Katie's Entries on Crime and Punishment

Journal #1

To be honest so far this book is very boring and I do not really like it. I’ve been told that it is hard to get into but worth it once you have. Raskolnikov is a very interesting character. He seems to have many different levels to him and multiple personalities. I don’t think that he really cares about what people think of him due to the fact that he doesn’t mind walking out of his house in rags; but on the other hand it may jus be all he has. He is also very fortunate that his land lady hasn’t thrown him out yet for not paying his rent. I wonder if selling things to that old lady is how he makes money or if he has a real job. So far this book is very confusing and doesn’t really do much to make the reader excited or eager to read on.

On page 46 in part one is the first part of this book that I actually enjoyed reading. The way Raskolnikov describes this young girl and what he thinks might have happened to her it made me feel very bad for her. The fat man that Raskolnikov fought with is a pig along with the other men that did that to her. She is so young and they took advantage of her and now she’s going to be left with a bad name. They way Raskolnikov explained what would happen to her once she got home and her mother got word of what had happened made me think of how in many countries that still happens in. There are many cultures that will disown there daughters if they in any way disgrace there family. In a way I feel that can have a positive effect and a negative effect on a person. The positive side is it will instill fear in the child so that they don’t give themselves or there family a bad name but the negative side of that is that it can cause the child to rebel and go against what she has been taught..


Journal #2

On page 210 in part three it says “And what right did he have to judge him so hastily and rashly? And who had invited him to be a judge!” I really like this quote it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, which says “Only God will judge me.” The reason I liked this quote is because in life I feel people are way too quick to judge. I mean yea everyone has done it at least once in there life and anyone who says they haven’t is lying but that doesn’t make it right. Don’t get me wrong though I do feel in a way it’s normal to see someone pass u by and think to yourself what there story is and what there all about I just don’t think its nice to not give someone a chance because your to busy judging them.

Another quote I liked in part three is on page 215 when Dmitri Prokofych begins to describe Rodion he says “doesn’t like voicing his feelings, and would rather do something cruel than speak his heart out in words.” I liked this quote because it describes me almost perfectly. I hate talking about my feelings. So I connected with Rodion on that level. I feel that if I keep them inside they will eventually go away, where as when I talk about them they never go away.


Journal #3

Chapter VIII in part VI was very interesting and I also connected with it on a personal level. I though it was very good of Sonya to make sure Raskolnikov went to the police and confessed the murders. I liked how when ever Raskolnikov was about to give up and not confess he would see Sonya and it would make him go into the police station and confess. The reason I had a personal connection with this chapter is I have had a few family members that either went to jail or are still in jail. The way Raskolnikov was looking around wile at the Haymarket and trying to get a last look at the place before he went and confessed made me think weather any if the people I knew that went to jail had the same experience. I wonder how that makes a person feel to know they are getting there last look at the outside world and that there whole life is being thrown away because of there own actions.

I think it was very brave of Raskolnikov to go and confess the murders because a lot of people wouldn’t have. They probably would have just waited till they got caught. To me it shows he has some good in him because if he didn’t he wouldn’t have felt at all bad and wouldn’t have confessed. At the same time though the fact that he killed those people shows that he has problems. Even though he confessed, what he did was extremely bad. I think Raskolnikov has problems and needs help and I can’t wait to finish the book to see what happens.