Notes from the Underground Part 1: Bored

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   One key word that makes multiple appearances is boredom. The underground man repeatedly attributes the reason for his misery to boredom. He said he would rather be lazy than bored. At least a lazy man has something to do and just refuses to do it. The underground man has nothing to do. All he does is sit with his arms folded, letting his mind race away into dark places. Perhaps he could get a job and end his misery, but he actually enjoys the misery. It lets him know he is alive. It gives him distinction from the common man. He said he gets pleasure from his pain. Even if he got a job, he would find something to complain about because, like he said, people are ungrateful. Personally, I think his boredom is a choice. He can choose to live in his mouse hole, bottling in revenge and anger, and feel in control of his life by living in this misery. As much as he complains about it, notice that he has lived in these conditions for forty years. He does not plan on removing his boredom any time soon.

P.S. I commented on Faith and Trey's posts.

Comments

  1. Carmen KnowlesNovember 13, 2017 at 7:23 PM

    It's contradictory, but he's content with being bored. It makes me think of our world today. We can have the entire world and still be bored with what we have, and we are generally okay with that. Our general uncontentment/boredom with what we have is our own choice.

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  2. Noah PalframanNovember 13, 2017 at 9:32 PM

    Is it that he doesn't have anything to do, or can he just not find something to do. These two scenarios bring up the understanding that he is either biding his time (which can be classified as a nothingness boredom), or is he searching for something to do but failing at this task. Honestly, if I'm bored, it's because I cannot find anything to do nor is there any possible thing for me to do. Boredom in itself is searching for an escape from nothing, so in Dostoevsky's case, he isn't bored but rather he's unable to find something that will keep his mind off of nothing.

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  3. Zelda PeachNovember 13, 2017 at 9:40 PM

    I agree, I think his boredom is a choice. I don't think becoming bored is a choice, but, we have the choice to come out of boredom and chose to do something with ourselves. The problem with this man is that he is so negative and sarcastic, I don't think there is anything he sees as worthy of doing to bring him out of boredom. He could chose to make something of his life, but, he doesn't.

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