Fashion, Appearances, and Status
“The Nose” follows a man named Collegiate Assessor Kovalev as he inexplicably loses—and tries to get back—his nose. In the time between detaching and reattaching, the nose himself has an adventure: dressing and acting like a gentleman of higher rank than his owner. Set in status-obsessed St. Petersburg during a time of widespread economic disparity, Gogol embeds a scratching critique of society within the narrator’s fashion-based descriptions of the story’s three principal characters…
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Absurdity, Magic, and Reality
In “The Nose,” readers follow Collegiate Assessor Kovalev as he wakes up one day without a nose and later stumbles upon his missing organ sauntering around town like a well-to-do gentleman. This strange tale predates magical realism but fits right in with the genre—as is typical of other works of magical realism, magic occurs in this story within a realistic setting, among real-seeming people, and without any discernable reason, making it all the more jarring…
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Insecurity, Masculinity, and Identity
In the story, Kovalev’s nose, disembodied and passing as a person of higher rank than himself, leaves both Kovalev’s face and sense of self exposed. Prior to this loss, it is clear that Kovalev’s own sense of masculinity hinges on his ability to manipulate and dominate over women and ingratiate himself with other powerful men. However, without his nose—symbolic of his masculinity—Kovalev is suddenly and uncharacteristically vulnerable, submissive to other men, and even…
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