Notes from Underground Part 1

Give three adjectives that can be inferred about the narrator from the reading.

From Notes from Underground, I can infer that the narrator is probably insecure, crazy, and his reality is skewed.  The narrator is more than likely insecure because in his style of writing he seems to majorly contradict himself, and he tries to justify his actions to others. On page 1307, he says, “I was a nasty official. I was rude and took pleasure in it.” Then on page 1308 to justify his actions he says, “I was lying about myself just now when I said that I was a nasty official. I lied out of spite. I was merely having some fun at the expense of both the petitioners and that officer.” Although, he doesn’t seem to really justify his actions I think he was trying to show others that he wasn’t being nasty to just be nasty he actually enjoyed doing it. I think this shows he’s insecure because throughout Part 1, he’s constantly trying to show others why he did the actions he did in the past.  I think this is similar to Rousseau’s Confessions except the narrator in Notes from Underground actually goes into the detail of his bad actions and then tries to justify them. Also, the narrator seems to me to be crazy. I feel like the whole time he goes on and on with these rants in this piece. I think the writings actually help him hold on to the little sanity that he has.  It says in the first part that he gets pleasure from being rude and inconsiderate to people. Most sane people don’t really get their kicks by treating people with little respect. I think so of this also helps from his reality to be skewed. In Part I, Chapter VI, the narrator talks about wishing he could be lazy and that he would respect himself more. He says, “…at least I’d possess one more or less positive trait of which I could be certain” (1316). People don’t really see being a “sluggard” as being a good thing. He just thinks its good because people would be able to actually identify him with something. He doesn’t realize that in reality if he was a “sluggard” and drank all the time he probably wouldn’t see everything as “beautiful and sublime.” He wouldn’t be a favorable person of society and he probably wouldn’t die happy either.  The narrator in Notes from Underground is portrayed as an insecure and crazy individual whose reality is somewhat skewed from the rest of society.

Is it ironic that in Chapter 6, the narrator would be proud of himself for being lazy?

I think it is very ironic that the speaker wants to be seen as lazy by saying, “Lord, how I’d respect myself then. I’d respect myself precisely because at least I’d be capable of being lazy” (1316).  This chapter stood out to me the most versus the others because I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to be lazy; I’m usually trying to run away from and to stop being lazy. Most people of the time period this was written in all the way up to today, try to do their best through hard work to get the things they want and to be accomplished.  This chapter just shows that the narrator is crazy because he explains that being called lazy is classified as being “positively identified.” He later says that he would be live and die peacefully cause if he was called lazy he would just drink and be fat and see everything as “beautiful and sublime.” Chapter 6 is very ironic because most people wouldn’t see laziness as something to think fondly of and try to be, instead people want to be seen as hard-working and to be accomplished.