**spoiler alert** Loved every part of it, except for, maybe, the narrator's detest of noble acts. Even when he's narrating it in retrospect. Maybe, it**spoiler alert** Loved every part of it, except for, maybe, the narrator's detest of noble acts. Even when he's narrating it in retrospect. Maybe, it is my shallow understanding of noble acts and their repercussions, or, the text-- might be suggesting the narrator's realization after the unsettling thoughts in the end, or, both. Anyway had a great time!...more
Shocking; realized more evidently that education in itself never made a good human being, unless, of course, you alter the definition of education. ---Shocking; realized more evidently that education in itself never made a good human being, unless, of course, you alter the definition of education. --------------------------- One less star due to Ambedkar's casual writing. --------------------------- Also, can anyone tell me the reason behind the title, I didn't even find the word 'visa' in the text....more
"Am I guilty before the law because I want to show that I want to know righteousness instead of me being righteous?""Am I guilty before the law because I want to show that I want to know righteousness instead of me being righteous?"...more
Peaceful; I mean, not the story, reading it was peaceful, until it wasn't.Peaceful; I mean, not the story, reading it was peaceful, until it wasn't....more
Notes from Underground is divided in two parts, the first part is where the Underground man tells us about his**spoiler alert**
Part 1- 5/5 Part 2- 4/5
Notes from Underground is divided in two parts, the first part is where the Underground man tells us about his philosophy, his world view, first he argues that if someone is always looking for something that is good, will make him feel better, is there any freedom in his choice, then he goes on to argue that despite the non-existence of free-will, men, even if they know, will always want to act with will no matter how good or bad their life is, such desperation to act with will is nothing else but a medium to fulfil his own self, not a statement that he/she acts with will, in the second part, however, at least I felt this way, he wanted to answer the readers who after reading the first part asked--"How do one with such philosophy live a REAL life.", he begins the second auto-biographical part with the intent,
"Every man has reminiscences which he would not tell to everyone, but only to his friends. He has other matters in his mind which he would not reveal even to his friends, but only to himself, and that in secret. But there are other things which a man is afraid to tell even to himself, and every decent man has a number of such things stored away in his mind.",
the reading makes one believe that he was successful in bringing the last type of things.
Certain random quotes that had my scrutiny: Part 1 Chapter 2: "I swear, gentlemen, that to be too conscious is an illness—a real thorough-going illness. For man’s everyday needs, it would have been quite enough to have the ordinary human consciousness, that is, half or a quarter of the amount which falls to the lot of a cultivated man."
Chapter 4: Can a man of perception respect himself at all?
Chapter 5: Of course, a minute or so later I would realize wrathfully that it was all a lie, a revolting lie, an affected lie, that is, all this penitence, this emotion, these vows of reform.
Chapter 8: I answer for it, for the whole work of man really seems to consist in nothing but proving to himself every minute that he is a man and not a piano-key!
Chapter 9: But man is a frivolous and incongruous creature, and perhaps, like a chess player, loves the process of the game, not the end of it. And who knows (there is no saying with certainty), perhaps the only goal on earth to which mankind is striving lies in this incessant process of attaining, in other words, in life itself, and not in the thing to be attained, which must always be expressed as a formula, as positive as twice two makes four, and such positiveness is not life, gentlemen, but is the beginning of death.
Chapter 11 You doubtlessly mean to say something, but hide your last word through fear, because you have not the resolution to utter it, and only have a cowardly impudence. You boast of consciousness, but you are not sure of your ground, for though your mind works, yet your heart is darkened and corrupt, and you cannot have a full, genuine consciousness without a pure heart. And how intrusive you are, how you insist and grimace! Lies, lies, lies!
Part 2 Chapter 10: And, indeed, I will ask on my own account here, an idle question: which is better—cheap happiness or exalted sufferings? Well, which is better?
Come, try, give any one of us, for instance, a little more independence, untie our hands, widen the spheres of our activity, relax the control and we � yes, I assure you � we should be begging to be under control again at once....more
The book kind of gives you a persona that you can use in your life("in a good way or not"-- to analyze this will destroy the core of that persona), thThe book kind of gives you a persona that you can use in your life("in a good way or not"-- to analyze this will destroy the core of that persona), the persona being that of the main character, though as I feel when asked to write or describe what this persona contains of--it will not be an easy job. The book contains philosophical ideas but not like those that you can give a day of your life to examine/verify/understand it. What took me by surprise was that in France public executions were being conducted till 1939....more
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