Part 2 Chapter 2: Dreaming is
the only method the UM now finds to escape his life of "debauchery" and enter the world of the "beautiful
and sublime." He says that he dreamt for three months straight, and this dreaming was quite satisfying
and even intoxicating, he admits. He explains that he would go from considering himself to be
a hero (in his dreams), to believing himself to be nothing but dirt, shifting from dominating over others
to being dominated by them. In these fantasies, he finds a love for humanity, and soon he wants
to exhibit this love in the real world. So growing restless of this dream-life, he decides to
enter society, meaning he plans to visit an old schoolmate named Simonov.
Part 2 Chapter 3: Visiting Simonov
at his apartment, the UM also encounters two of his other former classmates-Ferfichkin and Trudolyubov.
Apparently the men are discussing the party for their friend, Zverkov, for the following evening.
The men completely ignore the UM as he enters, contributing to his notion that he is nothing but an
"ordinary house fly." Finally after all the preparations have been made, the UM invites himself to their
gathering, much to their chagrin.
That night he has horrible dreams about his childhood school experiences, where he is alienated from
his classmates-by conscious choice of course. These dreams set up an important contrast to the
previous "beautiful and sublime" dreams he had been having over the previous three months. Though
he had imagined that mankind would embrace him and show him the love he found in his dreams, his overly
acute conscious realizes that such fantasies will not be found in the real world, that society will
not show him the love he desires.
Finally he leaves for the dinner, still possessing his perpetual thoughts of self-loathing and anguish.
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