Razumikhin's Sudden Love and Dunya's Resourcefullness (Alexia Barrios)

To be completely honest, I am no longer enjoying this book as much as I did in the beginning. I enjoyed Part 1 of the novel, but those parts following it have been uneventful in my opinion. The same events seem to be occurring over and over; he has a delusion or a panic attack, decides he wants to confess then never does. The readings these past couple of weeks have consisted of these same actions. I feel like Rodia has been doing going back and forth with whether or not to confess, and then whether or not he is acting mad and at first it was entertaining, but now it no longer holds my interest. The only aspects of this weeks reading that really grasped my interest were the subplots and other smaller events that occurred.

In this weeks reading one interaction that really sparked my interest was the sudden infatuation that Razumikhin grew for Dunya. It was a nice break from the dull and heavy tone that the novel has had thus far but it was certainly odd and one that I didn’t expect since I never thought the author would incorporate any romance into the novel. We witness this sudden love for Dunya occur as Rasumikhin is in “a state" (193) as he walks Dunya and her mother back to their horrible lodging that Dunya’s “scoundrel” (195) of a fiancé, Luzhin, put them in. Razumikhin’s drunken state seemed to allow his thoughts on her “goodness, purity, sense…and perfection” (194) to be known, and it is how we learn of his “sudden drunken infatuation for Avdotia Romanovna” (196) Also, it seems that his drunkenness provided him with some clarity on people and he makes a interesting point when he says “though all my friends there are drunk…they are all honest, and though we talk a lot of trash…we shall talk our way to the truth at last, for we are on the right path, while Peter Petrovich…is not…” (195) It demonstrates that though they are not wealthy and as intellectual as Dunya’s fiancé they possess a characteristic that is far more valuable in his opinion which is equivalent to my own; honesty.

I also liked learning more about Dunya. Up to this point of the novel we knew very little about her, but now we learn of not only her beauty through Razumikhin’s vivid descriptions but also of her intelligence and resourcefulness. In the past I have mentioned Rodia’s arrogance and once again it was shown as he mentions Dunya’s engagement saying that “you (Dunya) are marrying Luzhin for my sake” (190). She proves this to be incorrect when as she claims she’s “marrying for my (Dunya) own sake, because things are hard for me.” (222) She also plotted to test her fiancé, urging Rodia to meet up with them to see “the whole truth” (225) if he is really “angry or not” (225) which I thought was representation of her strength and dignity.