The Nose: Nikoli Gogol

In his short story The Nose, Nikoli Gogol wrote that, ‘The world is full of the most outrageous nonsense.’ And it opens with nothing less than that. A barber is having breakfast with his nagging wife. The options are an onion, a bread roll or coffee. He is allowed to have some but not all, his wife insists, so he forgoes the coffee. As he slices into the roll, he realises a nose has been baked into it and recognises it as that of his esteemed client ‘The Major’. 

The Major is a ladder-climbing narcissist who, upon finding nothing but a flat fleshy plateau in the centre of his face that morning, instantly began to fear for his social status and potential loss of charm with married ladies. He darts around the city in a bid to locate his nose. When the Major finds his nose, Gogol narrates that ‘Even joy begins to fade after only a minute,’ as it dawns on the Major that he has no way to reattach his nose. A doctor explains that sticking it on is his only option – and it would look awful. The doctor insists he’s better off without it, life would be ok and he’d get used to it. But the Major’s ego can’t bear the thought, after all he has high hopes of growing his importance in his wealthy circles. 

Throughout his mission to return his nose to its rightful place, the Major’s misogyny becomes apparent. He passes beggarwomen that he usually laughs at due to their dress that only leaves their eyes visible. But he doesn’t laugh as he runs by them also covering up with a handkerchief to his face. At the City Security Department where he hopes to place an ad for his missing nose, the Major notices one by a 19-year-old girl who has laundry experience and is willing to do ‘other’ work. Later, in despair, he accuses Alexandra Podtochin (a statesman’s wife as he often repeats) of witchcraft as he believes she is taking revenge for him not marrying her daughter. The Major is also disrespectful to those he views as lower class, such as his threadbare barber who he insults constantly for being dirty with ‘stinky hands’. An aspiring statesman and wealthy governmental-like figure that acts with prejudice, insolence and idiocy, the Major seems to satirically shed light on Gogol’s views of an incompetent government leaving many of its people behind.  

The Nose develops its own personality and becomes even more stately than the Major himself. For that day, the Major is out-ranked by his own nose and a taste of what life could be like for those less fortunate. But any self-reflection the Major may have is fleeting – particularly once both his luck and nose are magically returned to him. 

In children’s film, Mary Poppins, Mr Banks is oblivious to his children and pre-occupied with only his own career. Mary Poppins explains to the children that ‘Sometimes a person we love, through no fault of his own, can’t see past the end of his nose.’ Gogol seems to have almost pondered this phrase literally (though in 1836 well before Mary Poppins) by taking the nose off the face of an ignorant being and extending the distance between a him and the end of his nose, thereby allowing more of the world to broaden his narrow view of it. This doesn’t work for the Major, maybe it was only meant for the reader…

This could also be a ridiculous link to make. After all, Gogol writes at the end of the story, in a conversation between reader and narrator, that such fantasies are useless and serve no one. Yet, he then doubles back a little, suggesting that there’s an absurd side to most things. 

Some might be tempted to contain absurd fantasy to the realm of children’s tales…but The Nose hints that a self-obsessed view of the world doesn’t discriminate. For adults, the absurd can open our eyes to the reality around us, that we also are missing.