Sunday, January 26, 2014
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?
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