Was Akaky Better Odd Never Needing an Overcoat?

In our last discussion of this short story I noticed many people seemed to think that before Akaky began his quest for his new overcoat that he was less human or even inhuman. With this view of the character, his buying of the overcoat, though ending badly, was ultimately good. For if Akaky was never to seek a replacement for his “capote” then he would have lived and died without ever being a true person. Even though his new overcoat led to his early death it also lead to his own self discovery making his life, at least for a short time, worth something.

I in no way subscribe to this school of thought. I believe Akaky’s new overcoat is what pushed him away from happiness and led him down a spiraling path to his eventual death. There are three pieces of strong evidence that leads me to believe the overcoat was a curse and not an article that gave his life meaning: the fact that Akaky thoroughly enjoyed his life while being a simple copyist and yet hated the life he had after the overcoat, the fact that he kept his stutter after he had come into his new life, and the fact that his coworkers saw him as a fellow human even before the new overcoat.

Akaky may be hard for the average person to understand because he has a passion for something looked at to be boring. However, as boring as copying is, it is a passion nonetheless. This protagonist of ours has a job, meals, a place to go everyday, and most importantly, a passion. To me, this is more human than going to parties and socializing with people who aren’t even worth names in the story.

We as the reader may see going out and being involved in the world as truly human, because it is what makes us happy. Though Akaky went out into the world after his new overcoat he wasn’t happy to be doing it. He was very clearly out of his element in common society and functioned better in his previous solitary life. I believe this is best illustrated by his stutter. A stutter, especially coupled with Akaky’s lack of confidence, makes it hard for him to communicate with other people. This problem that follows Akaky when in social situations conveys the message that he is more uncomfortable in these situations than in his solitary life as a copier.

The most compelling line in the short story in my opinion is a thought of one of Akaky’s coworkers at the start of the story. “And in those pathetic words he seemed to hear others: ‘I am your brother.’” Before the coat and before the coat was stolen Akaky was looked at as a brother. Though this fact was not always evident to his coworkers it still obviously existed to Gogol. He was human and happy before the new overcoat. If Akaky was to live in LA he never would have to have an overcoat and could have lived a long happy life as an awkward copyist.