Dead Souls/Fridge

• Fridge Horror: All of the people that Chichikov visits come across mostly as amusing eccentrics. However, he chooses to visit them for a specific reason - they have a lot of "dead souls". As for the reason they have so many to offer? - because of their vices and/or eccentricities, they aren't running their estates competently, and so tons of their serfs are dying - likely through starvation.
  • The fact that Plyushkin didn't care for his serfs starving is explicitly mentioned. And the fact that some kind of plague happened also helped.
  • Korobochka and Sobakevich are shown as rather competent squires, but, as it's still soon after an epidemic, many of their serfs are dead, too.