Sonia and Raskolnikov. LOVE IT. I so hope that they run away together. And whoever has a problem with Dunia and Razu is nuts, they are so cute together. I love the relationships in this book.
I found the opening scene with sonia and Rasy very interesting. Her strong religious views in contrast with his perpetual inability to believe anything solidly one way or another was funny. I love how he just flat out asks her "You were street-walking?" and she's like "Yes" ... weird, amusing, haha, I don't know.
I couldn't relaly understand the fervor with which Sonia defended Katherine Ivanovna. To me she seems selfish and foolish. I feel bad that she has consumption, and misses her old life but whatever. She needs to wake up from her delusions by now. Its been long enough she should stop being stupid and realize the situation she and her family is in. They don't need their clothes cleaned every night, and they don't need stylish booties. They need food and shelter to survive, and clothes and shoes for warmth not fashion. The fact that she feels so little remorse for the sacrafice Sonia makes for the family sickens me. And then the force with which Sonia defends her is astonishing. I feel such pity for her. But the mother is selfish, stupid, and needs to grow up!
I also love how Sonia calls Katherine proud and says she would give her last scrap away before asking for charity. However just a page prior she describes Katherine's belief that Rasy is their helper and will give them money to return home where they cna magically build a boarding school. This passage also had a ton of religious significance with the reading of the passage about Lazarus. It's ironic that Sonia knew Lizaveta.
Porifry Petrovich makes me SO MAD! I mean technically he's just doning his job, butgeez I don't like him. Funny, huh? He's probably supposed to be a good guy.
Throughout this section, all I could think about how much of a jerk, excuse the language, Rasko was to Sonia. He spends most of ch. 4 just yelling at her and saying that god does not exist and there is no need for him, etc. She is so upset that she trembles. I mean, he threatens that her younger siblings will also have to turn to prostitution! What is wrong with him? I understand that he is more or less insane at this point and technically has no control over his own emotions, but come on. Why hurt the one person you truly care about right after you leave the ones that care for you. Sonia is practically backing out of the room the whole scene long anyway.
But also, I agree with Julia on one thing. I did not understand why Sonia defended Katherine Ivanovna. Especially for a woman who may or may not have inadvertently hit her and her sibling often to take out her anger (toward her husband) on her children. As for the rest of it, I just pity her. She has these long speeches, similar to that of her deceased father, that just make my sympathize with her situation. She just seems so lost with no where to turn.
Ok, to respond to Julia, it think Raskolnikov is a little sketchy and so is the relatioship between Razu and Dunia (sorry Julia). I think Raskolnikov is still a little too nuts and philosophical for my liking and I feel like he is corrupting Sonia to a certain extent. I like her exactly the way she is and don't want Rasko influencing her. As for Razu, I feel like he seems like kind of a bumbling sidekick to Rasko and I don't think he would be able to withstand Dounia's strong personality. I'm really not a fan of romance in this book. Then again, maybe I'm just a cynic. :) Though I don't necessarily approve of any romantic relationship between Rasko and Sonia, I did find it an especially interesting scene. Originally I thought they had completely different personalities. For the most part their general characters and morals are different, but they begin to share the same thoughts after this scene. Previously, Raskolnikov sort of existed in his own isolated world and was influenced only by his own manic thoughts. However, now that is illness is lessening, he has begun to influence others with his crazy ideas and philosophies. And sorry to disagree with Julia again, but I have complete sympathy for Katerina, and actually for the entire family. I mean you've got to feel for the woman. Her husband was a complete drunk and now he has finally died. And she has TB and is dying herself. You have to give her some credit. Though the clothes do not need to be washed every single night, though fashionable booties might not be necessary, she is trying to maintain some sort of normalcy, especially for the children. I mean the woman is dying and she is still working hard to put up some sort of front to comfort her children. And Sonia, I mean who doesn't pity her? As for Luzhin, I really want to punch him in the face. We all know that he knows about Rasko, so why won't he just get it over with? It's so aggravating to me when people play with other people's mind. It's like if you have something to say then just say it. And I was extremely infuriated when Nikolai came in to confess the murders. It was just another stupid convenience. This book is way to convenient. Or not because of its density and difficulty to read at nine oclock at night.
