Editing Notes from Underground (section)

===Part 1: "Underground"===
The first part of ''Notes from Underground'' has eleven sections:

* '''Section I''' propounds a number of riddles whose meanings are further developed as the narration continues. 
* '''Sections 2, 3, & 4''' deal with suffering and the irrational pleasure of suffering. 
* '''Sections 5 & 6''' discuss the moral and intellectual fluctuation that the narrator feels along with his conscious insecurities regarding "inertia"—inaction. 
* '''Sections 7, 8, & 9''' cover theories of reason and logic, closing with the last two sections as a summary and transition into Part 2.

The narrator observes that utopian society removes suffering and pain, but man desires both things and needs them in order to be happy. He argues that removing pain and suffering in society takes away a man's freedom. He says that the cruelty of society makes human beings moan about pain only to spread their suffering to others.

Unlike most people, who typically act out of revenge because they believe justice is the end, the Underground Man is conscious of his problems and feels the desire for revenge, but he does not find it virtuous; the incongruity leads to spite towards the act itself with its concomitant circumstances. He feels that others like him exist, but he continuously concentrates on his spitefulness instead of on actions that would help him avoid the problems that torment him. The main issue for the Underground Man is that he has reached a point of [[ennui]]<ref>''Notes from Underground'', ch. 5: "and it was all from ennui, gentlemen, all from ennui ; inertia overcame me."</ref> (boredom) and inactivity.<ref>Chief among them is the Underground Man, who confesses to his own inertia (''inercija''), defined as "conscious-sitting-with-arms-folded" and also criticises his supposed antitheses, men of action and men of nature and truth for their active, machine-like existence.

Knapp, Liza. 1985. "[https://web.archive.org/web/20131101135147/http://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/DS/06/143.shtml The Force of Inertia In Dostoevsky's Krotkaja]." ''Dostoevsky Studies'' 6:143–56. – via [[University of Toronto]]. Archived from the [http://www.utoronto.ca/tsq/DS/06/143.shtml original] on 2013-11-01.</ref> He even admits that he would rather be inactive out of laziness.

The first part also gives a harsh criticism of [[determinism]], as well as of intellectual attempts at dictating human action and behavior by logic, which the Underground Man discusses in terms of the simple math problem: ''[[2 + 2 = 5#Russia|two times two makes four]]'' ([[cf.]] [[necessitarianism]]). He argues that despite humanity's attempt to create a utopia where everyone lives in harmony (symbolized by [[The Crystal Palace]] in [[Nikolai Chernyshevsky]]'s ''[[What Is to Be Done? (novel)|What Is to Be Done?]]''), one cannot avoid the simple fact that anyone, at any time, can decide to act in a way that might not be considered to be in their own self-interest; some will do so simply to validate their existence and to protest and confirm that they exist as individuals. The Underground Man ridicules the type of [[enlightened self-interest]] that Chernyshevsky proposes as the foundation of Utopian society. The idea of cultural and legislative systems relying on this [[rational egoism]] is what the protagonist despises. The Underground Man embraces this ideal in [[praxis (process)|praxis]], and seems to blame it for his current state of unhappiness.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Scanlan|first=James|date=1999|title=The Case against Rational Egoism in Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground|url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_history_of_ideas/v060/60.3scanlan.html|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas|volume=60 |issue=3 |pages=549–567 |doi=10.1353/jhi.1999.0028 |s2cid=170260153 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>