Questions about "The Overcoat"

1. Why is copying an "interesting, pleasant world" (p. 276) for Akaky? Why doesn't he want to do other kinds of copying (p. 276-277)?

2. Why does Gogol diminish the importance of Petrovich and his wife if he mentions both several times? (p. 280)

3. Why is Akaky so upset by Petrovich's insistence that he needs a new overcoat? Is it really just about the expense?
-- What does the overcoat, old dressing gown or new overcoat, signify for Akaky?

4. Does "The Overcoat" contain a critique of the social structure of Russian in Gogol's time? (For example, in the fact that Akaky's ghost ignores this social structure by pulling coats off of people "without regard for rank or title") (p. 303).

5. How does the new overcoat change Akaky's relationship with his co-workers? In what way are his interactions with them different? The same? Specifically, is his fellow clerks' sudden interest in celebrating Akaky's new overcoat just another way to make fun of him without him realizing it? (p.290-293)

6. Why does Akaky say, "No, it would be better not to look" (p. 294) and then cross the dark square with his eyes closed only to be attacked?

7. Who attacks Akaky in the square and steals his overcoat? (p. 294)

8. What role does the supernatural play in this fairly realistic, if comic, story? (p. 303-308)

9. Why does the Important Personage only regret his habitual severity after his interaction with Akaky? (p. 304-305)

10. Why the second ghost at the end? (p. 308) Who is it supposed to be?

11. Gogol says of Akaky, "It would be unfair to say that no attention had ever been paid to him" (p. 276) and also, "No one had ever paid him the slightest attention" (p. 302). Which statement is true?

12. Is this story a comic-tragedy or a tragic-comedy?