The main theme of the story is the overcoat briefly. Gogol, "The Overcoat": analysis of the work

Can one small work revolutionize literature? Yes, Russian literature knows such a precedent. This is a story by N.V. Gogol's "The Overcoat". The work was very popular among contemporaries, caused a lot of controversy, and the Gogolian direction developed among Russian writers until the mid-20th century. What is this great book? About this in our article.

The book is part of a series of works written in the 1830s-1840s. and united by a common name - “Petersburg Tales”. The story of Gogol's "The Overcoat" goes back to an anecdote about a poor official who had a great passion for hunting. Despite the small salary, the ardent fan set himself a goal: at all costs to buy a Lepage gun, one of the best at that time. The official denied himself everything in order to save money, and finally he bought the coveted trophy and went to the Gulf of Finland to shoot birds.

The hunter set sail in the boat, was about to take aim, but did not find a gun. It probably fell out of the boat, but how remains a mystery. The hero of the story himself admitted that he was in a kind of oblivion when he anticipated the treasured prey. Returning home, he fell ill with a fever. Fortunately, everything ended well. The sick official was saved by his colleagues who bought him a new gun of the same type. This story inspired the author to create the story “The Overcoat”.

Genre and direction

N.V. Gogol is one of the most prominent representatives of critical realism in Russian literature. With his prose, the writer sets a special direction, sarcastically called “Natural School” by the critic F. Bulgarin. This literary vector is characterized by an appeal to acute social themes relating to poverty, morality, and class relations. Here the image of the “little man”, which became traditional for writers of the 19th century, is actively being developed.

A narrower direction characteristic of “Petersburg Tales” is fantastic realism. This technique allows the author to influence the reader in the most effective and original way. It is expressed in a mixture of fiction and reality: the real in the story “The Overcoat” is the social problems of Tsarist Russia (poverty, crime, inequality), and the fantastic is the ghost of Akaki Akakievich, who robs passers-by. Dostoevsky, Bulgakov and many other followers of this trend turned to the mystical principle.

The genre of the story allows Gogol to succinctly, but quite clearly, illuminate several plot lines, identify many current social themes, and even include the motif of the supernatural in his work.

Composition

The composition of “The Overcoat” is linear; an introduction and an epilogue can be designated.

The story begins with a unique writer's discussion about the city, which is an integral part of all “Petersburg Tales”. This is followed by a biography of the main character, which is typical for the authors of the “natural school”. It was believed that these data help to better reveal the image and explain the motivation for certain actions.
Exposition - a description of the situation and position of the hero.
The plot occurs at the moment when Akaki Akakievich decides to acquire a new overcoat; this intention continues to move the plot until the climax - a happy acquisition.
The second part is devoted to the search for the overcoat and the exposure of senior officials.
The epilogue, where the ghost appears, brings this part full circle: first the thieves go after Bashmachkin, then the policeman goes after the ghost. Or maybe behind a thief?

About what?

One poor official Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, due to severe frosts, finally dares to buy himself a new overcoat. The hero denies himself everything, skimps on food, tries to walk more carefully on the pavement so as not to change his soles again. By the required time, he manages to accumulate the required amount, and soon the desired overcoat is ready.

But the joy of possession does not last long: that same evening, when Bashmachkin was returning home after a festive dinner, robbers took the object of his happiness from the poor official. The hero is trying to fight for his overcoat, he goes through several levels: from a private person to a significant person, but no one cares about his loss, no one is going to look for the robbers. After a visit to the general, who turned out to be a rude and arrogant man, Akaki Akakievich came down with a fever and soon died.

But the story "takes on a fantastic ending." The spirit of Akaki Akakievich wanders around St. Petersburg, who wants to take revenge on his offenders, and, mainly, he is looking for a significant person. One evening, the ghost catches the arrogant general and takes away his overcoat, which is where he calms down.

