Reaction Part two: chapters 1 - 3

Wendell Pfeffer

Reaction: Part II Chapters 1 – 3

            It seemed by the end of part one that the crimes Raskolnikov committed would actually not affect him but that actually turned out to be false.  Raskolnikov is unable to sleep and remains frantically nervous constantly reminding himself whether or not he left a trace of blood at the crime scene. Raskolnikov’s sense of remorse might be the punishment that is in store for him, but I think there will be more to come: “Can this be the punishment already beginning?’ Raskolnikov asks himself while feeling guilty about the atrocities he committed. Finally after that horrible night Raskolnikov finds himself in the police station for his debt to the land lady. At first he thought that he might get in trouble with the police for his crime but thankfully he wasn’t brought for that reason.  Raskolnikov remains incredible unstable when he later hears one of the detectives discussing about the murders of the pawn lady and her sister, out of desperation he passes out.

            I think these series of events are going to play out in the next few chapters; the police are becoming overly suspicious over Raskolnikov after he passes out. He ultimately fears the worst but currently Raskolnikov is just angry and tries to find someone to talk to in the second chapter. Razumikhin tries to help Raskolnikov in any way he can but Raskolnikov refuses. Out of anger he goes and takes a walk by himself and returns home. His lack of sleep forces him to fall into a deep slumber; he dreams about the landlady and is woken up by Nastasya.

            Raskolnikovs internal remorse is now beggining to invoke a sense of punishment within him. After that dream of the landlady Raskolnikov becomes delirious and incredibly frail. He is surrounded by Nastasya, his good friend Razumkhin, a stranger and the landlady. His associated mental problem and remorse cause Raskolnikov to not be conscious for four days, his sense of guilt has really begun to take a toll on him. All of those people around him are looking after him; he can collapse at any given moment. Ultimately, I think that Raskolnikov guilt will pass and that he will eventually commit a few more crimes in the next few chapters.

The Punishment: Part Two, Chapters 1-3

           After reading the second part of the book, it took me by surprised that Raskolnikov's punishment is only in his head: his paranoia of being caught, the delusions of the blood stains, his newly risen fever, and excessive tiredness. I truly enjoy reading this book because of the suspense that is built within the chapters. His actions are not ones that would be natural occurring even though to him they seem almost "mechanical". When he tries to the hide Alyona's purse and belongings in the wallpaper, all I could think was that he should hide them or someplace else or burn the rags and his sock to erase any possible clue that could be linked back to him. I remembered that in last chapter of part one, he is very careful of his actions and plans everything out but in part two, his mind becomes even more disorganized. To Raskolnikov, he just then, after the murder, lost his mind and soul at once, but to me it seems that he had lost them a while back when he started to plan out the murder. I am interested to see if he completely loses the small sanity he has left or if he turns himself in due to the guilt that he feels. 

Raskolnikovs Increasing Guilt

    As soon as Raskolnikov had committed the murder, we already saw that he had been feeling guilty about his actions. His guilt quickly increases in these next three chapters. Raskolnikov goes crazy trying to think of ways that he can get rid of all the things that he took from Alyona's apartment, and starts to become more and more paranoid. For example, when he was called down to the police station for something completely irrelevant and non related from the murder, he hears people speaking of the murder and the witnesses who where there. He overhears them speak of how someone had gotten inside and locked the door, and then slipped out of the room before the watchman of the apartment had gotten up to the crime scene. Even though he hears the policemen saying how they had no suspects because no traces were left and no one had been seen leaving the crime scene, as soon as he is out of the station he is overwhelmed by his own thoughts and freaking out thinking to himself that people are after him and suspecting him as a murderer, when in reality no one ever considered him being the murderer behind the crime.
       Besides Raskolnikov being constantly overwhelmed from his own thoughts and emotions, he is also feeling so guilty to the point that he is physically sick. He has barely been eating in the past couple of days, and he constantly has vivid hallucinations that remind him about Alyona and the murder. This is way too much for any person to bare, so even though Raskolnikov is constantly contradicting himself and is not the most mentally stable person in this novel, I believe that he will realize that the only way to get his life back to sanity will be to get rid of the guilt and confess to the murder. I do not know how people will react to this, or what his punishment for his actions will be yet, but I am curious to find out if  Raskolnikov will come to his senses and realize that he must confess in order to end his madness.

