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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tell a Friend! Enter e-mail address: Use Our Editing Resources! Other Resources -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ClassicNote on Notes from Underground Part I: Chapter 1 Summary: The Underground Man, as the protagonist is generally referred to, introduces himself in the opening of the first chapter. A footnote by the author informs us from the start that this protagonist is a fictional character but that people like him must exist in the present cultural setting. The footnote …

…als with radically differing starting points. The road is an important metaphor in this chapter. The road represents building and striving, the things that make up life. The narrator insists that life consists of striving for something, of attempting to achieve a goal, and not of actually achieving it. The utopia that the liberals dream of would eliminate striving entirely. If every action were predetermined and known in advance, there would no longer be anythi