Days 1-4
During the first week, I read the first and the second parts of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. The most important moments from the first part occur in the second chapter, when Raskolnikov, in a conversation with Marmeladov, expresses his opinion that poverty is not a vice – it is the truth, while severe poverty is a vice (Dostoevsky, 2001). Marmeladov tells Raskolnikov about his family that lives in extreme poverty because of Marmeladov’s drunkenness. Raskolnikov interprets Marmeladov’s opinion in his way, forming the idea that poverty is a vice, for which some members of society must bear responsibility. In Raskolnikov’s morbid imagination, this thought later develops into the idea of murdering Alena Ivanovna.
Days 5-7
Later, in the fifth chapter, after the news about his sister’s Dunya upcoming marriage, and heavy thoughts, Raskolnikov drinks vodka and falls asleep under a bush. After waking up, he heads to the market, where he overhears a conversation that his would-be victim will be home alone the next day. Raskolnikov decides that fate has sent him a sign and says to himself that now everything is finally decided (Dostoevsky, 2001). The next two chapters describe the preparation for the murder and the killing of the old woman. It is interesting that, although the novel consists of five parts, the central idea of the plot is laid out in the first part.
The remaining five parts present a setting for the repentance of Raskolnikov. The second part has an interesting twist that caught my attention. After Raskolnikov finally comes to his senses after the murder and hides the stolen jewels under a stone in a nearby yard, his friend Razumikhin comes to him and notices Rodion’s difficult state of mind. Importantly, this attention somehow alleviates Raskolnikov’s suffering, because he is horrified by his act and now wants to find someone who would notice the fact of the evil committed. Someone who would have a fairly clear conscience and judge him as God’s punishment judges a person.
Days 8-12
During the second week, I read the remaining parts 3, 4, 5, and 6. In the third part, the fifth chapter, investigator Porphyry expresses suspicions about Raskolnikov, referring to his article, where Rodion divides people into ordinary or the so-called ‘material’ and extraordinary – talented, capable of saying a new word (Dostoevsky, 2001). Rodion writes that ordinary people must live in obedience and do not have the right to break the law, and extraordinary people have the right to commit all kinds of crimes and violate the law in every way, precisely because they are extraordinary (Dostoevsky, 2001). In such a concise form Dostoevsky conveys the moral basis for the life of townspeople in Russia. In part four, chapter four, the episode when Raskolnikov bows at the feet of Sonya Marmeladova is descriptive, as he sees her as his salvation. Raskolnikov says that he bows to all human suffering, and later Sonya falls in love with him and follows him to prison.
Days 12-14
In the fifth part of the fourth chapter, Raskolnikov explains to Sonya that he committed a crime to find out whether he could cross the boundaries of his conscience, to which Sonya replies that Rodion must confess to what happened, and then God will forgive him and give him new hope. Finally, in the sixth part, chapter eight, Rodion confesses to the crime, and in the Epilogue, the reader learns that Raskolnikov was sentenced to eight years of hard labor, where his love for Sonya healed him.
References
Dostoevsky, F. (2001). Crime and punishment.