Dostoevsky’s Notes from Undergound - Reactions to an Overdeterministic

Dostoevskys Notes from Undergound - Reactions to an Overdeterministic ExistenceSome of the works cited are missingDostoevsky presents his Notes from Undergound as the fragmented ramblings ofan unnamed narrator. On the surface, the characters narration appears disjointed andreaches no conclusive end ing until the author intercedes to end the book. However, a mop up examination of the surreptitious mans language reveals a progression in hiscollected ravings. After expressing dissatisfaction with the notion of determinism, theunderground man embraces the irony of his ultra-deterministic reality. through hisnarrative, the underground man discovers the truth about his predestined, fictionalexistence.Dostoevskys work is divided into two sections throughout the first section,Underground, the narrator discusses and resists determinism. The underground mancompares deterministic life to a mathematical formula, two times two equals four. Hesuggests that, according to the deterministic model , life conforms to a set of predestinedevents and actions, and its outcome is inevitable. The underground man condemns theformula, asserting, After all, two times two is no longer life, gentlemen, yet thebeginning of death(24). In his essay Narrative and Freedom, critic Gary capital of Minnesota Morsonelaborates upon the narrators statement, adding, For life to be meaningful and for workto be more than robotic, there must be something not just unknown but still undecided(Morson 196-7). According to the underground man, the pre-existence of the solutionimplies that no other conclusion may be reached once one embarks on life, one cannot skirt the inevitable outcome of death. Morson emphasizes the underground mansres... ...nd man initially believes that by identifying the cause of hisdefectiveness, he will be able to correct his plain doomed life.Instead, he discovers that his real defect, his existence as fiction, preventshim from ever altering his circumstances. After heralding sel f-awarenessas the key to controlling his own life, he finds that self-awareness onlyallows him to perceive how little control he could ever have.Works Cited and ConsultedBerger, Peter L. The Sacred Canopy Elements of a Sociological Theory of Religion.New York Anchor Books, 1990.Escher, M.C. Drawing Hands. allot of Norton edition of Notes from Underground.Katz, Michael R., ed. Notes from Underground. New York W.W. Norton & Company,2001.Chernyshevsky, Nikolai. What Is to Be Done? Katz 104-123.Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Notes from Underground. Katz 3-91MorsonTodorov