An Inconvenient Truth

    Despite the quite surprising ending that I feel everybody will talk bout in their blogs tonight I would like to discuss what I believe to be two major topics of the novel.
    After his meetings with Victoria the narrator began to question every action that he had taken in his life. He states that “We listen to what people say, we read what they write-thats our evidence, that’s our corroboration.” This statement does in fact have direct ties to the philosophies expressed in Notes From The Underground. Our entire lives, our so called ‘principles’ and ‘morals’ are based off of what other men thought and created. Whether it be religion, evolutionary theory, or even the difference between right and wrong, we are all controlled by social constructions created by men no greater than ourselves; however, we are confined by these unmoving walls and if we question any one of them, we are immediately outcasted by a society who will literally fight till the death before questioning them. Even the narrator himself admits to his readers that he is bounded by the road map that society presents and feels that he is stuck in a world that he does not feel comfortable in.
    Furthermore, earlier and novel the narrator makes two powerful statements that tie together his arguments.  Once again the reader is able to take a glimpse into the narrator’s thought encapsulated mind when he is contemplating the thin line of fact versus reality. He states, “...when we are young, we invent different futures for ourselves; when we are old, we invent different pasts for others...”. As I have stated before in previous blogs time can play evil tricks on the mind. When we are young, we are intent on creating a future for ourselves, and soon after, when be come elderly, and time rots our blood filled bodies, we are disappointed that the road map has no treasure chest at the end of it. Rather, old age leads to regret, remorse, loneliness, and a bucket full of pain. Man’s constructions have created a world where we have to work in order to succeed; but, I ask what is the main agenda of progress? The narrator illustrates and cites many examples of how progress has lead to an inferior race. He does however state why he are intent on making these great leaps in our evolutionary process. He says “the more you learn, the less you fear”. But as we have seen the more we know the more mundane and stale life gets. The narrator chases the woman of mystery and leaves the woman of predictability.
    It is an inconvenient truth that one day, when time strips us of our youth, that we too will have to contemplate and look back on our lives. We go to school to get into collage, we get into collage to get a job, we get a job to survive, and we survive just to soon after die. In this life of ‘purpose’ there is in fact little achievement. The novel itself serves as a warning to reader to not become an old, crazy, bitter man.
 We need to start living in the present moment and make the best of our lives while time still permits us rather than live for the future and contemplate the past.