Lit Analysis #2

Crime and Punishment

by 

Fyodor Dostoevsky

1. Briefly summarize the plot of the novel you read according to the elements of plot you've learned in past courses (exposition, inciting incident, etc.).  Explain how the narrative fulfills the author's purpose (based on your well-informed interpretation of same).
2. Succinctly describe the theme of the novel. Avoid cliches.
3. Describe the author's tone. Include a minimum of three excerpts that illustrate your point(s).
4. Describe a minimum of ten literary elements/techniques you observed that strengthened your understanding of the author's purpose, the text's theme and/or your sense of the tone. For each, please include textual support to help illustrate the point for your readers. (Please include edition and page numbers for easy reference.)

CHARACTERIZATION
1. Describe two examples of direct characterization and two examples of indirect characterization.  Why does the author use both approaches, and to what end (i.e., what is your lasting impression of the character as a result)?
2. Does the author's syntax and/or diction change when s/he focuses on character?  How?  Example(s)?
3. Is the protagonist static or dynamic?  Flat or round?  Explain.
4. After reading the book did you come away feeling like you'd met a person or read a character?  Analyze one textual example that illustrates your reaction.

1. The book seems to have two stories incorporated into one whole story, but the characters are related in many ways. One story is about money, greed, and crime, and the other story is about love and limitations. But, the stories come together as one because Raskolnikov has relationships with each character in some way. I feel the main focus of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoesvky is about a young man living in an apartment in St Petersburg, Russia. He is described as one who is unable to make his payments to his landlord. The story starts out with Raskolnikov, the main character, who is leaving his apartment. Upon leaving his apartment, he veers away from the apartment where his landlady lives in order to avoid being harassed for not paying his rent. Later on. he goes to an old woman, named Alyona Ivanovna, to pawn his possessions in order to get money to pay for his rent. But, as the reader reads through the book, they found out that Raskolnikov creates a plot to murder Ivanovna so that he can get the money he would need. As the story goes on, Raskolnikov goes through life experiencing events that would trigger him to remember the murder which would irritate him. He felt like almost every person that he met knew that he committed the murder. But in reality, some of those people didn't even know. Raskolnikov always felt like he was being trapped into telling the truth. At the end of the story, Raskolnikov finally confesses and turns himself in which leads to him being imprisoned. He realizes at the end that he is sorry for what he has done and that he has mental anxiety about the murders because his conscience kept reminding him of what he had done.
2. I feel the theme of this novel is that your conscience, aka "the little voice in your head", will always come back to haunt you, no matter how long has it been since you did that one thing that was morally wrong.
3. The author's tone is of a morose tone because of the experiences Raskolnikov goes through. Examples would be

A)"There, in the very corner, low down, the wallpaper was coming away and was torn in one place." P.90

 B) "Here a strange thought came into his head: perhaps all his clothes were covered with blood, perhaps there were stains all over them, and he simply did not see, did not notice them, because his reason was failing, going to pieces...his mind darkening...Suddenly he remembered that there was also blood on the purse." P.91 

C) "This sensation might be likened to the sensation of a man condemned to death who is suddenly and unexpectedly granted a pardon." P.186

4.

