The Overcoat Summary & Analysis

At the start of the story, the Narrator stops himself from naming the department in which Akaky Akakievich, the main character in his tale, worked. The Narrator decides that it is better to avoid mentioning too many details, as he is worried about offending a sensitive official or other bureaucrat. He comments that these days, every Russian citizen believes the whole state to be insulted when he himself is. He cites a recent incident in which a police inspector complained that the Russian government was riddled with problems, and that people were maligning his name. As evidence the inspector supplied an extremely long romantic novel in which a police inspector often appears, sometimes in a drunken state.

The Narrator then goes on to introduce Akaky Akakievich as a civil servant in a “certain department” in St. Petersburg. He is a short man with unmemorable, unattractive features. The Narrator jokes that his official title is “eternal titular counsellor.” His family name, Bashmachkin, comes from the word bashmak, meaning ‘shoe’. The Narrator assures the reader that Akaky Akakievich’s name may seem strange, but that it was impossible for him to be given any other name. The Narrator explains the circumstances of Akaky Akakievich’s birth. He is born on March 22, and his mother, needing to come up with an appropriate name for the baby, rejects many proposals and finally names him after his father Akaky, sensing that this is fate. During the christening, baby Akaky grimaces, as though foreseeing the dull life ahead of him.

The Narrator claims that no one remembers how Akaky Akakievich was appointed to his specific department. Nevertheless, Akaky is a constant presence there—however much the department changes directors, Akaky is always “in precisely the same place, sitting in exactly the same position, doing exactly the same work—just routine copying, plain and simple.” No one respects Akaky in the department, and he barely has any civil interactions with his peers. While the younger clerks constantly make fun of him, Akaky usually does not let it affect his work. He always copies his documents diligently and carefully. But at certain moments when the younger officials go too far, Akaky shouts at them to leave him alone. The Narrator says that once, a young official new to the office was so moved to pity that he would remember Akaky’s exclamations long after, hearing in his voice the words “I am your brother.” Each time he remembers Akaky, the young man is filled with shame at the brutality and inhumanity of man.

Akaky loves his job as a copyist so much that he makes it his entire life. He takes joy in reading different documents and carefully copying each letter. But he is never promoted—once, a director who wished to reward Akaky for his hard work ordered him to add a few small changes to a document, but Akaky grew nervous and requested to copy something instead. After this incident, no one offered to promote Akaky again. Beyond copying, the Narrator says, “nothing else existed as far as he was concerned.” Akaky neglects his appearance and never pays attention to what is happening around him. He never notices the taste of his food, and after he returns home and has dinner, he continues copying papers that he brought from work. At times when his fellow officials are socializing at the theater, or a dinner parties, Akaky is at home, writing and looking forward to the next day’s copying.

The Narrator says that Akaky is “perfectly happy with his lot,” but that St. Petersburg harbors a major obstacle to those who make the low salary of four hundred rubles per year—the northern cold. Akaky, after being punished by this cold, decides that it is time for him to get a new overcoat. Akaky’s current coat has been the butt of many jokes in his department, as it is ugly, thin, and tattered. The clerk decides to take the coat to Petrovich, the tailor, to get it repaired. In an aside, the Narrator describes Petrovich as a decent tailor, but a heavy drinker. When Akaky arrives at Petrovich’s room, the tailor is angrily trying to thread a needle.

Akaky, noting that Petrovich appears to be sober, is worried that he will not be able to bargain as effectively. He begins nervously, unable to complete his sentence. Petrovich takes his coat and examines it. After some time, he shakes his head and declares it impossible to mend. He insists that Akaky must have a new coat. The tailor’s statement troubles Akaky, because he has no money for a new coat. Feeling dizzy, he focuses on the image of a general on Petrovich’s snuffbox. A square piece of paper has been pasted onto where the general’s face should be. Petrovich tells Akaky that a new coat will cost him a hundred fifty rubles. Akaky, after first traveling in the wrong direction, returns home in a daze.

Akaky resolves to return to Petrovich on Sunday morning to try to bargain for his coat. When he visits the tailor again, he hands Petrovich a ten-copeck piece and asks him once again to mend his coat. The tailor thanks him for the money, but insists that Akaky needs a completely new coat. Akaky, discouraged, wonders where he will get the money to pay for the brand new garment. Even if the director gives him a generous Christmas bonus of forty or fifty rubles, he already owes most of it to paying off debts he has accrued. He knows that Petrovich might agree to make an overcoat for as little as eighty rubles. Akaky has saved up about forty rubles over the course of several years, but he does not know where he will get the other half.

Akaky resolves to deprive himself of many of his ordinary expenses. He stops drinking tea at night, burns no candles, walks lightly so as not to wear out his shoes, and goes hungry at night. The Narrator notes that Akaky’s spirit begins to change. With the goal of purchasing a new overcoat in mind, he becomes livelier and more decisive. His existence becomes “richer, as though he had married and another human being was by his side.” Akaky receives a surprise when his department director awards him a bonus of sixty rubles. After three more months of saving up, Akaky has the eighty rubles he needs. He and Petrovich go shopping for supplies: they purchase good quality cloth and fur at reasonable prices.

