Saturday, August 24, 2013
Rachael's First Impression of the Book
After reading the first twenty pages of Crime and Punishment I still feel unable to make a judgement on it. I believe that there will be aspects of the book that I will deffinitely enjoy. For instance, the mysterious nature of Raskolnikov did interest me and I am looking forward to learning more about his character. His lack of speech really contributes the sense of mystery to him. I love how Dostoevsky keeps the story in third person with a great amount of access to his thoughts, but not enough to give away everything. I tend to enjoy when an author focuses on psychological aspects of the mind, which is what is done with Raskolnikov. As a reader you are able to understand what blocks he puts up for himself, and how he is in a constant struggle to fight some dark urges. Dostoevsky makes it very clear that Raskolnikov is an abnormal person who reacts and thinks differently than others, which I suppose is a method of making him stand out amongst the crowd. The irony of that is the fact that Raskolnikov does not want to stand out of the crowd at all. He greatly desires to be hidden and hard to remember.
Other than the characterization of Raskolnikov, Dostoevsky brings in the character Marmeladow into the attention of the reader in the second chapter of the book. I have not read enough to properly understand the character, but I admired the energy put into him. Dostoevsky really seems to want the essence of Marmeladow being a talkative drunk to really come across to the readers. My assumption for now is that this character is a foil to Raskolnikov due to his contrasting characteristics.
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I agree with Rachael's initial reaction to the beginning of the novel. Raskolnikov does have a mysterious nature about him, and it interests me to learn more about his character, especially as to why he possesses the thoughts he has. I like her comment on how ironic Raskolniov's character is when compared to Dostoevsky. I had not thought about it in that way before reading her reaction to the first two chapters. It's an insightful observation, and one that further raises the interest level of the book. I have a feeling that everyone in our group is going to end up loving this book. Dostoevsky's writing is remarkable and the way he structures his writing is interesting, to say the least. But unlike Rachael, as a reader, I do not understand "the blocks he puts up for himself (Raskolnikov), and how he is in a constant struggle to fight some dark urges". I cannot even begin to fathom why he has the urges and thoughts he has. Actually, I haven't the slightest clue as to why he feels the way he does towards other people in general. It appears to me that those specific questions are highly relevant to the central theme of the story, and hopefully Dostoevsky will shed more light on Rasholnikov's character in the next few chapters. His mysteriousness and abnormality add to the puzzling story line and, in my opinion, makes it much more anticipating and exciting to read on.
ReplyDeleteTo clarify your confusion I suppose I wrote the sentence oddly because I did not mean to say that I understood why he had these urges but that it is made clear that he prevents himself from doing things (like socializing), which would be one of his blocks to take note of. I did not mean to say that I understood his dark urges, just that they were blatantly there and a huge struggle for Raskolnikov.
DeleteAnd as for your comment about how you believe we'll all end up enjoying the book, I strongly believe that too :)