Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes From Underground
The interest in how humans develop their ideas and their emotions has spurred whole fields unto themselves that try to understand the whys, the whats, and the hows of the human condition. The use of art to explore the inner recesses of the human mind can be seen in various works across art, literature, and theatre. Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground is primarily an account from a nameless man about his beliefs and his life. The Underground Man is isolated from those around him, and for a time, isolated from himself. Dostoevsky’s character created an archetype, of the alienated anti-hero, that inspired Paul Schrader’s Travis Bickle. The film Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese, is heavily influenced by Notes from Underground. The
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plot concerns itself with an alienated man in a room, writing down his thoughts and beliefs, as they progress to their conclusion. Both works analyze the psychological aspects of their main characters, and how their isolation contributes to their development as men. The Underground Man and Travis Bickle both deal with their alienation is similar and different ways.
The most remarkable quality that the Underground Man and Travis Bickle possesses is how they believe that their alienation is inherent in their characters. Travis says “Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There’s no escape. I’m God’s lonely man.” Travis believes that his loneliness is the most important factor in defining who he is. There is no opportunity or to reconcile that belief, it is central to Travis’ identity. The Underground Man shares the same sentiment, stating “At that time I was only twenty-four years old. Even then my life was gloomy, disordered, and solitary to the point of savagery. I didn’t associate with anyone; I even avoided talking, and I retreated further and further into my corner” (Dostoyevsky 1164). The Underground Man further elaborates on this with his thought that “…no one was like me, and I wasn’t like anyone else. ‘I’m alone’….’and they are everyone’” ( Dostoyevsky 1165). Just like Travis, the Underground Man sees his alienation from society as a defining trait of his being. The Underground Man even seems to make a deliberate effort to remain alienated, in order to maintain his sense of identity. The sequestration of Travis and the Underground Man inspires in them a sense of righteousness and superiority. The Underground Man claims “They failed to understand essential things and took no interests in important, weighty subjects, so that I couldn’t help but considering them beneath me” (Dostoyevsky 1178). The Underground Man’s sense of superiority only helps him in his decision to alienate himself even further, as it provides him with a opposition to who he is and wants to be, because he doesn’t want to be like “them”. Travis adopts a more righteous stance, as he states “…this city here’s like an open sewer. It’s full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it….Sometimes I go out and I smell it. I get headaches, it’s so bad. And they just like…They just never go away…” Travis sees the debauchery in New York and despises it. He wants no part of it, as he sees himself above the crime ridden streets and the criminals that inhabit them. “Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.”, Travis says, convinced that he is not included in said scum. He is separate from them, and he is proud to be an outsider. Travis lambasts Betsy due to her choice to be included with the so-called scum. Travis yells at her “You’re in a hell! You’ll die in hell like the rest. You’re like the rest of them.” After his failed courtship, Travis is disappointed by Betsy’s rejection of him. He believed that she would share his sentiments, based on his idea that she was as lonely as he was. Upon realizing that Betsy does not want anything to do with him, Travis resorts to insulting her and demoting her to the position of “them”, those who are beneath him.
The alienation and the sense of superiority that it gives Travis and the Underground Man inspires delusions of grandeur in both of them.
