In society or at a party, as long as everybody is of low rank, Prometheus goes on being Prometheus, but as soon as anyone a little more high-ranking appears, Prometheus undergoes a metamorphosis that even Ovid could not have invented: he becomes a fly, less than a fly, a grain of sand! Narrator, p. This fact makes the description of him as "a very decent man" an instance of verbal irony on the narrator's part, as it really means that Chichikov cultivates an image of being a "very decent man" only to mask his cunning and self-interest. This quote reveals much about Chichikov's character: in effect, he has no real opinions of his own and he views talking as a way of getting what he wants by mirroring the thoughts of the person he is speaking to. As the narrator writes, he is constantly readjusting the "pitch" and volume of his voice to fit the discussion. Before this, the narrator notes that Chichikov is able to converse on a number of subjects and say exactly whatever the person he is speaking to wants to hear about it. This passage occurs early in the book and describes Chichikov's interactions at a party in the town. In a word, from whatever angle you looked, he was a very decent man. He spoke neither loudly nor quietly, but precisely at the right pitch. But the remarkable thing is that he was able to dress all of this up in an aura of gravity: he had poise.
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