The Nose:
When I was reading this short story the only thing I couldn’t understand was why? Why would Gogol write a story about losing a nose? But then again why would Kafka write about a man awakening one morning being a cockroach? In Gogol’s The Nose we learn the story in about social class, and where people rank. In truth though both Gogol and Kafka’s stories seem ridiculous and pointless.
Technically speaking it is quite ironic that the first sense mentioned is smell when Ivan wakes up “becoming aware of the SMELL of fresh-baked bread.” The use of his nose lead him tot find someone else’s nose. I was shocked when in the third paragraph Gogol already mentioned the losing of a Nose. I expected this short story to be drawn out and not mention a nose at all until Act two. I have found in past readings that the title is not defined or not mentioned until deep after all character analyses can be made.
How can a nose go missing from someone’s face and not make a fuss about it? What are with these authors Gogol and Kafka, that they don’t make fusses about fussy things!
The only thing I could picture Kavalev (the man who lost his nose) looking like would be Lord Voldemort.
Imagine a regular prosperous man who gets his face shaven regularly one day wakes up and looks like the image above. How scarred would you be waking up to see that in the mirror.
How does a person smell without a nose? How come Gogol didn’t mention Kovalev’s sense of smell once he lost his nose? I understand the nose was merely a representation for social status but Gogol could have incorporated things that come hand in hand with social class and referred to that as smell.
What is this nose’s form that Kovalev follows? I know I referred to this concept in Metamorphosis…the size of the cockroach but really, does it look like a regular nose or is it just a man Kovalev has never seen before with a his nose on their face? If it is a real life-size nose how come no one recognized it as a nose in the street? Could this be justified that he was a highly decorated civil servant? Maybe people didn’t look up in that time to civil servants because of class, and if they did look up maybe they had no right to say anything. If the nose was just Kovalev’s nose on a different man how did Kovalev recognize it? Noses look different on different faces. When people get nose jobs some people choose a nose form a book. All people that get nose jobs though don’t look alike.
I know I asked many questions, but that is because I just do not understand why? Why a NOSE? Why did Gogol write this short story?
I also cannot understand why would Gogol or anyone write a story about losing a nose. The story is ridiculous. I like the observation you found that the first sense mentioned was smell. I read right over it but it really is strange to mention smell before anything else. Lord Voldemort did not come into my head when I thought of a man who lost his nose but it’s a good comparison. I could not picture a man without a nose; I only pictured a snowman without a carrot. I had trouble trying to figure out what the nose looked like off of Kovalev’s face. Was it a regular everyday person or was the person wearing his nose? Either way, how can Kovalev recognize it was his nose?