as much as mr. underground (that's what i'm calling him idc) wants to portray himself as a sick, twisted, anti-social individual, he can't help but betray to his readers moments of genuine care, sweetness, and humanity. his whole episode with the officer, whilst obviously born from a kind of neuroticism, ended in a pretty cute way, with mr. underground finally standing up for himself in the face of authority; similarly, it becomes quite clear that his long diatribe against Liza in the whorehouse does not purely come from a place of bitterness or dishonesty (as he later claims it was), but rather (at least partly) a touching moment of concern and love. mr. underground's flaw is that he pigeonholes himself into his neuroticism and vileness––he lets it define himself and his future. multiple escape avenues are presented to him; he takes none of them, preferring to wallow in his own pretentious misery. me fr!