Overcoat Paper Originality itself is the quality of newness that exists in something not done before or not derived from anything else. Personally, I think this concept is not achievable in today’s society, as every idea we have is a compilation of what we have ever known. I personally think that it is not necessarily better to copy, but it is certainly easier to. Therefore as displayed through the character Akakiy in The Overcoat, sometimes somebody finds their originality in the creation of other people.
I see Akakiy as a character who struggles to be original. He was born into copying and is a titular councilor. In that setting, anyone would find it hard to put themselves out there. Even in the introduction of his character he is given a name that of his father. It reads "They turned to another page and found Pavsikakhiy and Vakhtisiy. “Now I see,” said the old woman, “that it is plainly fate. And since such is the case, it will be better to name him after his father. His father’s name was Akakiy, so let his son’s be Akakiy too.” In this manner he became Akakiy Akakievitch." (Gogol, 3) He also faces other problems such as his trouble when people took him out of his world of copying as described when "One director being a kindly man, and desirous of rewarding him for his long service, ordered him to be given something more important than mere copying. So he was ordered to make a report of an already concluded affair to another department: the duty consisting simply in changing the heading and altering a few words from the first to the third person. This caused him so much toil that he broke intoa perspiration, rubbed his forehead, and finally said, “No, give me rather something to copy.” After that they let him copy forever." (Gogol, 7-8) This shows how embedded Akakiy was in the world of copying.
Gogol even wrote about his obsession with taking copies home for enjoyment because "If there happened to be none, he took copies for himself, for his own gratification, especially if the document was noteworthy, not on account of its style, but of its being addressed to some distinguished person." (Gogol,