different emotions with people such as pleasure, which is seen in the quote, “I would keep gnawing, gnawing, nibbling and eating away at myself until the bitterness finally turned into some shameful, damnable sweetness and finally into serious, definite pleasure. Yes, pleasure, pleasure! I stand by that. I broached on the subject because I’d like to find out for certain: do others experience the same kind of pleasure?” (Dostoyevsky 7). His interactions with Liza and his friends reflect that. He shows an interest in wanting to relate to them, but he cannot reach out to them on a social level. This leaves a barrier between him and other people, because it makes it hard for people to truly understand him. The problem also lies within his opinion of man. According to The Underground Man, “Man loves to construct and lay down roads, no question about it. But why is he so passionately fond of destruction and chaos?” (Dostoyevsky 30). In the quote, he brings up a truth that most men will not admit. Man, while bringing upon prosperity and enrichment to the world, are also the main causes of destruction to the very world they flourish. This broad opinion of man as a species makes the barrier between The Underground Man and society even broader. Being able to survive within the stress and hard times are essential to surviving in society.
The Underground Man, especially after losing his job at the civil service, shows no interest in his life. Working a dead-end job only to afford food, is not the typical American dream. The Underground Man lives his life through endless suffering. This is due to his resentment, and appreciation, towards his life and the environment he lives in. In his mind, he will never succumb to anything. There is evidence of this in the quote, “And now, I’m living out my life in my corner, teasing myself with the spiteful and utterly worthless consolation that an intelligent man cannot make himself anything and that it’s only the fools who manage to do that” (Dostoyevsky 5). People of his intelligence know the truth of the world and understand that everyone will die, and all their accomplishments will be worth nothing. Knowing this, there is no point in trying to make his life better. The Underground Man’s depression plays a part in his suffering. His depression has sunk to the point that at any point of happiness that he reaches, he sinks even deeper. In the quote, “The more recognized goodness and the whole question of the ‘sublime and beautiful,’ the deeper I sank into the mire and the more capable I became of completely immersing myself in it,” it is evident (Dostoyevsky 7). This level of suffering increases the barrier between him and
society. In conclusion, The Underground Man is not insane but thinks on a theoretical level. This philosophical mindset allows him to live on both spectrums of accepting and resenting society. However, the irony is that the more he understands society, the less he is understanding about it. It is impossible to finding out why different things in the world happen. Throughout the novel, the reader sees the changes that this mindset is having on his social standing. Gradually, he is delving deeper into sadness and is being separated from everyone around him. Not necessarily of their own fault, but because of their misunderstanding of him.