Ryan Cordero Monday Post

The first part of this section goes into further detail about the mouse, a metaphor for the narrator, and it's inability to take action.  The narrator describes the tragedy of the conscious man's situation, for he too wants to seek revenge but cannot because he sees both sides of the argument. Which brings up one of Dostoyevsky's main points the fact that the overly conscious man always sees all sides of an argument and as a result is rendered inactive because one decision is never better than any other decision. This man suffers more than anyone else, even the man who revenge is taken upon, simply because he cannot take revenge and knows that have cannot. The conscious man is aware of his inability to act  upon any impulse. The narrator describes the feeling as interest being accumulated for an entire life up until death. The end of the section of the mouse leaves the reader sympathizing for the mouse/narrator and makes the reader question whether it is better to be the normal, stupid man or the clever man. Dostoevsky then returns to talk more about "the wall". In this particular instance the narrator states that the impossible is the stone wall and the stone wall is mathematics and science. He is addressing re fact that people need to put a label and boundary on the impossible and infinite and that in this point in time the current wall is based in the laws of science. Once humanity sets up a wall they allow themselves to cease wondering about the world and accept their own wall. Seen when the narrator points out that if science says people evolved from apes people accept it. Dostoyevsky is proving that people will follow blindly what they set up as the wall, for example, the narrator says that there is no point in arguing that two plus two equals four because mathematics says that is true and since mathematics is the current wall, people will never question the idea that two and two make four; there is no point in arguing against all of society. Dostoyevsky ends by pointing out that even if a person understand society's need for a wall and if the current wall is incorrect, that does not make their life any easier. Furthermore, the narrator reinforces the pain of seeing all sides to an argument. The narrator can't feel vindictive towards himself, nor the people around him, nor the wall itself.