The Underground Man states “I was a terrible dreamer; I dreamt for three months in a row, tucked away in my littler corner…I suddenly became a hero” (Dostoyevsky 1172). He goes on to elaborate, saying “However, everything always ended in a most satisfactory way by a lazy and intoxicating transition into art, that is, into beautiful forms of being, ready-made, largely borrowed from poets and novelists, and adapted to serve every possible need. For instance, I would triumph over everyone; naturally, everyone else groveled in the dust and was voluntarily impelled to acknowledge my superiority, while I would forgive them all for everything” (Dostoyevsky 1172). The Underground Man’s alienation has spurred the development of adolescent fantasies, where he receives the adoration that he believes he is entitled to. His preoccupation with these fantasies causes him to reject reality. He claims “‘Real life’ oppressed me–so unfamiliar it was–that I even found it hard to breathe.” (Dostoyevsky 1212). The Underground Man experiences difficulty when having to deal with reality, the same way Travis struggles with dealing with reality. Travis claims to breathe in the real world and suffers painful headaches because of it. Both men experience discomfort when dealing with reality, so much so that it borders on physical pain when they take it all in. Travis’ …show more content…
superiority complex manifests itself into a need for action. He wants to rid the streets of the “scum” he cannot stand. He decides to try and “save” a young girl named Iris, from prostitution. During breakfast, he tells her “I don’t go screw and fuck with killers and junkies the way you do.” Travis sees prostitution as a symptom of the the corrupt, disgusting world around him. To take part in it is being part of the problem. He tries to convince Iris of the evil and wrong of prostitution by emphasizing his distance from it. It is beneath him, so if Iris wants to be righteous like him, she must be above it with him. Iris retorts “What makes you so high and mighty? Will you tell me that? Did you ever try looking at your own eyeballs in the mirror?”, and receives no answer. Travis does not seem to deem it worthy of an answer, the answer is inherent in his being. The Underground Man interacts with a prostitute as well, and his sense of superiority frames the interactions they have. The Underground Man scolds Liza, just like Travis does to Iris, asking “Well, and what do you think? Are you on the right path then?” (Dostoyevsky 1192). He begins to lecture Liza on how people should interact, with kindness and love, and not the detachment they just experienced. She agrees with him, and the Underground Man is fascinated by her response “It was the sport that attracted me most of all” (Dostoyevsky 1193). He sees her as something he can use to amuse himself, and likes the idea of being able to use his perceived superior intellect to incite a response in LIza. After a long-winded speech on marriage, family, and love, Liza’s only response to the Underground Man is “Somehow you…you somehow…it sounds just like a book.” (Dostoyevsky 1196). Liza is able to see through the facade that the Underground Man wanted her to believe in. He states “Her remark wounded me dreadfully. That’s not what I expected” (Dostoyevsky 1196). The Underground Man assumed his superiority was not in question, but when Liza proves that she will not fall for his mirage, he is hurt. He wanted her to believe him, so he could finally be the hero he always wanted to be. When she takes aways that opportunity from him, he begins to insult her out of pettiness. The delusions that Travis and the Underground Man develop due to their alienation affect how they interact when they are not in their respective undergrounds. During these interactions with the outside, real world they are confronted with the unpleasant truth of what they are, and struggle with their consciousness about it, since their delusions are not validated by reality.
Travis and the Underground Man are both confused men dealing with their alienation. Travis tells his coworker Wizard “I got…It’s just that I got a…I got a…They got me real down. I just wanna go and you know, like really, really do something…I don't know…I just want to go out…I really…I really wanna…I got some bad ideas in my head I just…” Travis struggles with communicating his feelings to people, because he does not fully comprehend them. He tries to connect with people, like Betsy, the cashier at the movie theatre, and Iris, in an attempt to ease his loneliness but his personality does not allow him to achieve intimacy. Travis is too volatile and awkward for it. Perhaps indebted to his service in the Marines and Vietnam, Travis is prone to violent behavior. He decides to take action against his enemy, the scum, to become the hero he thinks he deserves to be. Travis proclaims “Listens, you fuckers, you screw heads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up.” Travis sees this as the logical conclusion of who he is. He says “Now I see it clearly. My whole life has pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me.” After his attempted assassination of Senator Palantine is thwarted, Travis decides to kill the men pimping Iris. Despite being a murderer, Travis is hailed a hero by the media for “saving” Iris from prostitution. Reuniting with Betsy after recovering from his wounds, he tells her “Oh, it was nothing. I got over that. The papers always blow these things up.” A blatant lie, Travis is glad that the media portrays him as the hero he has always imagined himself to be. He drops off Betsy, and refuses to take her toll, telling her “So long” as he pulls off with a smile. Everyone, Travis included, sees him as a hero conquering villains, and not as the violent