Skip to main content

Home/ English 11 Hyde School 2.0/ Final Exam: (1 of 4) The Overcoat by Gogol
Peter E. Rowe

Final Exam: (1 of 4) The Overcoat by Gogol - 97 views

The Overcoat Nikolai Gogol Akaky Akakievich

started by Peter E. Rowe on 25 May 14
  • Peter E. Rowe
    #1 Peter E. Rowe on 25 May 14
     
    What are the elements of satire in Gogol's "Overcoat"? What exactly is Gogol critizing? (Point-Example-Analysis) What is the significance of the Overcoat? Why does Akaky's ghost haunt the people of St. Petersburg?
  • sky zhao
    #2 sky zhao on 27 May 14
     
    The most important element that builds this novel is the overcoat. The second is that he put too much attention on caring other's opinions on himself. He not only criticizes the non respect between colleagues but also he hates the people specialize materialism.

    The young officials laughed at and made fun of him, so far as their official wit permitted;
    It is fine if he were being made fun of by only his colleagues, however he also was made fun of by his boss. The pursuit that we have on other's responds to us is what really traps us. He cared about other's judgements too much. Even he felt like that he got to have one cloak like they said. Ultimately the cloak made him become a human instead his personal character.
    The reason why his ghost haunted the people on the street was not for retaliation.
    It was for his own dignity.
  • Bryan Wang
    #3 Bryan Wang on 27 May 14
     
    There are two major elements in the Overcoat. The first element is overcoat represent human desire. The second element is the office where make Akaky want to buy a new overcoat.
    Gogol is criticizing vanity of the humanity. He describe a simple overcoat could a sanguine man into disconsolate man. In the beginning, a diligent man, Akaky, have nothing, but he never complain about his life. Then he desire a new overcoat, therefore he strive working to earn the money and he get a new overcoat. In the end, his overcoat is taken away. He lose not just the vanity of overcoat but also the meaning of life.
    The "Overcoat" is vanity of humanity.
    Because Akaky start his desire from the people of St. Petersburg. Therefore, he lose his own happiness and cram up with vanity of humanity. After he become a ghost, he hunt the people of St. Petersburg that subside his resentment.
  • Dean Tian
    #4 Dean Tian on 28 May 14
     
    There two elements of satire in Gogol's " Overcoat." First one is people always gave bad attitude to poor people, the second is people's pursuit of desire. Gogol criticizing the people are vainglorious, they want to other people envy him. For example, when his colleagues laughed his coat, he decided to buy a new coat although he was hungry, but he saved food's money to buy a new coat.
    Overcoat can resist the cold, can make people look different. But also it is a layer of camouflage, people just can see on the surface, they can not see what is the truth inside. It's good or bad, we have no idea, so we can only guess and doubt.
    Because the first reason he lived in St. Peterburg and he lost his overcoat in here, he want to catch the thief and get his overcoat back. The second reason, St. Peterburg's weather is cold, a lot of people wear the overcoats, he can rap them easily.
  • Zilin Wang
    #5 Zilin Wang on 28 May 14
     
    In Overcoat there're two elements around the whole story, one is the people's desire on the thng they don't have, another is that people can not get over what's others point view of them, those two major elements lead to the reason why he urgenly want got the overcoat, after Akaky died, he robal all overcoats in St. Petersburg.
    For Gogol critincizing,people always have prejudices to the thing or others which have different situation; like Akaky being laughted by colleagues because he wore a tattered clothes, they called it "Cap".
    In general, the overcoat, it just a clothe help people withstand cold, however, in Gogol's "Overcoat" it being used by satirzed human's desire, they don't want looks diferents with others, they're afraid be different clan.
    Akaky's ghost haunt the people of St. Petersburg because he lost his overcoat here, the cause and effet stay in this place.
  • xiaogang wu
    #6 xiaogang wu on 30 May 14
     
