Enjoyment and Pain

Based on what we have discussed so far in the first couple of pages of the book, Dostoevsky tends to emphasis the fact that someone can learn how to enjoy or seek enjoyment out of pain or suffering. Every time The Man sees something beautiful or something that makes him happy, he reverts back to someone who is negative and hates the world. This negativity is like his safety net. He cannot go anywhere or speak to anyone without being negative or judgmental. In my opinion, the reason for anger or disgust for the world is The Man’s safety net is due to the fact that throughout his life he was told how different he was from everyone else or how weird and ugly he was. This pain and taunting grew with him over those forty years of being kept “underground” and the anger he had towards the world is what makes him feel joy because that is all he had ever experienced. It is strange to think that a person can find enjoyment out of being hurt over and over again, but psychologically it was they thrive on. That pain is what keeps them going. They feed off of it.  This is exactly what The Man is doing; he is thriving off his pain and turning it into enjoyment. The way he enjoys his pain is by inflicting it onto others.