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Section 1
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Nose, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Fashion, Appearances, and Status
Absurdity, Magic, and Reality
Insecurity, Masculinity, and Identity
Summary
Analysis
On March 25th, Kovalev wakes up and immediately reaches for a mirror to check on a zit on his nose. However, to his complete shock, there’s no nose. Smooth, flat skin now covers the center of his face. Kovalev jumps up and hurriedly has his servant dress him, intending to go straight to the police.
The narrator pauses from the plot of the story to provide background information on Kovalev and his position as a collegiate assessor. There are two ways to the rank of collegiate assessor: (1) a long path involving earning many diplomas, and (2) a short route of working in the Caucasus. Kovalev took the Caucasus route and has held his rank for just two years—“and therefore could not forget it for a moment.”
In 1836, St. Petersburg society was all-consumed with Russia's Table of Ranks. The Table of Ranks classified people by civil or military position and thus determined one's status in society. The higher up a person was in the Table of Ranks, the higher their social status. Promotions were theoretically based on job performance and degrees—but, because of corruption, this wasn’t always the case. Kovalev's quick rise through the ranks suggests bribery.
Themes
Kovalev fudges his “nobility and weight,” going by the rank of Major instead of collegiate assessor, particularly when he’s around women. Often when he meets a beautiful young woman, he’ll “give her a secret order” to meet him in his apartment.
Underneath Kovalev’s big ego seems to be a deep insecurity about this shady advancement up through the Table of Ranks. To compensate for this insecurity, Kovalev exploits women.
Themes
Usually, Kovalev likes to roam the park dressed as a big, important man. He wears an excessive number of seals and keeps his mustache trimmed in the fashion of a high-class man. Indeed, Kovalev is a notorious bachelor who would only agree to marriage for significant financial gain. Today, though, Kovalev timidly roams the streets, covering the center of his face with a handkerchief, and dipping into empty shops to catch a glimpse of his face.
Kovalev spends his time posturing as a high-ranking playboy. But he seems not to really care about women themselves–only how women reflect or affect his rank. Indeed, Kovalev is only interested in marriage if it would improve his status. Thus, rank is Kovalev’s central, all-consuming concern.
Themes
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Suddenly, Kovalev spots a gentleman dressed as a state councilor exiting a carriage and entering a cathedral. To his great shock, Kovalev realizes that the man is his missing nose.
Inexplicably, the nose now appears as a person. With the dreamlike transition from the first to second section, readers are left without any explanation of how or why the nose changed form.
Themes
Astonished, Kovalev races into the cathedral behind his nose, tripping over the “old beggar women with bandaged faces” he would typically mock.
The lack of nose leaves Kovalev unable to go about his regular practice of harassing of women.
Themes
Once inside the cathedral, Kovalev spots his nose praying diligently in a high, fancy collar. Kovalev stumbles to confront the nose, spluttering ineloquently about his rank.
The nose demands that Kovalev get to the point. Kovalev continues to sputter details about his rank and social status, failing to directly mention anything about the situation at hand until the nose again demands that Kovalev clarify his accusation. Kovalev then exclaims, “But you’re my own nose!” The nose replies, “there can be no close relationship between us. Judging by the buttons on your uniform, you must serve in a different department.”
The nose’s ability pass as a gentleman indicates general, cultural-wide obsession with rank: people pay no mind to the person behind the badges. Ridiculously, dressing and acting as a man of high rank, the nose even intimidates Kovalev.
Themes
Kovalev is then briefly distracted by the appearance of a young woman. He takes a moment to leer at her body and face. Realizing she is young, he moves in. But then Kovalev suddenly remembers that his face is missing a nose, and he “jump[s] back as if burnt.” The realization of his face's odd state fills Kovalev with both sadness and dread, causing him to forgo any attempt to approach the beautiful young woman.
Kovalev ogles at the unnamed woman, briefly distracting himself from the ongoing crisis. Without his nose, Kovalev lacks the confidence to approach the young woman. He feels “burned”: he’s wounded as if castrated. The nose is thus a symbol for Kovalev’s masculinity and a proxy for his physical manhood (penis).
Themes
Kovalev notices that the nose is gone. Unable to locate the nose, Kovalev heads to the police station. With the police commissioner out of the office, Kovalev takes a moment to think about his situation. He then realizes that, as the nose is at a higher rank than himself, the police might not provide much help. He decides to take out an ad in the newspaper for his nose.
In general, “The Nose” is a story about realistic characters brainstorming solutions to unrealistic circumstances. Specifically, in this section, Kovalev walks through how best to grapple with his bizarre situation. For Kovalev, the ability to imagine a solution is is limited by his own fixation on rank.
Themes
Kovalev asks a newspaper clerk to arrange an advertisement for the nose. The newspaper clerk declines his request, recalling that he was recently tricked into printing a fake ad involving a poodle. Kovalev pleads with the newspaper man, revealing his face as proof that he is not kidding.
In response to the mindboggling description of a nose disappearing off a face, the newspaper clerk concludes that the nose story is a gag. In doing so, the newspaper clerk models one way of rationalizing the irrational: that it is a lie or a joke.
Themes
The newspaper clerk agrees that Kovalev, with his nose missing, is not likely pulling a prank. Still, the newspaper clerk concludes that request is too strange and printing the ad would make him seem foolish, thus he still refuses to place the ad. The newspaper clerk then offers Kovalev bit of snuff which, without a nose to ingest it, Kovalev must decline.
Snuff – a tobacco product – delivers a quick hit of pleasure when inhaled through the nose. That the newspaper clerk offers Kovalev a hit even after Kovalev shows him that his nose is missing shows the clerk’s lack of compassion. He insensitively offers Kovalev snuff, and refuses to help a panicked, noseless man find his nose because he worries about his own reputation.
