Notes From The Underground

Notes From The Underground In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, Notes from the Underground, the Underground Man is in a constant struggle between himself. Not only is he in a constant struggle with his overall self, but he is also at war with others around him in general. Throughout the novel, the Underground Man attempts to establish connections with others, ranging from the officer, his old school friends, and to Liza, the prostitute. It’s unfortunate to say that the Underground Man has proven to be unsuccessful in all his attempts. He is conscious of everything that he is doing and has freely chosen to remain in the underground. I n this paper, I will argue that the Underground Man’s decision of being isolated from society and being incapable of interacting with society is a decision of his own free will. The Underground Man is someone who never changes his state of being. He chooses to remain in this state of being, that being isolated from the world. Like the wet snow, the Underground Man’s life is filled with dreariness and coldness, which reflect his overall state of being. The Underground Man is also someone who truly values his own freedom. He takes pleasure in exercising his freedom of choice while in the underground. When the Underground Man stated that he takes pleasure in the pain from a toothache, he was referring to his own free will, being that if he wanted to rid of the pain from the toothache, he would have willingly done so, but in this case, he solely chooses not to because he can do so. “The reason I’ve begun to speak is that I keep wanting to find out for certain: do other people have such pleasure? I’ll explain to you; the pleasure here lay precisely in the too vivid consciousness of one’s own humiliation; in feeling that one had reached the ultimate wall; that, bad as it is, it cannot be otherwise; that there is now way out for you, that you will never change into a different person; that even I f you had enough time and faith left to