• Antagonist- I feel the antagonist is Raskolnikov because he is the one that committed the murder.
• "He could not waste even one more moment. He took the axe all the way ou, swuing it with both hands, scarcely aware of himself, and almost without effort, almost mechanically, brought the butt-end down on her head...He stepped aside, letting it fall, and immediately bent down to her face; she was already dead." P.76-77
• Protagonist- The protagonist would most likely be Raskolnikov's conscience because, ultimately, it was his conscience that made him confess.
•  "'It was I who killed the official's old widow and her sister Lizaveta with an axe and robbed them." P. 531
• Dialogue- With dialogue, we get a sense that Raskolnikov is losing his mind.
• "'It's read; blood won't be so noticeable on read...Lord! Am I losing my mind?' He thought tearfully." P. 78
• Symbolism- It is pretty obvious, but I feel the ax symbolizes his anger that was inflicted by hatred and hopelessness.
• "His own strength seemed to have no part in it. But the moment he brought the axe down, stregnth was born in him." P. 76
• Gothic- There were many Gothic moments in the book, especially with the murders.
• "The blow landed directly on the skull, with the sharp edge, and immediately split the whole upper part of the forehead, almost to the crown." P. 79
• Motif- Raskolnikov's conscience keeps coming back and telling him of what he did which ultimately landed him in telling the whole truth.
• "All this tormented him, yet at the same time he somehow could not be bothered with it. Strangely, though no one might have believed it, his present, immediate fate somehow concerned him only faintly, absentmindedly. Something else, much more important and urgent-to do with himself and himself alone, but something else, some main thing- was tormenting him now.Besides, he felt a boundless moral fatigue, though his mind had worked better that morning that in all those recent days." P. 463
• Narrative- It seemed like there was two stories: one about Raskolnikov murdering and one about his loved ones trying to get together.
• "A strange thought suddenly came to him: to get up now, go over to NIkodim Fomich, and tell him all about yesterday, down to the last deatil, then go to his apartment with them and show them the things in the corner, in the hole." P.104
• "The main essence of the matter was decided in his mind and decided finally: 'This marriage will not take place as long as I live, and to the devil with Mr. Luzhin!'" This would be a second story within the original story about Raskolnikov's sister is getting married, but he doesn't approve. P.40
• Point of View- The point of view is third person omniscient because the reader gets to see everything that has happened in detail.
• This is when he is about to make his confession. "He walked out; he was reeling. His head was spinning. He could not feel his legs under him. He started down the stairs, propping himself against the wall with his right arm. It seemed to him that some caretaker with a book in his hands pushed him as he climbed past on his way up to the office, that some little mutt was barking its head off somewhere on a lower floor, and that some woman threw a rolling pin at it and shouted. He went on down the stairs and came out into the courtyard." P.530
• Monologue- Raskolnikov had many monologues where we got to see what was going through his head.
• "'So reason hasn't deserted me altogether, so there's still some understanding and memory left, since I suddenly remembered and figure it out myself!...It was just feverish weakness, a momentary delirium.'" P.91
• Setting- The setting of the story helps tie things together as well.
• "This was a very small room; there was a huge stand with icons and, against the opposite wall, a large bed, quite clean, covered with a silk patchwork quilt. Against the third wall stood a a chest  of drawers." P. 77

CHARACTERIZATION
1. The author uses both direct characterization and indirect characterization so that the readers can have a full grasp on what Raskolnikov is like if they were ever to meet him. With using these two approaches, he is able to get the readers to understand what Raskolnikov would become at the end of the book. So, he is essentially tying things together using direct and indirect characterization.

• An example of direct characterization would be "Raskolnikov was not used to crowds." (P.11) We read that Raskolnikov seems to be antisocial.
• Another example of direct characterization would be "But for some time he had been in an irritable and tense state, resembling hypochondria." (P.3) We see here that Dostoesvsky directly characterizes how Raskolnikov acts.
• An example of indirect characterization would be when Raskolnikov says, "Indeed, the shreds of fringe he had cut off his trousers were simply lying on the floor, in the middle of the room, for the first comer to see! 'What can be wrong with me!' he cried out again, like a lost man." (P.91)This is an example of indirect characterization because we can see how he evolves to what he becomes at the end of the story. We see that he starts to become paranoid.
• Another example of indirect characterization would be "Suddenly he shook all over with horror: 'My God,' he whispered in despair, 'what's wrong with me? Do you call that hidden? Is that any way to hide things?'" (P.90) We see that Raskolnikov is starting to see what a mess he is becoming because of how inattentive he is when it comes to things that happen at the spur of the moment.

2. I feel the author's syntax and diction stays constant throughout the story. Some examples are "He was in full possession of his reason, the clouding and dizziness had ceased, but his hands were still trembling." (P.77) and "He remembered that Katerina Ivanovna's funeral had been appointed for that day, and was glad not to be present at it." (P.442) From the examples, Dostoevsky writes in a consistent style.
3. There wasn't really a protagonist in the book because Raskolnikov is the main character and did an act of murder within the book, but he is dynamic because as the story goes on after the murder, he feels bad for what he has done. His conscience constantly reminds him of what has done which cause him to faint whenever the murder is brought up in conversation with other characters. Raskolnikov is round because the reader is able to get a good insight on who Raskolnikov is, what he looks like, and what he does.
4. After reading the book, I felt like I've met a person because of how detailed Raskolnikov experiences were throughout this book. I feel like I witnessed what kind of a person Raskolnikov is. An example would be, "Then he struck her again and yet again with all his strength, both times with the butt-end, both times on the crown of the head...she was already dead."