Gogol and Dostoevsky Theme Paper
Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky are two remarkable Russian writers. They both write about Russian society during the 1800’s. Gogol‘s “The Nose” is a short story about Kovaloff who is a Collegiate Assessor that has an obsession with rank and appearance and how he wakes up and discovers that his nose is missing and goes in search of it. Ivan Jakovlevitch, his barber finds a nose in his bread and immediately realizes that it is Kovaloff and tries to conceal it. The story goes on to show Kovaloff reactions to his nose and how he at first seeing his nose is afraid to approach it because it has a higher rank than himself. In the end, he wakes from his dream and pursues a higher position. Dostoevsky’s “The Crocodile” …show more content…
He asks himself: “how am I to go on without a nose?” answered Kovaloff. “There is nothing worse than that. How can I show myself with such a villainous appearance? I go into good society” (Gogol, 96). Kovaloff knows that without his nose he will appear heinous and he says: “In heaven's name, why should such a misfortune befall me? If I had lost an arm or a leg, it would be less insupportable; but a man without a nose! Devil take it! (Gogol, 90). He is distraught because others will notice his nose is missing, so he reason that if it was a toe; he would be able to conceal it in his boot and have a chance to be part of “good society.”
Kovaloff knows that high society judges people by their appearances and status. So he goes by another name. “Kovaloff had been a Caucasian committee-man two years previously, and could not forget that he had occupied that position; but in order to enhance his own importance, he never called himself “committee-man” but “Major” (Gogol, 74). He uses the name/title, Major because it provides him with a higher rank in
Nikolai Gogol and Fyodor Dostoevsky are two remarkable Russian writers. They both write about Russian society during the 1800’s. Gogol‘s “The Nose” is a short story about Kovaloff who is a Collegiate Assessor that has an obsession with rank and appearance and how he wakes up and discovers that his nose is missing and goes in search of it. Ivan Jakovlevitch, his barber finds a nose in his bread and immediately realizes that it is Kovaloff and tries to conceal it. The story goes on to show Kovaloff reactions to his nose and how he at first seeing his nose is afraid to approach it because it has a higher rank than himself. In the end, he wakes from his dream and pursues a higher position. Dostoevsky’s “The Crocodile” …show more content…
He asks himself: “how am I to go on without a nose?” answered Kovaloff. “There is nothing worse than that. How can I show myself with such a villainous appearance? I go into good society” (Gogol, 96). Kovaloff knows that without his nose he will appear heinous and he says: “In heaven's name, why should such a misfortune befall me? If I had lost an arm or a leg, it would be less insupportable; but a man without a nose! Devil take it! (Gogol, 90). He is distraught because others will notice his nose is missing, so he reason that if it was a toe; he would be able to conceal it in his boot and have a chance to be part of “good society.”
Kovaloff knows that high society judges people by their appearances and status. So he goes by another name. “Kovaloff had been a Caucasian committee-man two years previously, and could not forget that he had occupied that position; but in order to enhance his own importance, he never called himself “committee-man” but “Major” (Gogol, 74). He uses the name/title, Major because it provides him with a higher rank in