The Anti-Hero In Brombert's When The Underground Man

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Furthermore, the anti-hero is not capable of creating a normal human relationship with anyone he encounters, more importantly being in love. He once said that he had loved and hurt himself. The traumatic experience caused him to behave this way. The Underground Man is not able to look at people in the eye. He sees himself with disgust and regret, hating the appearance of his face but frightens if others catch a glimpse of him, as he is afraid of their derisive laughter. He sees himself as seen, and assuming that to bear this glimpses that looks at him with loathing, because he worries more about being unseen rather than being seen and judged (Brombert 67). Even though he exerts himself as someone who does not need companionship, he longs for …show more content…

He drags her into a conversation, finds out her weaknesses and presented her with ideas of domestic pleasure, complete with husband and children – expects that she would deny herself forever by giving herself to the brothel two weeks before – and of the fast humiliation and destined death from consumption that her new job offers her (Lominadze 44). Based on what the Underground Man knows, being a hero means having power over someone else. With Liza’s presence, the anti-hero sees an opportunity to have a control over her. He emotionally manipulate her, Liza, on the other hand, sees how the Underground Man can feel hurt, tries to furnish him with love but gets rejected by him anyway. Liza takes up a huge fragment in the Underground Man’s life, although his head will never admit so. His mind is perfectly modified to be spiteful, even though he knows deep down that it would have been the key to escape the abandoned life that he lives. “Never have I met Liza again, or heard anything about her. I will also add that for a long time I remained pleased with the phrase about the usefulness of insult and hatred, even though I myself almost became sick then from anguish” (Dostoevsky 128-9). Liza was a burdened to him; he yearns for the peaceful isolation in his underground. When she leaves, he is left to examine his suffering and shame (Roberts