Notes from Underground

Summary

Part II, Chapter II

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Summary Part II, Chapter II

The fact that the Underground Man can only visit Setochkin on Tuesdays, and therefore must limit and schedule his desires for social interaction, is another indicator of the artificiality of the Underground Man’s environment. We can understand how people living in St. Petersburg might feel frustrated and alienated like the Underground Man when they discover that even natural, human impulses toward companionship are regulated, programmed, and bureaucratized. When the Underground Man overcomes his social problems enough to try to take action, society and convention thwart him—the very society and convention that are, at least in part, responsible for his social problems from the start.

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