Which is Better: Cheap Happiness or Sublime Suffering?

In class, Ms. King pointed out the question that the Underground Man poses after Liza leaves his house: "Which is better: cheap happiness or sublime suffering? Well, come on, which is better?"

While this question is open to interpretations and we don't know the answer to the matter for sure, I thought we can relate this issue to the central question raised in Kundera's Unbearable Lightness of Being. The narrator in ULoB wants to know which is better from the main dichotomy of the novel: lightness or weight. I think that "cheap happiness" can be associated with lightness, and "sublime suffering" with weight. Sabina, a light character, feels pleasure in her numerous betrayals. However, this kind of happiness is "cheap" as it doesn't last long and because "light" characters are never bound to a single place or person. On the other hand, Tereza, a heavy character, suffers constantly in her relationship with Tomas. Somewhat paradoxically, suffering is "sublime" because it makes people reflect on their lives, attaching meaning and value to their experiences and surroundings.

Getting back to the Underground Man, I think that this "idle question" of his is essentially useless for himself. Neither the cheap happiness nor the sublime suffering in his life is better than the other, as his over-consciousness and cynical world view prevents him from realizing any happiness or value in his life at all.