Notes from Underground A Children’s Book

Although the Underground Man usually despises the people that he knows, and rants on and on about how superior he is to them, he sometimes has, what he describes as irrational and “un-advantageous” (Dostoevsky 6), urges for company. It was on one of these occasions that he decided to go see an old school buddy of his that he does not completely hate, named Siminov.

When he arrives at Siminov’s door however, he begins to be overcome with doubts. He thinks about how he has not seen Siminov in years and how it is very likely that Siminov does not like him at all. He decides that if he goes back now he will hate himself for it, and decides that he will knock on Siminov’s door anyway.

He is greeted by “uncomfortable astonishment” (23), when he comes in. He recognizes two of his more disliked school friends talking with Siminov. After an awkward greeting, he sits down in the middle of their meeting and lets them carry on. He finds out that they are planning a good-bye dinner for the Underground Man’s biggest boyhood enemy, Zherkov, who is leaving the city to join the army.

After some time, the Underground man becomes offended by his three school friends neglect of him, and blurts something out about how he is offended by how he was not invited to the dinner. The three school friends argue that they haven’t seen him for years and that Zherkov and him have never been on “good-terms,” but the Underground Man stubbornly insists on an invitation, and Siminov finally gives in.

Immediately after he leaves Siminov, he regrets asking to be invited. He wants to send a letter to him telling him that he has decided that he does not want to go, but then realizes that doing that would make Zherkov win, and that he cannot let that happen. He decides to go.

The Underground Man arrives at the dinner, and is almost immediately offended and angry at his companions. As a result of this anger, he begins to drink heavily, and quickly becomes drunk. The more he drinks, the more radical and blunt his insults become, and the more blunt and radical his insults become, the more blunt and radical his peer’s defenses become.

The Underground man refuses to leave and accompanies his companions until 11 o’clock, when everyone leaves. He decides to go home when he decides that to keep his honor, he must find Zherkov and challenge him to a duel. He thinks that he knows where the group has gone, and looks for them in a whore house.

The Underground Man arrives at the house and realizes that Zherkov and his friends are not there. He is very relieved by this because he knew that it would be a terrible idea. Because he does not want to go home, he stays over night at the whore house (with a woman).

He wakes up to find a woman named Liza in his bed. He decides to preach to her about how she is ruining her life and should as soon as possible get out of the whore house. At the end of his speech, Liza is hysterically weeping. The Underground Man, feeling good about himself, decides to give Liza his address.

The Underground Man goes home and cannot believe what he just did and is outraged at himself. He does not want Liza to see how poor and said he is and hopes that she will not visit. After three days he thinks that he is in the clear, until that evening he gets a knock on the door from Liza.

Liza comes in and is surprised to find the Underground Man in raggy clothing sitting in his cheap apartment. After awkwardly sitting around together, not sure exactly what to say, the Underground Man starts giving a speech about how he is really not a good person and gave he the speech only to make himself feel better. In the middle of his speech he starts hysterically weeping, and ends up lying face down on the couch for a half an hour, weeping.

Liza leaves after a while, leaving the Underground Man some time to think. He realizes that he has been living like some scum, and that he needs to change. He now knows that going back and forth between loving himself so much that he appears to be arrogant and then hating himself for it afterwards is no way to live. He decides that he will not succumb to the unreasonable human need for revenge and meaningless friendship. He decides to live “underground,” away from people. One of the main themes in this book is that it is very important to try and overcome feelings like spite, and arrogance.