“The Nose” by Nikolai Gogol was a very strange piece to say the least. While reading this short story, I immediately thought of Voldemort from the Harry Potter series, when Major Kovaloff realized he lost his nose.  Over the course of reading the entire story, I would continually imagine Voldemort in the place of Major Kovaloff; and because of this, I was not able to take the story seriously.

Overall the piece disturbed me as well, because of my imagination as well as lack of imagination. Imagining Major Kovaloff’s nose dressed in “a gold-embroidered uniform with a stiff, high collar, trousers of chamois leather, and a sword hung at its side. The hat, adorned with a plume, showed that it held the rank of a state-councillor” (Gogol) was quite nerve-racking to attempt. I felt as if there were something more to imagine than just the meaning and image associated with the word “Nose.”

I still cannot imagine the nose in one instance able to hold a conversation with Major Kovaloff or in another instance wrinkling its forehead. Questions of how the author intended his audience to visualize the scenes in this story were prevalent throughout my reading and rereading of the story. Furthermore, the image of the nose in the loaf of bread was by far the most memorable parts of this short story. The sheer ridiculousness of the tissue not being damaged by the heat that was required to fire the bread in the oven was just too far from truth for me to take seriously. Rather how did Prasskovna Ossipovna not notice the nose while kneading the bread, before firing it? The mental image painted by these words would further haunt me in my sleep and randomly during the day.

Throughout the entirety of the piece, I realized that I was far more preoccupied with trying to imagine all the scenes that were happening and all of the ridiculous things that were being described, than I was in trying to understand the short story. In retrospect, after realizing that the story had depth to it, the story began to make a lot more sense and felt far more effective at projecting its intended message. Further information on Gogol’s work from the professors contributed to my appreciation of the piece. Although I cannot say I liked the piece, I will admit that this short story had a very interesting take on presenting of the importance of social class in Russian Society.

Works Cited:

Levine, Matt. “You Say “Voldemort” Like That’s A Bad Thing.” Dealbreaker. Breaking Media, 09 Apr. 2012. Web. 08 Oct. 2013.

Deviantart.net. Deviantart, n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.