The Overcoat could represent power, as someone has said, or it could represent the idea of trying something new. It takes effort to decide or be convinced to try something new because it's risky. However, the new thing can be great, and bring many blessings. In this case, warmth and the opportunity to be social. However, that new thing can easily fail, and if you let it bother you that much, terrible things could happen to you. The story shows that you can't let yourself fall into a rut, or you will be ignored and forgotten, but neither can you trust completely in some new thing, for if it fails, you will be worse off than you started.