The Overcoat

A detailed Summary of The Overcoat

In the Overcoat, by Nikolai Gogol, Akakii Akakiievich's views on life change as he travels through his inner journey. In the beginning of the story, he does not have a new overcoat, but and old, raggedy one. With his old overcoat, he does not fit into society. With the new coat that he purchases, he becomes almost like a new person. At first, his co-workers always ridicule him and he is only concerned about one thing in life, his work. With his new overcoat, he is satisfied with himself, and other people are also satisfied with him. Akakii goes through an inner journey throughout the story, which changes his perspective on life.

When the story starts, Akakii's goal in life is to do everything the same and not worry about having a social life. Without the new overcoat, he isn't a part of society and does not fit in. While he is at work, he can only concentrate on his work even when his fellow co-workers are ridiculing him. At work, he transcribes papers all day. People say very mean things to him on a daily basis. " His superiors treated him with a certain chill despotism. Some assistant or other of some Head of a department would simply shove papers under his nose, without as much as saying "transcri

On the way home from the party, Akakii gets stopped in the middle of the square by some bearded men. They grabbed the collar of his coat and punched him in the mouth. Akakii could feel them take off his overcoat. "Akakii Akakievich ran home in complete disorder: his hair, which grew very thinly upon his temples and the back of his head, was entirely disarranged; his side and breast, and all his trousers, were covered with snow." Akakii told the superintendent that his coat had been stolen, and eventually ended up in court. Many people were touched by the fact that his coat had been stolen. Akakii went there in his old, shabby overcoat and many of the officials ridiculed him, which shows that without the new overcoat, he is nothing. Without his overcoat, he starts to get very sick, and the weather in Petersburg doesn't help at all. Even the doctor doesn't really care about him and treats him as if he is nothing. He says to the landlady, " And as for you, my dear, don't waste your time on him: order his pine coffin now, for an oak one will be too expensive for him." Very shortly after, he dies. Nobody in town even cares that he has died. It seems as though all that was evident in his life hovered around one thing, his overcoat. Even his co-workers don't notice that he has passed away. At the end of the story, Akakii comes back as a ghost, and takes peoples coats off their backs. He is obviously doing this so people can see what he has gone through, because nobody would listen to him.

Most people's perspectives change as they go along their journey of life. Akakii's coat was a symbol of his life and all th

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Approximate Word count = 1091
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English