Comment on Luisa's and Josh's Theses

     I really like Luisa's third thesis idea: "Asking whether Raskolnikov considered himself a "hero" with his action, yet why he regretted it and feared it as well. The essay will mostly focus on his inner self and psychology about him, since he DID commit good actions as well... how he justifies what he did, the fear that happens to him right after he does it... this essay will study not only Raskolnikov but also study how other humans would react to situations of the sort. the selfishness, poverty, insanity that led him to commit an action of the sort... does nature and nurture have to do with why Raskolnikov did what he did???"

     This thesis is similar to a combination of two of mine- to explain how he justifies his murders and to explain the psychology of his character. I think the whole idea is interesting, especially since a lot is left to the imagination in this novel. Not much is explained, especially Raskolnikov's mental state and how he became the way he did. I like this thesis the best out of all of her theses, but the other three were good ideas as well. The first one seemed a bit easy, since Josh came up with it as well. 

     That brings me to Josh's theses. I liked all of his theses, but the one I liked the most was the one involving generosity: "My final idea for a thesis in Crime and Punishment would be analyzing the role that generosity played throughout the book. Raskolnikov seemed to be hell-bent on being as generous as possible, even though every time he was generous he immediately regretted what he did. Yet, it seems that Raskolnikov’s generosity might have had a little bit more of a malicious intent in that he felt the need to be in control of others fortune, or misfortune, as it gave him some sort of a power high. This then begs the question, was Raskolnikov giving to benefit others, or was he trying to benefit himself in the pursuit of an action that was clearly against his immediate self-interests."

     I never even thought of this and I find the essay topic to be very intriguing. It is very interesting to think of why he was so bipolar, if one could even call it that. I also liked Josh's thesis on "the wall" that Dostoyevsky so often discusses in his novels. So far, all of my classmates'  theses that I have read are pretty interesting ideas.