    The significant difference between poor and rich which shows on the quality of the overcoat, the hypocritical in humanity that people use coats to cover the truth,the vanity shows on people wants to have a better overcoat to show off. Gogol is criticizing the huge gap between the rich and poor. For instance, in the story,"They offered the mother her choice of three names, " all those names are poor'(1). it showed that poor people can not even choose a name and the name they give to are labeled as poor.It tells the evilness dictatorship in Russia. The significance of the overcoat is that the coat mocks the hierarchy society that the coat is a important measurement that people value others.And it also implies that the coldness and darkness of the society that people need coat to keep alive.Akaky's ghost haunt the people of St. Petersburg because of the cold blood reaction to his struggles, nobody cares and nobody helps him which lead to his death later. so Akaky is revenging the merciless society by taking their coat which is an important item for them.
  • zeyuan tang
    #7 zeyuan tang on 30 May 14
     
    The Overcoat by Gogol used a story to satire the officialdom was snobbish and criticizing the world was unfair at that time. In the story,the main character who name is Akakiy Akakievitch and he was a hard worker in the department. However, people always laugh and insult him, because he just was a small position in there and wear ragged. After he spent a lot money to got a new overcoat, people is very kind and enthusiastic to him. Thus, author use it to satire people is value the outside of a person or not actual strength. The significant of the Overcoat is to reflect the unfair in that time. At the end, the Akaky's ghost haunt people of St. Peterburg, because he felt anger and unfair to these people.
  • Deker Adelman
    #8 Deker Adelman on 31 May 14
     
    Overcoat by Gogol was criticizing the time and the way peoples lives were based on material things not who they actually are or what they do. Akakiy is a person who works very hard and takes alot of pride in his work. he is constantly was ridiculed by the people he worked with for his job and his overcoat. so he eventually saved up and bought a new coat and people start to look at him differently. satire was used because they were showing the value of the material things not the actual person and their character.
  • Cris Boeckel
    #9 Cris Boeckel on 31 May 14
     
    The most important element of satire in Nikolai Gogol's 'The Overcoat' is the idea of the little person against the big system. The main character in The Overcoat, Akakiy, is constantly challenged by this idea because he is a lower class worker and he really needs an overcoat because it is extremely cold. He constantly has to run from building to building so he doesn't freeze. Gogol is portraying the Russian society in a cynical way. Akakiy works very hard for the new overcoat and when he gets it people seem to treat him differently, until tragically it gets stolen. When Akakiy dies he goes around stealing other people's overcoats because he wants them to feel the same pain he once felt as the little person.
  • Bixi Zeng
    #10 Bixi Zeng on 31 May 14
     
    Gogol used an unimpressive person to be master in the Overcoat that really satire gap between poor and rich and government's incapable. In The overcoat, Gogol used the new coat criticizing during Tsarist Russia, government's incapable. When Akakiy wanted to ask the high official's help, the high official asked Akakiy a question "How dare you?" , than did not really answer Akakiy. These official not only look a person's status, and also contempt poor people . The significance of the Overcoat is want to change Russia society, reduce gap between poor and rich and want to people realized spirit is more important than martial. Akakiy's ghost always haunt the people of St.Petersburg because the new coat symbolize Akakiy's faith that he wanted to have a glaring life. He could not give up his faith, so he chosen to haunt the people of St.Petersburg.
  • james lee
    #12 james lee on 31 May 14
     
    The most important element that builds this novel is the overcoat. The second is that he put too much attention on caring other's opinions on himself. He not only criticizes the non respect between colleagues but also he hates the people specialize materialism. When Akakiy went to ask the prominent personage for help with last hope, the Prominent personage said, "Do you know to whom you speak? Do you realise who stands before you? Do you realise it? do you relise it? I ask you!"(18). Akakiy did not find justice from this man who had the powe to help Akakiy. The point of the story is to show us how corrupt russian society was back then.
  • Avery Booth
    #13 Avery Booth on 01 Jun 14
     
