Nicole's First Entry on Crime and Punishment

Raskolnikov seems to be lost in confusion and frustration over his poverty. He just cannot take living alone with nothing to do and with almost no money. He tries to adjust to his helpless lifestyle and tries to become who he thinks he should be in his state. To adjust, his first step was letting go of what mostly mattered to him staying healthy at the time: money. Leaving some of the little money he had at the Marmeladovs' home and giving money to a policeman on the street for him to help some drunken girl has helped lift some weight from Raskolnikov's shoulders. Raskolnikov would have felt guilty if he had not given his money away. By giving away money, he also ends up feeling like he deserves something in return. Though from the start, he always felt like he deserved to live with money like the money of Alyona Ivanova.

At first it was his need, and want, and temptations that controlled him, but now he needs to control himself. To get the fear and thought of consequences out of his mind all he does is say to himself, "What must be, must be." I like that line a lot, because it is the first sign Raskolnikov's bravery and belief in chance throughout almost the entire book so far. The line is quite different from his original mode of thinking as well. I suppose Raskolnikov is a person who looks for ways out of situations, even if he is just able to escape the situation in his own mind.

Raskolnikov has found that line very useful, even as an excuse for him to take the easy way out. He's already done the worst he could and now, it's almost as if he wants to get punished. With punishment Raskolnikov thinks will come the calming of his nerves. Maybe Raskolnikov just needed to go through the cycle of committing a terrible crime and then getting punished just to clear his nervous and the only thing he would have on his mind after would be how he is to get out of punishment.