Maya's Class Post 2/11/14

         The majority of page seven deals with the relationship between the active man and the mouse and how said relationship affects the mouse. “For through his innate stupidity, the [homme de la nature et de la vérité] looks upon his revenge as justice pure and simple; while in consequence of his acute consciousness the mouse does not believe in the justice of it”. When the mouse is insulted, it wants to fight back. In fact, it may even feel a greater need to do so than the active man. However, the mouse is stopped by his own self; the mouse, to put it simply, ultimately doesn’t see a point to it. Because of his “acute consciousness”, he will have himself running in circles through a field of infinite answers. The active man, though, will defend himself knowing wholeheartedly what he deems right or wrong; he looks at it in a “pure and simple” manner. This, in turn, leaves the mouse to crawl back into its “nasty, stinky, underground home” to revel in its own spite caused by his inability to overcome his consciousness and fulfill his need to defend himself. Ironically enough, it seems as though the mouse’s consciousness is his wall. Since he has been left with no clear path to take, he is living in what Dostoyevsky describes as a “hell of unsatisfied desires” that have “turned inward” and made the mouse spiteful.   

           Another very important quote lies on page eight in the middle of the second paragraph and begins with, “As soon as they prove to you [...], that you are descended from a monkey ...”. I believe that Dostoyevsky is trying to convey a message that constantly irritates and, quite frankly, unnerves many people. This message is, essentially, that at the root of it all, we are not that much more than said monkey; at the end of the day we are all survivalists, we all kind of subconsciously accept that “one drop of [our] own fat [is] dearer to you than a hundred thousand of your fellow creatures”. This upsets people because no one wants to hear that you’re only a few steps up from the rest of the animals on earth, you just have the ability to use Apple products. Once you “lower” yourself to that primal/natural level, all of these rules, prejudices, virtues, etc. become irrelevant; the majority, if not all, reasons for having modern society have been destroyed.