Misinterpretation and the normalized egotistical personality.

It angers me a lot about how people have just started reading books like Crime and Punishment just for the sake of saying they read it in hopes they sound smart. I find that even if they read the book out of their own pleasure, more often than not, they don’t take the time to make the effort to develop their opinions about a book, but they blindly agree with everything an author says because of the thought that they will feel superior if they share thoughts with someone who is looked up to. The point of such books is to inspire thoughts, not for you to think the same, but to understand a perspective and formulate your own from that. These books are intended for you to form your own opinions. In fact, what’s the point of reading at all if you don’t take the time to analyze what you are reading? I see people constantly comparing themselves to Raskolnikov not even considering the depth of his character. I relate to aspects of Raskolnikov as well, believe me. In fact, Dostoyevsky intended this because I think he said somewhere that Raskolnikov was what he could’ve become. It is intended for you to relate to Raskolnikov but it is also his intention for you to see his errors, to criticize him and form your own thoughts from his actions. And this flies over people’s heads. Most of the time it feels like they don’t even consider why Raskolnikov’s character was made, why the Underground Man was like this, why Ivan Karamazov was the way he was, why every intellectual in a Dostoyevsky book will, most of the time, have a consequence for how they alienate themselves and put themselves above others. They will have a realization that understanding the world does not come from isolation from society but rather embracing it and studying it. The Underground man is plagued by his stubborn trait and can’t even make it out of his hole he has cooped himself up in. Yet he claims to know so much about society. A common characteristic that I will see between such characters and the people that claim to relate to them is that they have an inability for accountability. Everyone today is so desperate to blame but never accept, they always complain but never ever do you see them taking accountability for their actions. “Oh it was because of my childhood, my trauma, my mental health, the government..” for whatever reason, people continuously blame but never search for a solution. Dostoyevsky, when imprisoned began to realize from the people and criminals he was surrounded by, just how detached from society people had become. He saw that they acknowledged they did something bad, complaining in a situation like that would only lead to more punishment of course. They all accepted their situation and worked so they could get out of it because they accept that it is their situation. He realizes how detached they are as the so called intellectuals would only complain about their problems, in fact, he realized that the very people who claimed to advocate for their society were barely even Russian at all. The only thing Russian intellectuals had to prove they were Russian was their blood. Everything about them was desperate to be European. Every philosophy was French, they became desperate for a revolution against their monarchs, like the French, almost everything was inspired by French culture, so much so that the thinkers of Russia would loose their sense of who they are. We see this in today as all the young teenagers on social media who claim to be smart, to have started reading college level books at a young age, who are totally relating to Kafka or Dostoyevsky when they are the very thing Dostoyevsky is telling people not to be. People are hypocrites today and that is a fact. Hypocrisy is probably one of the largest problems in our society today. I might rant about this in another blog if I feel motivated and am blessed with the words to. Continuing on this current rant, the young have been so brainwashed by their need for validation that they have become narcissistic to the point of denying that they are wrong in any sense. To even begin to understand Dostoyevsky, you must understand that to blame anyone is to hold back and stall your growth from learning from a mistake. Raskolnikov was made so you can see that you relate to him, and to see that you relate to him is to see that you will go down the same path as his mindset and you must take and learn from the mistakes HE made so you will not make them, so you can improve yourself to not be like that. The only way to truly understand a society, is to observe people outside and their behaviors. Go outside for once, even if it is in your own yard that is enough. Go for a walk and take in the world you so desperately try to understand. Even a simple thing as taking a breath of fresh air can make you realize that the only way to learn the ways of this world is not by hiding yourself from it. You have it on the very device you are reading from, this is also an advantage. But you can’t just grasp reality from a screen of words. Reality is everything behind the door you refuse to open. 

TLDR: you’re not raskolnikov, be self-aware and stop looking to blame others for your problems. Go outside and touch grass because you’re not some genius if you can’t even breathe the air outside in the world you claim to understand. Look for solutions not more reasons for your problems.

This was quite a long rant lol, I’m happy to hear thoughts because that is exactly why I posted this 👍