Theme of Consciousness in Notes from Underground "It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but,

on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness." -Karl Marx, Preface to the Critique of Political Economy Many of us wander this world looking for a genuine soul. When we do come across this person, we push him aside and say Im looking for a genuine person. For it is our own misconception that the genuine human would be the epitome of kindness and purity. It is a prejudice general of mankind. Dostoevskys Underground Man is a genuine person; he is so because of his acute consciousness. He speaks out his mind and his behaviour does not contradict his thoughts. He is genuine in the real sense of the word. Everything happens for a reason is an easy explanation to even the worst things that happen around us. According to our Protagonist nothing happens for a reason and there is no autonomy for individuals; he does not jump to the conclusion that everything is controlled. And this is his consciousness; this is also the reason for his inactivity. He does not find a point in labour, technology, logic and advancement. Such intense consciousness brings him immense pain, he would rather have been an active person convinced about the ways of mankind. So he rants I swear to you gentlemen, that to be overly conscious is a sickness, a real, thorough sickness. For man's everyday use, ordinary human consciousness would be more than enough. The Narrator suffers from toothache and liver problem (so he thinks, because he hasnt consulted a professional), he does not do anything to cure it. I must not say suffer, And why not? There is also pleasure in a toothache." To take pleasure from others pains is being sadistic; to take pleasure from ones own degeneration is appalling. He does so because these physical sicknesses are minute in comparison to that of the sickness that comes through his acute consciousness. Our hero is convinced that there must be other people like him. Yet, there is no need to go finding them because they are not going to get productive out of such acquaintance. It would result in more ranting. And a person of such high consciousness reaches a stage of inertia, mere existence. "The direct, lawful, immediate fruit of consciousness is inertia -- that is, a conscious sitting with folded arms." This idea is later developed by Sarte and Heidegger, termed as Existentialism. The underground man is not spiteful merely out of acute consciousness; his acute consciousness makes him question existence. He does not yield a convincing answer to the functioning of society and thus becomes cynical. The more conscious I was of goodness and of all that was 'sublime and beautiful, 'the more deeply I sank into my mire and the more ready I was to sink in it altogether. He could not understand why people thought good of all that they thought well. To the man in question here, all that was good to others was no so to him, his consciousness showed him so. As consciousness is the opposite of ignorance, the theme of consciousness in Notes from Underground proves the proverb ignorance is bliss. Maybe many of us really are ignorant for not being able to relate to a such a man. For, the comment that got 141 likes and 43 comments in Goodreads for Notes from Underground is oh, dear. this is not a character that it is healthy to relate to