Romance for Reality
According to studies done in psychology, children tell the truth more than adults. The question can then be asked, “Why do adults not also tell the truth as much as children?” Dostoevsky in Notes from Underground argues one’s truth is always self-biased and by utilizing Underground Man’s account of his life he demonstrates that people use romanticism to prevent disappointment from the reality of their own lives.
Dostoevsky opens the notes with Underground Man stating, “I am a sick man… I am a wicked man” (Dostoevsky 3). On the following pages, however, Underground Man says, “I lied about myself just now when I said I was a wicked official… but as a matter of fact, I was never able to become wicked” (Dostoevsky 4-5). We immediately being with a contradiction of his character. The writer says one thing and then states he is lying. Dostoevsky uses the unreliable narrator to illustrate that a person’s words and views cannot always be trusted. At the very beginning, we have the concept of true humanity that has to be dealt with throughout the book. People are not reliable at recounting facts. Because Underground Man begins by lying about certain aspects of himself, the reader is given the job of deciphering what Dostoevsky is saying about humanity as a whole. Thus, it can already be deduced that Underground Man is not going to tell everything exactly the way it happened without twisting the truth.
For this reason, Underground Man tells the reader that one night he was passing a tavern and saw men fighting and one of the men was “chucked” out of the window. He begins to envy the man, so he proceeds to enter the tavern while saying, “‘Perhaps I, too, will have a fight,...and get chucked out of the window myself’” (Dostoevsky 49). It can be concluded that no man in his right mind would desire to be thrown out of a window. Therefore, it can be concluded that Underground Man is imploring romanticism to make the situation seem heroic. Men getting into fights happens frequently in books, and he read a lot of books for entertainment (Dostoevsky 48). However, when he goes in to get into a fight, the man he opposes merely moves him aside which disappoints him. Dostoevsky employs Underground Man’s encounter with the man to signify to the readers that romanticism can also cause disappointment. Therefore, it is better to tell the truth and follow the principles of realism rather than trying to romanticize every aspect of one’s life in hopes of not being disappointed.
Reality is touched on by Underground man when he was going through one of his episodes of debauchery. He states, “In reality, I so calmly filled the last. Either hero or mud, there was no in between” (Dostoevsky 57). Underground Man understands that romanticism and realism could not be molded together. He realized through his multiple experiences with people that they were not going to react the way they did in his fantasies. So, he reluctantly accepted being “mud” as he describes people who live out their lives. But he adds, “That is what ruined me, because in the mud I comforted myself with being a hero at other times” (Dostoevsky 57). He proposes that by playing a hero in his fantasies he could cope with having to deal with reality. He never really accepts the fact that all his fantasizing will never change reality, just like people do not want to tell the full truth or accept all of reality as it is.
Furthermore, Underground Man goes on about wishing to fight the officer and speaks about decency and how a decent man is a slave and a coward to society because he conforms to the formalities of his culture and society (Dostoevsky 44). A decent man accepts what the world gives him. In other words, he lives in reality unlike Underground Man’s desires to live in a romanticized world. Underground Man says, “Devil knows what I’d have given then for a real, more regular quarrel, more decent, more, so to speak, literary!” (Dostoevsky 49). When he says “literary” he means more book-like or romantic. He desired for the world around him to function and play out the way he has imagined it would. He later speaks about the officer again and how he is going to get even with him for simply moving him aside and not fighting him. But he says, “What I lacked was sufficient moral courage” (Dostoevsky 50). He did not have the guts to go against decency and defy society’s standards.
Consequently, it can be concluded that trying to live one’s life through romanticism is futile. However, it is not harmful to believe that reality will not always play out the way it has historically. It is better to love optimistically for the romantic moments to happen, but not in expectation of life to always play out like one has imagined or read in a book. All people are different and will have varying outlooks, but telling lies does not change one’s reality. It merely makes the person indecent and immoral for not speaking the truth about particular matters. It can also be concluded that people are not as truthful as they claim to be as we saw from Underground Man. Some of the things he wrote, he stated that he was not being truthful and sometimes he could not remember reality from his romanticizing.
