: A giant, bear-like man who is ruthlessly efficient and drives a hard bargain for his deceased property.
The premise of the novel hinges on a loophole in the Imperial Russian tax and legal system: Dead Souls
: A paranoid, superstitious widow who is terrified of being cheated on the price of her dead serfs. : A giant, bear-like man who is ruthlessly
: Landowners had to pay taxes on their male serfs (referred to officially as "souls") based on the latest census. : A giant
: Because censuses were conducted years apart, landowners kept paying taxes on serfs who had died in the interim.
As Chichikov travels from estate to estate, Gogol introduces us to a hilarious and terrifying lineup of Russian landowners. They are not flat stereotypes, but neurotically individual caricatures: