Finished. Finally.

Though the majority of the book is a huge bottle of crap, I do believe that are several ideas that I could actually learn from. Now, when I say that the book is crap I don't actually mean all of it but I do mean that his conclusion are unique and needless to say, I don't agree with him but, when it comes to the origin of his ideas and how they can open his mind or the mind of the reader to the unlimited possibilities I have to say I can concur that they are thought-inducing. That is my real take on the book; I agree with the Underground Man's statements up to a certain degree. After that, I believe he becomes an egotistical maniac who can only explain that he is the superior mind to the "masses". He also tries to back up his claims by stating that he is not what he describes as a man of action and therefore is not limited to a wall. However, I cannot see how a man of action could be limited if he is able to analyze both sides of the story and then make. A decision which favor  him more than the other whereas, someone like the Underground Man can be the unlimited one when he always sits in limbo because he cannot make a decision and yet wants to be accepted into society. All-in-all, I believe that the Underground Man is too hungry for attention to make rational decisions and is actually in great need of a psychologist.

Final reaction

Notes From the Underground is a book, that if I knew what I t was about, would have never picked up and started to read. In fact, when reading it the first time around, I did not enjoy it at all. I did not understand anything that I was reading and therefore could not take anything away from the book; iot was sort of frustrating to be read, but now know what you were reading. However, as we discussed the book as a class, it became much more interesting. Although I never truly understood what Dostoyevsky himself was saying in his writing, the ideas discussed in class caught my attention. The book forced you to think about life, human nature and society in different ways than I ever would have; it is almost as thinking outside of the box about your own life and those around you. Much of what was discussed I had thought of before, but in the simplest way, never in such detail and it was fascinating to see how his thoughts made sense and were correct even though they can be considered insane. This book is definitely one I will remember.

February 25th, Last Blog

I did really enjoy this book and it gave me so much to think about that can be applied to life in general. It was definitely worth reading because even though it was difficult, I think that Dostoevsky is a genius. His comments on human nature and the way we live were painfully true,but its always nice to be exposed to something more than just the regular ideas we are spoon fed every day at school. However, without discussing it I don’t think I would have gotten as much out of it because when you don’t exactly know what he’s saying, you can start interpreting the book in one certain way and, like he said about reason how you can make connections to anything, and it’s not really what he was going for. For example the ideas of Darwinism and how that can be applied to the “unhappy man of the 19th century”, I would have never thought of myself. But once I knew that among other things, it made the rest of the book easier to understand. 

What I thought was especially funny was that as I am reading the book and getting graded on my understanding of it, I kept learning more and more how pointless everything that we do was. Yet, I needed to do these assignments to understand that the assignments were significant to nothing in the gran scheme of things. It just further more proves that humans just purposely make up things to make life more difficult or interesting because we have separated ourselves from the rest of life on this planet. For example the economy is nothing that’s actually real, humans have just chosen to make it real. In the end we are just really playing a big giant game of monopoly, yet this game choses your social status and way/quality of life. 

Even though we are so infinitely small, I think to some extend humans  need to create importance because each individual only has their own one chance at life (for what we know), so you might as well try and be happy. However, if being inactive is what makes you happy then I don't see a problem with that too. 

Dostoevsky made a lot of comments that seem to be able to applied to universal human nature. We discussed that humans have gone against evolution (even though we discussed how evolution will just be another theory proven wrong), by keeping the weak alive. However, that is not true of all societies which proves that there is false to that idea. In our particular society though, that idea is probably painfully true, and that is one of the most scary things to think about, because it goes against all morals we have been taught. 

NFTU Final Reaction

I have many mixed feelings about this book. As I read it, I hated it, I felt that it was a huge waste of time and that I was pretty much listening to an old guy complaining about life and contradicting himself in the process. I did not understand absolutely anything that he was saying. I knew that there had to be some sort of meaning behind his contradictions but no matter how hard I looked I could not seem to find it. As we began to discuss the story and his arguments in class it became more clear to me that he was not a whiner but he is actually more  of a philosopher with a very unique idea about life and human nature. I found particularly insightful and interesting his idea of religion and how it came to be and the impact that evolutionary theory had on people who were devoted to religion. After having this explained to me and contemplating it for a while I realized how much truth there is in this idea and I could see clearly why people were so shocked by this new way of thinking.

