Class Discussion Day 1

From first reading Notes of the Underground, it did occur to me that the underground man himself seemed a lot like the trucker we spoke about in a previous lecture. The fact that they both lived a completely isolated life led me to believe that they were alike and therefore assuming that the underground man is an intelligent person. After today’s class discussion, it was said that the underground man has such a high IQ that he cannot socialize with other people as the trucker. However, I never would have thought it was because the underground man could see both sides to any situation. At first it is not an easy idea to grasp, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense. Not to mention, it’s now understandable why there are so many contradictions and random tangents throughout the book. He cannot pick a side because he sees both sides equally and would regret picking one over the other. This half of the discussion today made sense to me, yet I still do not know what he meant by man not living over forty. What Camille said in class relating it to the Kafka lecture that older people are left out could be right. Although, I think what Jessica said in her post is correct. When people reach a certain age they lose their distortion and can see with clarity; most people lose it younger and therefore only live until forty. The underground man is too intelligent and will lose it much later, thus living longer.