Summer reading Assigment: Crime and Punishment Journal #1-- Biniyam

My predictions, derived from the look of this book are that it is is going to be long, boring and depressing. I saw that it had more than 500 pages and I already knew that I was going to have a hard time. Crime and Punishment is not a type of book I would pick up and read, considering the size of the book. It has been said over and over again, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” and it is a possibility that I am judging this book incorrectly but we only time will tell. My decision was to divide the book into three parts and then do separate journals for each. I currently finished reading the last pages of part two. I must say, I actually like this book. It might be gruesome and gloomy at times but it captivates my attention. There are several aspects that I would like to mention and elaborate on:
Rasklinkov is a hero: In the first part of this novel, it was revealed that Marmeladov’s daughter Sonya is forced into prostitution to support her family of approximately six people. The reason that Sonya began prostitution according to Marmeladov is due to lack of money. Similar to Marmeladov’s situation, Rasklinkov also lacks money and is in terrible debt to several people including his nagging proprietor. To help Rasklinkov with his situation, his sister Dunya became a maid and finally has agreed to marry a person whom we don’t even know whether she actually loves him or not. Dunya of course took a different approach that Sonya but both had similar goals in mind. The only difference between these two situations and the fact that makes Rasklinkov a hero is that he was willing to do something about his situation so he does not see his sister marry a person whom he deeply distastes. Though his actions were very cruel and inhumane, it was still an unavoidable evil. I have a sister of my own. If I was in Rasklinkov’s situation and my sister decides to marry a rich person just like Dunya, I would probably rob a bank but would not go as far as killing. To me, Rasklinkov is a hero because he was willing to risk his freedom to protect his sister from engaging in a marriage that was based on the wrong reasons. I do not know about you but I applaud his actions regardless of how sick they might sound.
The Murder: Rasklinkov decides to go through with the murder of the pawnbroker Alyona. This situation is crazy and disgusting. Murder is an evil action that I personally hate. I can never understand how much guts and push is necessary to cut the life of another man short. Rasklinkov had one thing on his mind when he entered the house on the night of the murder. The goal was to kill Alyona and take valuables and leave. Unfortunately, Alyona’s sister happened to arrive in the middle of the dirty deed. I blame destiny for the killing of Alyona’s sister rather than Rasklinkov although he was the one who threw down the axe. Alyona’s death was in my opinion was unavoidable. There was a part in the book that I found very significant and was the final push towards the murder and it was the scene where two men were talking in the tavern and Rasklinkov overhears them discussing the evil Alyona. This was very important because it doubled the reason for the murder. Not only would Rasklinkov get out of debt but he would also rid the world of such evil. I am sure the neighborhood is much better now that Alyona is out of the picture. I am assuming that everybody in the area is glad for such a deed though none of them had the desire to commit this evil deed.
Rasklinkov Cares: In part one of this novel, we are faced with a different version of Rasklinkov. After the meeting with Marmeladov in the tavern and after hearing of the situation with his family, Rasklinkov shows his sensitive and caring side by accepting the full responsibility of taking Marmeladov home and even gives 20 kopecks to the family. Though later on we do find out that Rasklinkov has a dark side to him, toward the end of chapter two in Part one, Dostoevsky gives us an opposite image of Rasklinkov. In my opinion, the reason Dostoevsky does this is so that in later parts there exists a conflict of characters when we recognize both sides to Rasklinkov. This method is very effective and actually got me to question if we all have two different sides.
Luzhin meets Rasklinkov: The scene where Luzhin meets Rasklinkov is a very captivating and amazing part. When it comes to letting a younger sister marry another man, an older brother is usually against it until he has a formal meeting with this man. We do not usually expect an older brother to be pleased when his sister is about to be married off especially when it is for the wrong reasons. I have a younger sister and if any man tries to propose to her, he must have my approval because I am not just going to watch my one and only sister marry a person that I do not think deserves her. As I was reading the beginning parts of this encounter, I knew what was going to happen. I predicted that Rasklinkov is not going to like Luzhin and just as I predicted, Rasklinkov distastes Luzhin. I actually believe that Rasklinkov’s actions were justified because Luzhin is probably marrying Dunya for the wrong reasons. I am not certain whether love exists between Luzhin and Dunya so therefore Rasklinkov did not jeopardize anything but rather played his role as a big brother.
This book is actually captivating me as I read it. There are certain scenes that I did not expect to happen such as the arrival of Dunya and Rasklinkov’s mother. I am expecting more details and more unexpected encounter of Rasklinkov with Luzhin.