Point of view in Crime and Punishment

The narrative in Crime and Punishment is third person. Despite not being told directly by Raskolnikov, the novel allows an intricate look into the inner workings of his tumultuous psyche. The narrator in the story seems to be all-knowing. He/she understands exactly what each of the characters are thinking at any given point, as opposed to being narrated by someone who was simply there and would have only been able to observe the events in question. The type of narration used in the novel allows for the reader to understand the inner workings of each character as an individual along with their reaction to Raskolnikov's illness. If the story was told in first person by Raskolnikov, the author would be unable to incorporate the internal dialogue of other characters, unless he gave Raskolnikov the power to read minds. This would be silly. (Raskolnikov would OBVIOUSLY be given laser vision, if he were to be given a super power) If the story were to be told by a witness, the narration would be unable to give the reader a greater understanding of the thoughts of the secondary characters, but would also be unable to provide insight into Raskolnikov’s descent into madness. The all-knowing third person narrative is the best selection for the story.

Raskolnikov's Motives

In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov's motives for committing the crime may not be immediately obvious. Of course he is testing his theory of the types of people in the world and what that gives them the right to do, but being one of these extraordinary people, he already knows that he is one of them and that he has the right to do this and that he can probably get away with it. What, then, is the purpose of going through with it? It could be that he is so disgusted with himself for thinking about doing this, as he sometimes states, that he feels he has to go through with it just so he'll stop thinking about it all the time-- he wants to purge the thoughts from his head by complying with them. It also could be that he feels intensely guilty about thinking these things in the first place and realizes that people wouldn't believe he was a bad person if he tried to describe these feelings to them, so he feels he has to go through with the crime so that others will see he is a bad person and some of his guilt will be alleviated by having someone other than himself realize his true nature. Another possibility is that he feels driven by destiny to go through with it. His hearing the pawn-broker's sister talk about when the old woman will be alone, hearing the young man talk about why it could be reasonable to do away with the pawn-broker, and finding the ax all make Raskolnikov feel like he is being driven towards this event against his will. Feelings of destiny and guilt drive Raskolnikov to commit this crime.
Little Red

Daddy, Daddy

Even after giving my presentation on Sylvia Plath's poem "Daddy", something about the analysis I gave was bothering me. How could it possibly be that she could love and miss the man who "bit her pretty red heart in two"? After thinking about it off and on all weekend, I suddenly had a lightbulb moment. For Plath, losing her dad must have been like losing a boyfriend or girlfriend is for most people-- you miss the person for a while not because you miss them as a person necessarily, but because you miss them out of habit and of their being someone who held that significant place in your life. In other words, Plath missed a father, not necessarily that father (Electra complex aside). She loved him as a placeholder, someone who (arguably) filled role of the fatherly figure in her life, not as Otto Plath in particular. A small distinction, perhaps, but one that eases my confusion greatly. Hope this helps anyone else who didn't quite understand that aspect of the poem.
Little Red

it is japan's news newspaper report in 1 minute

I know I should be blogging about crime and punishment but my mom just stumbled across this blog. After every post aboutjapanese news he adds a "postscript of edit" about his family. His use of the English language is so cute. Http://tatuo-shinpou.blogspot.com

AP lit crit failed its sympathy check

A few years back I got into the habit of reading every night before I went to sleep. It seems to be the only thing that helps me unwind and stop worrying about stuff so I actually can sleep. After a long day of Shakespeare or Dostoyevsky or whatever, I enjoy nothing more than the book form of a chick flick. The characters must engaging and amusing and there has to be some sort of romantic plot. Yes, it is mindless tosh, but I read it because it's for a good cause. Anything heavier gets me thinking and then sleep doesn't happen. Lately I've been pretty much down to 2 authors who fit the requirements, mainly because I know the characters so I really enjoy reading about them. So I was incredibly disappointed last night when I purchased a brand new book by one of these two favored nighttime reading authors and within the first 3 pages I knew how it would end. The narrative seemed tiresome because it was all working toward something I could predict as soon as the book was cracked. The whole time I was just thinking, "Nice story, but her novels are formulaic, she needs to branch out some more." So thank you, AP Lit, for actually making me think about things like that. Now I only have one acceptable author to read at night.
Little Red

YES. YES. YES.

"Svidrigailov murmered, as if to himself:'What is it that they usually say?' He looked away and bowed his head a little.' They say:' You're sick. So what you see is just delirium. Doesn't exist.' ...Ghosts appear only to the sick, I agree. But all that proves is that ghosts appear only to the sick. Not that they don't exist.

Raskolnikov irritably insisted : 'of course they don't!'

Looking at him hard, Svidrigailov went on: ' They don't? You think they don't? What if we look at it this way, though; You might say ghosts are the scraps and fragments of other worlds, their beginning. Of course, a healthy man has no way of seeing them, because a healthy man is above all an earthbound man; so for order and fullness he must live his life in the here and now exclusively. The moment he's sick, though, the moment the normal earthbound order of his organism is violated, the possibility of another world begins to make itself felt and the sicker he gets the closer in touch he is with the other world, so when a man dies completely he goes straight over to the other world..."

