Part 3: A Man in Hiding (Alexia Barrios)

When I first began reading Notes from the Underground, the density of the writing and the nonsensical rambling intimated me. Now have read more of the Notes from the Underground, the reading process has come along much easier than it previously did and I am beginning to understand more about the narrator.

            In the beginning of this nights reading I enjoyed learning more about the narrator’s earlier life. It is evident that even back when he was at the young age of 24 that he was antisocial since he “made friends with no one, positively avoided talking, and buried myself (the narrator) more and more into my hole” (29). He also had self esteem issues since he refused to look at anyone at his work office because he assumed they looked upon him as a “queer fellow” (29) and that he repulsed them. These characteristics of the narrator, along with those that I previously mentioned (his masochism, sadism, and sense of inferiority) led me to think about the title. He described himself as burying himself further and further into the hole, a hole I assume now he is the “underground” from where he writes these notes.  The "underground" from which he writes these notes from, I presume is a symbol of the narrator’s isolation from society as a whole as a way to avoid their judgmental eyes and express himself freely.