A review by andredias164
O Sonho Dum Homem Ridículo by Fyodor Dostoevsky
4.0
"I will not and cannot believe that evil is the normal condition of mankind."
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, written in 1877, is focused on the events of a nameless and nihilistic man that is determined to suicide.
Dostoyevsky presents an insurgent short-story with glimpses of hope towards humankind.
The story starts with the ridiculous man wandering the streets of St. Petersburg with the thought of suicide dwelling in his mind. The narrator feels worthless and apathetic towards humankind, and therefore, he plans of shooting himself in the head. In that dreadful night, the ridiculous raconteur sees a lost young girl. He perceives that something is wrong with the girl's mother, careless with her problem, the nameless narrator heads home indifferently. Once at home, the narrator, with his gun beside him, feels guilty about the young girl's situation. As he dwells in internal conflicts and questions, the ridiculous man falls asleep into a lucid dream.
The dream starts with a gunshot in the heart committed by the narrator to himself. He feels that our dream sources come from our deepest desires.
Buried in a cold grave, the narrator asks for forgiveness and begs for his life. Afterwards, he's transported through space, ending up in a Utopic island. In this island, the inhabitants live peacefully, in collective harmony. Within time, the ridiculous man teaches the inhabitants to lie and to commit other sins. Consequently, the utopic society gets corrupted and damaged. Guilty by his acts, the nameless man blames himself to the inhabitants, telling them to kill him for his actions. The Islanders are indifferent about him and all the current state that the island has turned.
The dream message causes a significant result to the narrator.
The author presents another figure with an existential crisis. The nameless character desires a sort of utopic society in the real world, but, since he got corrupted by the vile society of the real world, he dreams of corrupting the society in his dream. It's a paradox event that highlights the consequences of society into an ordinary man. He's ridiculous because he feels like an outsider in the real world and with a frustrated desire, a desire about collective harmony and unity that is (almost) impossible to achieve.
Rating: 4/5 stars
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, written in 1877, is focused on the events of a nameless and nihilistic man that is determined to suicide.
Dostoyevsky presents an insurgent short-story with glimpses of hope towards humankind.
The story starts with the ridiculous man wandering the streets of St. Petersburg with the thought of suicide dwelling in his mind. The narrator feels worthless and apathetic towards humankind, and therefore, he plans of shooting himself in the head. In that dreadful night, the ridiculous raconteur sees a lost young girl. He perceives that something is wrong with the girl's mother, careless with her problem, the nameless narrator heads home indifferently. Once at home, the narrator, with his gun beside him, feels guilty about the young girl's situation. As he dwells in internal conflicts and questions, the ridiculous man falls asleep into a lucid dream.
The dream starts with a gunshot in the heart committed by the narrator to himself. He feels that our dream sources come from our deepest desires.
Buried in a cold grave, the narrator asks for forgiveness and begs for his life. Afterwards, he's transported through space, ending up in a Utopic island. In this island, the inhabitants live peacefully, in collective harmony. Within time, the ridiculous man teaches the inhabitants to lie and to commit other sins. Consequently, the utopic society gets corrupted and damaged. Guilty by his acts, the nameless man blames himself to the inhabitants, telling them to kill him for his actions. The Islanders are indifferent about him and all the current state that the island has turned.
The dream message causes a significant result to the narrator.
The author presents another figure with an existential crisis. The nameless character desires a sort of utopic society in the real world, but, since he got corrupted by the vile society of the real world, he dreams of corrupting the society in his dream. It's a paradox event that highlights the consequences of society into an ordinary man. He's ridiculous because he feels like an outsider in the real world and with a frustrated desire, a desire about collective harmony and unity that is (almost) impossible to achieve.
Rating: 4/5 stars