ipl-logo

Materialism And Classism In Nikolai Gogol's 'The Overcoat'

854 Words4 Pages

Nikolai Gogol 's “The Overcoat” is the story of Akaky Akakeivich a middle-aged man unremarkable and outwardly pathetic working as a titular councillor and copying clerk in the old Russian civil services. Akaky has very little and is cruelly picked on by his coworkers yet often times he displays no discontentment with his plight whatsoever. His mundane life however is thrown into disarray upon discovering that he must buy a new overcoat at a great expense for which he is unprepared. Though he is initially distraught by the need for the new overcoat, he finds a higher purpose in the quest for the new overcoat. The thought of the new overcoat soon becomes a deep comfort to him, and the day he receives the coat seems to be the happiest of his life. However, an unforeseen turn of events leads to the sudden loss of his coat, and shortly thereafter, of his own life. Following his death, Akaky returns as a ghost to haunt St. Petersburg for a time, stealing coats, and in particular that of a general who had refused to help him previously. Whilst this story emulates multiple aspects of society, many of which can be seen even in today 's modern world, it most accurately portrays the corruption which stems from the class systems and that of materialism. It should be stated that one can easily argue that social status, and materialism are two separate topics and when addressed on their own they are as such. However when they are portrayed together as accurately as they are in “The

Show More
Related

  • Analysis Of Shukhov In One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich

    690 Words  | 3 Pages

    He was always up at the call. That way he had an hour and a half all to himself before work parade - time for a man who knew his way around to earn a bit on the side.” (4) Altogether, Time is valuable in in the camps, so prisoners should use their time wisely like Ivan Denisovich. In conclusion, Shukhov learned to deal with life in the horrible gulags. In One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn, we discovered that he deals with the destruction of human solidarity, created a ritualization for eating, and most important, he treats time as a precious

    Read More

  • Tolstoy Death Of Ivan Ilych Analysis

    695 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tolstoy’s ability to interweave the environment with themes of materialism and death makes The Death of Ivan Ilych stand out as a piece that criticizes societal values. In his article “Tolstoy and the Moran Instructions of Death,” Dennis Sansom focuses on the influence of fighting chaos in Ivan’s eventual acceptance of his own death. Socrates wrote, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” and Ivan’s life mirrored this until the end (qtd. in Sansom 417) .

    Read More

  • Effects Of Materialism In The Great Gatsby

    1042 Words  | 5 Pages

    Through the early to mid 1900s, the concept of striving to attain more than one is originally born with became predominant in most American societies. During this era, many authors, through literature, began expressing their concern with the rise in materialistic ideals and its effect on society and the individuals living within it, one being F. Scott Fitzgerald. Two of Fitzgerald’s widely-known works of literature, The Great Gatsby and “Winter Dreams”, both heavily elaborate on the effects of the increase in materialism and the ultimate effects of attempting to achieve the American Dream; this is conveyed through the unhappiness of the Dexter and Gatsby despite their perseverance to acquire women of higher social statuses. These texts both reach the conclusion that the American Dream is not within reach of anyone. Fitzgerald’s representation of the unattainable American Dream is demonstrated in The Great Gatsby and “Winter Dreams” through his portrayal of the materialistic nature of society as well as the characters’ failure to possess the women they love.

    Read More

  • Materialism In Gatsby

    708 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, social class is a key theme, as seen by every character having their own distinct class. Tom, Daisy, Jordan, and even Nick are old money, Gatsby is new money, and the Wilson 's are no money. In short, the more money you have, the better off you will be. In the epigraph of the novel, there is a poem by Thomas Parke D 'Invilliers, who is a fictional character created by Fitzgerald himself. This poem is about using materialism to win over the affection of someone, which is exactly what Gatsby tries to do.

    Read More

  • Society In The Great Gatsby By F. Scott Fitzgerald

    529 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Roaring Twenties, known as the decade of the 1920s in the Western World, consists of dramatic changes in social values. The cultural differences between the 1920s and the Victorian era changes people's behavior, where they become more free-will, youthful and carefree, despite of being more conservative before. People are more open-minded and found satisfaction through the “open pursuit of sex, money, and booze” (Berman 53) as they suggest their wealth and status in the society. New York City had become one of the cities where materialistic wealth has become the key of happiness and the standard to judge people's success, further leading Americans to pursue each other in a negative, acquisitive way. Through the different scenes and characters of the famous novel The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald explores how the society twisted the original idea of

    Read More

  • The Great Gatsby Materialism Essay

    466 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Money cannot buy happiness”. This statement summarizes the passage, as Fitzgerald attacks materialistic Americans. Gatsby is the victim of materialism and cannot overcome his own isolation, even though he is extremely wealthy. Not only does Fitzgerald demonstrate that money and material goods cannot overcome Gatsby’s isolation, but he also denounces those who create this isolation because of their own materialistic desires and ideas. Overall, the audience sees that Gatsby is alone, even at death.

