Joshua Cohen's Reaction to Luisa's Post on Chapter 7 and Chapter 1 Part 2

I agree with the fact that it was kind of a surprise that Raskolnikov had to kill Alyona’s sister, but it makes sense with the rest of the story. If Raskolnikov had just killed Alyona, there doesn’t seem like there would be much guilt that Raskolnikov would feel, but because he had to kill Alyona’s sister, he is feeling a lot guiltier than he would be. Also, I am not so sure that it is really his “evil” side as much as it is his will to survive by whatever means. He only justifies this murder with the fact that he heard someone else complaining about Alyona and he felt that that was enough to justify her murder. The book is definitely changing from the crime stage, where Raskolnikov is thinking about the crime and eventually committing it, to the punishment stage in part two. I feel that now Raskolnikov is finally going to feel all the consequences for his actions, but I am not sure where it is going to come from. I personally feel that Raskolnikov is going to become extremely paranoid or extremely depressed and inflict most of the punishment on himself. I feel like that would be worse because if he got caught and sent to jail, everyone would know that he deserved the punishment. If people do not know why Raskolnikov is being so paranoid or depressed, they will try to help him which would probably cause him more torture because of the knowledge of his guilt that will most likely haunt him. It would also make more sense if the punishment came from within himself because then it would explain why he is so weird and introverted at the beginning of the book.