Underground Man

The Underground Man seems to be a bit inauthentic to me. Earlier in the book, he acts as if he is superior to everybody and we get the impression that he quite reclusive, seeing as how he has locked himself away in his home in St. Petersburg, with only his stenched maid for company and human (lack of)interaction. While he states these things about people and creating the illusion of being above culture and interaction he in fact isn't. Even from the very beginning of the story, underground man is quite self conscious. I remember in class we were discussing how he is ashamed of some of his qualities and tries to make them seem less applicable to himself than they actually are, or how underground man is quite self conscious of himself and tries to tailor things to the reader. But in this latest reading, I find that the actions he takes contradict this image he has created for himself. In my opinion, underground man's actions all derive from some sort of desire to be accepted or recognized. We see this with the prostitute or with the soldier. He is rebelling or anti-conformity for the sake of being different and not necessarily because these actions are what would be naturally instinctual for him.