psychopath he truly is. Travis does not achieve consciousness of his true self because of the praise he receives, and therefore is viable to commit more violent acts against others he deems scum. In contrasts, the Underground Man achieves a consciousness of self. The Underground Man says “In the first place, I could no longer love because, I repeat, for me love meant tyrannizing and demonstrating my moral superiority” (Dostoyevsky 1211). Unlike Travis, who is uncomfortable with what attracts him to Betsy and Iris and represses it, the Underground Man understands what he it is he wants from Liza. After rudely dismissing her from his household and feeling guilty about it, the Underground Man asserts “Haven’t I found out once again today, for the hundredth time, what I’m really worth? Won’t I torment her?” (Dostoyevsky 1213). Despite the guilt he feels for giving her money to insult her, he understands that it would of manifested in some other form or way. He goes on to say “Even now, after so many years, all this comes back to me as very unpleasant.” (Dostoyevsky 1213). The reality of who he is comes to him as a feeling of uneasiness. He is not deluded about who he is like Travis, he understands the bad that he is capable of. The Underground Man states “We’re even oppressed by being men–men with real bodies and blood of our very own. We’re ashamed of it; we consider it a disgrace and we strive to become some kind of impossible ‘general-human-beings’” (Dostoyevsky 1214). The Underground Man does not believe in trying to be come this general human being, he doesn’t lie to himself or remain in the dark about his ability to do so, like he deems the general public to be. After many years in the underground, the Underground Man is conscious of who he is.
Taxi Driver and Notes from Underground are intense works of art that analyze the minds of alienated men.
As both men write their thoughts down onto the page, and interact with the society that rejects them, their inner most traits are revealed. As the Underground Man notes, there is an aggressive devotion to remaining in the Underground. The dark, isolated corners of the rooms the men inhabit is their home, not the reality outside of it. Nurtured by these desolate, lonely homes, Travis and the Underground Man develop emotions and ideas that they would not be able to do otherwise. This causes them to reject the outside world before it can reject them. Despite this constant struggle with the outside world and reality, both men long to connect with it and understand it, but are too invested in their alienation to succeed in doing
so.
plot concerns itself with an alienated man in a room, writing down his thoughts and beliefs, as they progress to their conclusion. Both works analyze the psychological aspects of their main characters, and how their isolation contributes to their development as men. The Underground Man and Travis Bickle both deal with their alienation is similar and different ways.
The most remarkable quality that the Underground Man and Travis Bickle possesses is how they believe that their alienation is inherent in their characters. Travis says “Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There’s no escape. I’m God’s lonely man.” Travis believes that his loneliness is the most important factor in defining who he is. There is no opportunity or to reconcile that belief, it is central to Travis’ identity. The Underground Man shares the same sentiment, stating “At that time I was only twenty-four years old. Even then my life was gloomy, disordered, and solitary to the point of savagery. I didn’t associate with anyone; I even avoided talking, and I retreated further and further into my corner” (Dostoyevsky 1164). The Underground Man further elaborates on this with his thought that “…no one was like me, and I wasn’t like anyone else. ‘I’m alone’….’and they are everyone’” ( Dostoyevsky 1165). Just like Travis, the Underground Man sees his alienation from society as a defining trait of his being. The Underground Man even seems to make a deliberate effort to remain alienated, in order to maintain his sense of identity. The sequestration of Travis and the Underground Man inspires in them a sense of righteousness and superiority. The Underground Man claims “They failed to understand essential things and took no interests in important, weighty subjects, so that I couldn’t help but considering them beneath me” (Dostoyevsky 1178). The Underground Man’s sense of superiority only helps him in his decision to alienate himself even further, as it provides him with a opposition to who he is and wants to be, because he doesn’t want to be like “them”. Travis adopts a more righteous stance, as he states “…this city here’s like an open sewer. It’s full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it….Sometimes I go out and I smell it. I get headaches, it’s so bad. And they just like…They just never go away…” Travis sees the debauchery in New York and despises it. He wants no part of it, as he sees himself above the crime ridden streets and the criminals that inhabit them. “Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.”, Travis says, convinced that he is not included in said scum. He is separate from them, and he is proud to be an outsider. Travis lambasts Betsy due to her choice to be included with the so-called scum. Travis yells at her “You’re in a hell! You’ll die in hell like the rest. You’re like the rest of them.” After his failed courtship, Travis is disappointed by Betsy’s rejection of him. He believed that she would share his sentiments, based on his idea that she was as lonely as he was. Upon realizing that Betsy does not want anything to do with him, Travis resorts to insulting her and demoting her to the position of “them”, those who are beneath him.
