Is the Underground Man in Love?

Underground Man & Liza

From my perspective, the Underground Man's relationship with Liza in Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky is quite perplexing. Liza is a prostitute who I believe the Underground Man is attracted to. She is the first person who he is able to connect with because they share similar views which do no comply with societies norms. When the Underground Man first talks with Liza and urges her to get married, she goes agaisnt the status quote and says "not all married women are happy" (Dostoevsky 86). This attracts the Underground Man because it correlates with his nonstandard beliefs. However, she eventually breaks into tears.

Things become more interesting when the Underground Man invites Liza to his house and speaks unscrupulously towards her. He goes hysterical and cries as Liza comforts him. It is difficult to understand his true emotions towards Liza because at first he swore "she really did interest" (Dostoevsky, 87) him. Yet, towards the end of the novel, he tells her that he "had been, humiliated, so [he] wanted to humiliate" (Dostoevly 113) her. However, his intimidating behavior may be his way of expression love because at one point he says "loving meant tyrannizing" (Dostoevsky 117). Therefore, I personally believe that the underground man loves Liza, however this is debatable. 

Philosophical Viewpoints

Dostoevsky

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the Underground”, the Underground Man, argues in opposition to the Enlightment philosophy which grew popular in his era. “Rational egoists” beleive that everything man does is “according to the laws of nature” (Dostoevsky 23). In addition, according to them, by following these natural laws, man can avoid destructive or absurd behavior. The underground Man uses the metaphor of a “piano key”, which creates the same, predictable effect, to portray this philosophy. 

Existentialism 

However, the Underground Man’s existentialist philosophy opposes this theory. He gives harsh criticism of societies intellectual attempts at dictating human actions and behavior. He believes that human’s ability to desire is a beautiful aspect of their nature.  Therefore it is more valuable for humans to make decisions based on their desires even if it runs contrary to their interests because “it is impossible to retain [both] reason and desire” (Dostoevsky 25).  Existentialists believes that “what man needs is simply independent choice, whatever that independence may cost and whatever it may lead” (Dostoevsky 24). The Underground Man’s loneliness depicts the existentialist notion that humans are in isolation from each other because they all make decisions that satisfy their desires, not those are made simply because they have been “worked out on paper” (Dostoevsky 25) for everyone to follow.

A Contradictory Man

“Notes from the Underground” by Fyodor Dostoevsky is considered to be the first existentialist novel. Existentialism is a 20^thth century philosophical movement that was based on the analysis of human existence and the centrality of human choice. This novel focuses on the troubled psychological state of a bitter and isolated man who is a retired civil servant who resides in St. Petersberg.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

The Underground Man is a character motivated by many contradictory impulses. Even though he believes himself to be more intelligent and perceptive than most other people, he also despises himself and frequently feels himself to be inferior or humiliated. In addition, he indicates that he “used to be in the civil service, but no longer [is]. [He is] a spiteful official” (Dostoevsy 4). It is a contradiction for someone in the civil service to be malevolent because they are expected to be righteous and good-natured. However, he later explains that he “could never really become spiteful (Dostoevsky 4). It is therefore difficult to undisclose the true nature of this contradictory man.

After a class discussion, I realized that we all possess contradictory traits. People’s first impression of me is that I epitomize a typical “girly girl” because I have a big princess crown over my bed and I love to shop. However, they are shocked to find that I am somewhat a “math geek” because math is typically associated with boys. In addition, girls typically have bad handwriting, but I am an exception. 

Failure is Inevitable

In the novel “Things Fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, Okonkwo strives to become everything his father Unoka was not, a weak failure. However, as the novel unravels, it is apparent that failure is an inevitable aspect of human nature.

Unoka, Okonkwos father, died a failure; he never managed a successful harvest and proved deficient in providing for his family.  Okonkwo’s passion was to not have the same fate as his father, and embody the qualities of gentleness and idleness.

“Okokokwo [also] wanted his son to be a great farmer and a great man. He would stamp out the disquieting signs of laziness which he thought he already saw in him” (Achebe 33). Despite trying to be masculine in the eyes of his father, his weak feminine qualities were unavoidable. This is apparent as Nwoye is listening to his father’s masculine stories of the land of bloodshed and violence and he “knew that it was right to be masculine and to be violent but somehow he still preferred the stories that his mother used to tell” (Achebe 53).

Despite Okonwo’s efforts, he falls into the doomed light of his father, Unoka. His exile from his village in Umofia for his inadvertent murder of a teen boy is one sign of this. This shows how even the most powerful men cannot journey through life without running into obstacles. Similarly, despite okonkwos hatred for feminism, he is living in exile in his motherland. As Ofeudu, Okonkwos uncle, says, “when there is sorrow and bitterness, [a man] fins refuge in is motherland” (Achebe 134). This shows how the feminine side of every person is inexorable in their nature.  In addition, even though Okonkwo values never giving up, his suicide is a sign that he gave up fighting to preserve his religion and remove the Christians from his country. 

