The Overcoat

The protagonist of the story is Akaky Akakievich, whose name means “Akaky, son of Akaky.” Gogol’s narrator takes pains to impress upon the reader that Akaky Akakievich’s mother had opportunities to choose other names for her son, such as “Mokky, Sossy, or the name of the martyr Khozdazat” (306). She rejects these and all other choices, saying, “It is clear that it is his fate” (306), and names him after his father. The protagonist’s name reflects the story’s theme of Futility and Fate, with his mother seeming to say either that the child is fated to have the name Akaky Akakievich or that the child’s fate is sealed regardless of his name. In either case, individual agency has no power against the force of fate.

The name Akaky is also related to the Russian word for defecation, and so giving the main character this name emphasizes the nearly grotesque mundanity of his life. However, the name is not so outlandish that it can’t function as an everyman, such as “John Smith” in English. Likewise, having the same name as his father may illustrate Akaky Akakievich’s inability to leave his mark on the world. He lives in a familial and professional