Both Liza and the Underground Man want to find true, pure love in their lives. The Underground Man fantasies about a beautiful family with kids and Liza holds onto a note from a man who loved her. However, neither Liza nor the Underground have the capacity to love.
First, the Underground Man’s want for dominance AND love are not compatible. Love is seeing one another on an equal platform. With true love, he cannot establish dominance. Due to this, he will never find love until he realizes his partner is his equal.
Second, Liza’s job as a prostitute is a profession in which love rarely exist. She is selling her freedom to others. Love only exists where freedom does. Since she cannot posses freedom AND love, she too is void of love. Liza holds onto the note from the medical student who professes his love to her. He didn’t know she was a prostitute and showed real love toward her. She keeps this letter as a way of proving to herself that love exists and gives her hope for her own future
Although Liza and the Underground Man cannot possess love, that definitely does not mean that they don’t desire it. They want love more than anything, but cannot reach it.
Do y’all agree?!
2 comments:
Hey Lindsey, this is a really good point and I happen to agree with it. I do want to add that I have much more sympathy for Liza. She mentions how some fathers are willing to sell their daughters, because of this we can only assume that her father sold her. Although she does not have freedom I feel like she can still have love and she does through the letter. Even if it is small it is still a little piece of love she has, even if she is not free. In short I feel Liza does posses love.
However, I feel like the UG man just doesn't deserve love because he's so rude.
Lindsey,
Your argument that love only exists when freedom does is quite interesting. Would you say that love does not exist in China? What about the countless people that love their significant other even though they are domineering?
I would say it is a dangerous proposition for any one of us to define what love is. While some may disagree, I firmly believe that there are somethings that can not and should not be defined at a universal scale, and love is one of them.
Post a Comment