Reaction part 3 chapters 1-4

       Raskolnikov is surprisingly getting better and at times acting somewhat normal. Unfortunately, this only lasts for a small amount of time. It seems as if Raskolnikov has learned to control himself, and make it seem that things are going better for him, but then little actions that people do around him or certain phrases they say can send him back into his uncontrollable and ill self. For example, his friends do not give up on him regardless of the countless amount of times that Raskolnikov has yelled at them and asked them to leave, but now, he is actually feeling bad for doing that and apologizes for his inconsiderate and rude behavior. His attitude completely changes when he sees his mother and sister. His face brightens up, but soon changes when he remembers about his sisters fiancé. He gets upset again and tells her how this marriage will not be a good one, and when his sister answers back defending herself and saying that she hasn't done anything wrong and is guilty of no ones death, causing Raskolnikov to pass out again.
       This brings me back to the idea of Raskolnikov and the way he bluntly exposes his guilt. We obviously catch onto all of these clues because we are aware of what has happened, but his friends still have not despite all of the clues Raskolnikov gives off. His friends have at least figured out that it is something from his past haunting him and causing this strange attitude and ongoing sickness, but they have not realized that maybe he could have been the murderer. His friends currently believe that Raskolnikovs attitude has been acting up ever since he left the university. Of course Raskolnikov is going to go along with this idea, because he is not willing to admit that he was the murderer, but if his friends continue to try to help him, Raskolnikov wont be able to get any better any time soon since his friends aren't helping Raskolnikov in the area where he really does need help.

Comment on Mikaela's (October 28th)

 As the news of the murder starts to become the talk of the town, we start to see how everyone reacts to it. Mikaela pointed out that both Raskolnikov and the painter act guilty but everyone else assumes that Raskolnikov is just ill and does not know what he is saying while the painter is clearly conscious and is acting according to his guilty conscious. While Razumikhin and the doctor discuss the evidence and the painter, Raskolnikov starts to stress out and randomly interrupt the conversation. While reading the passage about Razumikhin's thoughts on the guiltiness of the painter, it was hard to understand his side of the matter. At one point, he accuses the painter, as Mikaela had said, but then the next sentence he is saying that the painter had no motive to do anything and there were witnesses that saw him fighting with the other man. The details of the crime scene add to the confusion of the reader. Even though this plot line could be solved in a couple of chapters, Dostoyevsky makes the plot complicated to show how hard it is to solve this problem when the real murderer is being treated for a physical illness. Mikaela's prediction that Raskolnikov will eventually crack from the pressure of keeping his guilt inside him is not far off. Keeping a secret that big will cause anyone to go mad and crack. It is only a matter of time that Raskolnikov does come clean.

Comment on Wendell

I agree with Wendell in the fact that these last few chapters of the novel were focused primarily on things other than Raskolnikov’s guilt. He does, however, seem to be forgiving himself in a few instances in these last few parts of the book. For example, he is not humble at all about giving money to Marmeladov’s family. I do not necessarily agree with the fact that Luzhin is a bad person and is going to treat Raskolnikov’s sister like garbage. I think that Raskonikov is mentally ill and therefore cannot cope with the fact of another change in his life, like his sister getting married without his consent. I think, regardless of the man, Raskolnikov would not approve of him because he was not  spoken to about any engagement whatsoever. I did not really get a sense of Dunya’s physical beauty like Wendell did in this part of the book, but I noticed that she does seem to deserve more credit that what Raskolnikov gives her. The whole ploy to decipher Luzhin’s intentions was well-crafted and intelligent. I was surprised that Dunya was able to come up with such a plan, solely base upon how Raskolnikov had spoke about her in previous chapters. I think that, regardless of the outcomes of this plan, Raskolnikov would have found something to make himself believe that Luzhin is not an appropriate person for his sister to marry. 

Comment on Davis Reaction

Comment on Davis Reaction

Davis brings up many valid points from his latest reading of the novel. Davis you first begin to describe Raskolnikov as “mentally ill.” I disagree with you, Raskolnikov’s incident with Marmeladov proved to help clear up his guilt until the final pages of chapter three when he had realized he had “uttered a terrible lie.” Furthermore, you also regard Raskolnikov as having a “blatant disregard for everyone around him combined with his incessant hallucinations.” I also can’t help but disagree with this statement because he hasn’t hallucinated at all during these three chapters and he doesn’t have a “complete disregard for everyone.” Take his sister for example, do you think if he had a “complete disregard for everyone” he would care about his sisters marriage and her future, I don’t think so. Speaking of which I do agree with your statement describing your first thoughts on Dunya, at first I thought she was a pretty but yet dumb girl marrying a man strictly for his money, but then when she is formally introduced you get the impression that she is a clever and smart girl. You see it all the time a rich politician or a famous rich business owner marrying a 20-30 beautiful year old girl. You get the impression that the only reason that girl is choosing that guy out of all the others is because of the money invovled, Dunya is a perfect example of this type of scenario. Davis you concude your reaction with your thoughts on what might happen in the future course of the novel, I agree completely with you. His health is beginning to deteriorate by the end of chapter 3, he is going to return to his old sickly state where he lies in bed and this might led others to believe that he is the culprit. 

