Chapter Three opens up with Raskolnikov in his room; he is visited by Natasya (A servant in the household, where Raskolnikov rents his so-called "closet"; she is the one who brings Raskolnikov food and drinks and also helps care for him following the murders, while Raskolnikov is dealing with his own "internal punishment" for the crimes he commited -- the two murders); she awakens him (he is usually found by her, sleeping), and brings him soup, tea, as well as a letter from his mother, Pulcheria Alexandrovna.
Natasya is the one who informs Raskolnikov of the landlady's intentions of evicting him -- as he is now almost four months behind with his rent.
In the letter, his mother informs Raskolnikov that his sister (Dunya), who works as a maid, is trying to raise money to help support him. However, the letter also informs Raskolnikov that his sister's employer (Svidrigailov) has recently made "improper adances" toward his sister (therefore, ruining her reputation in the town).
According to the letter, Dunya has recently accepted a proposal for marriage to Pyotr Petrovich Luzhin (he wants to marry her because she is poor and this will help regard him as her savior). At first, Dunya was not sure about the marriage, but after thinking about it for a little while, she has agreed to go along with the marriage. The point of the letter, however, is that because of the pending marriage to Luzhin, Dunya will be able to assist Raskolnikov is the furthering of his own career; the letter also states that all three of them (his mother, his sister as well as the fiance), will shortly be arriving in St. Petersburg.
Following reading the letter, Raskolnikov goes for a walk in the city, and appears as if he is drunk, with a stupor.
Question: How is Raskolnikov's pride explored in this chapter? Is it true that his mother and sister are willing to make sacrifices for him? What does this do for his pride?
Question: It is assumed that Raskolnikov thinks that both his mother and his sister are making these sacrifices just for him, and him alone; however, does he ever consider the fact that they might be making these sacrifices for themselves? What about the marriage to Luzhin? Isn't that a sacrifice that Dunya makes on her own, for the betterment of her own career, or at least her own social standing in the community?
Note: These questions should be addressed by others. I am merely presenting them as a means to help us all further understand each chapter as we proceed with this "discussion" and dissection of the novel. Please feel free to address the questions as they are presented, and please make your statements known in this same thread.
Too Many Pronouns: One of the chief reasons why this novel is sometimes difficult to follow and understand is essentially due to too many pronouns in the text. For a prime example, I offer the following sentence, which can be found in Part II, Chapter II:
==>Meanwhile, Raskolnikov, who turned a little towards him when he answered, and began suddenly staring at him again with marked curiosity, as though he had not yet had a good look at him yet, or as though something new had struck him; he rose from his pillow on purpose to stare at him.
==>There are "too many pronouns" in the above sentence and it makes it very difficult to follow through and effectively understand "who he is," or to whom "him" is referring. It takes a lot of time and patience to read the text, remembering the nouns and pronouns in the preceeding sentences in order to understand who is doing the action and to whom the action is being done!
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by mea505
