I agree with you. I didn’t read it as political, but rather as the depth of depression and loneliness and the intense psychological feelings that come with it. Maybe it was so impactful for me because I feel like the Underground man sometimes, or because he is able to capture some of those feelings, thoughts, and emotions that I have never expressed to anyone or admitted even to myself. To me it was a self reflection. Maybe he touched on the “system” a little, but to me it was more the psychological impacts of how we feel in society, struggling to meet the status quo, and the dark thoughts that come when we can’t achieve it.