Notes from Underground · Chapter
Part II: À Propos of the Wet Snow explained
The Underground Man recounts his early life as a spiteful, isolated civil servant in St.
What happens
The Underground Man recounts his early life as a spiteful, isolated civil servant in St. Petersburg, his obsessive desire for revenge against an officer who slighted him, his humiliating reunion with former schoolmates, and his subsequent encounter with the prostitute Liza, which leads to a complex and cruel interaction.
Themes in this chapter
Spite and Self-Destruction
The Underground Man's actions are driven by spite, particularly his obsessive desire to insult the officer and his cruel treatment of Liza, which ultimately harms himself.
Alienation and Isolation
The narrator's profound sense of alienation from his former schoolmates and society at large, culminating in his retreat to the underground.
Characters to notice
- The Underground Man
The narrator reflects on his youth, his spiteful nature, and his interactions with former acquaintances and Liza.
- Liza
A prostitute whom the Underground Man meets after the dinner; he delivers a moralizing speech to her and later cruelly rejects her.
- Zverkov
A former schoolmate and officer, the object of the Underground Man's envy and hatred; the farewell dinner is held in his honor.
- Simonov
A former schoolmate who invites the Underground Man to Zverkov's farewell dinner.
- Ferfitchkin
A former schoolmate who openly insults the Underground Man during the dinner.
Key passages
“I am a sick man... I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man.”
The narrator declares himself ill, malicious, and physically unappealing.
Opening lines establishing the narrator's self-image and tone.
“The more conscious I was of goodness and of all that was 'sublime and beautiful,' the more deeply I sank into my mire.”
The more he recognized virtue and beauty, the more he wallowed in degradation.
Reflection on the paradox of hyperconsciousness leading to inaction and self-loathing.
“I wanted to show that I was a man, and not a piano key!”
He wanted to assert his human will and individuality, not be a predictable mechanism.
Expression of the desire for free will against deterministic rationalism.