This section gets religious really quickly, unlike the other sections where religion is less obvious. The story of Lazarus is particularly important because in the bible it is the story of a man who was raised from the dead by Jesus. This was probably the coolest thing Jesus did when he was alive miracle wise so it is very important. This story provides a kind of hope for Rosko. At this time Rosko is sort of dead because he committed the murders but he could be "resurrected" and brought back to society in the future just as Lazarus was raised from the dead in the bible.
Also, Sonya is an interesting character when compared to Rosko. She is completely faithful despite many facts that would suggest that she shouldn't be, not the least of which being that she is a prostitute. She feels bad about the whole prostitution thing and has repented for it. Rosko on the other hand has still not official decided that the murders were wrong and hasn't repented for them. This creates an interesting comparison between the characters.
So the whole Sonia and Raskolnikov scene really bothered me for some reason. In the beginning Raskolnikov was being such a jerk...like when he was talking about Katherine Ivanovna, "Katherine Ivanovna has consumption, a bad case. She'll die soon." I mean maybe its obvious that she will die soon, but is it really necessary to be so harsh and blunt about it with Sonia. Poor Sonia just gasps," Oh, no, no, no!" And even better Raskolnikov then just flatly states "yet it would be better if she died." I mean come on that's a bit ridiculous. He was very insensitive towards Sonia's feelings. I don't really want anything to happen with Raskolnikov and Sonia...its too weird and he really creeped her out. Also, something I noticed whenever Sonia spoke: there are a lot of ellipses. I am not quite sure what that means...perhaps it has to do with the translation from the original text.
Ok for the whole Katherine Ivanova thing...I mean she is Sonya's stepmother, it is understandable that she sympathizes with her rather than blames her. I agree with whoever said that whole situation is sad, and it is easy for those on the outside to criticize, while for Sonya the concern is more to save her family than to resent Katherine Ivanova.
Although this has been going on for the entirety of the novel, it became especially evident in these last sections how much the characters play the blame game. Everything that bugs them is passed down the line, until there is a physical cause to the problem they can take care of. Instead of recognizing the he is a jerk, Peter Petrovich blames the end of his engagement on Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov blames his murder of the pawnbroker and her sister on his predestination as an extraordinary being, and of course the law is looking for the murderer, who deserves the blame they are trying to face. Most characters try to flee their problems by seperating them from themselves, yet this only torments them further.
I agree with Ariel: Raskolnikov was really mean to Sonia! I also find their romance a little weird, but I love Sonia and sympathize with her: on top of the shenanigans she already has to deal with, Raskolnikov makes her think her sister will have to turn to prostitution as well. Way to cheer her up. Raskolnikov can never successfully communicate with people he cares about, and always ends up shutting them out or making them upset.
I completely agree with Ariel. Rasko was a total d-bag to Sonia. One thing I noticed at the beginning of the scene was the setting of Sonia's room. It is hardcore dreary and depressing. It is likened to a 'tool shed'. That sounds like it should be the scene of some murder in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.
Firstly, I know Julia and Ariel were confused by why Sonia defends Katherine Ivanovna, but I think that Sonia has shown that she is religious in this passage and she defends her partly out of moral values. Katherine is her father's wife and I think Sonia respects her because she feels she should. Sonia is so dependent on God that she feels she cannot wrong him in this way, because she has already screwed up her life so much by being a prostitute.
Secondly, in this scene when Rask is yelling at her to read the resurrection of Lazarus in the bible, he is totally rude. I thought he was going to hurt her or something. And later on he is all like lets run away together! Dude, get your feelings straight. But one thing I was not sure about in this scene was how I should tie in this religious story to their relationship. Will the resurrection occur for Rask? Is it occurring because Nikolay is suddenly admitting to murder so Rasko can feel less stress and guilt? Or is it more related to Sonia and how she can be reborn by praying to God and somehow seek help because she has to support Katherine and the children? Or can it mean several of these things?
