Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Oskar and the Underground Man
As I was reading Chapter 1 of Part II of "Notes from Underground," I, like Samantha insightfully said today in class, was reminded of Oskar from "The Tin Drum." The narrator's antisocial tendencies and insecurities seem to mirror Oskar's. Also, both Oskar and the narrator of "Notes from Underground" take pride in their intelligence. Do you all see any other similarities between Oskar and the Underground man?
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Absolutely. I think the similarity is hard to see. Like I said, the initial ellipses were the first indication that the Underground Man would narrate similarly to Oskar by rambling. However, it seems that their diary-like entries serve differing purposes. Oskar, in my mind, wrote to convince himself of untruths; he managed to sell himself lies and deceived himself to the end. The Undergroundman, however, seems to be sorting out his own thoughts. That is why he often argues with himself, and when he draws out conclucisions, he has convincingly reduced the arguments of opposition and begins to address the reader directly. In many ways, the Underground Man also reminds me of Blaise Pascal's "Pensées" because his written-down thoughts take their own trail until they reach a conclusion.
The most striking similarity I noticed was when the Underground Man compares himself to a hunchback or dwarf. These happen to be the two identities with which Grass classifies Oskar in "The Tin Drum." In "Notes from Underground," the Underground Man declares, “I’m as mistrustful and as sensitive as a hunchback or a dwarf; but, in truth, I’ve experienced some moments when, if someone had slapped my face, I might even have been grateful for it.” Like the Underground Man, Oskar is an unreliable, yet sensitive, character who narrates his story.
As we mentioned today in class, the Underground could be similar to Oskar's mental hospital. Although the hospital in The Tin Drum was a physical location and the Underground is more of a metaphor, they are similar. For Oskar, the mental hospital was a place where he could analyze himself; it is the place where he tells his story. He allows himself to enter his mind just as the Underground Man dissects his thought processes.
I think Oskar and the Underground Man are extremely similar in how they analyze themselves and the others around them. The most striking similarity between the two, in my opinion, is their general disgust for and hate towards others. Their ostensible arrogance and belief in their "superior intellect" seems a little outrageous, and their unreliable narrations make them both seem insane.
As we have all pointed out, Oskar and the Underground man are super similar in many regards. They both believe they have superior intelligence. They are both unreliable narrators because both stories are written in first person. Also they are both living isolated lives. I didn't think I would ever encounter another character like Oskar.
In general, both Grass's "The Tin Drum" and Dostoevsky's "Notes from Underground" are similar, in that they were written as reactions to events or ideas that were relevant during each author's time period. Dostoevsky commented on the Russian Revolution, while Grass focused on the Nazi Regime. Therefore, with such opinionated texts, each novel(la) was bound to receive positive and negative critiques.
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