Summary
The second part of "The Nose" opens with the Collegiate Assessor Kovalev awakening on that same morning. He reaches for his mirror to inspect a boil on his nose, only to discover, to his shock, that his nose is missing. All that is left is a smooth patch of skin where his nose should be. In horror, he throws on his clothes and runs out the door, heading for the office of the Police Commissioner.
The narrator quickly intervenes to describe the Collegiate Assessor Kovalev. According to the narrator, there are two different kinds of Collegiate Assessors in Russia. The first and more well-regarded category is that of those Collegiate Assessors who acquire the title through an academic degree. The second, lesser kind are those who acquire the status through service in the Caucasus; and this is the kind that Kovalev is. Not only that, but he has only been a Collegiate Assessor for two years. Thus, to assign himself more prestige, he has given himself the title "Major," and uses it out and about to improve his social status.
Major Kovalev also has the habit of taking regular walks on Nevsky Prospekt in well-presented clothing, respectable whiskers, and several badges. In fact, Major Kovalev had moved to St. Petersburg specifically for the purpose of obtaining a higher post in the government, and he was also interested in marriage to a wealthy young lady. The loss of his nose, therefore, is of great cause for concern.
That morning there were no cabs on the street so, holding a handkerchief to his nose, Major Kovalev set out on foot. Along the way, he stops in at a restaurant to gaze at his reflection, hoping the loss of his nose was simply an illusion. Unfortunately, it was not. Upon leaving the restaurant, he sees a shocking sight and halts on the spot. At the front of a mansion nearby, a carriage had stopped and a uniformed gentleman was getting out. The gentleman entered the mansion and then, two minutes later and clad in a gold-braided uniform, exited. The gentleman was none other than Major Kovalev's nose, who seemed to be passing for a State Councilor and making social visits.
Kovalev hastens to follow his nose, and addresses him tentatively. He addresses the nose as "My good sir," and begins haltingly to describe the problem. The nose does not understand and forces him to try to explain further. But they cannot reach a point of mutual understanding. Eventually, the nose tells him that he is mistaken, and he is his own person. What's more, the nose continues, the buttons on their uniforms are different and thus indicate different governmental departments. With that, the nose takes his leave. Kovalev stands there in shock. He is momentarily and pleasantly distracted by a pretty young lady, until he remembers that he has no nose and thus cannot approach her. Discouraged, he turns to head back to the mansion and trace down his nose again. But he cannot remember the details of the appearance of the nose's coach, and besides, the street is busy with people, including some acquaintances that he does not wish to see.
Kovalev gets in a coach and directs the driver to several places, but cannot make up his mind. He is conflicted about whether or not to make an application to the Board of Discipline, and decides in favor of that plan until he realizes that his nose could be making an escape out of the city as he deliberates. He directs the coachman to the newspaper office, where he will place an ad for his nose. When he enters the reception, he encounters a gray-headed clerk and crowds of people in the small room, all hoping to place an advertisement. He manages to get the attention of the clerk and asks to place an ad to address his terrible circumstances. At first, the clerk does not understand, thinking "nose" is the name of a serf that has run away. When Kovalev clarifies, the clerk refuses to place the advertisement because he does not want to make a fool of the paper. Kovalev shows the clerk his smooth skin to prove the story, but the clerk still refuses, suggesting that he commission a writer to publish a piece about it instead. The clerk then offers Kovalev a pinch of snuff to cheer him up, but without a nose, Kovalev cannot participate; he takes great offense and rushes out of the newspaper office.
Next, Kovalev rushes to the ward police inspector's office. Unfortunately, the police inspector had planned to begin an afternoon nap at the very moment Kovalev arrived, and thus he is not pleased to see him. Kovalev is deeply offended by the affront to his status and rank, and heads straight home. When he gets home, it is dusk, and everything feels dreary. Kovalev flies into a brief rage upon seeing his valet, Ivan, relaxing. Kovalev then retires to his sitting room and bemoans his situation to himself. A nose is the worst thing he could have lost, he thinks. Finally he decides it is not possible that it is gone forever, or perhaps he is dreaming—so he pinches himself to see if he wakes up. He does not. Next, he decides that it must be a spell concocted by Madame Podtochina, who wants him to marry her daughter. The nose could not have been cut off, as he would have remembered the pain, so he decides that she hired a band of witches. He will either sue her in court, or pay her a surprise visit and catch her in the act.