Also, the scene when Rasko and the investigator Petrovich are in his office drags on for so long. Although it was dialogue, since it was Rasko in his delirium and Petrovich talking about mind games and trying to trap the murdered by his cleverness, I felt like it lasted forever. I even got so tired of it that at one point I just put my book down to get a glass of water. Exhausting stuff...
My favorite segments from this section were probably those that dealt with religion. I thought the maddened Raskolnikov commanding Sonya to read him the story of Lazarus was a nice, almost poetic scene. To me, it somewhat mirrored Marm’s drunken rant about being forgiven by God in the beginning of the book. Then, it sounded somewhat ridiculous, but now that Raskolnikov finds himself at a psychotic rock bottom, he too wants a religious safety net. That is why he asks for Lazarus; it is one of the simplest Christian stories in which God just saves somebody and redeems them. The passage held a special meaning for Sonya as well, as she too wants to be redeemed by God from her life of disgrace. Raskolnikov is definitely trying to find some companionship in this social outcast, but her motives are so much different than his that I find such a match hard to imagine. She is breaking moral code to help her family, while he broke moral code for ambiguous reasons, most likely pride.
Also, I have to talk about the scene where the suspected murderer bolts into the room and confesses. Once again, ridiculous coincidence, or divine providence if you prefer, has worked in Raskolnikov’s favor. This also ties into some religious discussions we were having when we started the book. If Raskolnikov keeps getting saved from his own confessing by this kind of event, then he’ll just prove the old saying:
Something I noticed in tonight's reading was the importance of repetition, especially in dialogue. At first, I started to mark some of the phrases or ideas that were repeated, but it got to be so many that I realized they had a more general significance than individual. In the scene with Sonia and Raskolnikov, chapter 4 I guess, there are several noteworthy repetitions. One is when Sonia is defending Katherine Ivanovna on page 303; she keeps repeating herself but doesn't really get anywhere. Sonia is at a loss for words because honestly, she has no real defense for Katherine....I agree with Lauren that we should sympathize with her, but she hasn't done anything to try to improve Sonia's life so I stop at pity. Another example of repetition is how Rasko keeps muttering to himself, "That's the answer" throughout the religious portion of their conversation...I think one of the reasons he keeps saying that is he is trying to decide if Sonia is worthy of God's forgiveness. Also, he tries to figure out her views on morality. There are plenty of other examples of repetition in his conversation with Sonia, but I also want to discuss those in his convo with Porfiry. Here, the repetition emphasizes Rasko's guilt, fear, and mental instability more than anything. For example, Porfiry keeps bringing up Rasko's illness under the guise of caring, while really just emphasizing its incriminating potential. Also, Rasko kept saying things along the lines of "You suspect me!" and "I won't allow it, I won't allow it," just making himself seem more worried and guilty of committing the murder. I think that all of this repetition, plus the large amount that I didn't even get to cite, serves a few purposes. Obviously, it serves to make Rasko seem like he is second-guessing himself, or like he's guilty...backing himself into a corner, which is successful. It also serves to simply emphasize certain words, like "illness" when Porfiry is speaking. Finally, with Sonia and Rasko's interactions, i think one of the purposes of so much repetition is to highlight religious and moral questions like if Sonia's sins can be equated with Rasko's.
I agree with Lauren regarding the Sonia Raskolnikov relationship. He seems like a very sketchy fellow who attempts to prey on Sonia's fear that her stepmother may soon pass away. Also he has her read sections from the bible. I know that the Lazarus story plays a crucial role in terms of the religious aspect of the novel, but telling someone to read a bible passage seems like a weird brand of romance.
Also, I find it frustrating that Rasko attempts to relate his double homicide to Sonia's prostitution. These two issues are completely unequal. I know when I first ranked prostitution I had it low on the list but in reality, it at least represents an agreement with a fair exchange of money and services. Prostituion is even legal in some areas. I have never heard of a city, town, state, country that is cool with double-homicide.