    Gogol does a very good job of showing the value of the material things and not the actual person and the depth and character that they have. Unfortunately, that is the wrong thing to show. The protagonist, Akakiy Akakievitch cares way too much about what people think of him, instead of his own personal virtues. This story does a good job at showing a moral of how there should not be a void or barrier between the rich and the poor.
  • Aaron Leffert
    #14 Aaron Leffert on 01 Jun 14
     
    In Gogol's, The Overcoat, the key thing being criticized is materialistic items do not make up who a person truly is. This is shown when the main character, Akakiy, feels the need to go and get a new overcoat to stop the harassment from other employees in his place of business. Just because you look good, doesn't mean your good. Just because you look smart doesn't mean you are smart and just because you have a nice overcoat doesn't mean you automatically are a better person. The satire in this is just that. The fact that materialistic items show more value than the emotional and physical character of the person itself. The haunting is due to wanting the coat back, and with the excessive use of overcoats in the cold, its easier to steal them.
  • Paul Eleven
    #15 Paul Eleven on 01 Jun 14
     
    Gogol portrays the unfairness of the Russian Society through "The Overcoat." It criticizes the materialism through the tragic death of Akakiy Akakievitch, that people would literally die because of material things. It also talks a little bit about the social structure and cause&effect through the interaction of Akakiy Akakievitch and the important person. "The Overcoat" signifies the realization of social justice by the Russian people. I believe that Akakiy Akakievitch haunts St. Petersburg because it is his punishment for giving up his life for material gains in the underworld.
  • Stefan El Baze
    #16 Stefan El Baze on 01 Jun 14
     
    In Gogol's "Overcoat", the primary element of satire is the idea that people perform ridiculous and foolish things in order to improve their appearance and others perception of them. Gogol criticizes the superficial idea of materialism, implying that one's wealth and possessions should not be the ingredients that form one's identity. Sadly, the society that Akaky lives in does not offer such idea. The society that Akaky lives in is almost entirely organized by what each person possesses and the initial impression they leave. Akaky becomes completely manipulated by how shallowly he is perceived by others. He realizes his social status is fully dependent on how he dresses and appears to others, and with that in mind, Akaky goes to extreme measures and misuses his money earned dedicated for much needed food, spending it instead on a classy overcoat. He instantly became much more accepted by society while wearing the overcoat, yet literally nothing about himself as a person had changed. The fact that a single, petty article of clothing drastically altered the way others viewed him proves that the system that the society is based on is clearly damaged.

    Akaky's ghost haunts the people of St. Petersburg for very selfish reasons. He seeks revenge in a way that he wanders around stealing people's overcoats, causing them to feel the pain he once felt of being disregarded or belittled by higher-ups in society.
  • Yi Lin
    #17 Yi Lin on 01 Jun 14
     
    In Gogol's "The Overcoat", people driven by vanity. Gogol criticized superficiality of people. It s a satire towards the vanity in human society. Gogol conveys his idea by portraying the scene when Akaky got the new coat for stop other employees from bulling him. He over concentrate on how he looks/wear superficially, instead of being himself or who he really is. In fact, it also reflect the negative situation in the Russian society. Once he got the overcoat, he gradually accept by the society around him. From a moral stand point, overcoat represents the desire in people's mind that every individual in the world will dying for. Akaky's ghost haunts the people of St. Petersburg is primarily about stealing. His mind filled with hatred that he tends to revenge people around him who did not understand or care about he feeling of ignore or bulling by others.
  • Dow Drukker
    #18 Dow Drukker on 01 Jun 14
     
