Bits of Life 2

F-26 Words-725

And The Brothers Karamazov. Each one is explorative and each is famous for its psychological profundity.

I remember reading the story of Raskolnikov with complete absorption, such is the power of narration albeit in English.

Raskolnikov’s poverty and his student days in St. Petersburg are relatable to many young and impoverished students of my day. Many of them had radical views against the filthy rich and strongly supportive of those living in utter poverty. Perhaps that is what let me adopt a sympathetic attitude to Raskolnikov.

He willingly and deliberately murders the unscrupulous pawnbroker living in the same building near to where he was living. In his in extreme poverty he was living in a tiny rented room in Saint Petersburg. Isolated and antisocial, he has abandoned all attempts to support himself and is brooding obsessively on a scheme he has devised to murder and rob an elderly pawnbroker.

His plans to murder the woman gained strength momentum after he had learnt of the troubles his family was facing. His sister Dunia decides to marry a wealthy man in order to help her brother to continue his studies and to help her mother as well. Part of the reason for the murder might be accounted back to his own sense of pride and self-dependence. He didn’t want to lean on his mother or sister.

So he walks to her house and enters on the pretext of pawning something. He then, murders her with a stolen axe and kills her half-sister too when she makes an entrance into the room.

In his extremely nervous state and shaken by his impulsive actions, Raskolnikov steals only a handful of items and a small purse, leaving much of the pawnbroker's wealth untouched. Due to sheer good fortune, he manages to escape the building and return to his room undetected.

He then, hides the stolen items and falls into a deep and exhausted slumber. On the very next day, he was summoned to the police station to be questioned about the debt notice served by the pawn broker. He faints when the police started speaking about the old woman’s murder. This makes the police suspect him more.

He returns to his room and takes the stolen items to a yard where he hides them under a rock. In the rough and tumble of the day’s events, he notices that he hasn’t counted the money he stole.

I was able to notice how deft the author was in recording the tiniest details in the most curious and interesting manner, so much so your are completely absorbed in the story.

Every single action and speech bears significance as to how and why the young man reacts both physically and mentally.
By his behavior, we note his disinterest in the money he stole. Why then did he steal it at all? Was a question I put to myself.
I found out on research that

“Raskolnikov stole money from the pawnbroker primarily to test his theory that "extraordinary" individuals could bypass moral laws to achieve greater, utilitarian good. He believed murdering the despised, greedy pawnbroker to fund his own education and future noble deeds was justified, while also relieving his extreme poverty and relieving his family's financial burden.”

I thought he was an absolute hypocrite. Yet, from the evidence I gathered about certain radical movements in India, where the rich are looted in order to gain access to their amassed money and that it could be used for the underdog. His motives seem to justify his means.

Naxalism in India began in 1967 in Naxalbari, West Bengal, as a peasant revolt demanding land rights and social justice.

Naxalism refers to the militant left-wing movement in India rooted in communist ideologies. It aims to address social and economic inequalities through armed struggle. Naxalism operates under various organizational frameworks across India and remains a persistent internal security challenge.

In Raskolnikov’s case the rebellion springs from his tortured soul, whereas the movement in India we witnessed, it is rebellion that sprung from the depressed community. The goal, to me appeared the same. i.e., to self-appeasement and upliftment.
However, to come back to the story of Raskolnikov.

Without knowing why, he visits his old university friend Razumikhin, who observes that Raskolnikov seems to be seriously ill. Finally he returns to his room where he succumbs to his illness