Dostoyevsky’s notes

Dostoyevsky is one of the most influential Russian writers of all times. He has observed people around him and has become a critic of society’s ideals and problems of his time. One of the main problems are written in Notes from the Underground where a son of a rich family wastes all his fortune and his fame by trying to impress others.

As far as the story goes, we are able to notice that no matter how many years have passed, we can identify with the unknown-retired-narrator that explains us his life, or his flaws, and now has to live with the minimum because he couldn’t appreciate what he had. He contempted himself on his good looks and sharp tongue to get futile things, but not what he really needed.

We all want fame, fortune, riches and a good love on our side. The problem is that when we realize that we want them, we have wasted time on things that we want but don’t need. It is the existencial crisis we face when we are entertained to please others instead of ourselves in what makes us better than the rest.

Let’s hope we are not too late to realize it like our friend, the underworld narrator who ends up crazy with an image he clearly can’t maintain and he knows that, but lives with the thrill of losing everything he has, which he does. It may seem that our lives are not worth it when we depend on others to have meaning, when in fact it has been all along in us to cherish and guard them.