    Read More

  • Space In Crime And Punishment

    951 Words  | 4 Pages

    Petersburg is a labyrinthine city whose streets mirror the maze-like jumble of thoughts ever-present in Raskolnikov’s mind and work to remove his sense of free will. Whenever Raskolnikov leaves a small space, such as his apartment, or someone else’s apartment building, he loses the ability to navigate from one place to another in an ordinary fashion of his own free will. His feet take him places he does not consciously intend to go. For example, Dostoevsky writes, as Raskolnikov walks home through the Haymarket as opposed to by a more direct route, “it had happened to him dozens of times that he would return home without remembering what streets he had taken.” The streets, like the new utilitarian ideas, are inorganic and have a tendency to discombobulate the pedestrian protagonist.

    Read More

  • Power Corrupt In Animal Farm

    820 Words  | 4 Pages

    It portrays the 1917 Russian Revolution atmosphere with the replacement of Russia into Animal Farm. The characters also did not fail to resemble the real people involved in the revolution. Power leads to greed, used to take advantage and manipulate. A person with absolute power tends to choose greediness after a certain time period, despite having followed a wise person’s vision and

    Read More

  • Crime And Punishment Quotes With Page Numbers

    1588 Words  | 7 Pages

    Raskolnikov confronts reality and can never again legitimize his activities in light of political perspectives. The writer of Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky composed this book uncovering some of his own perspectives on legislative issues and consolidating them all through the story. Like Raskolnikov, Dostoyevsky was captured by the administration and punished for his offense. He was rebuffed for his radical communist positions, just to later reject these thoughts. Through the story, the creator fuses a solid message of exactly how intense the legislature is and the solid impact of governmental issues.

    Read More

  • The Underground Man Is A Hero Essay

    679 Words  | 3 Pages

    There Is More Than One Type of Hero In “Notes from the Underground”, a fiction book by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the Underground Man is not like the traditional main character in most other fiction books. Often books have a tragic hero where he or she either saves the days or unfortunately is killed. But that is not the case for this book, the main character shows characteristics that do not fit along the lines of a tragic hero at all. This paper argues that the Underground Man is most definitely not the tragic hero, but instead an anti-hero.

    Read More

  • The Underground Man In Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground

    1370 Words  | 6 Pages

    ‘“Let him come, if he wants to so much, “But we have our own circle, we’re friends,”. . . Maybe we don’t want you at all”’ (Dostoevsky 65). The Underground Man invites himself to an expensive dinner with his peers who do not want him present, rather than anticipating a nice evening, he torments himself about it. “I dreamed of getting the best of them, winning them over, carrying them away, making them love me” (Dostoevsky 70).

    Read More

  • The Metamorphosis And The Death Of Ivan Llych

    705 Words  | 3 Pages

    The two novellas “The Metamorphosis,” and “The Death of Ivan Llych” both describe the stories of two men suffering from dramatic events in their lives. The two men both suffer from the feeling of alienation from their families. The two stories can be compared in many ways, and give insight into the way these two characters found peace in their deaths. In the novella “The Death of Ivan Llych” Tolstoy shares a story of a man named Ivan Llych, who gave all his time and attention to his career, that drew a wedge between his marriage and personal life. When decorating the new home for his family, he slipped and hit his side on the window knob, which caused the decline of Ivan Llychs life and health to begin.

    Read More

  • St. Petersburg In Crime And Punishment

    1052 Words  | 5 Pages

    Saint Petersburg, the setting of Crime and Punishment, plays a major role in the formation in Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s acclaimed novel. Dostoyevsky’s novels focus on the theme of man as a subject of his environment. Dostoyevsky paints 1860s St. Petersburg as an overcrowded, filthy, and chaotic city. It is because of Saint Petersburg that Raskolnikov is able to foster in his immoral thoughts and satisfy his evil inclinations. It is only when Raskolnikov is removed from the disorderly city and taken to the remoteness of Siberia that he can once again be at peace.

    Read More

  • Comparison Of Realism In 'The Nose And The Overcoat'

    1578 Words  | 7 Pages

    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 that it is no longer possible to detect the borderline.

    Read More

  • Role Of Memory And Past In Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard

    1290 Words  | 6 Pages

    Question- Role of memory and past in Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard “The Cherry Orchard” by Anton Chekhov is a Russian novel. During Chekhov 's childhood, a wave of reforms was underway to liberalize Russia and the economy of the country. one very important reform was probably the Emancipation Declaration of 1861, which freed the serfs from slavery. This major event undermined the position and status of the nobility, and perhaps even impoverished them.

    Read More

More about Materialism And Classism In Nikolai Gogol's 'The Overcoat'

Open Document