Zverkov and Liza

Abstract

Our Analysis Of The Underground Man’S Inner Conflicts Can shed a good deal of light on the long episode, beginning with the visit to Simonov, that takes up the last half of the novella. As we have seen, the underground man tries to protect himself against the pain of human contact by withdrawing into his private solitude and living in a world of fantasy. He cannot dream for more than three months at a time, however, “without feeling an irresistible desire to plunge into society” (II, ii). Since he has only one “permanent acquaintance,” his superior at the office, plunging into society means visiting Anton Antonitch on his at-home day, which is Tuesday. Because it is on a Thursday that he becomes “unable to endure [his] solitude any longer,” he goes to see his old classmate Simonov despite his desire to cut himself off from reminders of his miserable life at school. This leads him to invite himself to the dinner for Zverkov, to follow the others to the brothel, and to become involved with Liza. His behavior at every point in this sequence reflects his inner conflicts.