Kovalev's reveries are interrupted by a knock on the door. It is the same smart-looking police officer who had beckoned to Ivan Yakovlevitch on the bridge. The police officer informs Kovalev that he has found his nose, and hands it to him after explaining that it was found with a fake passport heading out of the city, and the rascal who was involved—the barber—is now sitting in the police station. The police officer takes his leave, and Kovalev's joy soon gives way to a new concern: how will he put the nose back on? He tries several times to stick it on, but it does not stay. Kovalev sends for a doctor, who concludes that he should not attempt to stick the nose back on again. Kovalev tries to argue, offering him a greater sum of money, but the doctor declines politely yet firmly. He recommends that Kovalev go on without a nose, and simply preserve the nose in a jar of alcohol. The doctor then takes his leave.
Kovalev decides to write a letter to the lady to whom he has attributed his lack of nose. He writes her a letter threatening her with legal action, and she promptly responds with a letter in kind, stating that she has no idea what he is talking about. Upon receiving her letter, Kovalev realizes she must be innocent. Meanwhile, word of the strange events regarding Kovalev's nose has spread through the city, and there is much speculation and popular interest. Rumors spread, and different groups of people try to track it down around the city. Only a few, sober people bemoan the gossip.
At this point, the narrator pauses the action.
Analysis
If Part I of "The Nose" sets up the absurd premise of the story, Part II dives headfirst into that conflict. Major Kovalev wakes up to find himself without a nose—no scar or wound, but simply no nose. This surrealism continues as Major Kovalev heads in search of his nose. Inexplicably, the nose has dressed up as a high-level bureaucrat, and is making social calls around the city without anyone batting an eye. The nose's costume is described in great deal, but neither the narrator nor Major Kovalev take note in any way of how the nose is walking, talking, hearing, or in general how it has transformed into a human-like form—all while still being recognizable as a nose to Major Kovalev. Thus the absurdist logic developed in Part I continues to unfold without the narrator batting an eye.
Part II also further develops Gogol's critique of the importance of social class and hierarchy. When Major Kovalev realizes his nose is missing, he immediately becomes devastated at the social consequences. The fear of being in the world without a nose that Major Kovalev so acutely feels is not medical nor personal, but rather directly tied to his prospects for promotion and marriage. In this way, Part II develops the intersection between the themes of fear and of social relations that are first introduced in Part I.
This theme of social status is further developed with the imagery of different characters' physical appearances. First, Major Kovalev himself is missing a nose—in other words, something essential to his person. This absence is described in great detail, as a "flat patch" with the "uniformity of a pancake." Yet in this section, the narrator dedicates just as much tension to detail about other characters' appearances, most notably the appearance of Major Kovalev's nose. Disguised as a "uniform gentleman" with a "standup collar," the nose was wearing a "gold-braided, high-collared uniform, buckskin breeches, and cockaded hat." This suggests that the uniform and decoration of characters' dress is just as important as the very nose on their face. The clothes describe their social status, and thus Gogol equates social status with the very appendages on their bodies.
Part II also continues the strange narrative device of pausing the action, and starting again from a different point in time from where the last part ended. This narrative technique accomplishes two goals. First, it establishes the overt presence of the narrator, giving readers the sense that they are watching scenes in a play, or perhaps that an old, famous story is being recounted—rather than the feeling that they are witnessing events in real time.
Second, it manipulates the sense of time in the story. Part I, for example, opens on the morning of March 25th, and concludes halfway through that day. Part II rewinds to also open on the morning of March 25th, so readers witness the events of that same day, but told from a different perspective. This creates a sense of layered, cyclical, nonlinear time.