The main characters and their characteristics

The main character of the story is Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin. From the moment of birth it was clear that a difficult, unhappy life awaited him. The midwife predicted this, and the baby himself, when born, “cried and made such a grimace, as if he had a presentiment that there would be a titular councilor.” This is the so-called “little man,” but his character is contradictory and goes through certain stages of development.
Overcoat image works to reveal the potential of this seemingly modest character. A new thing dear to the heart makes the hero obsessed, as if an idol controls him. The little official shows such persistence and activity that he never showed during his life, and after death he completely decides to take revenge and keeps St. Petersburg at bay.
The role of the overcoat in Gogol's story it is difficult to overestimate. Her image develops in parallel with the main character: the holey overcoat is a modest person, the new one is the proactive and happy Bashmachkin, the general’s is an omnipotent spirit, terrifying.
Image of St. Petersburg in the story it is presented completely differently. This is not a lush capital with elegant carriages and flowery front doors, but a cruel city, with its fierce winter, unhealthy climate, dirty staircases and dark alleys.

Themes

The life of a little man is the main theme of the story “The Overcoat”, so it is presented quite vividly. Bashmachkin does not have a strong character or special talents; higher-ranking officials allow themselves to manipulate him, ignore him, or scold him. And the poor hero only wants to regain what belongs to him by right, but significant persons and the big world have no time for the problems of a little man.
The contrast between the real and the fantastic allows us to show the versatility of Bashmachkin’s image. In the harsh reality, he will never reach the selfish and cruel hearts of those in power, but by becoming a powerful spirit, he can at least take revenge for his offense.
The running theme of the story is immorality. People are valued not for their skill, but for their rank, a significant person is by no means an exemplary family man, he is cold towards his children and seeks entertainment on the side. He allows himself to be an arrogant tyrant, forcing those of lower rank to grovel.
The satirical nature of the story and the absurdity of the situations allow Gogol to most expressively point out social vices. For example, no one is going to look for the missing overcoat, but there is a decree to catch the ghost. This is how the author exposes the inactivity of the St. Petersburg police.

Issues

The problems of the story “The Overcoat” are very broad. Here Gogol raises questions concerning both society and the inner world of man.

The main problem of the story is humanism, or rather, the lack of it. All the heroes of the story are cowardly and selfish, they are incapable of empathy. Even Akaki Akakievich does not have any spiritual goal in life, does not strive to read or be interested in art. He is driven only by the material component of existence. Bashmachkin does not recognize himself as a victim in the Christian sense. He has fully adapted to his miserable existence, the character does not know forgiveness and is only capable of revenge. The hero cannot even find peace after death until he fulfills his base plan.
Indifference. Colleagues are indifferent to Bashmachkin’s grief, and a significant person is trying by all means known to him to drown out any manifestations of humanity in himself.
The problem of poverty is touched upon by Gogol. A person who performs his duties approximately and diligently does not have the opportunity to update his wardrobe as needed, while careless flatterers and dandies are successfully promoted, have luxurious dinners and arrange evenings.
The problem of social inequality is highlighted in the story. The general treats the titular councilor like a flea that he can crush. Bashmachkin becomes shy in front of him, loses the ability to speak, and a significant person, not wanting to lose his appearance in the eyes of his colleagues, humiliates the poor petitioner in every possible way. Thus, he shows his power and superiority.

What is the meaning of the story?

The idea of Gogol’s “The Overcoat” is to point out acute social problems relevant in Imperial Russia. Using the fantastic component, the author shows the hopelessness of the situation: the little man is weak in front of the powers that be, they will never respond to his request, and they will even kick him out of his office. Gogol, of course, does not approve of revenge, but in the story “The Overcoat” it is the only way to reach the stony hearts of high-ranking officials. It seems to them that only the spirit is above them, and they will agree to listen only to those who are superior to them. Having become a ghost, Bashmachkin takes exactly this necessary position, so he manages to influence arrogant tyrants. This is the main idea of the work.

The meaning of Gogol’s “The Overcoat” is the search for justice, but the situation seems hopeless, because justice is possible only by turning to the supernatural.

What does it teach?

Gogol’s “The Overcoat” was written almost two centuries ago, but remains relevant to this day. The author makes you think not only about social inequality and the problem of poverty, but also about your own spiritual qualities. The story “The Overcoat” teaches empathy; the writer encourages not to turn away from a person who is in a difficult situation and asks for help.

To achieve his author's goals, Gogol changes the ending of the original anecdote, which became the basis for the work. If in that story the colleagues collected enough money to buy a new gun, then Bashmachkin’s colleagues did practically nothing to help their comrade in trouble. He himself died fighting for his rights.

