Gogol's "The overcoat"

"The overcoat" is the story of Akakiy Akakievich Bashmachkin, a poor and insignificant clerk who has been working for many years in the same unspecified department within the Russian government in St. Petersburg. He spends all day copying letters mindlessly, but puts all his passion and heart to his work. The narrator's tone of voice is often condescending, critical and ironic. 

"The Overcoat" treats several themes whilst blending comic, grotesque, realist and fantastic elements into his story. 

The first and most obvious theme is human condition. Akakiy seems to be an isolated human being with no great significance or importance to the world around him. The need for human compassion is central to the story. It appears in the very first paragraph when we see how Akakiy is mocked by everyone at his office: "some writers make merry, and crack their jokes, obeying the praiseworthy custom of attacking those who cannot bite back." This theme of human condition encompasses isolation, as Akakiy often seems completely alone in his own world. When he walks in the streets he does not see the people around him. He lives alone and has no friends. The author's tone makes it difficult for the reader to decide whether he should feel sympathy for the poor mistreated clerk, or if he should take it as a comic tale that makes fun of Akakiy Akakievich. Often times the descriptions of this sad and poor character border the ridicule: " And something was always sticking to his uniform, either a bit of hay or some trifle . 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."

Another theme of the story would be social status. There is a clear distinction between Akakiy and his superiors. The difference of social status is shown when Akakiy is on his way to the party thrown in the honor of his overcoat: " Akakiy Akakievitch was first obliged to traverse a kind of wilderness of deserted, dimly-lighted streets; but in proportion as he approached the official's quarter of the city, the streets became more lively, more populous, and more brilliantly illuminated. Pedestrians began to appear; handsomely dressed ladies were more frequently encountered; the men had otter skin collars to their coats; peasant waggoners, with their grate-like sledges stuck over with brass-headed nails, became rarer; whilst on the other hand, more and more drivers in red velvet caps, lacquered sledges and bear-skin coats began to appear, and carriages with rich hammer-cloths flew swiftly through the streets, their wheels scrunching the snow."