Raskolnikov confesses

Crime and Punishment really took a long, LONG time to catch my interest.... But as I am approaching the ending half of the book, more action and mostly internal drama is beginning. Starting Part V of the novel, Raskolnikov is having the internal battle and fear of having gotten caught, but he realizes he really is not. Luzhin's marriage to Raskolnikov's sister is broken off, and he is obviously very angered at this because of the amount of money he lost just organizing the wedding in the first place. Disregarding the, what I feel, less important parts for now, the most astonishing thing that has happened in the most recent reading is that HE CONFESSES! Honestly, although Raskolnikov has had some better motivations and cares more for his family; although he has been more compassionate ... I still would not have expected him to confess and I was so shocked that he did. He started off his confession to her by asking her whose life she would take... and she responds that only God decides who gets to live or die - obviously being against any type of murder -- I agree with her. He makes her guess that he is the one who murdered Lizaveta, and although she is left aback by such news, she still decides to be there for him, which I think I would have found that really hard to do -- be compassionate to someone who took the life of another for no reason. But, Raskolnikov explains the reason. He says that it was because people who want to attain power cannot have anything standing in their way, and the pawnbroker, in his opinion, had nothing to offer and was never going to change, so by killing her he wanted to show his power over the weak. Sonya says it was the devil, and says he must confess and accept the punishment (I see the title coming into play here)... But he refuses to that and says that he actually could have had the right so he did not feel so guilty. I think Raskolnikov is INSANE to have that reason to kill the pawnbroker. I do not know what is going to happen but I am actually excited to know.  

Rodia Turning a Leaf (Alexia Barrios)

Previously I believed that Rodia was a selfish, egotistical human being with a major superiority complex, but I believe I am seeing a change in him.  I truly thought that there was no hope for Rodia. I thought his attitude was one that would make it challenging for him to change into a somewhat compassionate person, but I believe that in this weeks reading I have witnessed him turn a leaf. After Dunia, his mother and Razumikhin devise a plan for him to care for her and for them to start a publishing company, he decides he needs to leave them. He claims he “is not at peace”(299) clearly from committing the murder and the emotional and psychological turmoil that resulted from that, and for that reason chooses to leave. This marks a change in his character, and for the first time it demonstrates his capability to care for others and not just himself. He recognizes the importance of his family and does not want to taint them with his growing guilt. For some reason, the manner of which he left his family and that he put them above himself, allows me to believe that he will confess. He seems to have changed slightly, and because he was the one who in the moment decided it was best for his family was to leave leaves me to believe that he is preparing them for what is to come after he confesses. Also, the interaction between Rodia and Razumikhin also makes this evident as they looked at one another and Rodia’s “burning and intent eyes grew more and more penetrating every moment, piercing into his soul and into his consciousness” (300) resulting in Razumikhin “turning pale” (300) from the truth.

I have also grown to despise Luzhin and everything he stands for. I despise how he finds that he believes he has to come in and marry Dunia because he finds it to be heroic of him. I find his whole ”voluptuous dreams of marriage” (294) and his image of the perfect girl to be disturbing as one of his requirements was that “she must be poor” (294).  The idea that he wants to rescue these women from their poor lives and make them “slavishly grateful all her life for his heroic condescension, and would humble herself in the just before him” (294) only shows his urgency for power. So when this dream is taken away from him and she ends it with him, I fear how he will handle this later on in the novel, as it is evident that he despised Rodia and even more than Rodia, he dreaded Svidrigailov finding them both to be the cause of the severance of his engagement.  

What went wrong with Raskolnikov?

Crime and Punishment has been getting more intense and less boring..finally. While I would not call myself the biggest fan of Dostoyevsky or Crime and Punishment (to be specific), I do appreciate the literature itself. The story, while confusing and full of ups and downs, is finally captivating my interest on some level. Now that I am on the sixth part of the book, things are heating up. The main focus of the beginning chapters of this part was Raskolnikov and Petrovich. Petrovich is known to be a smart man, but in my opinion I do not think he is all that bright. Yes he figured out Rodia's crimes, yes he is a master of psychology, but why did he wait so long to call Rodia out on what he did? Why did he wait so long to take action? What mind games is he playing with Rodia? I do not understand the motives behind his actions, but that seems to be a recurring thing in this book. Nothing is ever expected or explained. The book is one giant mystery that might just be the most frustrating piece of literature I have ever read in my life. The rest of the sixth part had to do with the attempted rape of Dunya and a lot of other characters that I could not care less for. My favorite relationship in this book is between Petrovich and Raskolnikov. The climax of their relationship, that being when Petrovich declares his suspicions to Raskolnikov himself, brought a sense of clarity to Rodia. Petrovich made him feel human for once in his life, he helped Rodia realize that he has the option of confession. If Rodia confesses that means all of his unhappiness and guilt could quite literally vanish and he would be able to continue life (in jail, most likely) as a "free" man. "Free" in the sense that he would no longer be imprisoned by his own guilt and dirty conscience. Another interesting aspect from this reading was how different Dunya and Rodia proved to be. The fact that she could not go through with the killing shows the distinction between her and the murderer. I think Dostoyevsky was trying to illustrate how it really does depend on how a person deals with what obstacles lay ahead of them. Dunya literally could not find it within herself to kill another human being, no matter the reasons and rationalizations she had behind attempting to do it in the first place. Apparently, Dunya is nothing like her brother. So once again, I ask: what went wrong with Raskolnikov?

Raskolnikov's Confession

            So he’s finally done it, someone knows about the murder, about his ideals, about his worries of being a louse and not a man. He has finally confessed of his crimes, yet he does not feel any better, the fact that he knows that he is a louse and not a man, he is almost too self-aware to not be able to find out why he killed the woman. He wants to say money, but it was not money, he wants to say it was for Sonia, or his business, or anything else, but none of it seems to make sense to him. He ends up blaming “the devil” instead of himself, his only explanation of why he did it is to see if he could do it. After reading some of Notes from the Underground I can see many themes and ideas leaking through to this work. The idea of the finite, the end, the fact that some people cannot change and that idea of solidity is what he desires most. He wants to know if he is the man, or the louse in this case. Mixed into this whole introspective investigation with Sonia is his ideals towards the “napoleon” theory of thought where great men do not stop for anything when trying to reach their goal, they don’t even stop for people. Also the fact that Raskolnikov has basically started a war within all of Sonia’s family, destroyed any reputation of Luzhin in any respect, and basically turned everyone’s world around him, upside down. It seems almost as if Raskolnikov has resorted to testing his reach in this world in whatever ways he can by seeing just how much he can destroy and just how much he can control. It is almost as if he is trying to justify his suffering towards the murder without actually being punished for it. Even Sonia realizes the fact that Raskolnikov must be suffering a great deal from the guilt of his murder and the fact that no one knows about it. Yet she does agree with him after he argues his point about his ideas with napoleon and whatnot and she thinks that if he is a real man, and not a louse, he does not have to be punished for his crimes, seeing as they were justified for some overall purpose. Throughout this conversation there was one line that really stuck with me, and that was the line that God is the only one who decides who lives and who dies, which seems to strike Raskolnikov down, making him feel helpless as though he did not have the authority to do what he did. Overall, I feel the meaning of this book is extremely intensified by the ideals laid out in Notes from the Underground.