The Underground Man aspects and gambler-nature of Dmitry are truly fleshed out in his interactions in the past several chapters. Dmitry’s attempts to obtain the 3000 roubles are both humorous and saddening.
In these past few chapters, he persistently attempts to muster the 3000 roubles after many of his plans go wrong, and pushes himself deeper into debt and misery with each one of his actions. When he cannot afford to reach the merchant, he borrows money that has no means of returning from his landlords. Dmitry’s inability to give up on his pursuit of an unobtainable happy life with Grushenka is foreshadowing of what should be a dramatic downfall. The fact that he did not even realize that the former officer who broke Grushenka’s heart is the true competition is particularly revealing of how ill-informed Dmitry is. Furthermore, he chases after Grushenka with such energy and passion, yet he does not even understand why he is infatuated with her, he has more or less gone with his feelings in the moment and is ready to give up everything for these feelings.
On the other hand, his dialogue with Khokhlakov is quite entertaining in its own right. Providing for a mirror for the underground man traits of Dmitry, she too dabbles into the type of buffoonery Fyodor so piquantly exemplified earlier in the novel. Promising Dmitry the 3000 roubles and later denying having made any reference whatsoever to 3000 roubles, she easily steals away even more of Dmitry’s time and proffers ridiculous solutions such as going off to
Dmitry’s predicament, although humorous, is like Fyodor’s (and is directly related to Fyodor’s), very serious. Unlike Ivan and Alyosha, the resolution of his character flaws does not appear to be even close to being on the horizon.
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