Suppose you were a glorious history professor, and you were going to include "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" in a lecture on 19th century "believers in progress." What would you say about the story? [If you like, you may imitate the style of one of your teachers/professors. I would be amused by, say, a Dias-style or Manhart-style lecture selection.]
Friday, November 7, 2008
Dream of a Ridiculous Man
Suppose you were a glorious history professor, and you were going to include "The Dream of a Ridiculous Man" in a lecture on 19th century "believers in progress." What would you say about the story? [If you like, you may imitate the style of one of your teachers/professors. I would be amused by, say, a Dias-style or Manhart-style lecture selection.]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
7 comments:
Dostoyevsky has been proclaimed as one of the greatest authors who ever lived. His work explores and describes the progress, for better and worse, of the 19th century, and, as stated in the synopsis of Dostoyevsky’s Notes from Underground, and Other Stories, “The compelling works (of Dostoyevsky)…were written at distinct periods in (his) life, at decisive moments in his groping for a…religious answer.” Thus, Dostoyevsky’s quest, or groping, for a religious answer is demonstrated in his pieces, particularly “The Dream of a Ridiculous Man,” in which he explores the themes of suicide and religious regeneration.
The narrator of the story, who contemplates suicide, experiences a religious revival at the thought of, or dream of, a perfect world. In the perfect world, people are happy and serene and look to one another with love, which is quite the contrast to a world filled with corruption and self-fulfilling individuals who would rather look to science and logic than each other. This and the idea that the narrator is deemed “ridiculous” for expressing hope and ideals of a better world, indicate that society has evolved into a world that has begun to look to reasoning over God and faith. As we’ve discussed in class, some philosophical thoughts are beneficial, but reasoning can also be very dangerous. Thus, reasoning and reasoning alone could result and prove to be very damaging. Also, due to human nature and tendencies the “golden rule,” although ideal, is a difficult achievement.
I thought that The Dream of a Ridiculous man was a very interesting story to read. It talks about how he was going to kill himself that night but before he gets home this little girl comes up to him to get help with her mom and he just pushes her away. Later when he gets home he finds out why he pushed her away. It was because the world was going to end in a couple of hours anyways at least to him. He then was sitting at his desk with his revolver in front of him contemplating death. His neighbors are normally up half the night playing poker and drinking. He doesn't even hear them anymore because he is so used to it. When they finally go to bed he suddenly falls asleep which is very unusual for him because he is normally up until dawn every morning. He then falls asleep and in his dream he does shoot himself and is taken to like another earth with is the earth as it would be if adam and eve never sinned. He then corrupts them first by teacking them how to lie. The ridiculous man corrupts them further until the whole earth is corrupt. At the end of his dream the world actually ends. He wakes up and decides to become a preacher and spread the word of not sinning. You need God in your life that is the moral of this story.
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man story was interesting. It was about a mand who was seriously thinking about killing himself and he even has a dream about it. He explains all kinds of details in the story; he talks about all his neighbors and in his dream they all morned him more that he thought they would, he thought they wouldnt even care if he died but they really did. He also talks about a little girl who stops him on a dreary night and asks him to stop and help her mother, who appeared to be dieing. He didnt because he had seen a star that was supposedly a sign that he needs to kill himself that night, so he ignored the girl and later regrets it as he is sitting with his revolver.
After reading "Dream of a Ridiculous Man" I was very intrigued in Dostoyevsky. The whole story of him wanting to commit suicide then dreaming about it and living in a beautiful world and eventually turning it into a world of hatred and corruption was truly fascinating. It was difficult to comprehend at times, but after reading the story I understand fully why Dostoyevsky is considered one of the greatest writers of all time. I just wish it could have been a little shorter!
Dostoyevsky's Dream of a Ridiculous Man is one of my FAVORITE stories. . . ever! The way Dostoyevsky describes the man's feeling towards everyone and everything in his life makes the story much more interesting and poignant. "The Ridiculous Man" is somewhat of a manic-depressive man who experiences extreme hopelessness and thoughts of suicide on a daily basis, and that's sometimes hard to understand. This man watches people life happy, productive lives when all he can feel is hate towards himself and others, while being stuck in sort of a depressed limbo.
All in all, The Ridiculous Man goes through many personal trials and tribulations to, in the end, find himself in a better place as a whole. Dostoyevsky's stories were written during the age of Progress and I believe that the story of The Ridiculous Man is his most memorable works and it definately one of my favorite stories! :]
Dostoyevsky really gave a compelling story in a Dream of Ridiculous Man. The story describes a man who begins his life as very unhappy; he is so depressed he wants to commit suicide. While walking back to his apartment, however, he meets a little girl who is crying for help. The image of the little girl stays with his mind while he is sleeping. During his dream, the narrator experinces his life differnetnly. He realizes the importance of life, God, and faith. He dreams about how society needs to spend more time listening to God, instead of using reasoning as an answer. It's important to use both reasoning and faith when making decisions, but I think the faith aspect should always come first.
-Brittany Lewno
The dream of a Ridiculous man was very interesting to read. It was probably the one I liked the best. Dostoyevsky contemplates how he has always been a ridiculous person, and also, how recently, he has come to the realization that nothing much matters to him any more.He then meets a little girl who eventually changes his life. He doesn't help her and goes home. He want's to commit suicide but falls asleep. He has a dream that he shoots himself in the heart and after that happens he realizes he needs to become closer to god. After he wakes up, he changes his life forever and he has the little girl to be thankful to.
Post a Comment