The idea of "the unnecessary man" is the one that Russian society has created and developed still further through the XlX-th century. The achievements and failures of those years have moulded the behaviour, the habits, the way of thinking and the character of the so-called "unnecessary people". What were those achievements and failures? What was the society and the people who made it? What is that special spirit which runs through the Russian literature, recognized, if not always understood by a modern person?
To answer these questions, let us first look more closely at the figure of "the unnecessary man" in the Russian literature — a lonely person who still retains much of his social importance despite his being rejected by the world. The Russian society has helped to shape both: the reason for his appearance on the Russian scene and his future life. The knowledge unconsciously assimilated since childhood that life was largely predetermined, encouraged a sense of indifference, which could easily slide into one of disappointment.
The long years during which this idea was tackled up in the literature meant that there could be a continuity of literary tradition. Russian writers have always been conscious of the social and psychological character of their contemporaries, highlighting the distinctive features of "the unnecessary man", and, from "Eugene Onegin" to Oblomov in Goncharov's novel, have sought at every level to bring out, explain and emphasize their historical significance.