When I saw the title of the play we had to read, I was wondering if it was similar to a cartoon I watched a while ago. After reading the play, I realized the cartoon was based off of Gogol’s The Nose. You guys should really watch it. The absurdity of the entire idea that a nose can up itself and walk away is effectively demonstrated by this cartoon. It’s pretty short and entertaining.
When I watched that cartoon, all I could think about was how ridiculous the idea was – how was it possible for one to lose his nose? When I read the play, the same thoughts came to mind. While this might hint at the fact that my analytical skills have not improved over the years (which we shall ignore right now), it also shows that such an idea is still considered absurd, no matter how many time has passed.
I feel like the absurdity (am I using this word too often, even though they’re in different forms?) of the idea that Gogol comes up with distracts us from analyzing the true meaning behind it. It’s possible that Gogol wrote this play just because the idea amused him but that’s probably not the case. The loss of the nose, I think, symbolizes the loss of status or manhood, as someone pointed out during our group meeting that nose sounds like manhood in Russian.
An image I’ve had stuck in my mind for quite some time while reading the play was Voldemort from Harry Potter. I can almost imagine the frustration of the noseless man who argued to put an ad up (I apologize for forgetting the name). It bothers me that their personalities are quite different, but that’s the only image of a noseless man I can come up with, even though Voldemort’s nose was more of a flattened one.
An aspect I wasn’t comfortable with in the play was the shift from Ivan to Kovalev. It felt too abrupt and I have to say I preferred following Ivan’s actions and storyline more than I did Kovalev’s. It may have been Ivan’s nonchalant attitude towards events or his undramatic personality in comparison to everyone else in the play. However, he stood out. Following his mindset and personality was interesting because he wasn’t dramatic and predictable like the rest of the characters.
That’s funny that a connection you made actually ended up being inspired by this story! It leads me to wonder if a lot of the things we come across in television, books, etc. are actually original, or just part of one big recycled story.
Also the Lord Voldemort thing was hilarious! I actually laughed out loud when I saw that one. It provided a good break between the other more serious connections you made. Thanks for making me laugh!
I thought it was interesting that you preferred Ivan’s point of view to that of the other characters. I had the impression that people would enjoy the fact that Kovalev was dramatic in his reaction, especially after the frustration everyone seemed to feel over the under-reaction of Gregor’s metamorphosis.
Oh right, and I got that “every story is part of one big story” idea from this book called How to Read Literature Like a Professor- I definitely recommend it because it emphasizes what this class seems to be focused on: finding the meanings and connections behind an ordinary story.
hahaha I thought of that book too cate when I read that. It is so true after reading that book for a good three months whenever I watched any movie or read a relatively new book I always related it to another book/cartoon/movie i have seem in the past.
If the nose in this play does equal manhood then why the sudden loss and sudden gain in return at the end. was there a girl involved? if so why was she not mentioned?
It was ok to use multiple synonyms of absurd — everyone thought of the same idea. The idea of this story just isn’t logical in any sense of the word. I agree with the status (or reputation) theme that he lost it for some reason and for another reason got it back. But then again, maybe it wasn’t because there was very little point to this story in the first place