Reaction on chapters 3, 4 and 5

Wendell Pfeffer

English

Reaction on Raskolnikov

               The main character, Raskolnikov receives a sweet letter from her mother stating the condition of her sister and how she chose to marry a businessman. The term “business man” does not flow well through Raskolnikov’s ears. It seems to him that his sister is only going to marry him for his money. Raskolnikov does not want his sister to waste her life to the benefit of him and his mother. He wants her to live her life happily like any other girl would: “love is not involved,” she is “marrying a man she does not respect and with whom she has nothing in common, and for life, just for a personal gain.” Raskolnikov keeps thinking to himself that her sister is making a mistake; he knows her sister can do better. The image of the marriage floats around the head of Raskolnikov for a long period of time, he wishes he can help her but he simply cannot.

Raskolnikov is a passionate man who cares for his family and people in need. He remains pensive about his sister throughout the beginning of the fifth chapter until he sees a helpless girl wandering the streets clumsily, appearing to be drunk. He tries to help her by protecting her from a man wanting to take advantage of her. He almost fights him attracting a policeman to the scene quickly. He gives the policeman twenty kopecks to call a cab too take her home. Unfortunately the policeman just ends up taking his money. From the series of events that have occurred you can assume that Raskolnikov has a big heart. This not only demonstrated in the fifth chapter but in the third one as well. He gives the remaining amount of coins he had in his pocket to Marmeladov’s family. Marmeladov drank up all the kopecks he had left, leaving nothing for his wife and kids. The only reason Raskolnikov gave the kopecks to Marmeladov’s family was because he saw that they had nothing.

 Alcohol to Raskolnikov is not a solution to everyday problems but an evil toxin. It has been the same too him since he was a little boy. The one thing Raskolnikov can remember clearly about his childhood was the effects alcohol had on people. The first time he saw people drunk was when he went to a drinking bar tavern, what he saw there has been the most traumatizing event he had ever seen in his life. He saw men beating a horse for absolutely no reason. Like his father said, “they’re drunk, they’re fooling around, they’re idiots.”  Too Raskolnikov it was more than people just fooling around, it was a living animals life at stake. He ran up to the poor horse wanting to help it, the man beating the horse forced him off. Right after he was pushed he witnessed the final moments of that horses life. Even as an adult Raskolnikov continues to have bad dreams of that particular day. You can already notice from the series of chapters how much of a good heart Raskolnikov has, he cares for animals, helps people when they are in need and cares for his family.