Joshua's Chapters 1-2 Reaction

            There seems to be a theme of poverty within the first two chapters, but not just the lack of money, but the desperation that the poverty brings to the family. The main character is poor, so poor that he seems to be planning to kill Lizaveta in order to take her money. He has not had food in two days and he is wearing rags, this seems bad until we meet Marmeladov who has resorted to drinking his money away. With four children and a sick wife, his family is so desperate as to force one of his daughters to go into prostitution. Which they seem to be fine with, but Raskolnikov is disgusted by the idea and Marmeladov in general. In order to calm himself, Raskolnikov thinks to himself that Marmeladov will eventually pay for his actions. Seeing as the book is titled “Crime and Punishment” this idea that people cannot avoid justice for their actions even if they were driven to take such actions to get out of poverty. This seems like somewhat of a foreshadowing of the consequences that Raskolnikov will have to face for whatever he does to rise out of poverty, which might involve killing Lizaveta. Yet, the fact that Raskolnikov left money for the family without telling them about it gives an insight into his personality in that he feels like he is doing more good by helping those who are even worse off than he is.