This whole story seemed a bit like the childhood game of “I got your nose!”
The whole story was told in a satirical style so that it was easier to accept this silliness, only later upon sinking in can you really see the meaning of this story; there has always been certain symbols that equate to power and without them you are just like everyone else. As we discussed as a group there are many different things this nose stands for: a penis, social class and/or the stuck-up-ness of the rich, which is commonly referred to as holding their nose high.
Something we didn’t discuss in class was the fact that the law and the rest of the classes below the rich give into their demands. The law is the biggest factor because whether paid off or not they commonly have the mindset of keeping the status quo by shutting down the poor’s chances of moving up, shown by the officer stopping Ivan the barber and The Nose himself from getting out of town. There was an extremely obvious undertone to the cop when he delivers the nose back to its rightful owner and then discusses how he doesn’t have enough money to put his daughter through college. Kovaloff totally ignores this fact because he believes he can now go back to his status in society. I believe this was a stab at how the society in real life deals with the reach, giving into their undeserved power without thinking they deserve anything in return. Whats ironic is that this book was written over a 100 years ago and still we have these same problems in society even though this story addresses them. Even though the rich are a minority by definition, they always seem to intimidate the vast public from acting and thus history repeats itself. The idea of Healthcare is the new topic and in many comedy skits the reporter will ask the public how they feel about Obamacare and then The Affordable Care Act. People say they hate Obama care, yet will be happy to take on the other plan (they are the same thing). The rich have campaigned to make people have these feelings so they are manipulated to turn this down so that the rich insurance companies can continue to thrive, hurting the poor.
I can’t say that I understood the story or the Libretto in entirety, but I did enjoy them and they riled me up to do something about this repeating problem. I did feel in that moment like I had a genuine hatred for the rich and that a revolt was in order. After settling down I wasn’t as ambitious, but I do feel something must be done by today’s youth. The entitlement based on race, sex, last name, or financial status is unjust and is ruining America especially. The hypocrisy and leverage that comes with having the desired “nose”, penis, or physical presence dictates the order of way to many lives that have no say in the matter.
I agree with you that the same problems are in today’s society. I think that they are more subtle now, or dulled – but perhaps I think that because I am in the middle of it and don’t have an outside perspective. That’s why stories like this are important. They’re important because they force the reader to take a step back and gain a new perspective.
Fiction in general is important because of this. Whether it be examining human nature, society, or really, anything, fiction provides a new perspective on whatever issue it is. Works like “The Nose” become controversial when they challenge a preconceived notion – they then gain prestige. It is my hope that more works like this become published – in reading them, we can grow in intelligence as a collective human race.
I completely agree with you Jake. Society needs to change and has to get back on track with what its main goal is. many times we choose to go aside from the goal and do something else. I think that society has done this to our goals as well. Where once we knew what we wanted we choose something else, but in the end of the day it’s the same thing, but the only difference is the meaning behind the goal. The Obama care analogy was a perfect resemblance of this because we all know what we want, but once a screen the mirrors the exact image is put into our view we seem to think something else. An analogy to that analogy is a major we want to pursue. I would like to go into visual effects, but my college only offers computer art so I choose to pursue something else when in fact the two majors are the same thing.