Are men really more powerful than women?

Differences in gender roles is apparent in modern society and is a significant theme throughout Chinua Achebe's novel, "Things Fall Apart". In Ibo culture, women are subservient towards the male authority. Patriarchy has manifested itself in the social, legal, political, and economic organization of Ibo culture.

It is implied that women are in some ways viewed as property for men in Ibo culture. This is reflected by the fact that men would purchase his wives. Once married, the man has control of everything, including the children. The idea of love and connection between man and wife was not how the ibo people define marriage. Many Ibo women do not really love their husbands but instead have a sense of fear towards their husbands. These women have little to no value of their own.

In addition, the men in Ibo society are not hesitant to beet women for minor circumstances. Okonkwo gave his second wife, Ekwefi, a sound beeeting for merely cutting a few leaves from a banana tree to wrap some food. Shorthly thereafter, he "nearly killed [her] with his gun" (Achebe 48).  In another circumstance, a woman and her husband, Uzowulu, were at trial because "no day passed in the sky without his beating the woman" (Achebe 91).

Male dominance is also reflected in the Ibo ways of farming. While the women grow crops like coco-yams, beans, and cassava, "Yam, the king of the crops, was a man's crop" (Achebe 23). In Ibo culture, yam is symbolic of masculinity. The more plots of yam farms a man owns the wealthier he is and  he has a better chance of keeping his family feed and devoid of starvation and famine.

How people even today perceive men in comparison to women

Differences in gender roles are still aparent in modern society world wide, however to a lesser extreme. Simlar to Ibo society, women today are expected to be housewives that clean, cook, and take care of children while men go to work.

The Danger of a Single Story

Chimanda Adichie's TED talk on "The Danger of a Single Story" has broadened my perspective of society and individuals. It made me realize that we have all fallen victim to stereotype's that have been influenced from the media. Our tendency to label people based on the an overemphasized single story of their ethnicity impedes us from identifying their individual personality.

Similarly, I learned from reading this video to not judge something before learning the story behind it. At first I assumed that the video on Chimanda Adichie's TED talk focuses on literature, however I was mistakend. It instead tackld a moral lesson, to avoid 

Adichie's talk influenced my approach on how I read Chinua Achebe's novel, Things Fall Apart. I tried to clear my mind from the single story of Africans' as living underprivileged lives under unsuitable conditions. Adichie's TED talk remained in the back of my mind as I read the first four chapters of Things Fall Apart. I began to develop distinct views on each character as I read these chapters, I realized that the moral behind Adichie's talk enabled me to realize that Ukonkwo and his father, Unoka, are direct opposites of each other; while Okonkwo was motivated to succeed and to be fierce, his father was an idle and gentle man. In fact, "Okonkwo was ruled by one passion―to hate everything that his father Unoka has loved" (Achebe 13). 

The Most Tragic Element of Hamlet

Shakespearean tragedies are five act plays that revolve around the downfall of a heroic figure whose death affects the welfare of the empire. The hero’s sudden reversal of fate and tragic flaw leads to his downfall. The protagonist struggles with external and internal conflicts as he undergoes abnormal physiological conditions. Shakespeare incorporates supernatural beings, such as ghosts or witches, in order to add to the excitement of the plot. He increases interest in his plays through the use of contrast. For instance, before a tragic scene, he incorporates comic relief in order to balance out the audience’s emotions. Shakespeare also includes characters that provide contrast to the protagonist. http://kilby.sac.on.ca/faculty/KRAMON/English/Grade%2010%20Files/Macbeth%20Files/Characteristics%20of%20a%20Shakespearean%20tragedy.htm

What separates Hamlet from other tragedies is his delay in taking action to avenge his own father’s murder. He says he wants to “know a thou a more horrid hent” (3.3.93). Hamlet reasons that he should find a better moment to murder Claudius and should not murder him as he prays because he is concerned he will send his soul to heaven. This contrasts Laertes’s willingness to “cut [Hamlet’s] throat in church” (4.7.144) in order to avenge his fathers death. The fact that Shakespeare has Laertes and Fortinbras’s characters active in their steps towards revenge unlike Hamlet, agrees with Shakespeare’s style of including characters that provide contrast to the protagonist. In addition, like every tragedy hero, Hamlet's flaw works against him; he excecively thinks things through, which delays his revenge. 

In my opinion, I consider Hamlet's death the most tragic aspect of the play. I feel sympathetic for Hamlet because he is betrayed by all of his friends and relatives except Horatio. In my perspective, because he has an innocent personality, he is hesitant and afraid to take revenge. Even after he completes his deed, he dies and is not rewarded by getting what he deserves, the crown to the thrown.