The Overcoat by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol The hero of “The Overcoat”, Akaky Akakievich, engenders both hatred and pity from the reader. His meekness and his pathetic life deserve sympathy, while his utter detachment from his peers and his singular obsession with a coat are often despised. He is drastically different from any of his peers, but there is a certain purity in his way of life which the overcoat defiles. Akaky’s world is completely devoid of any excitement; his sole source of pleasure
and demeanor. 19th century Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol was undoubtedly no different. Considered Gogol’s greatest work, Dead Souls is both an exemplar of intellectual Russian critique and side-splitting comedy gold, making it a satire worth crowning its author as one of the greatest writers of his time. Through the protagonist, Pavel Invanovitch Tchitchikov, and his encounters with the many different Russian nobles, women, and serfs that appear throughout the novel, Gogol depicts the flaws and faults
work. “We all came out of Gogol’s Overcoat” (TN 78).7-17 Search of identity in, the “Namesake”. In an interview, Lahiri acknowledged the influence of Nikolai Gogol’s ‘The Overcoat’: ‘The Overcoat’ is such a superb story. It really does haunt me the way it haunts the character of Ashoke in the novel… Of course, without the inspiration of Nikolai Gogo...
In Gogol’s Wife by Tommaso Landolfi, the author is mocking men, women, and Gogol. The author mock’s men in their perception of women as an object or property. This can be seen by reading the title “Gogol’s Wife”. By making the wife “Gogol’s” she is seen as his property, instead of her own person. By defining a woman by her husband, the author is saying that women are inferior to their husbands. Likewise by not naming the story after the wife herself, she is seen more as an object and not as a person
and in the end, shows that reinventing himself by changing his name does not satisfy his hope of shutting out the past embodied by the name Gogol, because as Gogol eventually comes to realize, the creation of “a new person” cannot be derived from the actions he takes in order to please others. Although it doesn’t occur until near the end of the novel, Gogol awakens this “new person” through the choices he makes for himself, rather than in hopes of receiving approval from others. Throughout the novel
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri is a bildungsroman that involves an array of themes and related symbols. The story centers on our protagonist, Gogol Ganguli, the son of Ashima Ganguli and Ashoke Ganguli, both of which are immigrants from Bengal. The story is set throughout the span of Gogol’s life, where he struggles to accept the name he was given. He rejected his good name in school and changed his legal name before going off to college. In the end, after learning the significance of his name, he
betray the roots they came from. The Characters wrestle with these questions concerning their affiliations with their names, their relationships and their choices about the present and the future. By embracing the positive sides of both of his names Gogol finally embraces the two opposing sides of himself.
very different lifestyles. As the years pass, their firstborn, Gogol, displays a strong disapproval of his identity and especially his name, instead embracing the American culture. As he searches for liberty, many complications arise in the form of family and love life, leaving him with deep regrets and disturbing experiences. However, in the loneliness and quiet that surrounds him, Gogol is at last
follow as they are growing up. For Gogol he has gone his entire life knowing and following Indian values and being very family-oriented. When the Ganguli’s move to America and Gogol grows older American values start to take over his life and he becomes more individual. There was a major twist in the novel that rapidly changed Gogol’s personality form individuality to family-oriented. In the end the Indian values were the most significant. Throughout the novel Gogol is affected by American values in
Dead Souls was written by Nikolai Gogol and first published in 1842. Even though Gogol was born in the Ukraine, he is widely known for being a Russian author. Dead Souls is a story about a fictional character, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, who travels to a small town in Russia to swindle himself a fortune. Chichikov enters the town and almost immediately begins to sway the favor of anyone with status or nobility. His charm makes him seem unlike any other passerby, in that almost all of the town’s officials
follows the journey of a Bengali-American man named Gogol Ganguli and his struggle to find his identity. Lahiri prefaced the novel with the quotation: "The reader should realize himself that it could not have happened otherwise, and that to give him any other name was quite out of the question," by author Nikolai Gogol. The quote itself foreshadows the basis of the novel as Gogol discovers his true identity through his family and himself. Gogol was brought into the world without an intended identity
Social class plays an important and vital role in a person’s life to an extent where a world without social class can’t be imagined. Similarly, social class plays a key factor in the lives of the people in the short story “The Nose” by Nikolai Gogol. The author, Gogol, addresses issues of social class in a society in his short story. Another story, which I read long back in school which focused and criticized social class is “Gulliver's Travels” by Jonathan Swift. Both authors attack on the basis of
Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise’s West Side Story (USA, 1961), a classic American film, and Mira Nair’s The Namesake (USA, 2006), a more contemporary film, both tell the story of young adults seeking out the American Dream. In both West Side Story and The Namesake, we see young people taking chances at love, while living out their lives and the American Dream. We experience the challenges that come with interracial relationships and the cultural influences that sadly put an end to the relationships
There are many cultures that place a huge importance in names and the naming of their child. In these cultures a name is more than a nice-sounding label, a name can tell a story and pave way for a destiny. Many believe that while it might be easy to brush off names as less important than personality or parenting, it's not so far-fetched to say that a name is one's destiny. There is a fair amount of research in our society that backs up something called "nominative determinism.” This is the theory
In Nikolai Gogol’s short story “Nevsky Prospect” (1835), setting illuminates the theme of lies and deception. The setting of the story is the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. St. Petersburg was custom-built as a distinctly European-style capital. The replication of European architecture gives St. Petersburg an artificial feel, which can be seen in the setting of Gogol’s story. The story’s setting is more than just a city; it is a character of its own. The setting of the story is initially presented
In the novel The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri mentions a short story named “The Overcoat” written by Nikolai Gogol numerous times. This “mentioning” is also known as an “allusion.” The Namesake is about the Ganguli family and their transformation to an American family. Gogol Ganguli is the character that is closely related to “The Overcoat” which is about the life and also the death of a man by the name Akakiy Akakievitch. Besides the fact that is is named in The Namesake, “The Overcoat” can be related
In the plays "The Accidental Death of an Anarchist" written by Dario Fo, and "The Government Inspector", written by Nikolai Gogol, identity' and insanity' play vital roles. The Maniac, who is the protagonist of "The Accidental Death of An Anarchist", is seen changing his identity throughout the play, pretending to be various other people. Khlestakov, the protagonist of
It’s pretty clear that film and literature are very different mediums and when you try to make one into the other, such as an adaptation, you’re going to have some things that are lost in translation and seen in a different light. When an original work is made into a movie, I think they’re kind of at a disadvantage because they only have a few hours to get the whole story across while also keeping the viewer intrigued by what is taking place on the screen right in front of their eyes. Movies are
Nikolai Gogol was a prominent dramatist, novelist, and short story writer in 19th century Russia. Born in Ukraine, much of Gogol’s writing was satirical of the Russian government during his time. Gogol wrote short stories, plays, poems, novels and more. Through Gogol’s writing prominent themes arise. These themes are relevant to and occur throughout Gogol’s short stories in his Petersburg Tales. Masculinity is shown through the character’s constant need to increase their social standing and their
"The Nose" is a satirical short story by Nikolai Gogol written during his time living in St. Petersburg, Russia. During this time, Gogol's works were primarily focused on surrealism and the grotesque, with a romantic twist. "The Nose" tells the story of a St. Petersburg official whose nose leaves his face and develops a life of its own. The use of a nose as the main source of conflict in the story could have been due to Gogol's own experience with an oddly shaped nose, which was often the subject