The alienation and the sense of superiority that it gives Travis and the Underground Man inspires delusions of grandeur in both of them.
The Underground Man states “I was a terrible dreamer; I dreamt for three months in a row, tucked away in my littler corner…I suddenly became a hero” (Dostoyevsky 1172). He goes on to elaborate, saying “However, everything always ended in a most satisfactory way by a lazy and intoxicating transition into art, that is, into beautiful forms of being, ready-made, largely borrowed from poets and novelists, and adapted to serve every possible need. For instance, I would triumph over everyone; naturally, everyone else groveled in the dust and was voluntarily impelled to acknowledge my superiority, while I would forgive them all for everything” (Dostoyevsky 1172). The Underground Man’s alienation has spurred the development of adolescent fantasies, where he receives the adoration that he believes he is entitled to. His preoccupation with these fantasies causes him to reject reality. He claims “‘Real life’ oppressed me–so unfamiliar it was–that I even found it hard to breathe.” (Dostoyevsky 1212). The Underground Man experiences difficulty when having to deal with reality, the same way Travis struggles with dealing with reality. Travis claims to breathe in the real world and suffers painful headaches because of it. Both men experience discomfort when dealing with reality, so much so that it borders on physical pain when they take it all in. Travis’ …show more content…
superiority complex manifests itself into a need for action. He wants to rid the streets of the “scum” he cannot stand. He decides to try and “save” a young girl named Iris, from prostitution. During breakfast, he tells her “I don’t go screw and fuck with killers and junkies the way you do.” Travis sees prostitution as a symptom of the the corrupt, disgusting world around him. To take part in it is being part of the problem. He tries to convince Iris of the evil and wrong of prostitution by emphasizing his distance from it. It is beneath him, so if Iris wants to be righteous like him, she must be above it with him. Iris retorts “What makes you so high and mighty? Will you tell me that? Did you ever try looking at your own eyeballs in the mirror?”, and receives no answer. Travis does not seem to deem it worthy of an answer, the answer is inherent in his being. The Underground Man interacts with a prostitute as well, and his sense of superiority frames the interactions they have. The Underground Man scolds Liza, just like Travis does to Iris, asking “Well, and what do you think? Are you on the right path then?” (Dostoyevsky 1192). He begins to lecture Liza on how people should interact, with kindness and love, and not the detachment they just experienced. She agrees with him, and the Underground Man is fascinated by her response “It was the sport that attracted me most of all” (Dostoyevsky 1193). He sees her as something he can use to amuse himself, and likes the idea of being able to use his perceived superior intellect to incite a response in LIza. After a long-winded speech on marriage, family, and love, Liza’s only response to the Underground Man is “Somehow you…you somehow…it sounds just like a book.” (Dostoyevsky 1196). Liza is able to see through the facade that the Underground Man wanted her to believe in. He states “Her remark wounded me dreadfully. That’s not what I expected” (Dostoyevsky 1196). The Underground Man assumed his superiority was not in question, but when Liza proves that she will not fall for his mirage, he is hurt. He wanted her to believe him, so he could finally be the hero he always wanted to be. When she takes aways that opportunity from him, he begins to insult her out of pettiness. The delusions that Travis and the Underground Man develop due to their alienation affect how they interact when they are not in their respective undergrounds. During these interactions with the outside, real world they are confronted with the unpleasant truth of what they are, and struggle with their consciousness about it, since their delusions are not validated by reality.
