Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Underground Man

The anonymous narrator and peculiar man in Notes from Underground lives alone in Russia and presents himself as an unpleasant, extremely lonely being. The two sections this novel consists of are made up of notes that the man writes and are often contradictory, crude, and express isolation from society. His set of memoirs often left me admiring his intellectual abilities but hating his actions. The Underground Man embodies many personality traits which makes it harder to pinpoint the purpose behind all of his versatile thoughts and actions. I think that by studying characterization of the Underground Man, the central meaning of identity and human nature in the novel is explored. The novel consists of multiple notes from the Underground Man that give his audience ideas as to why he is so different from people in modern society. One of the biggest hints that I immediately noticed was that the Underground Man narrates the entire story, but doesn’t ever use a name. By not having a name, it makes me think that he doesn’t feel important enough or simply doesn’t care to use one because of his wicked demeanor. He is able to express his sometimes irrational thoughts and opinions but doesn’t feel important enough to use a name due to feelings of seclusion. This could suggest that he’s lost his “humanity,” leaving his identity unclear. His corrupt attitude is also immediately presented in this novel when he introduces himself as “a sick man…a wicked man…an …show more content…
The biggest character trait that I discovered from reading Notes from Underground was the Underground Man’s ability to exercise his free will weather the outcome be positive or negative, he didn’t care. I think that Dostoevsky’s purpose in exaggerating this character was to show that everyone has a little evil in him or her, just like the Underground