himself from it. Quite recently a complaint was received from a justice of the peace, in which he plainly demonstrated that all the imperial institutions were going to the dogs, and that the Czar's sacred name was being taken in vain; and in proof he appended to the complaint a romance in which the justice of the peace is made to appear about once every ten lines, and sometimes in a drunken condition. They congratulated him and said pleasant things to him, so that he began at first to smile and then to grow ashamed. So saying, instead of going home, he went in exactly the opposite direction without himself suspecting it. He wanted to take leave of the host; but they would not let him go, saying that he must not fail to drink a glass of champagne in honour of his new garment. Between eight and nine in the morning, precisely at the hour when the streets are full of clerks going to their departments, the frost begins giving such sharp and stinging flips at all their noses indiscriminately that the poor fellows don’t know what to do with them. Meditation on the subject always made him absentminded, On one occasion when he was copying a document, he very nearly made a mistake, so that he almost cried out “ough” aloud and crossed himself. At that time, when even those in the higher grade have a pain in their brows and tears in their eyes from the frost, the poor titular counsellors are sometimes almost defenseless. Beyond, the buzz of conversation was audible, and became clear and loud when the servant came out with a trayful of empty glasses, cream-jugs, and sugar-bowls. Akaky Akakyevitch was overwhelmed with confusion, and went away without knowing whether or not the proper measures would be taken in regard to his overcoat, He was absent from the office all that day (the only time that it had happened in his life). Why did he smile? So reasoning with himself, Akaky Akakyevitch cheered up and waited until the next Sunday; then, seeing from a distance Petrovitch’s wife leaving the house, he went straight in. The sub-chief lived in fine style: the staircase was lit by a lamp; his apartment being on the second floor. When he told her what had happened, she clasped her hands in horror and said that he must go straight to the superintendent, that the police constable of the quarter would Tell him he can come in. Petrovitch loved, on all occasions, to have a fling at the Germans. at the same time showing a fist such as is never seen on living men. That his host might not take it into his head to detain him, he slipped out of the room, hunted in the entry for his greatcoat, which he found, not without regret, lying on the floor, shook it, removed some fluff from it, put it on, and went down the stairs into the street. Though, indeed, his position even now was not reckoned of consequence in comparison with others of still greater consequence. And since such is the case, it will be better to name him after his father. And from that day forth, poor Akakiy Akakievitch, who could not bear up under an official reprimand, recurred to his mind almost every day. Next day he appeared with a pale face, wearing his old “dressing jacket” which had become a still more pitiful sight. In order to please her they opened the calendar to another place; three more names appeared, Triphiliy, Dula, and Varakhasiy. He had two sons, one already serving in his office, and a nice-looking daughter of sixteen with a rather turned-up, pretty little nose, who used to come every morning to kiss his hand, saying: “Bonjour, Papa.” His wife, who was still blooming and decidedly good-looking, indeed, used first to give him her hand to kiss and then would kiss his hand, turning it the other side upwards. where was he to get another forty rubles from? what?” said the Person of Consequence, “where did you get hold of that spirit? Both his father and his grandfather and even his brother-in-law, and all the Bashmatchkins without exception wore boots, which they simply resoled two or three times a year. Moreover, he had a peculiar knack, as he walked along the street, of arriving beneath a window just as all sorts of rubbish were being flung out of it: hence he always bore about on his hat scraps of melon rinds and other such articles. see what it has come to at last! This much is certain, that the official lived in the best part of the city; and therefore it must have been anything but near to Akakiy Akakievitch's residence. In fact, one watchman in Kolomna saw with his own eyes the apparition come from behind a house. One sentry in Kolomna, for instance, saw with his own eyes a ghost appear from behind a house; but, being by natural constitution somewhat feeble—so much so that on one occasion an ordinary, well-grown pig, making a sudden dash out of some building, knocked him off his feet to the vast entertainment of the cabmen standing round, from whom he exacted two kopecks each for snuff for such rudeness—he did not dare to stop it, and so followed it in the dark until the ghost suddenly looked round and, stopping, asked him: “What do you want?” displaying a fist such as you never see among the living. 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