I know I'm like 10 minutes late, but here goes. Stupid chorale.
So the religious illusions and such are puzzling to me. I can't figure out if this is a religious book or not. As has been said before, the story of Lazarus is particularly important because it is the story of someone being redeemed/saved, which as Tommy said mirrors Melkaladov's rant from page 20. It seems that Rasko is looking for redemption, although that would lead us to believe that he believes that what he did was wrong, which goes against the ideas of someone who doesn't believe in morals, or at least believes that morals don't apply to them.
Sonia, who has been forced by society’s flaws to become a prostitute, believes strongly in a higher power. The fact that her faith is (at least through Raskolnikov’s eyes) unyielding exemplifies how she serves as a foil in this respect to Raskolnikov. He believes, in the opening of the novel, that he is on some sort of superior moral plane, where morals mean nothing because they do not exist there, when actually, Sonia is somewhat on a superior moral plane, where morals mean nothing because they exist fully to her. They are forgotten because moral guidelines are not needed. This is why, after Raskolnikov says, “Maybe there’s no God at all” and then laughs, she reacted the way she did, with “spasms and tremors” (307). She began to see Raskolnikov falling to some sort of lower moral plane than hers, or that he has already been there for a long time.
These characters are foils for another reason: Sonia sacrificed her social standing for her family, for others, while everything Raskolnikov has done that has worsened his life were done for selfish reasons, or at least reasons that had nothing to do with anyone else. In this way, Raskolnikov represents greed and Sonia represents charity. It is true that Raskolnikov has been generous by giving money to various characters throughout the novel, but Sonia has given her identity. Raskolnikov has been selfish with his identity, as keeping the secret of his murders keeps him from his rightful punishment.
(I know I'm 6 hours late, but I woke up this morning at 4 to do homework after falling asleep crazy early because of, well, lack of sleep from the night before.)
13 comments:
WOAH
Sonia and Raskolnikov. LOVE IT. I so hope that they run away together. And whoever has a problem with Dunia and Razu is nuts, they are so cute together. I love the relationships in this book.
I found the opening scene with sonia and Rasy very interesting. Her strong religious views in contrast with his perpetual inability to believe anything solidly one way or another was funny. I love how he just flat out asks her "You were street-walking?" and she's like "Yes" ... weird, amusing, haha, I don't know.
I couldn't relaly understand the fervor with which Sonia defended Katherine Ivanovna. To me she seems selfish and foolish. I feel bad that she has consumption, and misses her old life but whatever. She needs to wake up from her delusions by now. Its been long enough she should stop being stupid and realize the situation she and her family is in. They don't need their clothes cleaned every night, and they don't need stylish booties. They need food and shelter to survive, and clothes and shoes for warmth not fashion. The fact that she feels so little remorse for the sacrafice Sonia makes for the family sickens me. And then the force with which Sonia defends her is astonishing. I feel such pity for her. But the mother is selfish, stupid, and needs to grow up!
I also love how Sonia calls Katherine proud and says she would give her last scrap away before asking for charity. However just a page prior she describes Katherine's belief that Rasy is their helper and will give them money to return home where they cna magically build a boarding school. This passage also had a ton of religious significance with the reading of the passage about Lazarus. It's ironic that Sonia knew Lizaveta.
Porifry Petrovich makes me SO MAD! I mean technically he's just doning his job, butgeez I don't like him. Funny, huh? He's probably supposed to be a good guy.
Who knows ....
Throughout this section, all I could think about how much of a jerk, excuse the language, Rasko was to Sonia. He spends most of ch. 4 just yelling at her and saying that god does not exist and there is no need for him, etc. She is so upset that she trembles. I mean, he threatens that her younger siblings will also have to turn to prostitution! What is wrong with him? I understand that he is more or less insane at this point and technically has no control over his own emotions, but come on. Why hurt the one person you truly care about right after you leave the ones that care for you. Sonia is practically backing out of the room the whole scene long anyway.