This. is.cooler. than. misplaced. punctuation.

-Murry-Uh

Macaroni and plath

After reading "Daddy", I've come to an important conclusion: Slyvia Plath's poetry is like the school's macaroni. Every time I see either of these, it looks good so I try it. Then I can't stand it and vow never to deal with it again. But next time it comes around, I try it, because I'm convinced that this time, I'll like it. But oddly enough that time never comes.
Little Red

Nothing to do with literature

http://godhatesshrimp.com/

This brightened my day. It's a spoof on the Westboro Baptist Churches "God Hates Fags" campaign. The Westboro Baptist Church consists mainly of one large family intent on proving that gay people cause every single problem in the world and things like Hurricane Katrina were caused by an angry god smiting a country which is too "culturally accepting" of homosexual people. They are a heavily reactionary group and outwardly state the belief that Obama is the anti-christ. As if Barack Obama is actually WORSE than their perception of a hateful, omnipresent diety that would PROMOTE picketing at the funerals of fallen soliders who've served in Iraq, believing that they doom themselves by fighting a war to protect a country that allows homosexual people to exist.

Anyone who knows me at all knows that they stand for absolutely everything I stand against. This is why I LOVE godhatesshrimp.com. It's a satirical jab at all of the ridiculous "evidence" that is presented by the Westboro Baptist Church. It's almost as ridiculous as the God Hates Fags site itself.

I get it...

So after many, many hours spent convinced that this essay was impossible and cursing Skeletor and his impossible assignments, I all of a sudden understood what we're supposed to be getting at. If you have a detailed analysis of one play, taking only things common themes such as filial infidelity can aid understanding of both plays because they have a lot of similar themes. I realize that everyone else probably got this long before I did, but recently I had a lightbulb moment and I wanted to share it. I've noticed a theme in the assignments we get in that I spend a lot of time thinking they're stupid and impossible, and then all of a sudden I get it and I'm glad we've been forced to do it. I guess we'll just all have to bear with me while I complain about it for a few days.
Little Red

AAAAAAAARRGGGGG

This is truly impossible. I've been searching ALL DAY on Marvel and Infotrac and Google and I cannot find any two articles that deal with similar enough themes in Lear and The Rivals. It is now 6.30pm and I have not started this paper because I can't find an academic to "lean on" for 5 pages. I'm half tempted to write a paper using entirely my ideas and make up a source. Skeletor, you will never know how difficult you make my life. Really.
Little Red

Line Spacing?

Anyone know if he means 5 pages double spaced or single spaced?
Also is anyone else getting really distracted from this paper by election coverage?

Egg Nog

It's quite mysterious. Recently, while at work, I was checking expiration dates on products when I stumbled upon egg nog. I became curious as to what it was. I understand that there are eggs in it, but what is "nog". I read the ingredients and tried to find out, but there was no listed ingredients. They're apparently pretty secretive when it comes to nog. I came home and Wikipedia'd it to find that it was made with nutmeg, butter, cream, and milk. Those must be the components of nog. This aroused the question "Are there any other types of nog?" I launched an extensive Google search and came up with an acronym for Northern Oil & Gas and an alien from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". Neither seemed particularly comparable or tasty. If this is the case and there's only one known kind of nog, why is there need to specify which type of nog it is? It seems misleading. Specification like that should only come if there are other options. If there was, let's say, liver nog, A person may need to specify their nog preference. As far as I know, no such nog exists, and because of this I declare that it should be simply refered to as "nog". That is all.

Murry-UH

Crime and Punishment made me cry

So finals were yesterday for the activity that takes up all of my free time, I won't name it for the sake of anonimity but I'm sure you all know what it is. Anyways, we got a silver rather than bronze medal for the first time in 7 years for our school, so we were all excited and I cried, and then I realized that I would never share the field with these people again and they're like family to me, so I cried all the way off the field and to the bus, and the entire ride home. There was seriously about a 5 minute interval on the hour plus way home that I was not crying. I even made THREE BOYS cry because I was crying so much. So after this crazy emotional night, I woke up this morning and tried to read Crime and Punishment. And that's when I read about this dream where a poor innocent horse is being whipped and has to try to drag a ton of fat people around on a cart and when she can't, her owner starts bludgeoning her with a crowbar. So that made me cry all over again. I hate this book.
Little Red

Invalid Invalids

So this morning I overhead my mother scolding my younger sister about not wearing her seatbelt. She was saying something along the lines of " I don't really feel like caring for an invalid for the rest of my life. If you get in an accident, that's what'll happen." because of this, I've been chewing on the word "invalid" (pronounced In-vuh-lid as opposed to in-vAl-id) all day. Such an odd word. With a simple change of syllable emphasis it changes from a word that connotates insufficience to describing one who is unable to perform some sort of bodily function or is bedridden. I can see the connection, but I don't understand why people would even bother pronouncing it differently. A simple change in pronunciation doesn't mask the fact that it's a term that defines a human being as less than valid. It doesn't particularly offend me, but who do they think they're fooling? If you're really concerned about not offending people, use a word that isn't homonymous with invalid(In-vAl-id).