The Underground Man starts off by telling us that he has liver disease, but refuses to go to a doctor out of spite. He realizes that he hurts only himself by doing this, but even so he remains obstinately opposed to seeking proper medical attention. He tells us that he is now forty years old, a former civil servant, rude and bitter. He then immediately retracts his statement, saying he was actually not rude at all. He scoffs at "us," the readers of his Notes, insisting that he does not care what w e think of

St. Petersburg is also introduced in this chapter; although it may not be mentioned that much from here on in, it is important to view the city as a central character in the text (see the section on St. Petersburg for a discussion of the setting).

The Underground Man's spiteful refusal to see a doctor resounds throughout the text. The terms nihilistic and masochistic have often been applied to the Underground Man (heretofore referred to as the "UM"). Nihilism is a repudiation of societal values, and masochism is the deliberate infliction of pain on oneself, usually for pleasure. The UM's hatred of society in general and his own powerlessness somehow combine to make it pleasurable for him to hurt himself , perhaps since he cannot harm soc iety as a whole--his helpless resentment of the external world leads him to attack himself, to shake up his inner world. The UM does not invariably turn against himself, how

Some common words found in the essay are:
Summary Underground, UM Nihilism, St Petersburg, Notes UM, Underground Man's, Notes Underground, Servant Dostoevsky, Civil Service, Wet Snow, UM Dostoe, st petersburg, civil servant,
Approximate Word count = 617
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)