History Literature / DeadSouls

* LemonyNarrator: The narrator is very snarky and makes a lot of wry comments about the world he is profiling.

%% * AffablyEvil: Chichikov.

* ButtMonkey: Captain Kopeikin.

* AffablyEvil: Chichikov.

* MissingMom: Chichikov's.

* NotGoodWithPeople: Sobakevich doesn't like the other people of the city very much, thinks the worst of them and only visits their parties [[BigEater for the food]].

* UngratefulBastard: Chichikov to the aforementioned teacher. Even though those good grades and references gave him a head start in life, when the teacher is fired from school and sinks into poverty, and all those "unruly" students he'd been giving shit immediately chip in together to help him, Chichikov cannot spare but a single coin he gets rightfully thrown back into his face.

* VillainProtagonist: Chichikov.

Background explanation: In feudal Russia, major landowners had to pay a tax according to the number of serfs (measured as "souls") they owned. Said serfs were counted in special revisions, which happened rarely, sometimes less than once per decade. If during the time between two revisions some of these serfs happened to die, bad luck: their owners'd still have to pay the tax as if they were alive. On the other hand, they could mortgage the estate, with souls included, to the Russian state. Now Chichikov adds two and two and gets the idea: If he buys up a lot of dead souls - which the squires probably want to get rid of - and mortgages them to the state, he'll make a fortune without hard work or risk. Well, that's the theory. In practice, the buying part alone becomes pretty hard due to the eccentricity of said squires.

* UngratefulBastard: Chichikov to the aforementioned teacher. Even though those good grades and references gave him a head start in life, when the teacher is fired from school and sinks into poverty, and all those "unruly" students he'd been giving shit [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming immediately chip in together to help him]], Chichikov cannot spare but a single coin he gets rightfully thrown back into his face.

* CordonBleughChef: Nozdryov's, who has an {{egregious}} approach to cooking.

* TheNicknamer: The widow Korobochka. The nicknames she gives to her serfs are pretty {{egregious}}.

Not to confuse with ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''.

* StartOfDarkness: Chichikov and Plyushkin started out as decent people, and there's a [[CryForTheDevil Cry For The Villain]] in revealing how both of them descended into what they are now.
** To be precise: Chichikov is taught by his father that you can't rely on other people, not even those whom you call friends, and that little Pavel should rather rely on his money - and acquire a lot of it. (Because [[{{Hypocrite}} his father]] didn't.)

* DealWithTheDevil: Chichikov definitely invokes this with the whole "buying people's 'souls'" thing, and he's a lot like the "devil as small time bureaucrat" / TheDevilIsALoser portrayal in works like ''TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' and ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' (both post-date this novel, but probably draw from the same idea). In fact, both Chichikov and [[TheDevilAndDanielWebster Scratch]] store their souls in a box - the only difference is that Chichikov's souls are figurative.

* AffluentAscetic/TheScrooge: Plyushkin, who owns several hundred souls, but lives as cheap as a beggar. Chichikov also doesn't like giving away money.

* TheScrooge: Plyushkin, who owns several hundred souls, but lives as cheap as a beggar. Chichikov also doesn't like giving away money.

'''''Dead Souls''''' is the most famous novel by Russian author Creator/NikolaiGogol. It tells the story of the ambitious guy Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, who had an idea for a great scam.

* PlotHole: In this case just because parts of the second half of the novel are literally missing, since Gogol originally wanted to destroy the text. Sadly, the complete story is now LostForever.

Not to confuse with ''VideoGame/DarkSouls''

'''''Dead Souls''''' is the most famous novel by Russian author Creator/NikolaiGogol. It tells the story of the ambitious guy Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, who had the idea for a great scam.