    The satire for Gogol is that he is constantly criticized for his overcoat and how ugly it is, but in fact the clerks who make fun of gogol's coat are cruel. This is a story about the unjust cruelty our society has developed into. When Gogol loses his new overcoat and decides to make it his personal mission to talk to authority to retrieve it properly, the general laughs in his face and merely scowls at Gogol, scaring him to faint. As time goes on Gogol falls ill and eventually passes away. After his death Gogol's ghost is seen throughout the city taking revenge on those who had done wrong to him, especially the General.
  • Maryssa Haggett
    #19 Maryssa Haggett on 01 Jun 14
     
    in Gogol's "Overcoat", Akaky takes revenge on the people in St. Petersburg for making fun of him by gost hunting them. He does them for selfish reasons. He purchases a new coat so he could try and make fun in a torturing way of the employees. Gogol shows a unique revenge on people in this story. He also combines elements of realism, fantacy, and comedy. Akaky is a person that gets easily personal with a lot of things and gets angry and upset easily. It criticizsim starts by the social realism and the continues as social protest on how Akaky is such a little man.
  • tenzin11
    #20 tenzin11 on 01 Jun 14
     
    In Gogols "overcoat" Akaky is a good definition of the youth culture now a days he followed the cool people and tried getting an overcoat to fit in but once he lost it he was just another bum in the street. The overcoat really gets deep within with how corrupted our society can be with materialism and no fulfillment. People always want more more and more. He haunts the people because he wants to take revenge for not fitting in which i think is stupid and poor character.
  • zach harrison
    #21 zach harrison on 01 Jun 14
     
    In Gogol's "The Overcoat" Gogol is criticizing the, superficiality of people in Czarist Russia. The satire is towards the materialism that clouds our judgments. For the longest time, people made fun of an looked down upon Akaky, due to the state of his overcoat. Yet once he gets a new one, every one treats him like a noble. He becomes overwhelmed by his new status as he has lived a mostly quiet life until now. And when it is stolen, all of that popularity is stolen with it. Outraged he marches down to the police station in hopes of getting his overcoat returned, however, he receives no help. Eventually he falls ill and passes away, with his spirit roaming the streets of St.Petersburg taking revenge on those who let him suffer.
  • Jake Deutschlander
    #22 Jake Deutschlander on 01 Jun 14
     
    The overcoat is the element of satire in the story "The Overcoat" because he is criticizing people being so materialistic. He shows us how people want to be viewed a certain way and think how they are viewed is the most important thing. Also Gogol wants to show how corrupt the Russian society is by the people being judged so much on their appearance. The ghost haunts St. Petersburg because he is upset about what happened to him and he wants a way to release his pain by causing others pain.
  • mike harris
    #23 mike harris on 01 Jun 14
     
    In Gogol's "The Overcoat" Akaky is a symbol for todays youth in society and how all they want is to fit in and conform because it is comfortable and socially acceptable. Hence why he got the overcoat to attempt to fit in until it was lost and he just fell right back into what he was in the first place. Society makes people think that have material items is the only way to live and it just goes to show how twisted the majority of people are nowadays.
  • Gigi Chen
    #24 Gigi Chen on 01 Jun 14
     
    the people in the overcoat is really materialization, they see people from a jacket. They should know that person first, and the you can see what that person look like. The ghost is a mind of Akaky's. Cause he do not like the way people see people from a coat. The story is cruel but it is little bit reality.
  • Nate Smith
    #25 Nate Smith on 01 Jun 14
     
    In Gogol's "The Overcoat" the element of satire is the overcoat. Once Akaky gets the coat people start to pay more and more attention to him and respect him just because he has a nice coat. In the end though he dies with no coat. It doesn't matter what coat you have as long as you have a coat material things are not what define people.

    The reason Akaky's ghost comes back to haunt the people because he is trying to show that they are all placing emphasis on the wrong things and that they need to pay attention to who a person really is.
  • Warner Raulston
    #26 Warner Raulston on 01 Jun 14
     
    1. Gogol mocks society's general obsession with material goods through the use of satire. By telling the story of a man, so obsessed with a new coat that it is all he focuses on, only to have spent so much money on it so that it is stolen shows how man has become preoccupied with material goods rather than what is truly important: a sense of self-worth.

