The Overcoat

From a Basic Human Need

Everyone needs to stay warm. It doesn't matter if you're a high-ranking official or if you're a nobody like Akaky, the brutal North wind blowing through St. Petersburg in the winter will freeze you to your bones. Literally. It will freeze you to death. We're not talking about a winter in St. Petersburg, Florida here, people. In Russia, everyone needs an overcoat (Or does overcoat need you?), just like they need food to eat and a place to sleep.

That's exactly how Akaky thinks about his overcoat. It's a basic part of human life, and not a big deal. He doesn't even notice when people throw trash on it. His overcoat is ugly, baggy, covered in patches, and barely holding together. But it does its job. It keeps him warm.

The trouble doesn't start until Akaky notices that it's not fulfilling his basic human needs any more. It can't keep him warm. The narrator says:

He finally wondered whether the fault did not lie in his overcoat. He examined it thoroughly at home, and discovered that in two places, namely, on the back and shoulders, it had become thin as mosquito-netting: the cloth was worn to such a degree that he could see through it, and the lining had fallen into pieces. (18)

Our overcoat is dunzo, kaput. Maybe the story would have ended here if Akaky had gotten a simple overcoat, with only the purpose of keeping him warm…but that's not exactly what happens.

To a Status Symbol

The new coat isn't just warm. It's stylish and fashionable. When Akaky wears it, he's no longer ignorant of what he's wearing. Actually, "he was conscious every second of the time, that he had a new overcoat on his shoulders; and several times he laughed with internal satisfaction" (66). This new coat isn't just about what Akaky needs, it's about what he wants, hopes, and dreams. That's why he's so giggly…and smitten.

But those aren't the only extra features this coat has. The splendor of his new coat allows Akaky to enter the social circles of his coworkers. The narrator says:

It is impossible to say just how every one in the department knew at once that Akaky Akakievich had a new coat, and that the "mantle" no longer existed. All rushed at the same moment into the ante-room, to inspect Akaky Akakievich's new coat. (66)

With his new coat, Akaky, the guy who nobody ever noticed before, is suddenly the talk of the town. They fawn over him and even throw a party in his honor.

For the first time in his life, Akaky has upward social mobility, and it's all because of the coat. It's not all roses, though. Think about it this way: before the coat Akaky's social status was secure; he couldn't sink any lower. But now that the overcoat has bumped him up to a new tier, Akaky has something to lose. This whole new fabulous life, with friends and parties, only exists because of the coat. So what would happen without it? Let's just say, it isn't a pretty picture.

Better to have Loved and Lost?

With his coat gone, Akaky plummets back down to the bottom of the social hierarchy. Only now he's had a taste of what it's like to be seen as a little higher, and his return to the bottom has left a bitter taste in his mouth.

The old Akaky is back. The narrator says: "All that day he never went near the court (for the first time in his life). The next day he made his appearance, very pale, and in his old 'mantle,' which had become even more shabby" (85). Once again, nobody seems to care about him, and the same guys that wanted to party with him just a few days earlier make fun of him now. Back in his old coat, Akaky is a nobody, and to make things worse, the prominent personage puts him in his place by yelling at him.

But that's not the end of the story. Akaky isn't happy that he's returned to being the same boring man that he once was. Now he's dissatisfied, and being dissatisfied can lead to some pretty nasty things. The change in Akaky's personality isn't noticeable until he's on his deathbed when all of the anger and resentment comes out. In his dreams "[...]he inquired why his old 'mantle' hung before him when he had a new overcoat; then he fancied that he was standing before the general, listening to a thorough setting-down, and saying, 'Forgive, your excellency!' but at last he began to curse, uttering the most horrible words[...]" (99). Where did Akaky even learn how to curse? He's gone overcoat crazy.

The final stage of Akaky's coat-driven transformation comes in his death. His personality as a ghost is totally different than it was in life. Some people say that ghosts only come back to haunt when a dead person has a strong desire for something unfulfilled in their human life. No one would have guessed that Akaky would turn into a ghost before the overcoat; there was simply nothing that he wanted. But now his desire for his overcoat, his desire for social status, is so strong that it brings them back from the grave.

And this ghost is back with a vengeance and an appetite for coats. He drags the coats off of everyone's shoulders, but it's not until he takes the prominent personage's coat that Akaky is finally satisfied. The narrator says:

But the most noteworthy point was, that from that day the apparition of the dead official quite ceased to be seen; evidently the general's overcoat just fitted his shoulders; at all events, no more instances of his dragging coats from people's shoulders were heard of. (115)

Since the prominent personage becomes much more humble after having his coat stolen, one could say that Akaky succeeded in taking his attachment to social status away from him. What do you think the coat symbolizes? Why does it have to be the prominent personage's coat, and not somebody else?