So at the halfway point of the novel we are introduced to a new character, Tentetnikov, a man exactly opposite in motivation to ‘our hero’ Chichikov.

This also provides some great inner monologues between the two constantly thinking to themselves at the exact same moments “What a curious fellow, this Chichikov / Tentetnikov.”

Tentetnikov is also like a failed Levin, and is quite funny where Tolstoy was serious