Petrovich works on the overcoat for two weeks and charges twelve rubles for the job, the lowest price possible. The Narrator states that it was probably the most triumphant day of Akaky’s life when Petrovich personally delivers the overcoat to his home. The coat arrives just in time, for an extreme cold has taken over St. Petersburg. Petrovich proudly displays the coat, which he made from scratch, to Akaky and helps the clerk put it on. It fits perfectly. The tailor declares that it is only because he works on a small street and has known Akaky for so long that he made the coat so cheaply. Akaky pays and thanks Petrovich and sets off for work. Petrovich follows him, watching the coat move off in the distance, and then he runs through a side street so that he can catch a glimpse of Akaky and his overcoat from the front.

At his department, everyone congratulates Akaky on his new overcoat. They insist that the event must be celebrated, and that Akaky must host an evening party. Akaky is extremely embarrassed until a higher-ranking civil servant, an assistant head clerk, offers to host the party instead, and invites everyone to tea that night. The other officials accept his invitation, and pressure Akaky to come as well. Akaky passes the rest of the day in a very good mood. Upon returning home, he compares his new cloak to his old one, laughing at the difference. After dinner he does not do any copying, but instead rests until dark, and then heads to the evening party. The Narrator does not remember where the party took place, but asserts that the assistant head clerk lived in a wealthy part of the city, far away from Akaky’s home. Akaky must pass through a dimly lit neighborhood before arriving at the bright, lively streets of the assistant head clerk’s district.

Akaky gazes with awe upon the high society populating the streets around him. He has not been out at night in years. He looks into a shop window and sees a picture of a beautiful woman displaying a naked foot, as behind her, a man looks at her through a doorway. Akaky laughs and walks on. The Narrator speculates about why Akaky laughed in that moment: perhaps it was because he had encountered something unknown, or, like other officials, he was amused by French customs, or else he was not thinking about anything in particular.

Akaky reaches the assistant head clerk’s apartment and hangs up his overcoat. He enters the main room and is greeted by a bustling scene full of officials, card tables, and conversation. Akaky is unsure of how he should behave, but his fellow clerks greet him happily and crowd into the anteroom to look at his cloak once more. Akaky is overjoyed by their compliments, but soon after this, the officials return to their card games, leaving Akaky alone. Feeling awkward and overwhelmed, Akaky sits down in a stupor. He is tired and wants to leave, but his peers push him to drink champagne. Akaky feels better after having a drink, but as it is midnight, he decides to sneak out of the party. To his dismay, he finds his overcoat is lying on the floor of the anteroom. Akaky picks it up, brushes it off, and leaves the apartment.

Akaky leaves the party feeling happy. In a flight of fancy, he runs after a lady who passes him on the street, but then immediately stops and again walks quietly down the street, unsure of why he was running. The streets grow deserted and dark. The festive neighborhood he was in transitions into a poorer district of low houses and dim lamps. He enters an empty square, in the middle of which is a watchman’s box. Akaky suddenly feels afraid as he enters the square. He closes his eyes, wishing to pass through as quickly as possible. When he opens his eyes, he is suddenly standing in front of two bearded men. One of the thieves grabs his overcoat. Akaky is about to shout for help, but then the other thief threatens to hit him. The men take his cloak and push him to the ground, and Akaky loses consciousness.

When he recovers, Akaky runs to the watchman in the middle of the square. Sobbing, he shouts at the watchman for completely ignoring his robbery. The watchman replies that he saw two men stop him in the square, but supposed that they were friends. He recommends that Akaky report the robbery to the police in the morning. Akaky returns home covered in snow, a complete mess. He knocks on his door, and his landlady answers. She is shocked to see him in this state, and, upon hearing his story, tells him to go directly to the District Police Superintendent, as the local police officers will be sure to ignore or cheat him. The landlady believes the Superintendent to be a good man, since he goes to church every Sunday and gives everybody a friendly smile. With that, Akaky goes to his room.

The next morning, Akaky goes to the Superintendent’s house, but is told that the Superintendent is asleep. Akaky returns at ten, but the official is apparently still in bed. At eleven, he is informed that Superintendent is not at home. He returns in the evening, but the official’s clerks refuse to allow him into the anteroom. Akaky stubbornly says that he must see the Superintendent in person, and that he has come from a government department in an official capacity. The clerks finally allow him to see the Superintendent. Upon hearing Akaky’s story, the Superintendent begins to interrogate Akaky instead of focusing on the crime committed. Why did Akaky return home so late? Was he doing anything illicit that night? Akaky, bewildered, leaves without securing the Superintendent’s assistance.

That day, Akaky does not go to his department, but he shows up to work the following morning in his old overcoat. The news of his stolen coat has spread around the department, and while many pity him, some still make fun of him. They throw together a small sum of money for Akaky. One of the clerks, genuinely wishing to help, advises him not to go to the police: even if a police officer found the cloak, it would remain in police custody unless Akaky could provide legal proof that he was the coat’s owner. Instead, Akaky should appeal to “a certain Important Person” who could truly influence the situation.