Travis and the Underground Man are both confused men dealing with their alienation. Travis tells his coworker Wizard “I got…It’s just that I got a…I got a…They got me real down. I just wanna go and you know, like really, really do something…I don't know…I just want to go out…I really…I really wanna…I got some bad ideas in my head I just…” Travis struggles with communicating his feelings to people, because he does not fully comprehend them. He tries to connect with people, like Betsy, the cashier at the movie theatre, and Iris, in an attempt to ease his loneliness but his personality does not allow him to achieve intimacy. Travis is too volatile and awkward for it. Perhaps indebted to his service in the Marines and Vietnam, Travis is prone to violent behavior. He decides to take action against his enemy, the scum, to become the hero he thinks he deserves to be. Travis proclaims “Listens, you fuckers, you screw heads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up.” Travis sees this as the logical conclusion of who he is. He says “Now I see it clearly. My whole life has pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me.” After his attempted assassination of Senator Palantine is thwarted, Travis decides to kill the men pimping Iris. Despite being a murderer, Travis is hailed a hero by the media for “saving” Iris from prostitution. Reuniting with Betsy after recovering from his wounds, he tells her “Oh, it was nothing. I got over that. The papers always blow these things up.” A blatant lie, Travis is glad that the media portrays him as the hero he has always imagined himself to be. He drops off Betsy, and refuses to take her toll, telling her “So long” as he pulls off with a smile. Everyone, Travis included, sees him as a hero conquering villains, and not as the violent psychopath he truly is. Travis does not achieve consciousness of his true self because of the praise he receives, and therefore is viable to commit more violent acts against others he deems scum. In contrasts, the Underground Man achieves a consciousness of self. The Underground Man says “In the first place, I could no longer love because, I repeat, for me love meant tyrannizing and demonstrating my moral superiority” (Dostoyevsky 1211). Unlike Travis, who is uncomfortable with what attracts him to Betsy and Iris and represses it, the Underground Man understands what he it is he wants from Liza. After rudely dismissing her from his household and feeling guilty about it, the Underground Man asserts “Haven’t I found out once again today, for the hundredth time, what I’m really worth? Won’t I torment her?” (Dostoyevsky 1213). Despite the guilt he feels for giving her money to insult her, he understands that it would of manifested in some other form or way. He goes on to say “Even now, after so many years, all this comes back to me as very unpleasant.” (Dostoyevsky 1213). The reality of who he is comes to him as a feeling of uneasiness. He is not deluded about who he is like Travis, he understands the bad that he is capable of. The Underground Man states “We’re even oppressed by being men–men with real bodies and blood of our very own. We’re ashamed of it; we consider it a disgrace and we strive to become some kind of impossible ‘general-human-beings’” (Dostoyevsky 1214). The Underground Man does not believe in trying to be come this general human being, he doesn’t lie to himself or remain in the dark about his ability to do so, like he deems the general public to be. After many years in the underground, the Underground Man is conscious of who he is.
Taxi Driver and Notes from Underground are intense works of art that analyze the minds of alienated men.
As both men write their thoughts down onto the page, and interact with the society that rejects them, their inner most traits are revealed. As the Underground Man notes, there is an aggressive devotion to remaining in the Underground. The dark, isolated corners of the rooms the men inhabit is their home, not the reality outside of it. Nurtured by these desolate, lonely homes, Travis and the Underground Man develop emotions and ideas that they would not be able to do otherwise. This causes them to reject the outside world before it can reject them. Despite this constant struggle with the outside world and reality, both men long to connect with it and understand it, but are too invested in their alienation to succeed in doing
so.