The reading for today was a story entitled Gogol or “The Overcoat”. The story centers around on poor man who lives in Saint Petersburg. He works as a copier and seems to be contented with his job and life. He works very hard for very little but evidently that is very common because he received a bonus of sixty rubles and was extremely happy about it. The story begins with him needing a new overcoat to keep out the cold during the Russian winters. Because of this he goes to a tailor and has a coat made despite the fact that it cost him twice his life savings. After he receives the coat he goes to a part and on his way back he is robed of his coat. After finds that he will get no help from the police and the high administrator he sprits into depression and dies. After his death he does manage to get revenge in the form of the high administrator’s coat.

The most interesting part of this story is the fact that this man is living on such a small margin. He appears to be living on a day to day amount of money with nothing set aside for the future. It makes me wonder what they do when they are no longer able to works. If they have no savings or family then are there any social services that existed to keep them alive. Also did someone clean the streets