No Pain No Gain!!!

Hey everyone,

We just started reading a new book called Notes from Underground. I have really enjoyed the book so far. Although I must say that it is a challenging read I do enjoy his writing. 

So far the underground man has puzzled me, at first he seemed insecure, contradicting himself in every other line saying he despises old people but want to live “till seventy! Till eighty!”(Dostoevsky 5). Later in the book he says he envies the normal man but does not wish to replace him. At this moment the underground man has confused me but I am excited to see what he will do and who he will be in these next few chapters.

One thing that I found particularly interesting about the underground man is the way he describes different forms of enjoyment through suffering. He talks about how when he was younger he used to get in trouble when he was not to blame but he would take it and actually have some sort of enjoyment in it. He later goes on to talk about a man moaning after a toothache. He describes this as pain that is enjoyable, a certain suffering that we love and need. After reading this I thought of myself and how I actually do the same thing, but under different circumstances. For example after a long practice or workout my body is soar, a certain pain much like the underground man describes, which I find enjoyable. I really thought that this was a great point that the underground man made. It was cleaver and ultimate true.

Notes from Underground has been really interesting so far and I am excited to see what other points he make that I can again relate back to my own experiences. I’m really excited to see what will happen next!!!