Notes From the Underground

¶ … Underground: On Socialism

Notes from the Underground is the story of a nameless, angry man who feels a kind of inchoate rage at society. The main plot of the novel chronicles the Underground Man's encounter with a prostitute. He alternately tries to explain the reality of her condition to the prostitute; humiliates her and abases himself before her. The short novel is a rebuke to the idea that creating an ideal world is possible, given the fallen nature of humanity. The Underground Man is treated cruelly by his friends but also treats others cruelty, like the prostitute. The Underground Man is so obsessed with criticizing and thinking he is unable to act against what enrages him. Other than occasionally lashing out at others in a pointless manner, he spends most of his days alone, in his garret. His life lacks a spiritual purpose and direction -- he constantly is angry at the people who make real and imagined slights against him, but then angry at himself for his reaction. He shows disdain for material values, yet is ashamed of his poverty. He tries to uplift the prostitute with his words, but grows upset when she seems to try to idealize him.

It might be expected that, because of his misery the Underground Man would be extremely sympathetic to socialistic ideas. However, he looks at contempt upon the concept that human beings strive for social betterment and can improve themselves. Human beings are irrational, like himself: "what is to be done with the millions of facts that bear witness that men, consciously, that is fully understanding their real interests, have left them in the background and have rushed headlong on another path, to meet peril and danger, compelled to this course by nobody and by nothing, but, as it were, simply disliking the beaten track, and have obstinately, willfully, struck out another difficult, absurd way, seeking it almost in the darkness" (65). He says he takes pleasure in any physical ailments he feels, and takes a perverse joy in his miserable state.

Rather than adhering to any moral code, he refuses to believe that any rational system is possible, under which all human beings can unite. Socialism requires participation in a collective system, but Dostoevsky's text embodies a revolt against such collectivism. The Underground Man, rather than uniting with like-minded spirits, withdraws from society and deliberately acts as unpleasantly as possible towards others. Notes from the Underground also exhibits a fundamental distrust of pleasure in general -- because of Dostoevsky's religious orientation, he believes that the purpose of human life was to suffer. Socialism attempts to uplift the condition of humanity and calls for a collective anger against social injustices. It tries to change the here and now. But the Underground Man bows with passive acceptance to all indignities, except for his occasional, pointless burst of rage. He says he is not lazy, but seems to exhibit a kind of spiritual inertia.