The notion of originality is often hard to reconstruct in the modern world; mainly due to the fact that by its own definition it simply can’t be reinvented - only copied and mass-produced. Various occupations even perpetuate the copying of different ideas and products, creating a world void of frequent newness found in either art or thought. However, Russian writer Nikolai Gogol surpassed this threshold and was able to embody originality itself. In writing The Overcoat, Gogol achieves a level of individuality in direct contrast the lack there of found in Akakiy Akakievitch and the structure of the ecosystem that surrounds him. Akakiy finds comfort in the monotonous actions of his life and even when we are led to think that he manages to find his own identity, it comes from a creation made by someone else. From the moment of his birth, Akakiy’s had already been destined to a life of banality. When children are born one of the first things that is bestowed upon them is a name right; a name that will they will identity with for the rest of their lives. A common practice however is for a child to bear the same name as a family member before them. Usual if a son, a father may want to name his child after himself. Akakiy Akakievitch was named after his father. Being that he wasn’t even given his own original proper name Akakiy copied his father’s name, as if his godparents who named him “foresaw that he was to be a titular councilor.” (Gogol 4) Akakiy begins here drawing from the creation of others in order to draw who he is. Originality has become associated with thought, but when all of Akakiy’s ideas and action are derived from others, he becomes the complete opposite of Gogol’s own identity. Although of course it wasn’t a decision Akakiy could consciously make, it had already embedded him as a copier in this structured world of Russian bureaucracy. Even his adulthood, he flourishes in his destined position as a perp