Essay on The Underground Man's Desire for Misery

Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a psychologically charged novel in which the primary element that plagues the protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, is not a person but rather an idea; his own idea. Raskolnikov has an unhealthy obsession with rendering himself into what he perceives as the ideal, supreme human being, an übermensch. Raskolnikov forms for himself a theory in which he will live purely according to his own will and transcend the social norms and moralities that dominate society. Raskolnikov suggests that acts commonly regarded as immoral are to be reserved for a certain rank of “extraordinary” men. Raskolnikov’s faith

Ascher also uses valuable description and imagery to reflect on the nature of solitude. She uses specific details to interpret her observations effectively. Ascher expresses the Box Man’s behavior with much detail. She shows us how high his collar was by stating, “His collar was pulled so high that he appeared headless…” as well as specifically telling us how the Box Man preferred his boxes by stating, “...he began to sort through the boxes, picking them up, one by one, inspecting top, insides, flaps… dropped it in a doorway.”. Ascher displays imagery by using figurative language to describe the many characteristics and actions of the Box Man and she details all the observations she has made about the Box Man’s night. The author wants us to perceive how happy one can be in solitude like the Box Man by specifically describing the events that took place and using imagery so the reader can construe her vision clearly. Moreover, Ascher shows us the women who eats soup’s nightly venture. She says in much details exactly how the women orders her dinner and how the she eats the soup by taking the extra Saltine crackers she receives and breaking

Despite his unpleasant attitude, the Underground Man does crave attention from others and wants to be respected for his intelligence and knowledge. However, he is completely unable to interact with people normally, a characteristic that is perhaps best illustrated through his experiences with the officer who casually pushes him aside one night when the Underground Man is looking for a fight (48). He tries to bring himself to challenge the officer, but lacks the “moral courage” to do so because he is convinced that if anyone were to witness him protesting and speaking “literary Russian,” they would “misunderstand and jeer at [him]” (49). He becomes obsessed with the idea of confronting the officer, dedicating “several years” (49) to “gather[ing] information” about him, even taking a pay advance to buy clothing that he believes will make him and the officer seem “on an equal footing in the eyes of high society” (52). Instigating a conflict is the only way that the Underground Man knows how to somehow participate in life, and regardless of whether or not the interaction he has is a negative one, it’s something. Though it

Society is neither good nor evil, it is both. And an individual has to separate themselves from their society to commit an act of good or bad. Once they have separated themselves, they can influence society.

Every culture ever known has operated under a system of values. Many varied on exact principles, but most applied the idea of Natural Law. Or, as C.S. Lewis would refer to it in his Abolition of Man, the Tao. In this particular book Lewis discusses the implications that would follow could man overcome this basic value system that has been in place since the development of rational thought. However, paradoxical as his opinion may seem, he holds that to step beyond the Tao is to plunge into nothingness. Simply put, it is his claim that to destroy, or even fundamentally change, man’s basic value system is to destroy man himself.

Underground railroads were a network of secret routes and safe houses used during the 19th century slaves from African descent that were in the United States, and wanted escape to the free states and Canada. The safe houses located on these routes were run by abolitionists and people that were sympathetic towards slaves. The Underground Railroad reached its height during the 1850s and 1860s. It’s difficult to determine how many people actually traveled the routes and made it to freedom, but it is estimated that somewhere around 100,000 slaves journeyed along these paths. It is unfortunate however, that not many people of this 100,000 made it to freedom. There were just around 5,000 recorded cases of runaway slaves, and only about 1,000 a year made it to safety during the peak of this time. The lives of many slaves were horrendous during the early America’s, so many of them sought refuge in the Underground Railroad where they dealt with even dirtier, more dangerous conditions. However, this helped thousands of slaves successfully reach freedom and helped create one of the biggest slave movements of the 1800s.

The Man Who Lived Underground by Richard Wright is full of symbols. The story is that of a man who after being accused of a murder starts living in underground sewers, in an attempt to escape the law. There are several themes in the story, however, underground life is a powerful major theme in it that has several meanings and implications in the context of the story. Underground can be seen as a potent symbol meaning an escape from the social institution and its bondage, as a relief from inequality and racial divisions, as solitude and self-discovery and many more similar things. Underground is also the stage for the most of the drama that takes place as a part of the story. However, underground also appears as a symbol of repulsion and revolt. Overall, the writer has used the symbol of underground to expose the corruption and chaos in the society in a brilliant manner.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky paints Underground man as someone who is tortured in his novel Notes From Underground. Despite everything that Underground man says he is lost and has no sense of his identity. When the character of Liza is introduced the reader gains some hope that the Underground man can find love. Although Underground man ultimately pushes Liza away, he really loved her through his own idea of love. Underground man shows this love for her through his first conversation with Liza, his trying to save Liza, and, ironically, through his cruelty towards Liza.

