Analysis of The Nose by Nikolai Gogol Essay Example

“Whose nose have you cut off, you monster?” she screamed, her face red with anger. “You scoundrel! You tippler! I myself will report you to the police! Such a rascal!” That was an excerpt from the short story “The Nose”. Nikolai Gogol (the author) takes a serious metaphor and makes a very funny story about it. Behind all the fun wordplay and alliteration, he portrays a very serious message about confidence and humility. The theme is grieving or, in better terms, personal growth. In the story, Kovaloff has a very big issue: he cares about his looks, and status matters a lot to him, so when he wakes up one morning and realizes that his nose is missing, he spirals. He goes out on a quest to find his nose, but when he does, he’s living his nightmare. When he finally gets his nose back, his doctor advises him that it would not be the best idea to reattach the nose, but sadly he feels as though he can’t live without his nose. 

Gogol uses personification to display how much power “The Nose” has over his worth. Kovaloff sees himself as worthless and that he is nothing without his status and title. When Kovaloff discovered his nose was gone, he didn’t truly believe I mean how is that even possible, but when he got up and stood in front of the mirror in his room his worst fear came true, he was no longer perfect he was simply like everyone else he no longer had his power and his high worth. Nevertheless, the worst was yet to come, and that’s when he caught up to his nose. The nose had all the power, dignity, and fame everyone around him no longer saw him and, strong and mighty, he became vulnerable and almost weak. The straw that broke the camel's back was when his nose said, “There you are wrong, respected sir; I am myself. Besides, there can be no close relations between us. To judge by the buttons of your uniform, you must be in quite a different department than mine.” At that moment, he was humbled and shown that no matter how high and mighty you feel, it can all be taken away. He was imperfect, ugly, pathetic, a nobody, and finally absolutely useless. All these years, this warped image he had of himself had come true and was shown to the world and he was ashamed. He finds himself revolting. He feels as though without these titles he is a worthless piece of trash. 

Along with that, Gogol is showing the character’s problems when it comes to self-image and worth. He displays this by using metaphors and imagery. Kovaloff’s biggest problem is he tries to hide his pain behind jokes and sarcasm, but deep down I believe that he is truly in an enormous amount of pain and doesn’t know how to handle it. He finds his image revolting and  shameful but when it comes to his problems it doesn’t come from a bad place he’s not trying to be better than everyone else he’s just trying to feel less repulsive.  Kovaloff has serious problems but he never truly handles them he just comes up with temporary solutions that in the long run will only make things worse. “All very fine, but how am I to go on without a nose?” answered Kovaloff. “There is nothing worse than that. How can I show myself with such a villainous appearance?” He even finds his own without a simple nose villainous. The worst part of it all he is convinced that once he gets his nose back everything will be perfect and all his problems will go away. It seems like he has a case of body deformity and or anxiety. This is because he is constantly talking and worrying about what other people and gonna say and think about him or his tile. I mean he can’t even part with the nose when they gave him the idea of selling it “No, no, I shall not sell it at any price. I would rather it was lost again.” Let’s just like to reiterate the fact that he does get his nose back on his face in the end but he had to learn a valuable lesson almost like Scrooge from the Christmas story he had to learn how to live without it learn that he was more than the nose itself. 

Gogol's final tool is sentence variety; he does this by showing in different ways how he tries to accept life without his nose, but he’s never truly able to give it up and move on with his life. Kovaloff never truly faces his problems in the story he avoids them or in better terms patches them he “fixes” by getting what he thinks he needs in this case his nose, but that isn’t the real problem is his image and that if he’s not perfect, then he’s nothing at all. When Kovaloff gets his nose back he wants to put it back asap, however, the doctor wants him to refrain from putting it back on again, so instead, he decides to let nature take its course and he ends up with whatever he gets. . “I do not treat patients with a love of gain. That would be contrary to my principles and my art. It is true that I accept fees, but that is only not to hurt my patients’ feelings by refusing them. I could certainly replace your nose, but I assure you of my word of honor, it would only make matters worse. Rather, let Nature do her work. Wash the place often with cold water, and I assure you that even without a nose, you will be just as well as if you had one. As to the nose itself, I advise you to have it preserved in a bottle of spirits, or, still better, of warm vinegar mixed with two spoonfuls of brandy, and then you can sell it at a good price. I would be willing to take it myself, provided you do not ask too much.” In the end, he gets his nose back and is happy but truly I believe that he should have been left without yes he had a change of heart and realized that’s not what’s important however eventually he will go back to his old ways it humbled him it showed him that he is not just his looks that not where he gets his values from that he is more than just a title he is a good person who has values in himself outside of his job and class in society. 

It doesn’t matter how big or small something is always going to make you feel shameful as well as pitiful. It will never be easy to accept that and understand why you might feel that way but you are not a bad person because of it if anything it makes you more human. Kovaloff honestly reminds me of well me. I have insecurities and I wish there were things I could change about myself the only thing that differentiates me and Kovaloff is he got the opportunity to see what life could be like without it however he wasn’t happy if anything he saw it as a curse or nightmare as I stated earlier. The part of this story that speaks to me the most is the part where the nose tells him he is a nobody in addition to the fact that he has lost his purpose. When Kovaloff gets his nose back he is ecstatic moreover he feels as though this weight has been lifted off his shoulders. I think he learned something about himself and he became aware of his problems but I don’t think it will last long he will eventually go back to his old ways. When you don’t accept yourself for who you truly are it can eat you alive and come back to haunt you face your problems head-on and tackle, conquer, and defeat your insecurities for the reason that you are beautiful just the way you.