Why does the hodjia's wife speak first and lose the contest?

Hodjia's wife speaks first and loses the contest because she is in shock.

answer: the correct answer is that he still ridicules people that look different.

explanation: in "the nose"   by nikolai gogol, the author sets up a satirical view of russian society. the book is divided into three parts and tells the story of collegiate assessor ('major') kovalyov, who gets up one morning without his nose. he later finds out that his nose has developed a life by itself, and has apparently surpassed him by attaining the rank of state councillor. the short story showcases the obsession with social rank that plagued russia after peter the great introduced the table of ranks. by allowing commoners to attain hereditary nobility through service to the state, a large population was given the chance to move up in social status. this opportunity, however, also gave way to large bureaucracies, in which many of gogol's characters worked.