Insecurity, Masculinity, and Identity Theme Analysis

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 leaves women alone. As soon as he gets his nose back, though, his behavior reverts. That the missing nose so swiftly robs him of this ability to perform his toxic masculine identity suggests not only that Kovalev’s masculinity is fragile, but also that he performs a hypermasculine identity as a means to cover up his many insecurities.

From the outset, the narrator describes Kovalev as a man driven by a deep sense of inferiority and insecurity. Specifically, the narrator details two paths to the title of collegiate assessor: earning multiple degrees or through the bribery-laden (and therefore less respected) Caucasus. Kovalev earned his rank through the Caucasus and, in doing so, carries less social currency than his college-educated peers. To compensate, Kovalev puffs himself up, pretending to be a man of higher rank. Namely, “to give himself more nobility and weight,” Kovalev inflates his title to from assessor to major, trying to overcompensate for his insecurity by inflating his civil status. Still, Kovalev “cannot forget it for a moment” that his beginnings were so shady, revealing that his insecurity is all-consuming and setting up for the ways in which he overcompensates for this insecurity.

In particular, Kovalev inflates his position to manipulate women, whom he sees as objects. As the narrator puts it, Kovalev exaggerates his title to major specifically to prey on women. Under the guise of a major, he would often approach a woman and, seeing her as nothing but "little thing," give her "secret orders" to meet him in his apartment, presumably so he can sleep with her. That Kovalev commands women—whom he explicitly sees as trivial objects, or “little thing[s]—to sleep with him reveals that his particular brand of masculinity is rooted in dominance over and objectification of women. Similarly, when Kovalev’s nose inexplicably disappears, and he considers who might've cast a spell against him, his thoughts immediately turn to Podtochina's daughter, a girl he was sleeping with but wouldn't marry. In thinking of this girl, Kovalev talks about her as if she's a thing: he has been "dallying with her, but kept avoiding a final settlement." Later in the story, he likens Podtochina’s daughter to a "hen." By conflating her with livestock—an animal bred for food or other practical purposes—Kovalev robs Podtochina’s daughter of her personhood and points again to the way that his masculinity rests on having control over women and objectifying them.

Stripped of his nose and his masculinity, though, Kovalev becomes a completely different person. No longer puffed up and domineering, the noseless Kovalev is timid and submissive toward women and high-powered men. This highlights the fact that, up until this point, Kovalev has been engaging in a performance of hypermasculinity in an attempt to blot out his feelings of inferiority and insecurity. In denying Kovalev’s request for help getting his nose back, the police commissioner makes a disparaging comment about Kovalev’s rank. As Kovalev is ashamed of his roots and attempts to fit in among the elite, this interaction leaves Kovalev feeling further emasculated, as if “a square hit, right between the eyes.” Note how the narrator uses combative language to describe the interaction, suggesting that Kovalev’s lesser rank leaves him physically vulnerable. The encounter ultimately exposes Kovalev’s underlying delicateness, or as the narrator describes him, “an extremely touchy man.”

A similar encounter occurs later in the story when Kovalev calls for a nearby doctor for help reattaching the organ. The doctor, who lives in the fanciest apartment in Kovalev’s building, is an “imposing man, possessed of handsome, pitch-black side-whiskers,” representing his strong masculinity. While the story earlier noted that Kovalev specifically trims his whiskers just like the “surveyors, architects, and regimental doctors” do, which would in theory allow him to at least pretend to be this man’s equal, Kovalev instead shows signs of intimidation with the doctor, allowing the doctor to handle him aggressively, flick his face, and jerk him around “like a horse.” Again, without his nose, Kovalev is unable to stand his ground with other men.

Without his mask of masculinity—the titular nose—Kovalev is also suddenly meek toward women. At one point in the story, Kovalev briefly pauses the pursuit of his nose when he sees an enticing young woman and begins to leer at her. However, once he recalls that his nose is gone, Kovalev “jumped back as if burnt.” Without his nose, Kovalev feels too emasculated to ogle at the young woman and begins to cry: “in place of a nose he had absolutely nothing, and tears squeezed themselves from his eyes.” As a symbol of his masculine identity, Kovalev’s nose was like mask that he could use to cover up his insecurities; without that mask, Kovalev is left vulnerable, cowering, and exposed.

When Kovalev gets his nose back by the end of the story, he’s renewed. Back to his old self, manipulating women, and playing up his status, Kovalev again takes up his performance of masculinity to re-conceal all of the vulnerability and insecurity he laid bare in his noseless state. Puffed up once more, Kovalev even goes so far as to feel superior to men with smaller noses—now a phallic symbol—feeling pleased with himself when he notices a man “who had a nose no bigger than a waistcoat button.” Interestingly, the absence of Kovalev’s nose is never really upsetting to him because it disrupts his ability to smell or breathe, but rather because loss of his nose—his mask of masculinity—threatens to expose Kovalev as an insecure, simple accessor, making it clear that he’s not the big man major he presents.