Masochism

"'Ha, ha, ha! Next you’ll be finding pleasure in a toothache!' you will exclaim, laughing. 'And why not? There is also pleasure in a toothache,' I will answer."

The Underground Man enjoys self denial. In the last chapter, he described in length how he takes pleasure in his own humiliation, enjoying a sense of powerlessness. The “you” represents the “rational” man, who would most certainly find the idea of enjoying one’s one pain, masochism (I learned a new word!), absurd. This book is sometimes hard to follow, but I like it so far- it's very insightful.