Criticism

In Russian literature, the story “The Overcoat” played a huge role: thanks to this work, a whole movement arose - the “natural school”. This work became a symbol of new art, and confirmation of this was the magazine “Physiology of St. Petersburg”, where many young writers came up with their own versions of the image of a poor official.

Critics recognized Gogol's mastery, and "The Overcoat" was considered a worthy work, but the controversy was mainly conducted around the Gogol direction, opened precisely by this story. For example, V.G. Belinsky called the book “one of Gogol’s deepest creations,” but considered the “natural school” a direction without prospects, and K. Aksakov denied Dostoevsky (who also started with the “natural school”), the author of “Poor People,” the title of artist.

Not only Russian critics were aware of the role of “The Overcoat” in literature. The French reviewer E. Vogüe made the famous statement “We all came out of Gogol’s overcoat.” In 1885, he wrote an article about Dostoevsky, where he spoke about the origins of the writer’s work.

Later, Chernyshevsky accused Gogol of excessive sentimentality and deliberate pity for Bashmachkin. Apollo Grigoriev, in his criticism, contrasted Gogol's method of satirical depiction of reality with true art.

The story made a great impression not only on the writer’s contemporaries. V. Nabokov, in his article “The Apotheosis of the Mask,” analyzes Gogol’s creative method, its features, advantages and disadvantages. Nabokov believes that “The Overcoat” was created for “a reader with a creative imagination,” and for the most complete understanding of the work, it is necessary to get acquainted with it in the original language, because Gogol’s work “is a phenomenon of language, not ideas.”

The St. Petersburg stories appeared in the darkest times.

IN AND. Lenin, characterizing this era, noted:

“Serf Russia is downtrodden and motionless. A tiny minority of nobles protest, powerless without the support of the people. But the best people from the nobles helped awaken the people.”

N.V. himself Gogol never called the cycle of these stories “Petersburg Tales,” so the name is purely businesslike. The story “The Overcoat” also belongs to this cycle, which, in my opinion, is the most significant of all the others.

Its importance, significance and meaningfulness compared to other works are increased by the theme touched upon in “The Overcoat”: the little man.

Brute force and lawlessness of those in power reigned and dominated the destinies and lives of little people. Among these people was Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin.

“Little people” like our hero and many others seem to have to fight for a normal attitude towards them, but they do not have enough strength, either physical, moral, or spiritual.

Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin is a victim who is not only under the yoke of the surrounding world and his own powerlessness, but does not understand the tragedy of his life situation. This is a spiritually “erased” personality. The author sympathizes with the little man and demands attention to this problem.

Akaki Akakievich is so inconspicuous and insignificant in his position that none of his colleagues remembers “when and at what time” he entered the service. You can even talk about him vaguely, which, by the way, is what N.V. does. Gogol: “Served in one department.”

Or maybe by this he wanted to emphasize that this incident could have happened in any department or work establishment. To say that there are very, very many people like Bashmachkin, but no one notices them.
What is the image of the main character? I think there are two sides to the image.

The first side is the spiritual and physical failure of the character. He doesn't even try to achieve more, so at the beginning we don't feel sorry for him, we understand how wretched he is. You can’t live without perspective, without realizing yourself as an individual. You cannot see the meaning of life only in rewriting papers, but consider buying an overcoat as the goal, the meaning. The idea of acquiring it makes his life more meaningful and fills it. In my opinion, this is brought to the fore to show the personality of Akaki Akakievich.

The second side is the heartless and unfair attitude of others towards Akaki Akakievich. Look at how people around him treat Bashmachkin: they laugh at him, mock him. He thought that by purchasing an overcoat he would look more noble, but this did not happen. Soon after the purchase, misfortune “unbearably befell” the downtrodden official. “Some people with mustaches” took away his barely bought overcoat. Together with her, Akaki Akakievich loses the only joy in life. His life becomes sad and lonely again. For the first time, trying to achieve justice, he goes to a “significant person” to tell him about his grief. But again he is ignored, rejected, exposed to ridicule. No one wanted to help him in difficult times, no one supported him. And he died, died from loss, grief.

N.V. Gogol, within the framework of the image of one “little man,” shows the terrible truth of life. The humiliated “little people” died and suffered not only on the pages of numerous works covering this problem, but also in reality. However, the world around them remained deaf to their suffering, humiliation and death, just as cold as a winter night, arrogant Petersburg remains indifferent to the death of Bashmachkin.

