When I was searching for some meaning in this seemingly pointless story, I came a cross an interesting interpretation. Imagine waking up one day as a man and your penis is gone. You are just stunned. You have no idea how this could happen. But now you cannot really call yourself a man. You can no longer pick up women because let’s face it; you do not have the equipment anymore. Since you are no longer a real man, your authority and power is challenged. Is a man without a penis really a man, if he cannot do that which a man is born to do? You walk around in shame and humiliation and cannot afford to let anyone see.
Seeing the parallels like this made me give some credit to this interpretation. Interpretations like this, while far fetched, are not wrong because they have textual context. Also the story was written in Nineteenth Century Russia so writing it about penises will guarantee that the only person reading that story will the government official who sentences you to death. Replacing the penis with a nose would seem like a plausible theory given the circumstances.
My collage centers on manliness and how one loses it. I had a picture of the two greatest men in the history of mankind: Arnold Schwarzenegger and Chuck Norris. I also had a picture of trophy with a muscular man on it. Men carry their manliness like a trophy, showing off the legendary achievements they accomplished. It is obvious at this point what the cylinder represents. It gradually gets bigger as the pride a man has increases. But right after, the knife appears. It cuts the cylinder right in half, castrating the man. He is no longer a man. Everything representing masculinity just disappears.
You can see how this reflects in the story. When Kovaloff loses his nose, he is ashamed to show himself. He also cannot talk to the woman who wants to marry him. He just overall loses his strength and just becomes obsessed with finding his nose. This “nose” was all his manhood and when separated, it becomes more important and successful than him. It is like his worth as a person depended on his “nose.”
Midway point
