In the writings of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s “Notes from the underground” and LU XUN’S “Diary of a madman,” the idea of an unreliable narrator is deeply imbedded to make the reader deliberate twice of the situation at hand. In both writings, there are characters whose credibility has been seriously compromised. However, the characters in both writing differ in their levels of credibility and verge of insanity. Furthermore, both authors allude to the many social problems relevant in their society and use their unreliable narrators as a metaphor for the many matters of contentions in their society.
So, as the reader, we are met with narrators that have a severely skewed perspective into what is happening in the story. For example, in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s …show more content…
For example, in the diary of a madman, Lu Xun made his character believe that even people as innocent as children, were plotting against him. He describes that they whispered about him with an “iron gray” face and looked at him with solemn gazes. On top of that, just like Dostoevsky’s underground man, the madman believed that people held grudges towards him despite it being either insignificant or happening such a long time ago. For example, he firmly believed that Mr. antiquity wanted the children to hurt him because he trampled his account book twenty years ago, without him even knowing, and was plotting to get rid of him. In fact, he believed that everyone was trying to fool him, including the Zhao family dog which “gave him a funny look” and how “it’s easy to see that he’s in on it too” …show more content…
Because even though both characters are unreliable, they are not unreliable in the same way. One of the main difference’s we observe would be the diverse settings the stories are written in. For example, “Notes from the underground” was written in 1864 Russia, and was about Dostoevsky’s great contempt for nineteenth--century utilitarianism. However, “Diary of a madman” was written 1918 china and focused on the idea that the feudalism in China is essentially a cannibalistic act of a society continually feeding and prey upon itself. At any rate, we can see that our characters differ when it comes to their view on reality and their perceived mental
So, as the reader, we are met with narrators that have a severely skewed perspective into what is happening in the story. For example, in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s …show more content…
For example, in the diary of a madman, Lu Xun made his character believe that even people as innocent as children, were plotting against him. He describes that they whispered about him with an “iron gray” face and looked at him with solemn gazes. On top of that, just like Dostoevsky’s underground man, the madman believed that people held grudges towards him despite it being either insignificant or happening such a long time ago. For example, he firmly believed that Mr. antiquity wanted the children to hurt him because he trampled his account book twenty years ago, without him even knowing, and was plotting to get rid of him. In fact, he believed that everyone was trying to fool him, including the Zhao family dog which “gave him a funny look” and how “it’s easy to see that he’s in on it too” …show more content…
Because even though both characters are unreliable, they are not unreliable in the same way. One of the main difference’s we observe would be the diverse settings the stories are written in. For example, “Notes from the underground” was written in 1864 Russia, and was about Dostoevsky’s great contempt for nineteenth--century utilitarianism. However, “Diary of a madman” was written 1918 china and focused on the idea that the feudalism in China is essentially a cannibalistic act of a society continually feeding and prey upon itself. At any rate, we can see that our characters differ when it comes to their view on reality and their perceived mental