The Carriage

“The Carriage,” one of Nikolai Gogol’s shortest stories, was originally published in 1836 and explores themes of vanity, consumption, and the pitfalls of social climbing. Gogol (1809-1852), a popular Russian author of Ukrainian descent, was known for using irony, hyperbole, and figurative language as well as elements of the fantastical and grotesque throughout his many short stories. “The Carriage” employs both subtle humor and comical exaggeration to depict the changes visited upon a small Russian village when a cavalry regiment is billeted in the area. The increasingly farcical events highlight the narrative’s critique of material ostentation and military culture and also pay tribute to the more lighthearted folk traditions from which Gogol was consciously drawing.

This guide refers to the version of “The Carriage” published in The Nose and Other Stories (Columbia University Press, 2020), collected and translated by Susanne Fusso.

The story opens with a description of “[the] little town of B—,” which becomes “a merrier place when the *** Cavalry Regiment [is] billeted there” (181). Prior to the regiment’s visit, the village is a boring, gray place nearly devoid of people or activity, marked largely by its crumbling wattle-and-daub buildings and “mournful” market square. With the arrival of the soldiers, the place livens up as the villagers go to great lengths to entertain the visitors with parties, meals, and games.

The brigadier general soon holds a lavish dinner for his fellow officers as well as the neighboring landowners. One of the attendees is Pifagor Pifagorovich Chertokutsky, a local aristocrat and former cavalry officer who has a reputation for appearing at military balls and gatherings even after his own ignominious resignation. After the meal, the general shows his guests an expensive bay mare he recently acquired, and Chertokutsky asks his host if he also has an appropriately extravagant carriage. As the men drink and smoke cigars, Chertokutsky begins bragging about his own carriage, for which he claims to have paid 4,000 rubles. He ultimately invites the general and the rest of the officers to dine at his home the following day so he can show them his carriage.

The men accept his invitation, and although Chertokutsky decides to leave the dinner so he can begin making preparations, he “somehow” finds himself staying to play cards and continue drinking. He seems suddenly unable to make decisions for himself and begins to feel as though he cannot control his actions: At one point, for example, “a glass of punch [appears] before him, which he [drains] on the spot without even thinking” (189). This happens repeatedly even as Chertokutsky becomes increasingly aware of his desire to return home. As the inebriated officers argue and tell stories among themselves, Chertokutsky begins interrupting with irrelevant questions. The other guests soon slip into absurd and illogical conversation, with one former soldier narrating a battle that never took place.

The party finally disperses at three in the morning, and a very drunk Chertokutsky gets home with help from his coachman. Upon entering his bedroom, he briefly wakes his wife, who realizes that Chertokutsky has “absolutely no intention of showing her any affection” and immediately goes back to sleep (191).

Upon waking the following morning, Chertokutsky’s wife remembers that her husband did not arrive home until the early hours of the morning and decides to let him continue sleeping. As she washes and dresses, she becomes distracted by her own beauty and spends two hours sitting in front of the mirror. When she finally goes outside to get some fresh air in the garden, it is after 12 o’clock in the afternoon. Suddenly, she notices several regimental carriages coming down the highway toward the home. Aware that she and her husband are not prepared to receive visitors of this status, she dashes inside, screaming and trampling the flowerbeds in her hurry to wake Chertokutsky.

Chertokutsky quickly realizes his mistake, and having no dinner to offer the gentlemen, decides to simply hide from them. Grabbing his dressing gown, he orders a servant to tell the visitors that he left early in the morning and will be gone all day. He runs to the coach house, where he jumps into the carriage and conceals himself under a heavy leather apron.

Meanwhile, the footman informs the arriving officers that Chertokutsky has left and will not return until the following day. The men are shocked at this turn of events and exclaim to one another about Chertokutsky’s inappropriate behavior. Before leaving, the general decides that he still wants to look at the carriage, reasoning that Chertokutsky would not have taken it with him. As he and the officers examine it, they realize that it is simply an ordinary carriage and not even worth 2,000 rubles, let alone 4,000 as Chertokutsky claimed. Thinking that there might be “something special inside,” the general finally opens the leather apron and discovers Chertokutsky hiding there, “curled in an unusual fashion” (195). The men exclaim in amazement, cover Chertokutsky with the apron, and depart.