(373 words) In his books, N.V. Gogol exposes the bureaucrat officials who meet in St. Petersburg. With the work “Overcoat”, the author just ends the cycle of narrations of “Petersburg Tales”. In these stories, the role of a small person in society occurs. Gogol also describes the problems of bureaucratic Petersburg officials. He fills the whole story with a deep social and humanistic meaning.
The story "Overcoat" begins with a description of the life of a small official Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin. The hero was always unlucky, even with the choice of a name, his parents came across some setbacks. In the end, he was named after his father. The hero’s life is very modest and not remarkable. Akaki Akakievich holds a small official position with a penny salary. He has been doing petty work all his life. There is no creativity and self-realization in it. All the hero does is rewrite unnecessary papers to anyone. He is very happy with this and he is happy to do this business. Akaky Akakievich does not have a family; as he matured, he never got a wife, children, or friends. All that he does on lonely evenings at home is to rewrite all the documents, although they were not so important to him.
The hero constantly comes across some setbacks and troubles. Because of this, colleagues, senior officials, begin to ridicule him and count simpletons. You can’t meet such people in society as Bashmachkin. They used to surround themselves only with high ranks. It is on these heroes that Gogol focuses on how heartless and callous the characters of these characters are. They mock and poke fun at Akaky Akakievich without feeling a single gram of sympathy.
After all the ridicule, Bashmachkin wants to update his overcoat. To fulfill his plan, he needs to accumulate a certain amount. He begins to save on everything, and soon he manages to acquire a new new thing. Immediately the hero goes to the ball with his new overcoat. All officials notice a new thing from Akaki Akakievich and begin to give him all the attention. But, as soon as the overcoat disappeared from the hero, he went to deal with the complaint to the general. But he did not even listen to his problem and sent to come back.
N. Gogol was able to raise the problem of the significance of the rank, which had an authoritative place in the society of that time. The author shows that such a craving for ranks is fatal for people with different social statuses. High office and power made people indifferent and cruel. And such "small" officials, like Bashmachkin, have no power and authority. This led to his depersonalization and humiliation.
Moby Dick