Akaky decides to seek the help of the Important Person. The Narrator states that the official title of this Important Person is not known. We do know, however, that this individual only recently became an Important Person, and up until then he had been “an unimportant person.” The Important Person increases his importance by enforcing strict etiquette amongst his subordinates. Reports must travel through the appropriate channels, passing through several bureaucratic stages before reaching him. The Narrator comments that all of Russia’s bureaucracy functions in this way, with every man imitating his immediate superior. The Important Person, the Narrator continues, has grand and exaggerated mannerisms. His conversations are mainly comprised of three phrases: “How dare you?” “Do you know who you’re talking to?” and “Do you realize who’s standing before you?” While he is fundamentally a kind person, his rank confuses his behavior. When communicating with people of a lower rank he usually falls silent, unsure of how interacting with his inferiors will affect his reputation.

When Akaky visits the Important Person, the official is chatting with an old friend, and uses Akaky’s arrival to demonstrate his own importance. The Important Person tells his secretary that Akaky can wait, just to show his friend how long people have to wait in his anteroom. After some time, he summons Akaky and addresses him rudely. Akaky tongue-tied, attempts to explain that his overcoat has been stolen and that he is seeking the official’s help. Offended by the inferior clerk’s familiarity, the Important Person tells Akaky that he should have gone through the proper bureaucratic channels. Akaky tells him that he believes secretaries to be “a rather unreliable lot.” The Important Person, outraged, laments the impertinence of the younger generation of officials, even though Akaky is already in his fifties. The Important Person yells at Akaky until he stumbles out of the office, feeling faint.

Akaky, feeling numb, walks home in a snowstorm. The next day, he is overtaken by a fever. His sickness intensifies quickly, and when a doctor sees him, he declares Akaky to be incurable. The doctor tells the landlady to order a cheap coffin, as Akaky will be unable to afford a more expensive one. The Narrator wonders whether or not Akaky heard the doctor proclaim his death. We do not know, he says, because Akaky is at that moment delirious. Akaky sees visions of Petrovich, the thieves, and his old overcoat. In his delirium, he apologizes to the Important Person, but then begins to curse. His voice descends into nonsensical phrases revolving around his overcoat.

Akaky finally dies and is buried. No one takes an inventory of his possessions, as he has no heirs and has almost nothing to pass on. St. Petersburg carries on, the Narrator remarks, as if Akaky had never existed. He was not interesting as a person or as an object of study. He was completely mediocre, though toward the end of his life, his new overcoat “suddenly appeared, brightening his wretched life for one fleeing moment….” Several days after his death, Akaky’s department sends a porter to his house to investigate his whereabouts. After learning that he has died, his department replaces him the next day with a new official with slightly different handwriting.

Soon after Akaky’s death, a rumor spreads through the city that a ghost has been appearing on the Kalinkin Bridge seeking a stolen overcoat and stripping the cloak off of every man who passes. One official recognizes the dead man as Akaky Akakievich. Reports come in from officials of all ranks that their coats have been stolen and that they have been exposed to the bitter cold of St. Petersburg. Police almost succeed in capturing the ghost: in one episode, a policeman caught Akaky in the act of stealing a cloak and ordered two of his comrades to hold Akaky while he took some snuff. But as the policeman opened his snuffbox, the ghost sneezed and filled all three policemen’s eyes with powder. Then he vanished. After that, Akaky’s ghost begins to appear even beyond the Kalinkin Bridge, terrorizing everyone around him.

The Narrator turns our attention back to the Important Person. He notes that after kicking Akaky out of his office, the Important Person felt guilty, and thought of the clerk frequently afterwards. A week later, he sends an official to Akaky’s house to see if he can help, and is troubled to learn that the man is dead. Hoping to distract himself, the Important Person goes to a party at a friend’s house that evening. Everyone there is the same rank as he, so he feels completely unconstrained and has a wonderful time. At the end of the evening he decides not to go home, but to instead visit a female friend of his. The Narrator mentions that the official is a good husband and father, but despite the fact that he is satisfied by his family life, he still wants to have a mistress. The Important Person steps into his sledge and instructs the coachman to take him to his mistress’s. He reflects happily on the events of the evening, though his thoughts are interrupted occasionally by the cold wind.

Suddenly, the Important Person feels a hand on his collar. He turns around and sees a short man in an old uniform—Akaky Akakievich. The ghost is very pale. Akaky opens his putrid-smelling mouth and demands that the official give up his overcoat. The Important Person, absolutely horrified, throws his cloak at Akaky and commands his coachman to drive him home as quickly as possible. The next morning, the Important Person’s daughter comments that he looks very pale. The official does not answer, and does not tell anyone what happened to him that night. The event affects him deeply, however, and he begins to behave more modestly, treating his subordinates with more respect. From that day on, Akaky’s ghost is not seen again, though many claim that he still appears in the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

The Narrator mentions that in one instance, a watchman in Kolomna saw a ghost come from behind a house. He dared not arrest it, but followed it until the ghost turned around, raising a large fist, and asked, “What do you want?” The watchman turned away immediately. But, the Narrator says, this ghost was too tall to be Akaky. It wore a large mustache, and went off toward the Obukhoff Bridge.