The Short Stories of Mikhail Zoshchenko Literary Elements

Short fiction.

“Poverty” and “The Galosh” are set in Soviet Russia.

"Poverty" and "The Galosh" use the first-person narrator.

Hilarious, discontent, amazement, and informative.

In "Poverty," a tenant (the narrator) is the protagonist, whereas light is the antagonist. In "The Galosh," the galosh owner is the protagonist.

The conflict in "poverty" relates to electric light, which reveals the deprived conditions of the narrator and other tenants. In "The Galosh," the conflict relates to the displacement of the narrator's galosh.

The climax in “Poverty” occurs after the effective installation of electricity, resulting in the publicity of ‘dirt and decay.’

The climax in "The Galosh" occurs when the narrator recovers the galosh that he had lost in the tram only to mislay the other galosh outside the tram.

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“Poverty” understates the magnificence of light. The landlady laments, "What…should I shine a light on such poverty for?"

“The Galosh”: The narrator understates the galosh’s worn-out state: “The thing is the galosh is practically new. I’ve only been wearing it three years.”

“Poverty”: Religious allusions such as “Holy Moses!”

“The Galosh”: Religious allusions like “holy of holies.”

The landlady’s items portray paucity whose discernibility is amplified by light: “dirt and decay and assorted rags. And all so brightly lit up you can’t help seeing it.”

“The Galosh,” congestion and tussles among the passengers in the tram make it easy to mislay one’s galosh.

“Poverty”: the narrator’s explanation of the goodness of light is paradoxical: “Electric light is good, it’s just no good to live with.”

The narrators in both “Poverty” and “The Galosh” create parallel sentence organizations by utilizing the voice 'I' repetitively.

The Galosh”: “Dadgummit denotes Goddammit

Bed bugs and the soul are personified in “Poverty.”