During the nineteenth century, Nikolai Gogol wrote “The Overcoat,” a short story about a lower class copying clerk whose life transforms after acquiring a new overcoat.  The setting of the story is in Russia: a place where harsh winters and extremely cold weather make an overcoat an essential piece of clothing.  Gogol utilizes this article of clothing to evoke emotions, especially feelings of sympathy and compassion, in hopes that the reader will both identify and empathize with the main character, Akaky Akakievich Bashmachkin.  Nikolai Gogol personifies the overcoat as a maternal figure.  Through a clear understanding of the feminine symbolism deeply embedded in the overcoat, the reader is able to comprehend a specific theme, addressed by Gogol, concerning the relationship between change and love.  The theme is that spontaneous change demonstrates that even the strongest bonds of love are hardly ever guaranteed and that a disruption in that can have disastrous results, including death.
        Before a reader can understand the correlation between change and love, he/she has to recognize that the overcoat unequivocally symbolizes a female.  There are examples from the text that support the idea that the overcoat is indeed symbolic of a female, but first one must consider the Russian translation for the word, overcoat.  The idea of the overcoat functioning as a woman becomes easier to believe if one is aware of the Russian translation.  The translation is shinel.  Many Gogolian scholars have noted that the grammatical gender of shinel is feminine (Rancour-Laferriere, 120).  Gogol must have had some motivation for giving the overcoat a feminine name, especially since it belonged to a man, Akaky, and since he could have used other translations for the overcoat that take on a masculine grammatical gender.
        The narrator of the story offers some justification for the feminine gender of the overcoat with the following statement: “…[the] overcoat also served as an object of mockery for the clerks; they even deprived it of the noble name of overcoat and called it a housecoat” (Gogol, 400).  This suggests that the overcoat worn by Akaky is not as dignified as his co-workers; thus, an analogy between the status of males versus females in nineteenth century Russia could be drawn to represent the link between the name of the overcoat and the feminine personification.  Nineteenth century Russia was an era of great social oppression where men enjoyed much more liberties than women and were considered by the authorities as more important.  Through the previous analogy, Gogol’s implementation of the word shinel demonstrates its innate feminine symbolism.
        The narrator provides examples of the feminine nature of the overcoat by relating it to what many would associate with being feminine.  Birth, for example, is something that should be considered both feminine and maternal.  It is the woman that gives birth and after the child’s birth she is the one who becomes the biological mother.  The narrator describes a long wait, in which Akaky has to make sacrifices such as depriving himself of food, the burning of candles, and bathing regularly (Gogol, 406), before Akaky can obtain the new overcoat.  The long wait could be analogous to the pregnant state of the mother.  The analogy is suggested by the following interpretation; “The notion of birth is also suggested by the long wait (‘expectancy’) for the new overcoat…” (Rancour-Laferriere, 122).  An interpretation of the long wait and the sacrifices that Akaky must make symbolizing birth might lead readers to conclude that Akaky adopts maternal characteristics; this is a somewhat erroneous assumption.  The overcoat helps surface the associations with maternal figures; thus, it should be the object that is symbolic of femininity and more so, maternity.
        After considering these conclusions and examples of the overcoat symbolizing a maternal figure, the reader must realize that the maternal figure portrayed through the overcoat becomes a source of affection and admiration for Akaky.  After he receives the new overcoat, he begins to admire it and touch it.  “At each instant of every minute he felt that there was a new overcoat on his shoulders, and several times he even smiled from inner satisfaction” (Gogol, 409).  He cared for his overcoat just like any man would care for his mother, his life-provider.  He looked at this new overcoat with awe and it was that “inner satisfaction” and affection that Akaky had for his new overcoat that develops into a stronger relationship with his mother.
        The first relationship that a human being forms is the one between him/herself and his/her mother, but for Akaky this was a relationship that was reborn after a long period of feeling cold and unprotected and after enduring such incessant torment from his co-workers.  Immediately after a child is born, and even while the unborn child is in the womb, there is a special connection, what seems to be an unbreakable bond, between the mother and child, so it is imperative to analyze how Akaky’s relationship with his “maternal” overcoat will be affected by the introduction of spontaneous change.  The admiration that Akaky displays for the new overcoat is similar to a child’s admiration for his mother.  Human beings often look to their parents for protection and security, and when they get that sense of being secure, they admire their parents.
        Akaky’s old overcoat is dingy and thinning along the shoulders and the back.  It fails to provide him with the protection he needs from the harsh wintry weather; therefore, he has no reason to admire this overcoat or to bestow maternal associations with it because it fails to provide him with the security and protection that maternal figures are notorious for.  Akaky; however, gets a sense of security and protection from his new overcoat.  The new overcoat provides him with a warm body while walking through the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia.  It protects him from various weather elements and gives him a sense of security; thus, he can admire it and give it maternal characteristics.  Unfortunately, that security abruptly vanishes when thieves steal the overcoat off his back, kick him to the snow, and leave him there to die (Gogol, 413).
        The thieves introduced change into Akaky’s relationship with his maternal overcoat.  The thieves are responsible for not only eliminating Akaky’s sense of security but also depriving him of his mother.  “The primordial source of love and life for the infant is the mother (or a mother surrogate)” (Rancour-Laferriere, 193).  The “infant” previously described is considered to be Akaky and the “mother surrogate” is the overcoat.  The new overcoat brings Akaky to life and makes him aware of his environment, but the loss of his “maternal” overcoat is the cause of his unexpected death.  The bond between Akaky and his mother is broken by the theives.  Once he is deprived of his overcoat, his life-giver, he is no longer able to live.  Through Akaky’s death, Gogol demonstrates that not even the strongest bonds between human beings are guaranteed.  He also suggests that a disruption in these bonds can have disastrous effects on the parties involved.
        The symbolic feminine role of the overcoat is “a manifestation of the all-embracing nature of female power” (Woodward, 106).  Women, especially mothers, have immense power over males and more so, their children.  Akaky turned to his new overcoat, just as any child would turn to their mother, for protection and security.  Akaky admired his new overcoat; just as any child would admire his/her mother for her providing him/her with protection and security.  Unfortunately, thieves stole the new overcoat, and with it they took Akaky’s mother.  He was deprived of his mother, the person whom human beings turn toward to sustain their life; thus, he was no longer able to live.  Their bond was broken and a breaking of that bond demonstrates that even bonds originating before birth have no guarantees.