How we cite our quotes: (Section.Paragraph)
Quote #1
She didn't recognize me, and I tried to wrap myself up the best I could, because the overcoat I had on was very dirty, and old-fashioned besides. Now everyone wears cloaks with tall collars, and mine is short, overlapping; and the broadcloth isn't waterproof at all. (1.2)
Poprishchin's comment says the most important thing you need to know about Saint Petersburg circa 1835: fashion mattered! (Um, and so did cleanliness.) We just wonder how often overcoat fashions were changing back then. Short collars were so 1833.
Quote #2
Only a gentleman can write correctly. Of course, there are sometimes merchants' clerks and even certain serfs who can write a bit; but their writing is mostly mechanical—no commas, no periods, no style. (1.2)
Back when literacy wasn't universal, commas, periods and style were all the rage. Knowing punctuation rules, being able to spell correctly, and having some sense of writing style were all good indicators of class. Srsly you guys.
Quote #3
"I know that building," I said to myself, "That's Zverkov's building." What a pile! And the sorts that live in it: so many cooks, so many out-of-towners! And our fellow clerks—like pups, on top of the other. I, too, have a friend there, a very good trumpet player. (1.4)
Apartment buildings with many residents, often of not very high class, were still novelties in cities. We are to presume here that Poprishchin didn't live in one of these. Putting the whole place down is his way of feeling a little bit better about his own social status. Psychologists call this "downward comparison." We all do it.