Part 2 - The Punishment Begins

This second part of the book has intrigued me far more than the first part of the book. Looking back on what I have read, it appears that the first part was primarily focused on the plotting of the crime and eventually the crime itself, and the second part will be focused on the punishment. I am surprised, however, that the punishment has not been literal. I expected Raskolnikov to be arrested when he visited the police station, but the only punishment that he seems to have experienced thus far is his own emotional anguish. I suppose this type of punishment can be far worse than any physical punishment, but still it seems that Raskolnikov is getting off fairly easy for murder. I expected for Raskolnikov to feel proud and competent after carrying through with the murder that he had been planning for so long, but he seems only to feel guilty, as evidence of him burying the stolen goods, and delirious from his ongoing hallucinations. I am beginning to predict that Raskolnikov will be the person who tells the truth of the crime. It is obvious thus far that he is incredibly guilt ridden to the point of getting sick, and he seems absolutely desperate to rid his conscious of the crime that he knows that he committed. Overall, this second part of the novel has shown a different, less-confident side of Raskolnikov that I believe will lead to his ultimate capture for the brutal murder he committed. 

Raskolnikov's Mental State

         Throughout the novel, there is a suggestion that Raskolnikov is not mentally stable. His detachment from reality in many of the chapters characterize him as a possible schizophrenic while other chapters depict him as bipolar with his conflicting personalities and mood swings. In chapter four, he shows inappropriate behavior when he laughs to the police officer after finding the girl and then questioning why he had given 20 rubles to the policeman to ensure the girl gets home safely. These are two examples that give the reader the thought of his mental instability.
         It was not surprising that Raskolnikov killed Alyona. The way he described Alyona in the first couple of chapters gave the suggestion that he wanted to do something to her that was not socially acceptable. Before actually committing the crime, he questions the morality of this horrific act, when he already knows it's not moral. He eventually tells himself that by killing her, he is doing something positive for the community since she is not liked and is greedy with her money. This also shows how unstable he is. The dreams of the crime and the actual murder make more sense after seeing his character develop in part one.
          The title of the story, Crime and Punishment, foreshadows that a crime will happen and there will be consequences. It is my belief that Raskolnikov will not get away with murder and will have to live with the guilt he created when he killed Alyona.

Chapters 7-8 Reaction

        In chapters 7 and 8 Raskolnikov finally decides to take matters into his own hands and murders Alyona Ivanova. Raskolnikov had despised this women since the day that he met her. He first started having ideas of killing her once he heard a student and police officer speaking about the old lady and how they too despised her. They all mentioned how they would not care at all if they knew she was dead, but none of them would ever even think of actually committing the crime of killing her.
          Raskolnikov leaves them and decides that he will actually grow the courage to commit the murder. In his mind he struggles between what is morally right and what he thinks he should do. He constantly tells himself before  the murder is committed that this is something that he should not even think of doing, but then quickly forces himself to find reasons and motifs as to why he should kill her. He continues to contradict himself on what the correct thing to do is until he finally forces himself to bring out the axe and murder Alyona, along with her sister that later walks in.
        Because Raskolnikov was very indecisive about what he should do and kept making himself think of reasons as to why he had to kill this lady, I was not surprised at all when he suddenly began to feel guilt right after the crime was committed. I want to keep on reading just to see if he will get away with the murder, or if his guilt will get to the better of him and force him to confess and take responsibility for his actions.

Reaction 6 - 8

The title of this novel is finally starting to make sense to me. I knew that Raskolnikov was in a dreadful state of mind and incredibley desperate, but I never truly thought that he would carry out his plan to kill his land lady. Surprisingly, my perception of Raskolnikov has gotten better. I can’t help but be on Raskolnikov’s side after discovering the land lady was described as such a horrible person. Saying that, nobody deserves to die, but Raskolnikov almost seems like a Robin Hood-like character. The discussion of how much good the old lady’s money could do, how many meals it could feed destitute families, rang bells of Socialism as I read these last few chapters. It’s not surprising to me that this book was written in Russia, as Socialism was such a signature part of the country’s ideals for such a long time. On this note, I would think that the author would have Raskolnikov carry out his plan of charity and be revered as a hero to the rest of Russia, but the title forces me to predict otherwise. The “Punishment” aspect in the title leads me to believe that Raskolnikov will be captured for murdering the old woman. I personally cannot think of any way he would be caught as he killed all of the witnesses. The old lady seemed to be a person that nearly everyone who met her, or at least owed her money, would want her to be killed. At the end of this section of the novel, I find that my perspective toward the protagonist has changed dramatically. Ironically, the murder of the old woman makes me eager for Raskolnikov to succeed in evading the authorities.