    2. Gogol is criticizing man's obsession with physical goods and how that distracts us from what is truly important. He does this through a poor government worker who has a ratty, but practical coat, yet is teased because of it. This motivates him to spend a large part of his savings on an overpriced coat. The protagonist's pitfall is revealed when the coat is stolen, along with his sense of pride.

    3. The coat symbolizes man's desire, what physical objects we yearn for, and how ephemeral they can be due to the possibility of damage or theft. It also symbolizes a distraction from what is truly important.

    4. Akaky haunts the town so as to warn others from following in his footsteps and making the poor decisions that he had made, leading in part to his death.
  • Aidan Sperry
    #27 Aidan Sperry on 02 Jun 14
     
    I think there's several elements of satire in Gogol's "Overcoat". One, the cruelty of the other government officials. The ridicule and humiliate Akaky, but at the same time Gogol makes it known to the reader, to the extent that there "simple wits" would allow. This is satirical in the sense that the government officials see themselves as better than Akaky when in actuality there just a pack, no individuality or character. Two, the coat itself is a satirical symbol. Akaky works so hard to get the coat, its all he thinks about, etc. and just like that it gets stolen-the first day he has it nonetheless. Immense tragic irony. I think Gogol is mostly critiquing the attitude of the upper middle class in Russia. The night the coat gets stolen there is immense contrast between the officials bright, fancy residence, and Akaky's dismal part of town. The other officials look down on Akaky because he is different and keeps to himself, clearly this is not the way to treat people. I think Akaky haunts the people of St. Petersburg after his death to get even with all the pompous officials who made his life so difficult. Also maybe to have a little fun.
  • Rich Ramirez
    #28 Rich Ramirez on 03 Jun 14
     
    There are many reasons why Gogol is so critical of everything and he feels the need to have some sort of control of the situation he was living within. Gogol is showing us that the government is more of like something that just stands out as some sort of pack instead of them being individuals. When Akaky was finally able to get the overcoat he is faced with such a tease. The tease is he has it for a day and gets it stolen the next, it's like when you buy that TV you've wanted for a while, you carry it home and it's broken, not only is it broken it's also non refundable. The reason that Akaky haunts the people of St. Petersburg is to prove some sort of self fulfillment and also be able to get back at those who always doubted him.
  • mlandt
    #29 mlandt on 03 Jun 14
     
    living life in a different perspective. gogols criticizing the life style of the russians. the over coat signifies his life changing. because they tourmented him.
  • Michael Spencer
    #30 Michael Spencer on 03 Jun 14
     
    Gogol portrays the unfairness of the Russian Society through his story "The Overcoat." it portrays a great definition of the youth culture now adays. Akaky followed the cool people and tried getting an overcoat to fit in but he lost it and then believed he was just another bum in the street. The overcoat portrays the theme of how corrupted our society can be about materialism with no fulfillment. People always want more more and more and its never enough.
  • Jeans Jiaraksa
    #31 Jeans Jiaraksa on 03 Jun 14
     
    Gogol made it very clear about how he thought the culture was back in the day. he made it clear to how people are treated unfairly and they did not get justice from the people around them.
  • Ryan Moran
    #33 Ryan Moran on 03 Jun 14
     
    Some elements of The Overcoat were all material things that man likes to obsess over. An example of this would be the coat that Akaky would wear to try and impress people. Gogol was criticizing mans lust for material good to try and gain the respect of others. Like when Akaky got that fancy coat to try and impress people. He ended up losing it and his slef image and worth changed. This shows that it is all how you feel about yourself that defines who you are not the material goods.The coat symboizes Man's desire to have nice material goods even though there not that important. Akaky's ghost haunts the town to boost his own ego it was an act of revenge.

To Top

Start a New Topic » « Back to the English 11 Hyde School 2.0 group