Crime and Punishment: Back to the Basics
Before we go on with the novel, merely representing the synopses of each chapter, which can be rather mundane, let's discuss some of the literary techniques used by the author in this terrific novel.
1. Motifs. (recurring structures, contrasts and literary devices that are used to help develop and inform the reader with regard to the text's major themes as the book is read)
Question: We know that poverty is rather ubiquitous throughout this novel, which takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia. Which characters are best described throughout the novel as being in a state of poverty? Which ones are not?
Question: We understand, by reading the text, that Raskolnikov is often depicted throughout the novel as a person who "distances himself" from two specific other characters, who are they? (this would be just the opposite of what "should happen" in a poverty-stricken" environment, where people generally bond together, poverty being the overwhelming force that makes families support one another).Hint: these two characters are related, as mother and child.
Question:[I] In what way does poverty help Dostoevsky develop the scenes and the settings of St. Petersburg? What is he specifically addressing when he uses poverty in the novel?
Symbols.
The City of St. Petersburg is represented as being extremely crowded and dirty in the novel, Crime and Punishment. There are drunks throughout the streets; children and women are seen begging for money; residents are crowded into small, noisy apartments, where (in some instances) a person might own just one corner of the apartment.
Question:[I] St. Petersburg represents two major symbols in the novel; what are they?
Recall that Sonya provides Raskolnikov with a cross before he goes to the police station to confess his crimes (some of you might not have read this far into the novel as of yet). Aside from the important symbol that it represents in the realm of Christendom, and Jesus' self-sacrifice for the sins of humanity, what else does the cross represent to Raskolnikov's character? What, significantly, does the cross represent to Sonya?
Note: If this post is well received by others and is liked, I will continue to post these sort of questions; I will most certainly post the answers as well. Depending on the reception, I will either continue with the summaries with respect to the novel, continuing with Part III, or I will delve back into chapter one and dig up some more literary techniques, such as the 'internal and external conflicts' that are represented in Raskolnikov's character, specifically as it deals with the opening of the novel, and as it continues throughout the text.
Ah, You Need Something More Difficult to Answer?
So, you want something that is a little more difficult to answer, is that it? OK, and while I think about what to address, I might add that I knew who "Bambi" was/is (the cartoon character, personified), but I was not sure if that was the same character that you were describing. I promise, however, that by Monday, you will have an honest-to-goodness "brain-teaser" with respect to the novel, Crime and Punishment, but don't complain to me when you are unable to address the question(s). :lol:
A Taste for Monday's Question(s)
So, here we are, on a Saturday, gearing up for the big question(s) to be released on Monday. In the interim, however, I would like to pose a "sample" question, a "taste," if you will, of what to expect on Monday. This question is prompted by "one member's" dissatisfaction with an earlier question I posed, which apparently "insulted his intelligence." Therefore, here we go:
Question: In the novel, Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky includes a rather interesting technique, called allegorical foreshadowing by using a very specific story to predict Raskolnikov's return to humanity. What is the story? Be very specific.
