While applying alienation and the absurdity of life to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, it seemed as if the narrator wanted nothing to do with society or himself. This all came about during the second chapter when the narrator was explaining how neither himself nor society could meet his expectations. The narrator stated, “Now it is quite clear to me that, because of my vanity and the consequent demand I made on myself, I very often looked at myself with frantic dislike, sometimes amounting to disgust, and therefore attributed the same attitude to everyone else,” (Dostoyevsky, 47). The narrator was alienating himself from society by believing that no person could live up to his own expectations because he was unable to do so. His alienation was predisposed by the hated he had for himself, which slowly reverted toward the people around him at the office. For the most part of the story, the narrator seemed as if he was reliable in the actions he would take and the things he told. The absurdity of life came about the same way of his alienation from people because in his mind, the narrator felt that human contact was absurd and wanted to live a life of seclusion. It’s apparent that the narrator was dealing with his own sets of demons, but he was honest about who he was and the actions he would take. He would not hide behind the curtain, but he embraced the person he was and accepted it.