But also, I agree with Julia on one thing. I did not understand why Sonia defended Katherine Ivanovna. Especially for a woman who may or may not have inadvertently hit her and her sibling often to take out her anger (toward her husband) on her children. As for the rest of it, I just pity her. She has these long speeches, similar to that of her deceased father, that just make my sympathize with her situation. She just seems so lost with no where to turn.
Ok, to respond to Julia, it think Raskolnikov is a little sketchy and so is the relatioship between Razu and Dunia (sorry Julia). I think Raskolnikov is still a little too nuts and philosophical for my liking and I feel like he is corrupting Sonia to a certain extent. I like her exactly the way she is and don't want Rasko influencing her. As for Razu, I feel like he seems like kind of a bumbling sidekick to Rasko and I don't think he would be able to withstand Dounia's strong personality. I'm really not a fan of romance in this book. Then again, maybe I'm just a cynic. :)
Though I don't necessarily approve of any romantic relationship between Rasko and Sonia, I did find it an especially interesting scene. Originally I thought they had completely different personalities. For the most part their general characters and morals are different, but they begin to share the same thoughts after this scene. Previously, Raskolnikov sort of existed in his own isolated world and was influenced only by his own manic thoughts. However, now that is illness is lessening, he has begun to influence others with his crazy ideas and philosophies.
And sorry to disagree with Julia again, but I have complete sympathy for Katerina, and actually for the entire family. I mean you've got to feel for the woman. Her husband was a complete drunk and now he has finally died. And she has TB and is dying herself. You have to give her some credit. Though the clothes do not need to be washed every single night, though fashionable booties might not be necessary, she is trying to maintain some sort of normalcy, especially for the children. I mean the woman is dying and she is still working hard to put up some sort of front to comfort her children. And Sonia, I mean who doesn't pity her?
As for Luzhin, I really want to punch him in the face. We all know that he knows about Rasko, so why won't he just get it over with? It's so aggravating to me when people play with other people's mind. It's like if you have something to say then just say it. And I was extremely infuriated when Nikolai came in to confess the murders. It was just another stupid convenience. This book is way to convenient. Or not because of its density and difficulty to read at nine oclock at night.
This section gets religious really quickly, unlike the other sections where religion is less obvious. The story of Lazarus is particularly important because in the bible it is the story of a man who was raised from the dead by Jesus. This was probably the coolest thing Jesus did when he was alive miracle wise so it is very important. This story provides a kind of hope for Rosko. At this time Rosko is sort of dead because he committed the murders but he could be "resurrected" and brought back to society in the future just as Lazarus was raised from the dead in the bible.
Also, Sonya is an interesting character when compared to Rosko. She is completely faithful despite many facts that would suggest that she shouldn't be, not the least of which being that she is a prostitute. She feels bad about the whole prostitution thing and has repented for it. Rosko on the other hand has still not official decided that the murders were wrong and hasn't repented for them. This creates an interesting comparison between the characters.
So the whole Sonia and Raskolnikov scene really bothered me for some reason. In the beginning Raskolnikov was being such a jerk...like when he was talking about Katherine Ivanovna, "Katherine Ivanovna has consumption, a bad case. She'll die soon." I mean maybe its obvious that she will die soon, but is it really necessary to be so harsh and blunt about it with Sonia. Poor Sonia just gasps," Oh, no, no, no!" And even better Raskolnikov then just flatly states "yet it would be better if she died." I mean come on that's a bit ridiculous. He was very insensitive towards Sonia's feelings. I don't really want anything to happen with Raskolnikov and Sonia...its too weird and he really creeped her out.
Also, something I noticed whenever Sonia spoke: there are a lot of ellipses. I am not quite sure what that means...perhaps it has to do with the translation from the original text.
Ok for the whole Katherine Ivanova thing...I mean she is Sonya's stepmother, it is understandable that she sympathizes with her rather than blames her. I agree with whoever said that whole situation is sad, and it is easy for those on the outside to criticize, while for Sonya the concern is more to save her family than to resent Katherine Ivanova.
