Crime and Punishment Discussion

During our class time today, I was interested in learning all of the background information about Crime and Punishment and Dostoevsky. I never realized that existentialism played such a crucial role in the novel! (Mostly because I did not really understand what it actually was). Our class had discussed many times how we were drawn into the novel and how we felt like the individual characters. However, I never actually looked back to when I was reading the novel, and when I did, I realized that I too was drawn into it! Normally, I'm not a huge fan of these summer reading assignments, but this book was actually interesting and I could not put it down! Dostoevsky is an amazing author and his techniques really set him apart from most of the other books I have read.
It was interesting to be taught about literature from a pastor, but I really enjoyed it! I do not know why I would have the mindset that pastors probably are not too informed about literature, but that is what I was thinking when he first came in. After he began to speak, I was blown away! I was very impressed by how much he knew about Dostoevsky and how passionate he was about the novels.

Raskolnikov

"Is it because it was a crime? What is meant by crime? My conscience is at rest. Of course, it was a legal crime, of course, the letter of the law was broken and blood was shed. Well, punish me for the letter of the law...and that's enough. Of course, in that case many of the benefactors of mankind who snatched power for themselves instead of inheriting it ought to have been punished at their first steps. But those men succeeded and so they were right, and I didn't, so I had no right to take that step.'
It was only in that that he recognized his criminality, only in the fact that he had been unsuccessful and had confessed it.'"

Raskolnikov realizes that what he did was wrong according to society and the state, but he never really admits that he sinned. While he does admit to being wrong, he admits to being wrong because he was not successful in getting away with what he did and for being caught, not because he believes he is morally wrong.

Mere Christianity Exerpt

"He is the source from which all your reasoning power comes: you could not be right and He wrong any more than a stream can rise higher than its own source. When you are arguing against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on" (48)