Plot Summary.
“The Overcoat”
is the story of Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin, an impoverished clerk who has toiled for a number of years in an unspecified department within the huge government bureaucracy in St. Petersburg. The tale is told by an unnamed narrator with a tendency to digress and editorialize.
What type of character is akaky Akakievich?
Akaky Akakievich is
a short man with an “unmemorable” appearance
. He is somewhat educated, and not at the lowest rank of bureaucracy, but he is still very poor. Akaky lives an extremely mundane life: both in and out of his department, he spends all of his time diligently copying documents.
What was akaky attitude to his work?
Akaky worked as a
government clerk
and a copyist in a office unknown, as the author did not mention it. He loved his work so much that he would travel many places while copying every letter. But, his work was not appreciated by others and his colleagues till he died.
How does the description of akaky Akakievich naming develop his character?
How does the description of Akaky Akakievich’s naming develop his character? The description of Akaky Akakievich’s naming shows that
his mother was “a very good woman” (p. 395) who put great thought into finding the right name for him
.
What does akaky Akakievich mean?
“In one way, the name Akaky Akakievich is similar to “John Johnson” and has similar comedic value; it also communicates Akaky’s role as an everyman. … In addition to the scatological pun, the literal meaning of the name, derived from the Greek, is
“harmless”
…”
How does Major Kovalyov eventually find his nose again?
Answer: It
reappears there one day when he wakes up
. Explanation: In “The Nose” by Nikolai Gogol, Major Kovalyov retrieves his nose back from the police offer who took the nose from Ivan, but he is unable to reattach it, even with help from a doctor.
How did he save money for the overcoat?
Finally, with the addition of
an unexpectedly large holiday salary bonus
, Akaky has saved enough money to buy a new overcoat. Akaky and Petrovich go to the shops in St. Petersburg and pick the finest materials they can afford (marten fur was too expensive, so they use cat fur for the collar).
What is the overcoat as a symbol meant to convey?
The overcoat then becomes a symbol for
the significance that care and material goods can bring in life
. … Akaky only expresses himself and his sexuality (chasing after women, basically) once he buys the overcoat.
What is the point of the overcoat?
The overcoat
enriches Akaky’s life before he even gets to wear it
. His goal, to save up money in order to purchase the coat, gives him a new sense of purpose, a reason to live beyond the drudgery of his copying.
What does the ghost in the overcoat signify?
The fact that the apparition “wore huge moustaches,” which was a symbol of the people who took the overcoat from Akaky in the first place, suggests that this apparition was not actually Akaky at all, but that the apparition somehow
symbolises the forces of injustice and inhumanity that robbed Akaky of his life
.
What does the description of the powerful enemy suggest about akaky Akakievich?
The description of the “powerful enemy” personifies the weather and suggests that it is especially harsh for those “who earn a salary of four hundred roubles or thereabouts” (p. 399). … The description suggests that Akaky Akakievich is
“defenseless”
(p.
Who is the important person in the overcoat?
An anonymous, high-ranking official in the Russian government.
Akaky Akakievich
appeals to him when his overcoat is stolen.
What was akaky Akakievich good at doing?
Akakievich was good at
copying the letter
. … Akaky worked as a government clerk and a copyist in a office unknown, as the author did not mention it. He loved his work so much that he would travel many places while copying every letter. But, his work was not appreciated by others and his colleagues till he died.
What does akakiy mean?
Akaky’s name, is therefore repetitive (meaning “
Akaky, son of Akaky”
) as well as seeming to refer to excrement. This only reinforces Gogol’s portrayal of Akaky as a ridiculous figure in various ways, hopeless and unlucky in every respect.
What were Akakievich duties?
What were Akakievich duties? Answer. Explanation: Akaky Akakievich is the protagonist and antihero of “The Overcoat.” He is an unremarkable middle-aged man who serves
as a titular councillor and copying clerk in an unnamed department of the Russian civil service
.
What is most troubling to Kovalyov about the loss of his nose?
Kovalev is obviously distraught that he has lost his nose, but he seems most affected by
the fact that he will have a harder time calling on the wives of titled men
. Kovalev is an unrepentant bachelor with tendencies reminiscent of the archetypal rake.
