The Underground Man is the precise proponent of Mill’s society that helps steer society towards the path to utopia. The very existence of Mill’s utopian vision hinges on the “miscreants” like the Underground Man to balance society. In Mill’s view, if it were not for the different, the odd, and the absurd, the truth could never be illuminated and therefore, a perfect society could never exist. Though their ideals differ, Mill’s hope for a Utopian Society includes the views and lives of people like the Underground Man.

The Underground Man is the very example of a social outcast who one would never align with the ideals of a utopian society. He represents the angry and unhappy who would never want to be forced into the idea of Utopia. Resentful, angry, and uncooperative, the Underground Man would seem to be the perfect antithesis to Mill’s plans of Utopia. He refuses to contribute to the building of the “crystal palace”, which can be interpreted as a Utopian society. He sees the crystal palace as something he cannot stick his tongue out at something he looks down upon at the same time (40). The Underground Man is disenchanted with the social cries for Utopia but in some unconscious form wants to be apart of it. His spite holds him back from embracing the crystal palace yet his hope holds him back from sticking his tongue out at it.

Yet Mill appreciates religious and philosophical differences, and to reach the truth the voices of others need to be heard. As Mill illuminates, “ There is always need of persons not only to discover new truths, and point out when what were once truths are true no longer, but also to commence new practices, and set the example of more enlightened conduct, and better taste and sense in human life” (74). For Mills, people like the Underground Man can illustrate social ills with their creative behavior and outlook on life. “As it is useful that while mankind is imperfect, there should be different opinions, so it is that there should be different experiments of living; that free scope be given to verities of character, short of injury to others, and that the worth of different modes of life should be proved practically, when any one thinks fit to try them” (65). That is, the molds created by society do not fit onto the genius like the Underground Man. For genius and free thinking to be produced, the ideas of Underground Men everywhere must be heard. Furthermore, the liberties that are provided to the likes of the Underground Man will found new ideas that will increase the happiness of the overall society.

The Underground Man is also in conflict with society. Completely anti-social and insecure, he believes that the world has almost forced immorality on him, speaking of his indecent state that “I almost came to believe (perhaps I really did believe) that this might really have been my normal conditions” (6). Yet at the same time, he refuses to change his ways as if it were almost totally natural, and anyway, impossible to do so. He himself is immoral, and he perceives society as evolving in an immoral way, so the Underground Man is forced into a corner. Thus the conflict between him and society is created, and the Underground Man is left invisible to the whims of society.

But the outcast who is in discord with society is the exact person whom Mill is reaching out to in his Utopian ideology. Mill encourages eccentricity among individuals of society, as he recognizes it as the key ingredient to genius. He does not believe that society should reign in a person with different interests and ideals to conform to the accepted principles. The Underground Man, though rugged and angry, is a unique individual, and his very existence is helpful in preventing an overall status quo that would steamy the constructive development of society.

The attitude of the Underground Man does not directly encompass itself in a Utopian vision, yet the he contributes to the idea of Utopia involuntarily. The very eccentricities that the Underground Man enjoys that he believes separate him from the rest of the society will be the glue that joins him with the rest of society in Mill’s observation. His genius will be fostered through the personal liberties granted to him, and his beliefs will fuel positive social progression. Though he might not agree with what the rest of society has established, the Underground Man will criticize and ostracize until the truth is revealed, and thus, the Utopian state is furthered.

In a moment of subversion, I think both Dostoevsky and Mill failed to address one idea: the prisoners’ dilemma. The basic concept is that two people are caught for a crime and taken to separate interrogation rooms. If one confesses and the other does not, then the person who confesses gets off for less time. But if they both confess, they will face stiffer consequences then if they both kept silent. Though they would better off by not confessing, both end up confessing out of self-interest and fear of the others confession. They could have both served their self-interests by working together, but instead faced harsher consequences for individually addressing their self-interests. And in this point, neither Mill nor Dostoevsky address why a Utopia will or will not work in terms of communal well-being. They both address the ideas of self-interest being carried out by individuals but never by the greater community. How does Mill expect a Utopian society to exist if they do not see they will be better off by group cooperation, and how does Dostoevsky ridicule the rationality of self-interest if self-interest can be an entire society’s interest?

Though the philosophies of Dostoevsky and Mill are polar opposites, their views ultimately rely on each other. Dostoevsky, basing his life on the spite he holds for himself and others, hinges on the grounding of others optimistic views for his own perverse satisfaction. Mills on the other hand, depends on people like the Underground Man to guide his Utopian society to the truths that he might expose through his abject yet uncelebrated views. Through their centrally dissimilar ideals, the Underground Man and Mills are circuitously linked and bound to each other through philosophical inevitability.