Background explanation: In feudal Russia, major landowners had to pay a tax according to the number of serfs ("souls") they owned. Said serfs were counted in special revisions, which happened not that often - less than once per decade, even. If during the time between two revisions some of these souls happened to die, bad luck, their owners'd still have to pay the tax as if they were alive. OTOH, they could mortgage the estate, with souls included, to the Russian state. Now Chichikov adds two and two and gets the idea: If he buys up a lot of dead souls - which the squires probably want to get rid of - and mortgages them to the state, he'll acquire a big fortune without hard work or risk. Well, that's the theory. In practice, the buying part alone becomes pretty hard due to the eccentricity of said squires.

* BlatantLies: When Tyentyetnikov inquires why the harvest was so bad, the serfs claim it was the lack of rain. But even the WideEyedIdealist Tyentyetnikov can't help but notice that apparently the rain happened to fall exclusively on the fields of the serfs, but not on his ones.

* ButNotTooForeign: Kostanshoglo is described being not a pure Russian, although he thinks of himself as Russian and doesn't speak foreign languages. Speculation: He may have a Turkish ancestor, since many Turkish names end in -oglu.
* ButtMonkey: Captain Kopeikin
* CloudCuckooLander: Tyentyetnikov, Manilov

* DealWithTheDevil: Chichikov definitely invokes this with the whole "buying people's 'souls'" thing and he's a lot like the "devil as small time bureaucrat" / TheDevilIsALoser portrayal in works like ''TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' and ''Literature/TheBrothersKaramazov'' (both post-date this novel, but probably draw from the same idea). In fact, both Chichikov and [[TheDevilAndDanielWebster Scratch]] store their souls in a box - the only difference is that Chichikov's are metaphorical.

* DoubleEntendre: Sobakevich says that he doesn't eat oysters because he knows what they look like. And by that, he means a certain part of the female anatomy. (He isn't kidding. Oysters were considered aphrodisiaka for this very reason.)

* FoodPorn: The descriptions of the several-courses meals the squires eat.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the first chapter the author mentions that Chichikov is able to talk about custom officials "as if he had been one of them". Much later we'll learn that this has indeed been the case - and that he tried a big smuggle operation, which almost would've made him a rich man.

* IHaveAFamily: Chichikov claims this (and is lying - again), to get a lesser punishment after one of his schemes is discovered. [[spoiler:When he tries this at the end of the book, they don't believe him anymore.]]

* InsaneTrollLogic: At one point, the narrator muses about it. Like with people who don't believe in {{God}} but are certain that they'll have to die soon when the bridge of their nose is itching.
* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Chichikov fakes the testament of Khlobuyev's rich aunt, is even thrown into prison, but the influential Murayov liberates him with a complicated scheme, and Chichikov can leave the town - although Murayov also told him to change his ways. A somewhat BittersweetEnding.]]

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Kostanshoglo, who works hard to make his village wealthy, while one of his neighbors (Khlobuyev) wastes his money, another one is almost as reality-impaired as Literature/DonQuixote, and the third one only thinks about his next meal.

Background explanation: In feudal Russia, the great landowners had to pay a tax according to the number of serfs ("souls") they owned. Said serfs were counted in special revisions, which happened not that often - less than once per decade, even. If during the time between two revisions some of these souls happened to die, bad luck, their owners'd still have to pay the tax as if they were alive. OTOH, they could mortgage the estate, with souls included, to the Russian state. Now Chichikov adds two and two and gets the idea: If he buys up a lot of dead souls - which the squires probably want to get rid of - and mortgages them to the state, he'll acquire a big fortune without hard work or risk. Well, that's the theory. In practice, the buying part alone becomes pretty hard due to the eccentricity of said squires.

* [[CrazyCatLady Crazy Bird Lady]]: Khlobuyev's rich old aunt, who owns hundreds of canaries. Of course, she is very rich, so this doesn't make her crazy, only eccentric. But quite eccentric.

* [[spoiler:KarmaHoudini: Chichikov fakes the testament of Khlobuyev's rich aunt, is even thrown into prison, but the influential Murayov liberates him with a complicated scheme, and Chichikov can leave the town - although Murayov also told him to change his ways. A somewhat BittersweetEnding.]]

* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Squires Who Actually Do Something]] / NonIdleRich: Kostanshoglo, who works hard to make his village wealthy, while one of his neighbors (Khlobuyev) wastes his money, another one is almost as reality-impaired as Literature/DonQuixote, and the third one only thinks about his next meal.

Background explanation: In feudal Russia, the great landowners had to pay a tax according to the number of serfs ("souls") they owned. Said serfs were counted in special revisions, which happened not that often - less than once per decade, even. If during the time between two revisions some of these souls happened to die, bad luck, their owners'd still have to pay the tax as if they were alive. OTOH, they could mortgage the estate, with souls included, to the Russian state. Now Chichikov adds two and two and gets the idea: If he buys up a lot of dead souls - which the squires probably want to get rid off - and mortgages them to the state, he'll acquire a big fortune without hard work or risk. Well, that's the theory. In practice, the buying part alone becomes pretty hard due to the eccentricity of said squires.

* CreatorBreakdown: Originally, the book was supposed to have three parts (like Dante's ''Literature/DivineComedy'', standing for ''Inferno'', ''Purgatory'' and ''Paradise'' respectively). But then Gogol went through a religious crisis, mixed with paranoid schizophrenia, destroyed the third book and also parts of the second. Until his death, he wouldn't restore them. He also stated that he felt Chichikov and other characters couldn't be redeemed.

* DealWithTheDevil: Chichikov definitely invokes this with the whole "buying people's 'souls'" thing and he's a lot like the "devil as small time bureaucrat" / TheDevilIsALoser portrayal in works like ''TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' and ''TheBrothersKaramazov'' (both post-date this novel, but probably draw from the same idea). In fact, both Chichikov and [[TheDevilAndDanielWebster Scratch]] store their souls in a box - the only difference is that Chichikov's are metaphorical.

* ForeignCussWord: The city people go so far to avoid saying "this glass stinks" and will instead say "this glass doesn't behave well" or so. They don't mind using stronger words in GratuituousFrench, however.

* HeelFaceTurn: It was in author's plans to redeem Chichikov (and, according to one Gogol's letter, Plyushkin too) in the third volume. Alas, it never happened.

* CockADoodleDawn: At the Korobochka's place. Chichikov answers by calling the rooster dumb.

* DealWithTheDevil: Chichikov definitely invokes this with the whole "buying people's 'souls'" thing and he's a lot like the "devil as small time bureaucrat"/TheDevilIsALoser portrayal in works like ''TheDevilAndDanielWebster'' and ''TheBrothersKaramazov'' (both post-date this novel, but probably draw from the same idea). In fact, both Chichikov and [[TheDevilAndDanielWebster Scratch]] store their souls in a box - the only difference is that Chichikov's are metaphorical.

* HeelFaceTurn: It was in author's plans to redeem Chichikov (and, according to one Gogol's letter, Plyushkin too) in the third volume. Alas, it never happened.

* TheGamblingAddict: Nozdryov is addicted to gambling. He cheats, too.

* IHaveAWife: Chichikov claims this (and is lying - again), to get a lesser punishment after one of his schemes is discovered. [[spoiler:When he tries this at the end of the book, they don't believe him anymore.]]

* [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Squires Who Actually Do Something]] / NonIdleRich: Kostanshoglo, who works hard to make his village rich, while one of his neighbors (Khlobuyev) wastes his money, another one is a Literature/DonQuixote, and the third one only thinks about his next meal.
* SickeninglySweethearts: Manilov and his wife.

* UngratefulBastard: Chichikov to the aforementioned teacher. Even though those good grades and references gave him a head start in life, when the teacher is fired from school and sinks into poverty, and all those "unruly" students he'd been giving shit [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming immediately chip in together to help him]], Chichikov cannot spare but a single piece he gets rightfully thrown back into his face.