What does underground mean in Notes from the Underground?

The underground man (the title, in Russian, literally means “notes from under the floorboards”) addresses an imaginary audience whom he refers to as “you” or “ladies and gentlemen”—presumably a representative group of educated, Westernized Russians. He alternately teases, insults, and abases himself before them.

How do you read underground notes?

Read the work very slowly and carefully. Try to follow the logic of the narrator attentively. Make a list of the arguments with which you agree, and those with which you disagree.

What makes the underground man obsessed with the officer in Part II?

The Underground Man, as a romantic, would use “literary language” with the officer, and he understands that the people in the tavern would humiliate him for doing so. Rather than challenge the officer, the Underground Man becomes obsessed with the idea of revenge.

Why is Notes from Underground so hard to read?

One reason that the work is so difficult is that Dostoevsky included so many ideas in such a short space, and thus the ideas are expressed with extreme intensity and are not elaborated upon. The student who has read other of Dostoevsky’s works will immediately recognize many of Dostoevsky’s ideas in this work.

When the underground man finally bumps into the officer what happens?

One time, the underground man trips and falls, and the officer merely steps over him. Finally, he carries out his plan, and bumps into the officer. The officer acts as if he didn’t notice anything, but the underground man says he is sure the officer was simply pretending.

Why does the underground man find himself unable to take revenge because?

The Underground Man argues that revenge is more difficult – impossible, actually – for an intelligent and conscious man than it is for a normal “man of action.” The reason is this: men of consciousness can’t justify their need for revenge. Revenge, then, is portrayed as an outlet for spite.

What does the officer inside the tavern do to the underground man when he’s standing next to the billiard table that so humiliates him?

How does the officer humiliate the Underground man in a tavern? By throwing him out of a window.

What is the underground man’s sickness?

To be able to accept the prevalent society of his day, the Underground Man asserts that a person must be a non-thinking man of direct action. A high level of consciousness will always cause a man to reject his society; thus, man’s greatest attribute becomes his worst illness.