Commentary on The Overcoat Essay

The Overcoat

I found the story of The Overcoat to be the most entertaining story we have read thus far. The main character is a very poor government employee who is in desperate need of a good overcoat to survive the very harsh winters of Russia. It tells a story about how far someone will go, and how much they will sacrifice to get the thing(s) they know they need. It also tells of how people are changed after they get the thing(s) that they need.

The main character, Akaky Akakievich, was an underappreciated government worker. He took great pleasure in making copies of documents. He kept to himself, partly because it was what he was used to all his life, and partly because no one else wanted to be around him. He was the hardest worker in the office and the others liked to distract him from his work. They especially enjoyed making fun of his overcoat, which was not much more than threads over his back. He knew he would surely die if he continued to wear his thin and torn coat through the very intense cold months ahead. After taking his coat to the tailor for repair, he was told his current coat was irreparable. To make matters worse, he was depressed at the cost of a new overcoat. Facing a certain death, he decides he has to do what he can to pay for the coat. He takes drastic steps to ensure optimal money savings; such as, he starts eating a lot less than normal, he doesnt burn his candles as long as he used to, and he starts walking on his tip-toes to prevent wearing out the heels of his shoes, among other things.

How far would you go to survive? Akaky Akakievich was faced with a grim situation and he chose to do what he had to in order to survive. I believe it would be a very tough task to cut back on what little I already had. But people in our world are faced with these same situations today, although it may not be the same sort of problem. It could be someone is told that if they dont lose weight, then they will surely die within a shorter time-frame. An obese person would have to make up their minds to do the right thing in order to manage their weight and get it under control and lose weight. After a very strict diet and exercise routine, they can once again do the things they enjoyed with less risk of dying at an earlier age than needed. I know a little about this subject because I, myself, have had trouble with weight problems and until this past October I could care less about making myself follow a diet closely or exercise. Once I made up my mind that I was tired of living life larger than I should, I decided to watch what I ate and start running. It has never been easy, but seeing the rewards have been very beneficial and make the diet and exercise very much worth it. I respect Akaky very much from the things that he had to give up in order to pay for the one thing that would help him survive.

After Akaky Akakievich saves up enough money, he goes and purchases his new overcoat. He is so proud of it, as he should be. He carries himself as a whole new person. Before the overcoat, he did not have a social life, he did not have a relationship with his fellow workers and he was made fun of by others. After he bought his overcoat, things changed. He carried himself with pride. His chest stuck out a little more and he started to believe in himself. He even started to defend himself. He was even invited to a party, which made him feel like he was king of the world. The life he was leading was a far-cry from the life he managed before the coat, from sitting alone in his poor apartment to going to a nice party with other established people. I guess it would be like someone today buying an expensive car after riding around in an old ragged car. It would be a major step up in his demeanor as a human-being. He could walk a little taller, speak a little louder and smile a little bigger.

This new life of being on top of the world lasted for a short while for Akaky. After staying at the party a little later than he planned, he was walking home and enjoying the night. He was jumped by some crooks, who stole his new overcoat. Akaky was crushed. Everything that he worked so hard for was gone in a matter of seconds. It hurt him even more that the local police did not bother taking the time to try to find the criminals at fault for stealing it. This knocked Akaky back off his pedistal and back down to reality a little bit, in my opinion. How would your life be affected if something you worked so hard for was taken from you? I would be devastated if this were to happen to me. This reminds me of a friend of mine who did not technically need a new truck, but he saw fit that he got a top of the line brand new truck. His whole demeanor changed. He was no longer the shy guy that I grew up with, he was very outspoken and walked a little taller. The new item he possessed (the truck) made him feel more of a man, which is what happened with Akaky, although Akaky really needed a new coat. My friend went on with his new routine until thieves (aka Repo Men) came and got his truck. My friend was lower than when he started out, he was so ashamed of what happened. Thankfully my friend didnt die after the truck was stolen from him, but the whole time I was reading this story, I was thinking of him. Have you ever had anything like this happen to you? How did you handle it? Did you come out better in the end? Another attribute I could see in both Akaky and my friend were feelings of pride. I believe Akaky started thinking too highly of himself and when it was taken from him, he fell hard. The same thing happened with my friend, he became the kind of person to want to drive around and have people covet what he had. So in some respects, they both got what they deserved, as sad as it was for both of them.

Akaky never did find the people that stole his overcoat and he ended up dying. Akakys life was a great example of a roller coaster ride of emotions. He started out as a hermit with no life, then he had the ups of being accepted by his peers, and ended up back where he started until his ride stopped (death).