Day Ninety-Three

7/3

The Book: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

ISBN: 978-1-59308-081-5

Suggested By: Patrick Garcia

Where: On the road

When: 4-4:45P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 30-89 (59)

The Lead In: When I was a kid, I read a comic book version of this book. There was a scene when a woman got an axe in the head. I remember as a kid, it freaked me out. Nice to see the scene the second day in.

The 411 on the 55: Meet Raskolnikov, an ex-student who lives in the city, without a job or any desire to have one. His sister and mother support him with money, in hopes that he will turn out well. He pawns all that he owns with the same lady, an old crone who he comes to see as the embodiment of his pain and, eventually, his chance.

Rasko wanders the city considering what he will do but keeps coming back to the idea of knocking off the old lady and stealing her fortune. He is pushed further that direction when his mother sends him a letter informing of his sister’s pending marriage to a rich, older lawyer. Upon reading the letter, he interprets everything in relation to himself, assuming that his sister is only doing it in hopes of getting him a job.

Unable to just be happy for his sister, he decides that the deed must be done. If he gets money, she can beg off. He travels to the old lady’s house and hatchets her to death. During the robbery part of the crime, her sister walks into the house and he dispatches her as well. He is almost discovered in his exit, but manages to sneak away.

Line of the Day: “He thought of nothing and was completely incapable of thinking; but he felt suddenly in his whole being that he had no more freedom of thought, no will, and that everything was suddenly and irrevocable decided.” pg 63

Fact on the Fiction: During the writing and serial publishing of Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky paused to hammer out (in a month) The Gambler. He did this to complete a contractual clause and maintain rights to his work. (from the introductory material)