Dostoevsky opens the notes with Underground Man stating, “I am a sick man… I am a wicked man” (Dostoevsky 3). On the following pages, however, Underground Man says, “I lied about myself just now when I said I was a wicked official… but as a matter of fact, I was never able to become wicked” (Dostoevsky 4-5). We immediately being with a contradiction of his character. The writer says one thing and then states he is lying. Dostoevsky uses the unreliable narrator to illustrate that a person’s words and views cannot always be trusted. At the very beginning, we have the concept of true humanity that has to be dealt with throughout the book. People are not reliable at recounting facts. Because Underground Man begins by lying about certain aspects of himself, the reader is given the job of deciphering what Dostoevsky is saying about humanity as a whole. Thus, it can already be deduced that Underground Man is not going to tell everything exactly the way it happened without twisting the truth.
For this reason, Underground Man tells the reader that one night he was passing a tavern and saw men fighting and one of the men was “chucked” out of the window. He begins to envy the man, so he proceeds to enter the tavern while saying, “‘Perhaps I, too, will have a fight,...and get chucked out of the window myself’” (Dostoevsky 49). It can be concluded that no man in his right mind would desire to be thrown out of a window. Therefore, it can be concluded that Underground Man is imploring romanticism to make the situation seem heroic. Men getting into fights happens frequently in books, and he read a lot of books for entertainment (Dostoevsky 48). However, when he goes in to get into a fight, the man he opposes merely moves him aside which disappoints him. Dostoevsky employs Underground Man’s encounter with the man to signify to the readers that romanticism can also cause disappointment. Therefore, it is better to tell the truth and follow the principles of realism rather than trying to romanticize every aspect of one’s life in hopes of not being disappointed.
Reality is touched on by Underground man when he was going through one of his episodes of debauchery. He states, “In reality, I so calmly filled the last. Either hero or mud, there was no in between” (Dostoevsky 57). Underground Man understands that romanticism and realism could not be molded together. He realized through his multiple experiences with people that they were not going to react the way they did in his fantasies. So, he reluctantly accepted being “mud” as he describes people who live out their lives. But he adds, “That is what ruined me, because in the mud I comforted myself with being a hero at other times” (Dostoevsky 57). He proposes that by playing a hero in his fantasies he could cope with having to deal with reality. He never really accepts the fact that all his fantasizing will never change reality, just like people do not want to tell the full truth or accept all of reality as it is.
Furthermore, Underground Man goes on about wishing to fight the officer and speaks about decency and how a decent man is a slave and a coward to society because he conforms to the formalities of his culture and society (Dostoevsky 44). A decent man accepts what the world gives him. In other words, he lives in reality unlike Underground Man’s desires to live in a romanticized world. Underground Man says, “Devil knows what I’d have given then for a real, more regular quarrel, more decent, more, so to speak, literary!” (Dostoevsky 49). When he says “literary” he means more book-like or romantic. He desired for the world around him to function and play out the way he has imagined it would. He later speaks about the officer again and how he is going to get even with him for simply moving him aside and not fighting him. But he says, “What I lacked was sufficient moral courage” (Dostoevsky 50). He did not have the guts to go against decency and defy society’s standards.
Consequently, it can be concluded that trying to live one’s life through romanticism is futile. However, it is not harmful to believe that reality will not always play out the way it has historically. It is better to love optimistically for the romantic moments to happen, but not in expectation of life to always play out like one has imagined or read in a book. All people are different and will have varying outlooks, but telling lies does not change one’s reality. It merely makes the person indecent and immoral for not speaking the truth about particular matters. It can also be concluded that people are not as truthful as they claim to be as we saw from Underground Man. Some of the things he wrote, he stated that he was not being truthful and sometimes he could not remember reality from his romanticizing.
Katelyn, I enjoyed reading your argument! Peyton Osborn (http://myfirstgbblog.blogspot.com/2020/01/everywhere-is-underground.html) also wrote about the Underground Man’s view of reality. Both of you began the argument by discussing how the narrator was untrustworthy, and you both used the same quote to prove your point. When the Underground Man mentions that he is a wicked man on one page and then admits to lying on the next page the his character is immediately questioned. The idea that the Underground Man romanticised certain aspects of his life was something I agreed with. Even though you both agreed that he was romanticising certain events you came to slightly different conclusions. You made the observation that the Underground Man was a liar but there were times when his personal reality and the real world did not align. Peyton concluded that the Underground Man was showing the craziest that people in society viewed as normal. Both of your conclusions were interesting and something I had not considered myself.
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