my capacity for life” (Dostoyevsky, 19) By using himself as an example, and describing reason as only “one twentieth” of a person’s capabilities of life, the Underground Man emphasized the small role that reason plays.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground (1864/2008) comes across as a diary penned by a self-described “spiteful” and “unattractive” anonymous narrator (p. 7). The narrator’s own self-loathing characterized by self-alienation is so obvious, that he is often referred to by critics as the Underground Man (Frank 1961, p. 1). Yet this Underground Man is the central character of Dostoyevsky’s novel and represents a subversion of the typical courageous hero. In this regard, the Underground man is an anti-hero, since as a protagonist he not only challenges the typical literary version of a hero, but also challenges conventional thinking (Brombert 1999, p. 1).

Imperial Russian society during the time of serfdom was characterized by constantly changing social order. The society experienced a complex social change at the threshold to emancipation. It was undergoing many changes with increasing westernization and serfdom culture that gave rise to formation of new classes (raznochintsy) during the nineteenth century. Many authors have reflected and emphasized this component of change in the structure of pre-emancipation Russian society. This paper will examine how two writers: Nikolai Gogol and Ivan Turgenev, in their novels, Dead Souls and Fathers and Sons depict the society’s constantly changing nature through the relationships between their characters and the development in their beliefs and ideas. Although both the novels explore societal change during the pre-emancipation of serfs, the emphasis of change is different in both the novels. In Fathers and Sons, Turgenev oversees shifting values prevalent in the society. He explores the shift in generational values by depicting the difference in beliefs of characters like Bazarov and Nikolai. On the other hand, in Dead Souls Gogol focuses on issues of morality in society. He depicts a struggle for morality and portrays a corrupt society through the landowners and the protagonist, Chichikov, in his book.

     Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Dostoevsky, the only one who has taught me anything about psychology.” The two writers share many similarities and differences. Dostoevsky clearly had an effect on the thinking of Nietzsche. The two would be considered both philosophers and psychologists. Both writers became prominent in the late 19th century in Germany and Russia respectively. Dostoevsky was noted for his Russian literary classics and would be responsible for a flowering of late 19th century Russian literary culture. His Russian contemporaries include Leo Tostoy and Anton Chekov. Dostoevsky’s most famous works include The Brothers Karamozov, The Idiot, and Crime and Punishment.

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon explores the roles of violence, class, and political organization in the process of decolonization. Within a Marxist framework, Fanon theorizes and prophesizes the successes and failures of independence movements within colonized nations. He exalts the proletariat as a revolutionary class that is first to realize the necessity of violence in the removal of colonial regimes. Yet the accomplishment and disappointments of the proletariat are at the hand of men. Fanon neglects women in terms of the proletariat’s wishes and efforts. In spite of this exclusion, Fanon nonetheless develops a theory that could apply to the proletariat as a whole, women included. For although Fanon failed to acknowledge women’s

as he attempts to maneuver the bureaucratic system.  In vain, much as many people try to find meaning and justice out of court, Josef K.'s efforts to discover why he is accused and must suffer are in vain.  Yet, his character and his sins are conventional, and he has no bold or threatening ambitions.  All he can do is ask questions, but he receives no answers that would clarify the bureaucratic system into which he has been thrust.  Just like existential awareness undermines the entire rational structure of Divine justice, so, too, the alternative hypotheses, the multiple explanations, the different interpretations, and the uncertainty Josef K. experiences, serve to undermine the whole rational structure of the justice system.  Josef K. comes to understand the socially constructed, arbitrary, and absurd nature of the justice system, and, justice itself "The truth allegedly resides above the realms of justice and injustice."iii This literary analysis will focus on how Josef K.'s experiences in The Trial demonstrate not only the corrupt justice system of the era but also the absurd and futile attempt to seek an arbitrary concept like justice in an existential realm.

During the semester we have read three very influential works: “Fathers and Children” by Ivan Turgenev, “What is to be done?” by Nikolay Chernyshevsky, and “Crime and Punishment” by Fyodor Dostoevsky. All of these novels are tied together with similar ideas. However, authors interpret them in different ways. One of the biggest ideas is about “Extraordinary Man Theory”. Chernyshevsky, in his novel, tries to show that ideal world consists of communities and each community should have ordinary folks, servile group, and extraordinary men, leaders of the community who have all the power and can persuade the rest of the commune to follow their ideas and beliefs.