Kaur 1

Sukhdeep Kaur

Professor Fracassi

English 2230

22nd July 2022

1. Akaky Akakievich, the gentle scribe in Gogol’s Overcoat, lives and works in abject

poverty. On the job, he often has to “cover his face with his hand” to fend off

harassment: “Leave me alone! Why do you insult me? I am your brother!” Is there

anyone in Akaky’s circle that stands up for him? Discuss the context.

Yes, there is someone in Akaky’s circle that stood for him. He is known as ‘The

Young Official’. Akaky Akakievich is a man with unmemorable looks. He is educated, and

holds at the lowest rank of bureaucracy, but still very poor. He spends all his time in copying

the documents and while doing so he has been made fun and teased by his colleagues by

calling him doubt and Akaky would not give a reply back. One day, Akaky said his

colleague to leave him alone and not to insult him as he is their brother. These words effected

one of the colleagues who is known as the young official as he was new to the office. Those

words hit deep in his heart. He suddenly stopped to tease Akaky. He gives reply back to the

colleagues who teased Akaky , who were once his acquainted and that is how the young

official helps and protect Akaky from harassment.

2. In Tolstoy’s What Men Live By a humble shoemaker named Simon helps everyone

he meets. Even when others treat him poorly, refusing to offer him bread or
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sheepskin on credit, he remains steadfast: “I’m quite warm though I have no sheep-

skin coat. I’ve had a drop [to drink] and it runs through all my veins. I need no

sheep-skins. I go along and don’t worry about anything. That’s the sort of man I

am.” In your view, what knowledge (or moral values) ‘to live by’ is exemplified by

the impoverished protagonists in Tolstoy and Gogol’s stories?

Unlike all the other boys, Simon acts morally not out of guilt or shame but

because he believes in the inherent value of morality. Which men live by isn't so much

for really focusing on themselves yet by affection and really focusing on others. All

things considered, care and love for others is the fundamental of every human need. The

craving to cherish and feel adored in kind is which man lives by. On the other hand,

Akaky is a hardworking person as Simon, but he let other to harassed him and still not a

single word back to the who teased him or made fun of him. The message the overcoat

gives about we should harass the people. The novel includes about the working class,

social standing and fate, the idea of possessing a desirable possession. Over here, Simon

is person who would speak back for the right, but Akaky doesn’t have enough courage to

speak back to his colleagues who harassed him from long.