POST:Great Lines from Notes from Underground (closes Sun.)

"May it not be that he loves chaos and destruction because he is instinctively afraid of attaining his object and completing the edifice he is constructing?" (18)

I think this pertains to goal setting of the individual. People set certain goals for themselves in all aspects of life. It may be something you wish to accomplish today, tomorrow, next year, or even just sometime before your life is over. But in the pursuit of all these goals, the Underground Man states that people love the chaos, the challenges, anything that prolongs them from eventually reaching these goals because they are never absolutely sure of what they want, or what they are striving for. In other words, people love the interruptions that prolong the end result of their own choice. As an individual we must choose, but that doesn't mean we will always like the choices we make.

(pg. "Nature does not ask your permission, she has nothing to do with your wishes, whether you like her laws or dislike them, you are bound to accept her as she is, and consequently all her conclusions."

He is a strong believer in the idea that nature merely exists, and whether or not we as people believe in what nature has to offer, it is up to us to adapt and make the best of her laws. This goes back to the belief that we are born insignificant and it is up to us to make something important of our lives. The underground man is an unstable character and is constantly shifting in his viewpoints and aspects of life.

"The thought sometimes will occur to him that the road almost always does lead somehwere, and that the destination it leads to is less important than the process of making it." p22

I really like the point that the Underground Man makes here-- It's not what you decide, it's the option of having a choice. I think the quote also shows that the UM's ideas are still relevant today, because we all want to choose our own paths instead of allowing someone (or something, like society) to choose them for us. His thoughts here really fit with the cliche "it's the journey, not the destination." Because, as he says, every path had a destination, anyway. And our own paths are so much more meaningful.

"You believe in a palace of crystal that can never be destroyed-a palace at which one will not be able to put out one's tongue or make a long nose on the sly. And perhaps that is just why I am afraid of this edifice, that it is of crystal and can never be destroyed and that one cannot put one's tongue out at it even on the sly." p24

This quote explains why the UM hates authority, or at least some of his reasons. It's powerful to me mostly because of the way it is phrased, but his reasoning is interesting too.

"My jests, gentlemen, are of course in bad taste, jerky, involved, lacking self-confidence. But of course that is because I do not respect myself. Can a man of percveption respect himeself at all? (10).

I think in this quote, the UM explains himself excellently . He outlines his broken self, his lack of self confidence, his awful sense of humor and appreciation of pain.

On page 26...

"You thirst for life and try to settle the problems of life by a logical triangle."

I took this quote as a joke towards what people want from life. I thought that the narrator was saying that people are untrue to themselves by trying to emphasize living life to its fullest and taking risks, but those people feel a need to have everything be logical and understood. Not all things that you come across in life are going to make sense, and chances need to be taken. Also, problems are inevitable and no one's life is going to be perfect.

"How much better it is to understand it all...not to be reconciled to one of those impossibilities...if it disgusts you to be reconciled to it; by the way of the most inevitable, logical combinations to reach the most revolting conclusions on the everlasting theme...that you have not, and perhaps never will have, an object for your spite, that is a slight of hand...that is simply a mess...but in spite of all these uncertainties and jugglings, still there is an ache in you, and the more you do not know, the worse the ache"(9).

-Deals with the idea that there's pleasure to be found in refuting an ideal as solid as a "brick wall" simply because it does not strike you the right way.

-Also, that you can protest to it all you want which will fill you with an ache inside directed at something, not someone, because there is not one specific person to blame.

"Writing will be a sort of work. They say work makes man kind-hearted and honest. Well, here is a chance for me, anyway" (27).

From the beginning of part 1, the UM has declared that he is a sick and spiteful man, and takes enjoyment in it. Here he's actually trying to change into a better person by writing, however I get the feeling that he's being sarcastic and the addition of "anyway" at the end implies that he doesn't really want to change and given up hope that he can. This shows how his character is very conflicted, and doesn't know what he wants.

""Ha, ha, ha! You will be finding enjoyment in toothache next," you cry, with a laugh. "Well, even in toothache there is enjoyment," I answer. I had toothache for a whole month and know there is." (9)

I found it amusing that he takes enjoyment in pain and suffering. Also I find it quite odd that someone likes to watch unhappy people. I can see the Underground Man being the person who rather than helping you points and laugh at you while you get beat up or mugged.

"Such a gentleman simply dashes straight for his object like an infuriated bull with its horns down, and nothing but a wall will stop him" (6)

People are driven to realize their potential; each of us has a goal we must fulfill. our very core of being gives us daily motivation to strive to reach our dreams, desires, and hopes. These goals in completion give us satisfaction in our lives.

"Man is sometimes extraordinarily, passionately, in love with suffering, and that is a fact. There is no need to appeal to univeral history to prove that; only ask yourself, if you are a man and have lived at all" (23).

When one hears the word 'suffering,' pleasant thoughts are not what often comes to mind. How can man be in love with suffering? Not only in love, but extraordinarily and passionately. I think the UM is simply saying that every man has suffered or will suffer once in their life, it is a given. It seems impossible that man can go on living without having at least one down point in his/her life. Relating to existentialism, this quote shows that people are responsible for the suffering that occurs in their life and that they just have to deal with the pain that is thrown at them.

"But yet I am firmly persuaded that a great deal of consciousness, every sort of consciousness, in fact, is a disease."(p.4)

The Underground Man's self-consciousness was one of the main things that alienated him from society. He is debilitatingly self-conscious, he's unable to take the ideas that manifest inside him and put them into action for fear of what others think. Every thought he has he second guesses to the point of him being unable to make any decisions in his life. This being one of his most crippling social deficiencies I found it to be quite an important quote. By stating in other parts of the book (if I remember correctly) that self consciousness is a sign of intelligence this quote is also very ironic.

"I do not wish to be hampered by any restrictions in the compilation of my notes. I shall not attempt any system of method. I will jot things down as I remember them." page 27

I liked this little paragraph because it really personified, to me, who the UM is and the way his mind works. You see it throughout the novel, but it's just the, "I'm going to do it my way and I don't care if it doesn't make sense to anyone because it makes sense to me." It shows you that maybe he's just a little more rebellious than he is insane.

"But what can a decent man speak of with most pleasure? Answer: Of himself. Well so I will talk about myself." (Page 3)

This quote sums up all of chapter one and unravels questions of the "undergroundman." We already know that he constantly questions himself and at times he almost points out the fact that he is no one special, just an average joe. However can we really trust what he is saying? This quote is the beginning of what we are about to expect, and what we should believe from him and what we shouldn't believe. Obviously will find out because he will talk about himself.

"What does reason know? Reason only knows what it has succeeded in learning (some things perhaps, it will never learn)" pg19

I really like this quote because its simple and logical. The last part "some things we will never learn" is very existential because it displays the universe as an absurd and unreasonable thing.

“Ha, ha, ha! Next you’ll be finding pleasure in a toothache!” you will exclaim, laughing. “And why not? There is also pleasure in a toothache,” I will answer.

This line really made me think... I'm still not sure how I want to interpret the passage yet. I'll edit my post when I can think of a reasonable meaning.

"Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself..." (27) I chose that quote because I'd never heard this ideal expressed so clearly- that man simpy refuses to admit certain facts. and as much as we like to think that we ourselves know ourselves entirely, our minds have found justifications and excuses that let falsifications be accepted by us as new-found fact.