Although this has been going on for the entirety of the novel, it became especially evident in these last sections how much the characters play the blame game. Everything that bugs them is passed down the line, until there is a physical cause to the problem they can take care of. Instead of recognizing the he is a jerk, Peter Petrovich blames the end of his engagement on Raskolnikov. Raskolnikov blames his murder of the pawnbroker and her sister on his predestination as an extraordinary being, and of course the law is looking for the murderer, who deserves the blame they are trying to face. Most characters try to flee their problems by seperating them from themselves, yet this only torments them further.
I agree with Ariel: Raskolnikov was really mean to Sonia! I also find their romance a little weird, but I love Sonia and sympathize with her: on top of the shenanigans she already has to deal with, Raskolnikov makes her think her sister will have to turn to prostitution as well. Way to cheer her up. Raskolnikov can never successfully communicate with people he cares about, and always ends up shutting them out or making them upset.
I completely agree with Ariel. Rasko was a total d-bag to Sonia. One thing I noticed at the beginning of the scene was the setting of Sonia's room. It is hardcore dreary and depressing. It is likened to a 'tool shed'. That sounds like it should be the scene of some murder in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.
Firstly, I know Julia and Ariel were confused by why Sonia defends Katherine Ivanovna, but I think that Sonia has shown that she is religious in this passage and she defends her partly out of moral values. Katherine is her father's wife and I think Sonia respects her because she feels she should. Sonia is so dependent on God that she feels she cannot wrong him in this way, because she has already screwed up her life so much by being a prostitute.
Secondly, in this scene when Rask is yelling at her to read the resurrection of Lazarus in the bible, he is totally rude. I thought he was going to hurt her or something. And later on he is all like lets run away together! Dude, get your feelings straight. But one thing I was not sure about in this scene was how I should tie in this religious story to their relationship. Will the resurrection occur for Rask? Is it occurring because Nikolay is suddenly admitting to murder so Rasko can feel less stress and guilt? Or is it more related to Sonia and how she can be reborn by praying to God and somehow seek help because she has to support Katherine and the children? Or can it mean several of these things?
Also, the scene when Rasko and the investigator Petrovich are in his office drags on for so long. Although it was dialogue, since it was Rasko in his delirium and Petrovich talking about mind games and trying to trap the murdered by his cleverness, I felt like it lasted forever. I even got so tired of it that at one point I just put my book down to get a glass of water. Exhausting stuff...
My favorite segments from this section were probably those that dealt with religion. I thought the maddened Raskolnikov commanding Sonya to read him the story of Lazarus was a nice, almost poetic scene. To me, it somewhat mirrored Marm’s drunken rant about being forgiven by God in the beginning of the book. Then, it sounded somewhat ridiculous, but now that Raskolnikov finds himself at a psychotic rock bottom, he too wants a religious safety net. That is why he asks for Lazarus; it is one of the simplest Christian stories in which God just saves somebody and redeems them. The passage held a special meaning for Sonya as well, as she too wants to be redeemed by God from her life of disgrace. Raskolnikov is definitely trying to find some companionship in this social outcast, but her motives are so much different than his that I find such a match hard to imagine. She is breaking moral code to help her family, while he broke moral code for ambiguous reasons, most likely pride.
Also, I have to talk about the scene where the suspected murderer bolts into the room and confesses. Once again, ridiculous coincidence, or divine providence if you prefer, has worked in Raskolnikov’s favor. This also ties into some religious discussions we were having when we started the book. If Raskolnikov keeps getting saved from his own confessing by this kind of event, then he’ll just prove the old saying:
It’s better to be lucky than to be good.
