Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground and Martin Scorsese's The Taxi Driver, written by Paul Schrader, both tell the same story about a lonely man who blames the world around him for his loneliness. The characters of Underground Man and Travis Bickle mirror each other; they both live in hiding, telling their respective stories, experiencing pain and illness that they leave unchecked, viewing the city they live in as a modern-day hell filled with the false and corrupt. However, time and again, Travis and Underground Man contradict themselves. While the underground character preaches his contempt for civilization – the “surface” – and the people within it, he constantly displays a deep desire to be part of it. Both characters believe in a strong ideal that challenges that of the city, an ideal embodied in the character of the prostitute. He constantly attempts revenge, but the concept of revenge, coupled with the actions and inertia of the underground character, becomes problematic with the underground ideal. The underground persona is steeped in contradictions, and how one interprets his actions, or inactions, is what ultimately determines whether he is truly an underground man. Both Notes from the Underground and Taxi Driver depict a protagonist, the underground character, who mocks and scorns those on the surface, called "the normal man" (PDF 15). Notes describes the normal man as someone with "normal interests", who "acts in accordance with the laws of reason and truth" (). Notes was written during the Enlightenment and used to criticize the then popular theory of material determinism: that "all choices and reasoning can be... calculated" by science...... middle of paper ..... .uh hero.” He keeps on his wall the newspaper clippings praising his heroic effort, perhaps insinuating that he began to believe that what he did was heroic and, ultimately, justifying what he did as in the best interests of humanity and in accordance with normal rules. interests of “reason, honor [and] peace” (). Although he regrets it, the Underground Man's inability to engage in action, to save Liza or push her away, to seek revenge or attempt to fit in, is what ultimately prevents him from connecting with others is what keeps him underground. Travis' commitment to action ultimately leads him to the surface. Works Cited Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Notes from Underground: a new translation, backgrounds and sources, responses, reviews. Norton Review Edition. New York: Norton, 1989. Taxi Driver. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Colombia, 1976.