Notes From The Underground Literary Analysis

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The Underground Man’s incapacity for love as shaped by rationality
Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground is split into two distinct chapters. The first chapter, “Underground” reads like a manifesto; a glimpse into the Underground Man’s philosophies. In contrast, “Apropos of the wet snow” is narrative; although a continuation of these philosophies, it’s a story that uses memories to elaborate on (and perhaps justify) his worldview.
Partitioning the novel like this makes a telling statement, that the Underground man is dominated by rationality. Dostoevsky shows us in the organization of the Underground Man’s “notes” that even in stream of consciousness prose, the Underground man relies on philosophical and literary conventions. As he says …show more content…
In the tradition of Gogol, Dostoevsky uses wordplay in the naming of some of the characters in Notes from the Underground. One example of this is evident in the character Zverkov, a play on zver or “beast”, an apt name considering the character’s personality being like one in the state of ignorance, or perhaps the bull to the Underground Man’s mouse. Similarly, the Underground Man’s servant Apollon’s name is a direct translation from Russian to Apollo the Greek god of, among other things, …show more content…
Only someone who has never experienced love can apply rationality to it. When the Underground Man is lectures Liza about love, he is proving that he himself has never experienced it. Liza recognizes this as well, exclaiming that the way the Underground Man waxes philosophical to her is “It’s as if you…as if it’s from a book,” (Dostoevsky, 98). When the Underground Man brings Liza into despair and watches as she achieves true self consciousness, The Underground man is at a loss and flees. He flees because in the face of true despair, true emotion the Underground Man is once again incapable of

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