# Apollon — Notes from Underground character guide

> Apollon in Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Apollon, he, himself

**First appearance:** 0008-viii

## Snapshot

The Underground Man's elderly servant, a flaxen-haired pedant who despises his master with a calm, unshakable dignity that drives the narrator to distraction.

## Who they are

Apollon works part-time as a tailor but serves the narrator with an insolence so complete it becomes a kind of art, his mouth compressed into a V, his head oiled with sunflower oil, in love with every button on his own coat. He is the one person in the narrator's life who refuses to be impressed, wounded, or moved by him, and their years of squabbling have become a fixture of mutual torment. When Liza arrives at the apartment, it is Apollon's silent, judgmental presence that makes the scene unbearable, exposing the narrator's poverty and posturing at the worst possible moment.

## Relationships

### [Zverkov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/zverkov)

_social_

Apollon and Zverkov have minimal direct interaction, but Apollon's presence in the Underground Man's life indirectly highlights the class and social tensions the narrator feels toward Zverkov.

### [Ferfitchkin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/ferfitchkin)

_social_

Apollon and Ferfitchkin have little direct contact, but both serve as figures of contempt and irritation in the Underground Man's life.

### [Liza](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/liza)

_social_

Apollon and Liza are connected only through the Underground Man, with Apollon's presence adding to the oppressive atmosphere during Liza's visit.

### [Trudolyubov](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/trudolyubov)

_social_

Apollon and Trudolyubov have no meaningful interaction, existing only as separate sources of the Underground Man's resentment.

## In the story

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/iii)

The narrator's servant, who is expecting his month's wages and whose contempt the narrator fears.

### [VIII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/viii)

The narrator's servant, a pedantic and tyrannical figure who despises him; the narrator attempts to punish him by withholding wages but fails.

### [Chapter IX](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/chapters/ix)

Deliberately and slowly obeys the narrator's order to fetch tea, causing further humiliation.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters/apollon
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/notes_from_underground_se/characters