The Overcoat

A skaz is a traditional Russian form of storytelling. It is a written narrative that imitates an oral account in its use of dialect and slang. A skaz is different from a formal short story in that it is typically written in the voice of a spontaneous narrative and its subject matter is often folklore or a fairy tale. Although the narrator of “The Overcoat” uses careful diction and polished syntax, the story employs many elements of a skaz. It begins with the sentence, “In the department of…but I had better not mention which department” (304), imitating a spontaneous oral recitation in which the speaker must retract the very first words. These elements of a skaz would have been familiar to Gogol’s audience, making it difficult to convey the story’s meaning in other languages. Some of its folksy humor and grotesque imagery make sense when understood as elements of oral fable.

Foreshadowing is a literary device in which a word or incident points to a later plot development. Akaky Akakievich’s death from cold is foreshadowed in the beginning by his colleagues who “scatter bits of paper on his head, calling them snow” (306). Even the ending of “The Overcoat” could be seen as foreshadowed. Akaky Akakievich was meant to pass out of existence without leaving an impact, as he does not even have his own name, just his father’s. When his corpse steals the Person of Consequence’s coat, it might seem that he has defied his fate and left his mark on the world after all. In a final twist, however, the narrator turns in the last paragraph to another, taller, more dynamic corpse. Even as a supernatural being, Akaky Akakievich cannot retain an observer’s interest.