The underground man has somehow managed to distance himself from his schoolmates. Zverkov, a childhood enemy of his, is going away to be married, and the underground man invites himself to the going-away party. Even though he realizes that he should not go to the party, he decides to go, simply because he shouldn’t. Zverkov made fun of him, for no apparent reason, and because Zverkov was rich, and popular, this made others, who had no quarrels with the underground man, insult him as well, in order to put them in Zverkov’s favor.
The underground man wishes to show Zverkov and his posse that they were wrong to shun him, and that he is a friend worth having, yet once at the party, they still seem to hold him in contempt. After telling us that he intends to impress them with his knowledge, Mr. Ferfitchkin calls him out on this and, the underground man denies it, saying that this is not the place for such things. He is not accepted by the group, and ultimately embarrasses himself by staying in their company.
Numerous times he adamantly decides upon a course of action, such as leaving them, yet because of whom he’s has revealed himself to be, he does the opposite. He wishes that at least one of them could show him the slightest amount of respect, but they pay him no heed. He grows more and more agitated as the night wears on, no one addressing him, all of them concentrating intently on Zverkov. He drinks a lot, and says stupid things, showing his feelings openly. His lashing out at them is not really a challenge, but a call to them. Why would none of them accept him? He wonders this to himself, yet he remains with them in the hopes that some time over the course of the evening one of them might at least acknowledge his presence.
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