Crime & Punishment

Dotevsky's novel Crime & Punishment is another work of literature my big question can be applied to. Raskolnikov does not face failure so much as he faces adversity. Throughout the entire novel he is at war with himself and stuck between action and inaction. After killing an old pawnbroker and her sister, Raskolnikov's internal struggle magnifies and he grows paranoid. Once he is caught, the adversity is also magnified. Unlike the other protagonists I have written about before, Raskolnikov is hard to sympathize with. He feels justified in his crimes-- above the general public. His adversity, and his girlfriend's persistence lead him down the road to redemption. Raskolnikov is convicted of the murders finally and at first he is sentenced to death. That sentence is then reduced to eight years of hard labor in Siberia. What's interesting in Raskolnikov's case is that he is not the one who instigates the journey to redemption, rather his girlfriend Sonia is. She is the reason he chooses to better himself through such adversity; not the adversity itself. In relation to my big question, that leaves me to conclude that it was NOT the failure/adversity Raskolnikov encountered that strengthened his potential and made him a better person. In this case, a third party is what inspired such transformation.