Notes from Underground
The Underground Fight against the System
The central characters in the film Fight Club and Dostoevsky's novel Notes from Underground attempt to manage a serious psychological estrangement from society, each with a strategy that ultimately directs outward aggression inward. Fight Club's nameless narrator suffers a kind of masochistic schizophrenia rooted in his total disdain for society, as it effectively deems him a "nobody"; Dostoevsky's leading man - also nameless, also mentally afflicted - attacks society within the realm of his own person, taking pleasure in self-inflicted pain. The endless series of parallels between these two works eerily reinforces a shared theme, with each character a "nobody" crouched within an imposing universe of overly-extensive artificiality; the Underground Man must be a copy of the creator of Fight Club, who indeed resents most that he is "a copy of a copy of a copy."
Interestingly, Fight Club's narrator oddly resembles Dostoevsky's typical low-ranking civil servant; his disturbingly dry occupation - until he quits - mirrors the triviality to his obsessive accumulation of material things, none of which make evident anything substantial about his character. Not only does this...
Join Now to View Premium Content
GradeSaver provides access to 2312 study guide PDFs and quizzes, 10989 literature essays, 2751 sample college application essays, 911 lesson plans, and ad-free surfing in this premium content, “Members Only” section of the site! Membership includes a 10% discount on all editing orders.
Already a member? Log in