How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Part.Chapter.Paragraph). We used Constance Garnett's translation.
Quote #10
What was I to do? I could not go on there – it was evidently stupid, and I could not leave things as they were, because that would seem as though ... Heavens, how could I leave things! And after such insults! "No!" I cried, throwing myself into the sledge again. "It is ordained! It is fate! Drive on, drive on!" (2.5.19)
Interesting! Mr. "I can make 2+2=5 if I really want to" is suddenly following paths ordained by fate? What!? If his slapping Zverkov is prescribed by anything, it is the world of literature, not fate. Books, after all, are what dictate the way he Underground Man lives. And what kind of freedom does that possibly represent?
Quote #11
And why do we fuss and fume sometimes? Why are we perverse and ask for something else? We don't know what ourselves. It would be the worse for us if our petulant prayers were answered. 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. (2.10.23)
After railing against rules, laws, nature, and reason, the Underground Man says that we all actually wish to be under the yoke of control. The big question – and this severely affects how you interpret Notes – is whether the Underground Man includes himself in the "we" at this point. Either he's admitting that he, too, doesn't want the responsibility of freedom, or he is just condemning others for not living the way he does.