When faith in the enlightenment began to fail, people began to reject the old ways; old philosophers and scholars, old knowledge, old ways of orienting their lives as a group effort towards the greater good. Instead they began to look inward for answers, and to question everything that had previously been taken for granted. As Pippin summarises, “to be a modern individual is to demand independence; on the one hand, historical and intellectual “maturity,” […] a freedom from dependence on historical tradition and the power to rule one’s own beliefs; on the other, social or existential self-direction and autonomy” (38). Rather than relying on others, people were increasingly relying on themselves, and total autonomy was touted as a new ideal,
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However, he almost immediately admits that he lied about this, and that any spite he does feel stems from the fact that he’s ashamed of his lack of spite, or rather “It wasn’t only that [he] couldn’t be spiteful, but [he] couldn’t even manage to be anything at all” (18). He ends up “mocking [himself] with the hateful and worthless consolation that there is no way an intelligent man can seriously make anything of himself” (19), and he says that “an intelligent man of the nineteenth century should and is morally obliged to be an essentially characterless being” (ibid.). This frames the initial problem of his personal development. The Underground Man clearly wants to be “something” more than he is, and he clearly does not truly believe that an intelligent man should be characterless. If he did truly believe so, he wouldn’t call it a worthless consolation, and he would be content to be characterless since it’s his moral obligation. Instead he is “shamefully aware” (18) of his characterlessness, and as the Underground Man proceeds to recount a few key instances from his past, it becomes apparent how holding himself back from others—never letting himself make a personal connection or relying on someone else in anything other than a servile capacity—has held him back from becoming the kind of man he can’t admit he wants to
However, he almost immediately admits that he lied about this, and that any spite he does feel stems from the fact that he’s ashamed of his lack of spite, or rather “It wasn’t only that [he] couldn’t be spiteful, but [he] couldn’t even manage to be anything at all” (18). He ends up “mocking [himself] with the hateful and worthless consolation that there is no way an intelligent man can seriously make anything of himself” (19), and he says that “an intelligent man of the nineteenth century should and is morally obliged to be an essentially characterless being” (ibid.). This frames the initial problem of his personal development. The Underground Man clearly wants to be “something” more than he is, and he clearly does not truly believe that an intelligent man should be characterless. If he did truly believe so, he wouldn’t call it a worthless consolation, and he would be content to be characterless since it’s his moral obligation. Instead he is “shamefully aware” (18) of his characterlessness, and as the Underground Man proceeds to recount a few key instances from his past, it becomes apparent how holding himself back from others—never letting himself make a personal connection or relying on someone else in anything other than a servile capacity—has held him back from becoming the kind of man he can’t admit he wants to