Reaction part 3: chapters I, II and III

Wendell Pfefer

11/17/13

Reaction part 3: chapters I, II and III

            Raskolnikov seems to be in much better condition than he was in the earlier stages of the novel. The reason for this is because he has finally managed to set himself free when he unsuccessfully tries to save Marmeladovs life. The fact that he did something good makes him believe that whatever her did in the past is okay. Thus, he has cured himself from his guilt and is in good condition when he goes and visits his family. Especially his sister for whom he believes is just marrying Luzhin for money and not out of true love. He doesn’t want to see her sister living an unhappy life for the sake of others.

Raskolnikov has always disliked Luzhin ever since the beginning of the novel, so when he sees Dunia for the first time he tells her directly to not marry him. He even told her that if she chose to marry Luzhin he would not be her brother anymore. I personally am glad that Raskolnikov is acting in this manner. He is protecting her sister from a miserable life. Things would not turn out well if Dunia were to actually marry the businessman. Luzhin would treat her like garbage and make Dunia feel as if she were in debt towards him. However, it seems to me that Raskolnikov is the only one that knows this would happen because his family members are astonished to find out why he would ever come to the conclusion of disliking him. They think that Raskolnikov’s sickness is the reason he dislikes Luzhin to an extent of doing whatever he possibly can as a brother to prevent the marriage from happening, but it becomes clear now that all his family wants is the money.

What I also begin to notice is how beautiful Dunia actually is. Everyone seems to be attracted towards her especially Razumkhin whom is also against the idea of her marrying Luzhin solely because he wants her for himself. I actually think they would turn out to be a much more successful couple. But, Currently, all Dunia has on her mind now is her brother and her future husband. She doesn’t know what to do and is stressed out. This is where Razumkhin comes into play, his mission now is to comfort her and at the same time retain her attention. So he begins to go into this whole idea that the only reason Raskolnikov hates Luzhin is because of his sickness and how much of a profound impact it has had on him recently. But when the family went to go see him he looked absolutely fine until the midpoint of the conversation when Raskolnikov realized he had “uttered a terrible lie.” He is now returning to his old sickly state unfortunately. Further more, Dunia is trying her best to have her brother support her marriage. She cleverly comes up with a lie detailing her reasons for committing towards this marriage. Unfortunately it doesn’t work and Raskolnikov counter attacks with a clever argument using Luzhin’s letter against him. He convinces her sister that the letter demonstrates how bad of a person he actually is. As a result, instead of listening to Luzhins request Dunia actually personally invites her brother to join.

Part III: Chapters 1 - 3

These last few chapters seem to have been the most light-hearted portion of the story, thus far. That is probably so, because this part of the piece is dedicated primarily to Raskolnikov’s foil, Razumikhin. His overwhelming affections toward Dunya are portrayed almost as him being naive. Regardless, a shift to focus on a character other than Raskolnikov, who continues to suffer from fainting spells which one can only assume are brought on by his guilt. An important part did occur in this book, however, as Zossimov becomes the first character to label Raskolnikov as mentally ill, which I happen to agree with. Another aspect that seemed to be different in this portion of the novel was how Dunya was portrayed. In the earlier parts of the book, Dunya was made out to be an airhead concerned only about her future based upon Raskolnikov’s reaction to her engagement. In reality, Dunya seems to be quite level-headed making a plot to prove that her fiancé is truly in love with her. This deviation from what Raskolnikov stated earlier in the book further confirms that Raskolnikov is most likely mentally insane as he is incapable of seeing what is going on around him in an accurate fashion. I cannot help but be reminded of my psychology class as I continue this novel. Raskolnikov’s blatant disregard for everyone around him combined with his incessant hallucinations lead me to believe that he may be suffering from schizophrenia. Specifically, Rakolnikov had not seen any of his family members for several years until this point in the book. Unlike a rational person would, Raskolnikov greats them harshly criticizing his sister for getting married without his consent. My pre-mature diagnosis alternates between this and pure narcissism. Raskolnikov seems virtually disgusted with the entire society around him, when it is him, in reality that has committed a crime more heinous that any of them. It is ironic that Rakolnikov expresses such disapproval with those around him despite their continual efforts to help him return to a normal mental state when all of his friends and family have more than enough of a right to disown him for how he is treating him, yet they continue their efforts. I can imagine that Raskolnikov is unconsciously doing this in order to make him self feel less guilty for the murder he has committed. One can tell, however, that Raskolnikov’s emotions are actually starting to break through the wall of consciousness that he has been so zealously trying to conceal. Raskolnikov’s fainting at his sister’s comment about not having killed anyone shows how truly fearful he is for future as it appears only a matter of time before somebody connects his deteriorating mental status and bizarre behavior with the crime.

Comment on Wendell's Post

       I agree with Wendall when he says that because he had tried to help out his old friend Marmeladov to the best of his ability, that he no longer feels guilty, and that he will now be a new, carefree, person. Knowing the unstableness in Raskolnikovs life, I dont think that this "guiltless" feeling will last for long. He even told Sonya, Marmeladov's daughter, not to worry because he would now work and provide for her and the rest of her family so that they would be able to live. I think that he also said this to make himself feel like a better person, as if this nice act would cancel out the terrible murder he committed before. But Raskolnikov doesn't even leave his house, let alone work, so I have no idea how he will provide for this family when he cant even look out of provide for himself. He will soon realize that he hasn't done much at all, and the murder will continue to come back and haunt him.