Essay about Notes from Underground - 1148 Words

One word that has come to represent the mid-18th century Enlightenment movement is â€Å"Reason†. The French philosophes believed that reason could provide critical, informed, scientific solutions to social issues and problems, and essentially improve the human condition. Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Notes from Underground is one of the most famous anti-Enlightenment novels for its rejection of these very notions. Through this novel he showed what he believed were gaps in the idea that the mind could be freed from ignorance through the application of reason, and the rejection of the idea that humankind could achieve a utopian existence as a result. The story revolves around the thoughts and rants of an unnamed character that we shall†¦show more content†¦These statements suggests that men are not rational by nature, and it is the ability to exert one’s own free will, to be able â€Å"to live†¦ at our own sweet foolish will,† that is more valued. Man’s freedom of choice should not be controlled by anything – even reason. 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 â€Å"moral courage† to do so because he is convinced that if anyone were to witness him protesting and speaking â€Å"literary Russian,† they would â€Å"misunderstand and jeer at [him]† (49). He becomes obsessed with the idea of confronting the officer, dedicating â€Å"several years† (49) to â€Å"gather[ing] information† about him, even taking a pay advance to buy clothing that he believes will make him and the officer seem â€Å"on an equal footing in the eyes of high society† (5 2). 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 itShow MoreRelatedNotes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky1616 Words   |  7 Pagesof the human soul in many of his works, one in particular is Notes from the Underground; which was published in 1864. Notes from the Underground, had a great influence in the 20th century; the novel takes a man’s inability to communicate with society and uses it to teach readers about the importance of other humans in our daily lives and how that affects the way we think, live, and learn. Although the narrator has alienated himself from society, Dostoyevsky uses his knowledge of diction, style, grammarRead MoreNotes From The Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky577 Words   |  2 PagesThe Underground Man is alone because he has chosen to be; he is hyper-conscious, meaning he is too aware and over analyses everything – his biggest worries are petty compared to what is going around him. As a society, we worry so much about ourselves and our own persona, we sometimes become paranoid. A perfect example is given when the Underground Man is on the verge of having dinner with his old comrades and he notices a stain on his trousers â€Å"The worst of it was that on the knee of my trousersRead More The Pathological Protagonist of Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground2598 Words   |  11 PagesThe Pathological Protagonist of Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground Dostoevsky’s vision of the world is violent and his characters tortured; it is no wonder that many have viewed his work as prophetic of the 20th century. However, though Dostoevsky, in his unflinching portrayal of depravity, gives the Devil some of his best arguments, the Gospel often triumphs. Ivan Karamazov is at least offered the possibility of repentance when kissed by his saintly brother Alyosha. Raskolnikov, the nihilisticRead More Notes from Underground: Binding Limits Essay1521 Words   |  7 PagesIn Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground, the underground man struggles between two beliefs. The first acknowledges that his fictional existence is predetermined, subject to his author’s conduct. The second opposes that, insisting the underground man can only live in an undetermined world that extols free will, situating it within the human. For a remedy, the underground man turns to writing, hoping to probe into this duality and to not reject any truth that c omes forth, horrifying or not. ThroughRead More Freedom in Dostoevskys Notes from Underground Essay1818 Words   |  8 PagesFreedom in Dostoevskys Notes from Underground In Dostoevskys Notes from Underground, the Underground Man proposes a radically different conception of free action from that of Kant. While Kant thinks that an agent is not acting freely unless he acts for some reason, the Underground Man seems to take the opposite stance: the only way to be truly autonomous is to reject this notion of freedom, and to affirm ones right to act for no reason. I will argue that the Underground Mans notion of freedomRead MoreDostoyevsky ‘Notes from Underground’ Critique Essay1586 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"Notes from Underground† was published in 1864 as a feature presentation of his first 1860 issue â€Å"The Epoch†. â€Å"Notes from Underground† was written by the author during a time when he faced many challenges in his life. Dostoyevsky faced failure in the publishing of his first journal â€Å"Time†, his financial position was becoming weaker and embarrassing. Moreover, his wife was dying and his conservati sm was eroded leading to a decline in his popularity with the liberal reading Russians and consequentlyRead More Socially Constructed Reality and Meaning in Notes from Underground1884 Words   |  8 PagesSocially Constructed Reality and Meaning in Notes from Underground Just as the hands in M.C. Escher’s â€Å"Drawing Hands† both create and are created by each other, the identity of man and society are mutually interdependent. According to the model described in The Sacred Canopy, Peter Berger believes that man externalizes or creates a social reality that is in turn objectified, or accepted by him as real. This sociological model creates a useful framework for understanding the narrator’s rejection Read MoreVoltaire s Candide And Dostoyevsky s Notes From Underground1870 Words   |  8 Pagesworks created to provide emphasis to the importance of moderation, two philosophers in particular, Voltaire and Dostoyevsky, have conceivably accomplished the most exemplary job of delivering evidence in Voltaire’s Candide and Dostoyevsky’s Notes From Underground. Each use the two concepts of reasoning and currency in different ways to express the importance of moderation. In contemporary society, daring to ask a pertinent question on a social platform is feasibly one of the most daunting tasks oneRead More Comparing Power and Freedom in Invisible Man and Notes From Underground3295 Words   |  14 Pagesand Notes From Underground      Ã‚  Ã‚   The quest for power is an endless one for humanity.   Countless tales of greed, strife, and triumph stem from this common ambition.   Similarly, men universally seek freedom, a privilege entitling an individual to make independent decisions and express personal opinion.   Exploration of the connection between these two abstract concepts remains a topic of interest, especially in the works of Ralph Ellisons Invisible Man and Fyodor Dostoevskys Notes From UndergroundRead More The Prostitute In Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment, Notes from Underground, and The Meek One1416 Words   |  6 PagesThe Prostitute In Dostoevskys Crime and Punishment, Notes from Underground, and The Meek One The prostitute is a curious fixture of Victorian era literature. In the works of William Thackeray and Samuel Richardson it was almost clichà © for the heroine to end up in a house of prostitution and then to transcend that situation in a show of proper Victorian morals. Having seen many young women forced by extreme poverty to take up the trade of a loose woman, Fyodor Dostoevsky, a petit-bourgeois fallen