Characters' Internal Struggles in Dostoevsky's Notes From Underground Anonymous

The most gripping aspect of Fyodor Dostoevsky's writing is his characters' compelling internal struggle. No matter how shocking or far-fetched his characters' struggles may first appear, one quickly discerns that these struggles are precisely those with which we all continually grapple. Dostoevsky's depiction of these struggles, however, are taken to the extreme, making them initially appear incomprehensible.

The Underground Man himself is a metaphor for one who is suffering from a hyperconscious state of mind who endures a vicious circle of logical to illogical thinking. He vacillates between being a superior thinker to being as insignificant and invisible as a creeping insect. As noted in class, Plutarch writes that "You are a God only insofar as you recognize yourself as a man". This reinforces society's general conception that one who lives as a bookworm comprehends nothing about real life. Likewise, some people hold that one who experiences life actively but has no book knowledge is missing out on the finer (that is, intellectual/philosophical) things of life. Therefore, as Plutarch and Dostoevsky suggest, one must live amongst one's fellow man and have healthy interaction with others as...