Freewill In Dostevsky's The Underground Man

As we progress through Dostevskys The Underground Man there is a constant reoccuring theme that changes as we proceed from part I to part II. The theme that is so important to the Underground man is his freewill or perceived freewill. In this novel you can see that the Underground man moves from demanding evidence to accepting evidence of freewill as we progress both chronologically and logically through his total development as the Underground Man. For the beneifit of this argument we will start with the second part of this book and look at the Undergroun Man when he was in his 20s in Russia. In the second part of Notes from Underground the main character is constantly trying to proove to himself and others his freewill. He is determined to show everybody that freewill exists.

The first part of the novel is the Underground man when he is 40 years old and is reflecting on his past. The second part is when he was younger and is recording the everyday events of his life. In the second part we came to understand that the Underground man didn’t know how to properly control and understand his freewill abilities. He was lashing out at people and making a mockery of himself in pursuit of displaying his and others freewill. But, in the first part of the novel, when he is reflecting, he is more at peace with his freewill. He understands that not everything you can control for like “twice of two”, but that doesn’t mean there is no freewill. It is in his later years he develops a liver disease, which turns out to be his dark savior. This disease allows him to demonstrate his freewill by not receiving medical help. In this novel it’s present that the Underground man moves from demanding evidence to accepting evidence of freewill as we progress both chronologically and logically through his total development as the Underground