Notes from Underground: Part 2, Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

The underground man feels ashamed in front of Liza. He tells her not to assume anything from the apparent poverty of his home, and tells her, “I’m poor, but noble. . . . One can be poor and noble.” He sends Apollon to go get tea for Liza and him. Apollon ignores him for a few minutes and the underground man stares at him until he finally goes off to get the tea.

The underground man suddenly shouts that he will kill Apollon and refers to him as his executioner. He bursts into tears, shocking Liza. He asks Liza if she despises him and then blames Liza for his behavior and vows not to speak to her for the rest of her visit. After a long, painful silence, Liza tells the underground man that she wants to leave the brothel.

The underground man tells the reader that he felt pity for Liza, but that “something hideous immediately suppressed” his pity. After another long silence, he asks Liza why she came to him. He tells her that he was laughing at her the night before and has no pity for her now. He guesses that she thought he would save her, and says that he will do no such thing. Liza is crushed.

The underground man tells Liza to leave him alone, wishes the world would stop bothering him, and tells her that he is “a scoundrel, a bastard, an egotist, and a sluggard.” He tells her that he is ashamed of what he said the night before and says he will never forgive her “for coming upon me in this dressing gown as I was attacking Apollon like a vicious dog.”

The underground man tells Liza that he hates her, and then he tells the reader that something strange happened. He says that he was so used to imagining everything as it happens in books, that he didn’t know what to think of this strange thing. He says that Liza understood more than he thought she would.

Liza embraces the underground man, as the two both cry. He says that he can’t be “good,” and then continues crying as Liza continues to embrace him. After the underground man’s “hysterics” pass, he realizes that he is now ashamed of having broken down and that he has made Liza a sort of heroine. He tells the reader that it is possible he even envied her in this position. He tells the reader he “hated her and felt drawn to her simultaneously.”