Something I noticed in tonight's reading was the importance of repetition, especially in dialogue. At first, I started to mark some of the phrases or ideas that were repeated, but it got to be so many that I realized they had a more general significance than individual. In the scene with Sonia and Raskolnikov, chapter 4 I guess, there are several noteworthy repetitions. One is when Sonia is defending Katherine Ivanovna on page 303; she keeps repeating herself but doesn't really get anywhere. Sonia is at a loss for words because honestly, she has no real defense for Katherine....I agree with Lauren that we should sympathize with her, but she hasn't done anything to try to improve Sonia's life so I stop at pity. Another example of repetition is how Rasko keeps muttering to himself, "That's the answer" throughout the religious portion of their conversation...I think one of the reasons he keeps saying that is he is trying to decide if Sonia is worthy of God's forgiveness. Also, he tries to figure out her views on morality.
There are plenty of other examples of repetition in his conversation with Sonia, but I also want to discuss those in his convo with Porfiry. Here, the repetition emphasizes Rasko's guilt, fear, and mental instability more than anything. For example, Porfiry keeps bringing up Rasko's illness under the guise of caring, while really just emphasizing its incriminating potential. Also, Rasko kept saying things along the lines of "You suspect me!" and "I won't allow it, I won't allow it," just making himself seem more worried and guilty of committing the murder.
I think that all of this repetition, plus the large amount that I didn't even get to cite, serves a few purposes. Obviously, it serves to make Rasko seem like he is second-guessing himself, or like he's guilty...backing himself into a corner, which is successful. It also serves to simply emphasize certain words, like "illness" when Porfiry is speaking. Finally, with Sonia and Rasko's interactions, i think one of the purposes of so much repetition is to highlight religious and moral questions like if Sonia's sins can be equated with Rasko's.
I agree with Lauren regarding the Sonia Raskolnikov relationship. He seems like a very sketchy fellow who attempts to prey on Sonia's fear that her stepmother may soon pass away. Also he has her read sections from the bible. I know that the Lazarus story plays a crucial role in terms of the religious aspect of the novel, but telling someone to read a bible passage seems like a weird brand of romance.
Also, I find it frustrating that Rasko attempts to relate his double homicide to Sonia's prostitution. These two issues are completely unequal. I know when I first ranked prostitution I had it low on the list but in reality, it at least represents an agreement with a fair exchange of money and services. Prostituion is even legal in some areas. I have never heard of a city, town, state, country that is cool with double-homicide.
I know I'm like 10 minutes late, but here goes. Stupid chorale.
So the religious illusions and such are puzzling to me. I can't figure out if this is a religious book or not. As has been said before, the story of Lazarus is particularly important because it is the story of someone being redeemed/saved, which as Tommy said mirrors Melkaladov's rant from page 20. It seems that Rasko is looking for redemption, although that would lead us to believe that he believes that what he did was wrong, which goes against the ideas of someone who doesn't believe in morals, or at least believes that morals don't apply to them.
Sonia, who has been forced by society’s flaws to become a prostitute, believes strongly in a higher power. The fact that her faith is (at least through Raskolnikov’s eyes) unyielding exemplifies how she serves as a foil in this respect to Raskolnikov. He believes, in the opening of the novel, that he is on some sort of superior moral plane, where morals mean nothing because they do not exist there, when actually, Sonia is somewhat on a superior moral plane, where morals mean nothing because they exist fully to her. They are forgotten because moral guidelines are not needed. This is why, after Raskolnikov says, “Maybe there’s no God at all” and then laughs, she reacted the way she did, with “spasms and tremors” (307). She began to see Raskolnikov falling to some sort of lower moral plane than hers, or that he has already been there for a long time.
These characters are foils for another reason: Sonia sacrificed her social standing for her family, for others, while everything Raskolnikov has done that has worsened his life were done for selfish reasons, or at least reasons that had nothing to do with anyone else. In this way, Raskolnikov represents greed and Sonia represents charity. It is true that Raskolnikov has been generous by giving money to various characters throughout the novel, but Sonia has given her identity. Raskolnikov has been selfish with his identity, as keeping the secret of his murders keeps him from his rightful punishment.
(I know I'm 6 hours late, but I woke up this morning at 4 to do homework after falling asleep crazy early because of, well, lack of sleep from the night before.)
Post a Comment