Part of the reason Gogol felt the need to write stories showcasing the true nature of Saint Petersburg and the toxic atmosphere the city (and indeed, the country) bred was that he himself had lived there; he worked briefly there as a government clerk and was struck by “the utter lack of social interaction” among his colleagues at the time. Gogol disapproved of the way in which workers focused solely on advancing in the civil servant system and conveyed this disapproval through his writing: He uses the character of Andrey as a vehicle to highlight the vices posed by greed and fortune that is achieved without actually working for it. Though Andrey is able to attain immediate wealth and fame because of the agreement he makes with the painting, he is eventually driven mad by the talent of other artists and pays the price for his ruthless pursuit of societal advancement. In terms of the city itself, Gogol noted that Saint Petersburg was remarkably bare of organic feeling, and as a result his depiction of it differed from those of authors such as Pushkin in that there was very little geometry depicted in the city. Famous landmarks such as the city's parks and trees were absent in his portrayal of Saint Petersburg in "The Portrait" as Gogol instead emphasized the grim, crowded appearance of its stores and buildings.