Themes
After failing to obtain any help at the newspaper, Kovalev goes to the police commissioner's home. Annoyed with Kovalev for disrupting his time at home, the police commissioner refuses help, implying that Kovalev probably had his nose removed by roughhousing in the usual manner of a major. The insult to men of his rank deeply offends Kovalev.
Kovalev is submissive towards the police commissioner, signifying that he’s of lower rank. Indeed, according to the Table of Ranks, assessors were of lower status than police commissioners. The interaction thus depicts how the Table of Ranks governed many aspects of life, including a person’s ability to get justice.
Themes
Dejected and offended by the police commissioner's remarks, an “extremely touchy” Kovalev returns home. He suddenly feels disgusted by his own apartment and lashes out towards a servant. Feeling deeply confused, Kovalev pinches his face quite hard to make sure he’s not in a dream. He wonders if he is drunk.
Kovalev’s interaction with the police commissioner bruises his delicate ego. In parallel, as Kovalev unsuccessfully attempts to figure out the source of his bizarre misfortunate, he bruises his own face. The injury of the missing nose thus hits Kovalev on many levels for comedic effect.
Themes
After a bit of brainstorming, Kovalev comes up with one possible explanation for his misfortune: vengeful witchcraft. Specifically, lays the blame on Podtochina, the mother of an attractive young girl he’s knowingly leading on.
Kovalev is quick to blame a woman he’s mistreated for his misfortune. As such, Kovalev’s misogyny operates in tandem with a fear of women’s power.
Themes
A police officer arrives at Kovalev’s door. The narrator tells the reader that this is the same officer who confronted Ivan Yakovlevich at the end of first section. The police officer announces that he has Kovalev’s missing nose.
Putting the more fantastical action off the page (how the police officer finds out about and procures the nose) affords Gogol the opportunity to avoid having to explain away the story’s magic.
Themes
When Kovalev asks the officer how he got the nose, the police officer recounts that, due to his poor eyesight, he first thought that the nose was a gentleman. Without much explanation, the officer then claims that “the chief participant in this affair” is the drunk barber Ivan Yakovlevich. Fishing something out of his pocket, the officer reveals the nose wrapped in paper, lifeless and normal-sized. Kovalev is overjoyed.
The nose passes as a gentleman to everyone but Kovalev and the police officer. Perhaps due to his poor eyesight, the police officer was able to discern the nose was a nose: it might be that poor vision allowed the officer to see past the details of the nose’s uniform which signified the nose’s rank and blinded everyone else.
Themes
When the police officer mentions his family’s financial misfortunes, Kovalev sends him off with a little money. With the officer gone, an exuberant Kovalev attempts to plop the nose back to his face. But the nose doesn't stay in place. Kovalev calls for a doctor living in his same apartment building for help.
The doctor occupies the most beautiful apartment in the building, sports an impressive mustache, and practices an elaborate personal grooming routine. When he arrives, the doctor knocks Kovalev’s head around, groping the smooth surface in the center where Kovalev’s nose once sat. After a rough examination, the doctor concludes that reattaching the nose will do Kovalev more harm than good. Kovalev begs the doctor to reattach the nose anyway but the doctor stands firm in his decision and even offers to buy the nose from Kovalev.
Kovalev is submissive towards the doctor. As with the police officer, Kovalev holds a lower position in the Rank of Tables. The doctor treats Kovalev accordingly, seemingly more interested in purchasing the oddity than helping his patient. Kovalev’s deference towards the doctor and the doctor's lack of genuine concern for his patient reveals how the Table of Ranks governed both social and medical aspects of life.
Themes
With the doctor gone, a now-miserable Kovalev returns to the mystery of losing his nose. Determined to make sense of recent events, Kovalev reflects on his actions over the past days. Deciding that Podtochina’s witchcraft was the most probable cause of his misfortune, Kovalev sends a note to Podtochina threatening legal action for the disappearance of his nose.
“The Nose” is set in 1836— long after the bloodiest period of Russia’s witch-hunts, which occurred in the 1700s. Still, even in 1836, many people in St. Petersburg were profoundly superstitious and preoccupied with the devil, leading to prosecutions for witchcraft up through the 1800s.
Themes
Podtochina quickly pens a reply. In her note, she assumes that Kovalev's mention of a nose is figurative, taking it to mean a social snub. When he reads the letter, Kovalev concludes that Podtochina is innocent, leaving him more even more confused and sad than before.
As with other characters (like the newspaper clerk), Podtochina models one reasonable explanation of the bizarre situation: assuming that Kovalev is speaking figuratively, rather than literally, about his nose.
Themes
Over the next several days, Kovalev fails to rally the courage to partake in his regular social engagements – especially those involving young women. Meanwhile, the general public excitedly spreads rumors about the nose. Eventually, circulation of the fantastical story of Kovalev’s nose blends in with more mundane social chatter. Likewise, respectable gentlemen begin to regard the story as too trashy to discuss, deeming the nose as an unfit topic for men of higher rank.
Again, without his nose, Kovalev is unable to perform a masculinity predicated on the mistreatment of women. The nose thus serves as a symbol for Kovalev’s toxic masculinity. That some consider gossip about the nose sordid further indicates that the nose is a symbol for a penis.
Themes
The narrator ends the section: “[B]ut here again the whole incident is shrouded in mist, and what came later is decidedly unknown.”
The first and second sections end in the same way, obscuring precise details of the story’s magical elements from the reader to maintain a dreamlike mood.
Themes
