Notes from the Underground, Part IV summary
Part IV of 22 · Part 1: Underground · 3 min to read the part
In IV, the narrator answers an imagined audience by arguing that a toothache can give pleasure through malicious moaning, even when the sufferer knows it achieves nothing. His example connects helplessness before nature with the wish to torment others, then turns toward his own lack of self-respect.
What happens
- An imagined audience laughs at the idea of enjoying a toothache, but the narrator insists that such enjoyment exists.
- He explains that pain exposes a person's helplessness before nature and offers no enemy to punish.
- He describes an educated sufferer who deliberately makes his moans elaborate and unpleasant.
- The sufferer enjoys disturbing his household despite knowing that everyone recognizes his spite.
- The narrator admits that his jokes lack confidence and asks whether a perceptive person can respect himself.
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In this part
What to notice
The closing question shifts the discussion from toothache to self-judgment. It connects the narrator's account of conscious malice with his admission that he lacks self-respect.
Quick check
Why does the educated sufferer make his moans deliberately unpleasant?
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