He became the most mysterious Russian writer. In this article we will look at the analysis of the story “The Overcoat” by Nikolai Gogol, trying to penetrate into the subtle intricacies of the plot, and Gogol is a master at building such plots. Don't forget you can also read summary of the story "The Overcoat".

The story "The Overcoat" is a story about one "little man" named Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin. He served as the simplest copyist in an unremarkable county town, in the office. However, the reader can think about what the meaning of a person’s life might be, and a thoughtful approach cannot be done here, which is why we are analyzing the story “The Overcoat.”

The main character of "The Overcoat"

So, the main character Akakiy Bashmachkin was a “little man.” This concept is widely used in Russian literature. However, what attracts more attention is his character, way of life, values and attitude. He doesn't need anything. He looks distantly at what is happening around him, there is emptiness inside him, and in fact, his slogan in life is: “Please leave me alone.” Are there such people today? All around. And they are not interested in the reaction of others, they care little about who thinks what about them. But is this right?

For example, Akakiy Bashmachkin. He often hears ridicule from fellow officials. They make fun of him, saying offensive words and competing in wit. Sometimes Bashmachkin will remain silent, and sometimes, looking up, he will answer: “Why is that?” Analyzing this side of "The Overcoat", the problem of social tension becomes visible.

Bashmachkin's character

Akaki passionately loved his work, and this was the main thing in his life. He was busy copying documents, and his work could always be called neat, clean, and done with diligence. What did this petty official do at home in the evenings? After dinner at home, having returned from work, Akaki Akakievich walked back and forth around the room, slowly living through long minutes and hours. Then he sank into a chair and throughout the evening he could be found writing regularly.

Analysis of Gogol's story "The Overcoat" includes an important conclusion: when the meaning of a person's life is in work, it is petty and joyless. Here is further confirmation of this idea.

Then, after such leisure time, Bashmachkin goes to bed, but what are his thoughts about in bed? About what he will copy at the office tomorrow. He thought about it, and it made him happy. The meaning of life for this official, who was a “little man” and was already in his sixth decade, was the most primitive: take paper, dip a pen in an inkwell and write endlessly - carefully and diligently. However, another goal in Akaki’s life nevertheless appeared.

Other details of the analysis of the story "The Overcoat"

Akakiy had a very small salary in the service. He was paid thirty-six rubles a month, and almost all of it went towards food and housing. A harsh winter has come - an icy wind blew and frost struck. And Bashmachkin wears worn-out clothes that cannot keep him warm on a frosty day. Here Nikolai Gogol very accurately describes the situation of Akaki, his old shabby overcoat, and the actions of the official.

Akaki Akakievich decides to go to the workshop to repair his overcoat. He asks the tailor to fill the holes, but he announces that the overcoat cannot be repaired, and there is only one way out - to buy a new one. For this thing porn calls a gigantic amount (for Akaki) - eighty rubles. Bashmachkin doesn’t have that kind of money; he’ll have to save it, and to do this he’ll have to enter a very economical lifestyle. Doing an analysis here, you might think why this “little man” goes to such extremes: he stops drinking tea in the evenings, doesn’t give laundry to the laundress once again, walks so that his shoes are washed less... Is it really all for the sake of the new overcoat that he then lose it? But this is his new joy in life, his goal. Gogol is trying to encourage the reader to think about what is most important in life, what to give priority to.

conclusions

We briefly reviewed the plot incompletely, but isolated from it only those details that are needed in order to make a clear analysis of the story “The Overcoat”. The main character is spiritually and physically untenable. He does not strive for the best, his condition is poor, he is not a person. After another goal appears in life, other than rewriting papers, he seems to change. Now Akaki is focused on buying an overcoat.

Gogol shows us the other side. How callously and unfairly those around Bashmachkin treat him. He endures ridicule and bullying. On top of everything else, the meaning of his life disappears after Akakiy’s new overcoat is taken away. He is deprived of his last joy, again Bashmachkin is sad and lonely.

Here, during the analysis, Gogol’s goal is visible - to show the harsh truth of that time. The “little people” were destined to suffer and die; no one needed them and were uninteresting. Just like the death of the Shoemaker was not of interest to those around him and those who could help him.

You have read a brief analysis of the story "The Overcoat" by Nikolai Gogol. In our literary blog you will find many articles on various topics, including analyzes of works.

