The First Man

    After today’s final discussion I believe I finally understand the main message behind Notes From The Underground. Before I have stated the I believe the narrator does in fact have faith in man’s potential as he is capable of good; however, our minds and ‘morals’ are distorted as we grow up due to our involvement with the ‘outside’ world which includes our parents, school, friends, etc. The narrator proposes a solution to this problem although it is impossible. Like Adam, he wants us to experience the world as the first man. He wants us to gather our senses on our own accord, state a mountain is a mountain when we decide to do so, and state what the laws of nature are once we figure them out. This parallels the scenario that you gave in class with Paris. No matter how well stated or eloquently you describe the taste, touch, smell, or feel of anything human beings want to experience these senses first hand. The narrator maximizes this idea and believes that in order to truly become pure and natural we must too experience the world first hand without the clutter and distortions that other men have proposed, worshiped, and killed for.  I now see that the narrator is not bitter, but rather is craving to be that person who travels to Paris to see for himself what the natural world is truly like.

    Once understanding this extraordinary thesis, I most definitely believe that Notes From The Underground was worth the read. Beforehand, I loved the novel because the narrator reminded me of my older brother; however, now, after the lectures I love the novel even more. I understand that what he proposes will be an impossible task to achieve; but, I do believe that an attempt to perceive the world as a blank slate with no rules would be helpful. I myself must deduce that twice two equals four rather than allowing man and society to tell me otherwise. Achieving this task in any sense would be quite the accomplishment as everything in my life has been explained. I was thinking about it today that I never questioned why do I want to go to collage? Why do I want a job? To make money? But the only reason as to why to make money is to satisfy a market and a world that other men have created for me. I now feel rather helpless as I am an ant in an infinite world. And this infinite world, to me is the Earth, so I cannot even imagine galaxy after galaxy. Consequently however, I know that I have no choice but to go back to my mundane life tomorrow and continue the 6-3:05 routine; but now, the difference is at least I possess the ability to realize my stance in an explained world fully of mysteries.