Another one of Dostoyevsky’s ideas that stood out to me was the idea of the wall that we place around infinity. After the discussion about trying to picture infinity, I actually went outside and looked up at the sky for about five minutes trying to keep going out and picturing what really was up above me. I kept getting the feeling that it ends somewhere I realized how truly frustrating it is to try to picture infinity because it seems so impossible that something has no end. I believe that Dostoyevsky is completely right when he argues that humans need a wall to lean on. It is very hard for us to venture into the unknown and just take the left turn on the unknown road. I wish that we could do this more often because maybe then we would actually experience why it is to live completely free of the laws of science.

I think that in the end reaching and discussing this book was worth the trouble. This book not only gave me an interesting and different perspective on life but it also taught me new ways to analyze and interpret a difficult text. I am really glad that we were pushed to read this book because as I said in class, I would not have picked it up by choice of my own. 

Final Reaction

     I really enjoyed discussing this book; it was definitely worth reading. Before we talked about it in class, I just saw the underground man as a bitter, rude, and whiny man who thought he was above everyone else. But after the analysis, i realized that these ideals and truths exist within all of us, however they were simply exaggerated and brought to light in this novel. Many hate to admit that these things are true, but they are (to a certain extent) and they are extremely relevant to our lives. The novel made me reflect on my life, and I discussed Dostoyevsky's viewpoints with many others outside of class. The fact that this novel inspired these conversations and reflections shows me that it truly is a great book, and that it did in a way change me as an individual.  

      Something I took from this book that I will never forget is the idea that humanity is a contradictory species; that there are no REAL answers to anything and that there is only one universal truths which is that there are no universal truths. I guess you could say that this book has made me become a little bit more "okay" with the fact that sometimes there are things that cannot be explained. Regardless, I know that I will continue to think like the rest of the world, as it is in my nature, and I will still embrace the walls that are put before me because they provide comfort, despite that this comfort may be short-term. I  will choose which walls I embrace, and which ones are worth trying to overcome. Reading this book gave me an entirely new perspective on humanity, religion, evolution, and Darwinism that I will carry with me during my future experiences. 

Final Reaction

Notes  From the Underground is a book that I would never have expected to enjoy. Certainly, as I read it through the first time without any discussion or outside analysis, I was not enjoying it either, however, it all changed once we began talking about it in class. The book went from boring, complicated and pointless, to "blow my mind" interesting, relevant, and reflective. Through the book I was able to read and understand that I have many feelings and actions that sem simple and that I  never thought about the reasons behind them. Fyodor was able to point out each and every one of them  and finally made me realize that there is a cause for everything. He made me see things in a completely different way and pointed out the truth behind many of those actions. May it be the wall that we are always in need of, or our crazy thoughts that we fight to push back, or our advantage of being able to go against the laws of nature and actually purposefully cause harm to ourselves are topics that I will definitely remember from the book.  With that comment I must say that in the end, it was definitely worth reading as it is the book that has most connected with my real life so far this year. The conversations and discussions in class definitely helped since I would not be able to put into mind all the aspects Fyodor was talking about without examples, analysis and different opinions from my peers in class. I will definitely remember this book as it showed me that there are many reasons and purposes behind all that we do in life, reasons that are hard to point out, but reasons that are definitely true, and affect our lives everyday.

Final Post

I really enjoyed reading this book because of the unique style in which it was written. Dostoyevsky's use of "stream-of-conciousness" writing made the reading interesting and fluid. Like many of the books we have studied this year, Notes From the Underground was like nothing I have ever read before. It also fit well with the lectures and general ideas we have been analyzing. Dostoyevsky put in writing what we all know and recognize to be true, and yet are afraid to acknowledge. I find myself thinking about his concepts outside of the classroom, and discussing them with my peers. Although there were mixed feelings about Notes From the Underground, I loved the fact that, regardless, it generated strong, passionate feelings in all of its readers. Whether one was revolted or captivated did not matter; what was interesting was the Dostoyevsky managed to get to all of us in some way. I feel this is a key characteristic of a masterpiece novel; it affects all readers to the core of their being.
This novel is relevant to almost all works of literature; in addition to its thought provoking messages are themes present in all successful story-lines. The idea of suffering, fear of the unknown, and the need to be seen are all core elements of a well-constructed character. If for no other reason, Notes For the Underground was worth reading for its literary value.
What I will probably remember most from this novel is the idea of "the wall". The more I thought about it, the more I saw walls built up all over society. They are, to reference The Sense of an Ending, massive holding pens. We spend our lives hoping that once we reach certain milestones, we will then be free. What we do not realize is that nothing changes and, while we are trying to access our distant freedom, our life has already begun passing us by.