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol, who left a mystical mark on Russian literature, became the founder of many writers of the 19th century critical realism. It is no coincidence that Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky’s catchphrase in an interview with a French journalist became famous: “We all came out of Gogol’s overcoat.” The writer implied an attitude towards the “little man”, which manifested itself very clearly in the story. Later, this type of hero will become the main one in Russian literature.

“The Overcoat,” which was included in the cycle of “Petersburg Tales,” in the original editions was of a humorous nature, because it appeared thanks to an anecdote. Gogol, according to the memoirs of P. V. Annenkov, “listened to comments, descriptions, anecdotes... and, it happened, used them.”

One day he heard an office joke about a poor official: he was a passionate hunter and saved enough money to buy a good gun, saving on everything and working hard in his position. When he first went hunting for ducks on a boat, the gun got caught in dense thickets of reeds and sank. He could not find him and, returning home, fell ill with a fever. His comrades, having learned about this, bought him a new gun, which brought him back to life, but later he recalled this incident with a deathly pallor on his face. Everyone laughed at the joke, but Gogol went away deep in thought: it was that evening that the idea of a future story arose in his head.

Akaki Akakievich Bashmachkin, the main character of the story “The Overcoat,” starting from birth, when his mother, rejecting all the names in the calendar as too exotic, gave him his father’s name, and at baptism he cried and made such a grimace, “as if I felt that there would be a titular adviser”, and all his life, humbly enduring the cold, despotic treatment of his superiors, the bullying of his colleagues and poverty, “knew how to be satisfied with his lot”. Any changes in his life order were no longer possible.

When suddenly fate gives you a chance to change your life - to sew a new overcoat. Thus, the central event of the story becomes the acquisition and loss of the overcoat. At first, a conversation with an angry tailor, who claims that it is impossible to repair an old overcoat, plunges Akaki Akakievich into complete confusion. To raise money for a new coat, Bashmachkin has to not drink tea in the evenings, not light candles, and walk almost on tiptoe in order to keep his feet on the ground. All these restrictions cause terrible inconvenience at first.

But as soon as the hero imagined a new overcoat, he became a different person. The changes are striking: Bashmachkin “became more lively, stronger in character, like a man who has set a goal for himself”. The author’s irony is understandable: the goal for which the official changed is too insignificant.

The appearance of the long-awaited overcoat - "the most solemn day" in the life of a hero. Bashmachkin is embarrassed by the universal attention of his colleagues, but still accepts the offer to celebrate the new thing. The usual way of life is disrupted, the hero’s behavior changes. It turns out that he is able to laugh cheerfully and not write any papers after dinner.

Since Bashmachkin has not left the house in the evenings for a long time, St. Petersburg seems beautiful to him. This city is fantastic just because it appeared “from the darkness of the forests, from the swamps of blat”, but it was Gogol who turned it into a phantasmagoric city - a place where something out of the ordinary is possible. The hero of "The Overcoat", lost in the night Petersburg, becomes a victim of robbery. A shock for him is the appeal to the police authorities, the attempts of his colleagues to organize a team-up, but the most serious test is the meeting with "significant person", after which Bashmachkin dies.

The author emphasizes how terrible and tragic the helplessness of the “little man” in St. Petersburg is. Retribution, enhanced by the intervention of evil spirits, becomes just as terrible. A ghost that appeared in a vacant lot after Bashmachkin’s death, reminiscent of a former titular councilor, tore down “all sorts of greatcoats from all over the place, without considering rank and title”. This continued until "significant person" did not end up in the ill-fated wasteland and was not grabbed by the dead man. That's when the ghost said: “...your overcoat is what I need! ... If you didn’t bother about mine, now give me yours!”

This incident changed the formerly important official: he became less arrogant. And the appearance of the dead official stopped: “Apparently, the general’s overcoat suited his shoulders.”. For Gogol, what becomes fantastic is not the appearance of a ghost, but the manifestation of conscience even in such a person as "significant person".

“The Overcoat” develops the theme of the “little man” outlined by Karamzin in “Poor Liza” and revealed by Pushkin in. But Gogol sees the cause of evil not in people, but in the structure of life, where not everyone has privileges.

"The Overcoat", a summary of Gogol's story
“Portrait”, analysis of Gogol’s story, essay