# Akaki Akakievitch — Short Fiction character guide

> Akaki Akakievitch in Short Fiction by Nikolai Gogol.

**Role:** major

**Also known as:** Akaki, the little Akaki, Akakievitch

**First appearance:** 0046-the-mantle

## Snapshot

A humble copying clerk so invisible that colleagues treat him like a passing fly, until a new overcoat gives his life a sudden, fragile glow.

## Who they are

Akaki Akakievitch is a titular councillor in a Petersburg chancellery, a bald, silent man who bends over the same documents in the same spot while younger clerks shower him with paper snowflakes. His one plea, 'Do leave me alone! Why do you always want to disturb me at work?' carries a pathos that stops at least one young man cold. When he finally sets his heart on a new overcoat, the small hope transforms him, and the story's middle arc turns on how much a life can hinge on a garment.

## In the story

### [Short Fiction](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_40_se/chapters/short-fiction)

Protagonist of 'The Overcoat,' a lowly clerk whose life revolves around his coat.

### [The Mantle](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_40_se/chapters/the-mantle)

The protagonist, a titular councillor whose life revolves around copying documents; he saves for a new mantle, is robbed, rebuffed by a superior, dies, and returns as a ghost.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_40_se/characters/akaki_akakievitch
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_40_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/short_fiction_40_se/characters