When I began reading "Crime and Punishment" it was very tedious. Dostoyevsky starts off by describing Raskolnikov's surroundings and St. Petersburg. I began to notice that many Russian writers tend to focus on the characters interaction with their surroundings in order to develop and illustrate their personalities. Raskolnikov is a very proud, intelligent, and paranoid character. He is an introvert, barely ever seen communicating with people and spends his days inside his little apartment thinking. Raskolnikov's reason on killing the pawnbroker raises many ethical questions. His reasoning was that Alyona is a worthless old woman who takes money from people, so it would be better if she was dead and her money was distributed to people living in poverty. I began to ponder if it was alright to take one person's life for the betterment of other people.
Raskolnikov acts very selfishly by killing the pawnbroker and by insulting his sister's fiancé as well as his family by not accepting their marriage. However he does have some mercy and goodness in him. He looks out for a drunk girl who was being pursued by a lustful man and gives 20 copecks of his remaining money to Marmeladov's family. He is especially kind to Katrina Ivanovna during Marmeladov's death.
I like that Dostoyevsky connects the plot and the sub plot (issues with the Marmeladov's) through the coincidental meetings and run ins they have. I hope that something develops between Raskolikov and Sonya soon. Hopefully Sonya will be making her appearance in the next chapters!
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