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The Narrator
A young man new to Akaky Akakievich’s office. He is moved to pity when the other officials make fun of Akaky, and Akaky’s defensive exclamations seem to the young official to mean “I am thy brother.” The young official remembers this for a long time, and feels ashamed about the state of man’s inhumanity to man. His realization marks the story’s shift from a rather straightforward comedy to a more complex kind of tragicomedy.
The Young Official Quotes in The Overcoat
The The Overcoat quotes below are all either spoken by The Young Official or refer to The Young Official. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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The Overcoat Quotes
And for a long time afterwards, even during his gayest moments, he would see that stooping figure with a bald patch in front, muttering pathetically: “Leave me alone, why do you have to torment me?” And in these piercing words he could hear the sound of others: “I am your brother.” The poor young man would bury his face in his hands and many times later in life shuddered at the thought of how brutal men could be and how the most refined manners and breeding often concealed the most savage coarseness, even, dear God, in someone universally recognized for his honesty and uprightness...
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The Young Official Character Timeline in The Overcoat
The timeline below shows where the character The Young Official appears in The Overcoat. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
The Overcoat
...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...
(full context)
