The narrator of the novel is skitzophrentic and laughs while he's getting flogged/watching others get flogged. Basically, he's a little bit out of it.

So that got me thinking. What if I'm a little bit out of it? And no one's bothered to tell me? Or what if I go crazy one day - what then? The only consolation I have is that being crazy might help me write some amazing book. If it can happen to Dambudzo Marechera then it might happen to me too. 

Then in that case, being crazy might not be so bad.