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As much as I like how Dostoyevsky's books manage to make me cry, I think they are stupid. I keep thinking about how Raskolnikov's ideology was so flawed, and that's why it is stupid. I believe there are two nihilists. The first nihilist is a fake nihilist, and the second is a real nihilist.
The real nihilist in in it's core, let's say, sociopathic or psychopathic. In their heart nothing matters. The second nihilist is a fake nihilist. He tries to be logical and come to complete logical conclusion, when he find out, nothing actually matters.
I don't know why am I talking of nihilism now. I will go onto why Raskolnikov's ideology is flawed. Or at least the way Dostoevsky wrote it. Raskolnikov talks about different historical figures, that are essentially ''overhuman'' that have crossed the human laws.
He believes he can be like them, and take the life of a pawnbroker. So, the reason why I think this is stupid is, because Raskolnikov forgot to account for the main thing, which are the motives. Those mentioned figures he talks about, the most famous of them being napoleon have crossed the laws that humans set were because he wanted to go to conquer land.
He wanted power. Napoleon from the start was prideful and ''immoral''. So now, let's think my friends, what were Raskolnikov's motives? His motives were to rob the old woman, so he could then pay off his school debt, and help support his family.
He completely disregarded the fact, that his motives were absolutely pure. He just wanted to help. He isolated himself, and he came up with this stupid and inconsistent ideology. Stupid boy. And then he went to Siberia!
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4:30 AM
Dear fellow fan of Dostoevsky,
how lovely it is to find one who feels about this author and his works as I do! No other author has touched my life as he did. But, to answer your theory that Raskolnikov's motivations and ideology seem to be removed from reality and stupid - I think that is rather Mr. Dostoevsky's point.
Think about it: Raskolnikov lives in extreme squalor, trying to make sense out of an extreme situation. He creates this line of reasoning in his head to ratify an act he knows is truly, utterly wrong - as seen with the dream of the horse. He has a very hard time accepting that not only his deed, but the reasoning behind it, is wrong. Adding to that, the entire book is filled with characters who live in similar circumstance and try to lie, cheat and hustle themselves into thinking that they are justified in their actions, especially those they have to do out of poverty. And yet, Raskolnikov is the one who brings it to the point whilst talking to Sonya, the prostitute, in this earth-shattering quote:
“But you are a great sinner, that's true," he added almost solemnly, and your worst sin is that you have destroyed and betrayed yourself for nothing. Isn't that fearful? Isn't it fearful that you are living in this filth which you loathe so, and at the same time you know yourself (you've only to open your eyes) that you are not helping anyone by it, not saving anyone from anything?”
Or, in other words: stop bloody lying to yourself. You are actively destroying yourself by it.
And as much as Raskolnikov struggles with the acceptance of the wrongness of the deed, so much more he struggles with the fact that it was his ideology which was in the wrong. Truly conflicted, he only went to the police and confessed because he had a deal with Sonya. Only the very last lines of the book hint that he will eventually truly understand and can repent. Alas, this will be a long way.
Truly, the book (and Raskolnikov's character) wouldn't be as interesting - and deeply human - if his reasoning would actually make sense. It is this great lie which he accepts as a truth. And this leads to this massive struggle of his. What a masterpiece of literature, no?
Seek heaven through violence.
To be fair, when Raskolnikov was talking to Sonya, I more of understood it, as the fact that he was just kind of being nihilistic, if my memory serves me well. I thought he was more of saying ''All you're doing is for nothing.
Your siblings will fucking die, it doesn't matter, nothing has any meaning, give up.'' and I don't think he was saying it out of reason, more out of his simple feverish neuroticism. I think that Raskolnikov was essentially just supposed to be a someone who fell into this hopelessness so he kind of gave up, if that makes sense?
Sonya, as hopeless as her case is, she doesn't give up, she continues fighting. She is a certain symbol of hope. I was more of critiquing his nihilism in a way, that I feel as if Dostoevsky is trying to write about some guy who REALLY was smart, and aspirational.
I felt as if Dostoevsky was trying to write a guy that REALLY was logical and smart, but logic isn't all that there is, it is faith. I thought it was stupid, because it his ideology didn't feel logical at all, so therefore if it wasn't logical, is faith really the answer?
I thought that maybe if *this little thing* in the book didn't match up, then the whole point kind of breaks? Maybe I am not accounting really just the humanity aspect, you bought up... Not sure how I would, though.
by Ivan; ; Report
Ah, very good points! I agree with you there - seeing Raskolnikov from this angle, he is very nihilistic. But then again, he also brings up the faith aspect as a way out of their shared predicament.
And yet, in one aspect I have to completely agree with you: he is very smart and logical, but at the same time utterly stupid. Multiple times, he finds ways to stop himself or tries to get himself to do the right thing - and smacks it subsequently straight out of his hands again, claiming that he has no other choice or doing it as a weird way of punishing himself (at least, as far as my experience tells me).
How utterly tragic! That someone so smart can fail so hard mentally, for their own thinking bars their eyes from seeing what truly is happening. (1) And the way out is often very painful, for it forces us to admit the mistake in our thinking first.
For Mr. Dostoevsky, this way out is faith, as you noticed. Looking at his life, it is no wonder - nobody faces a mock firing squad and a subsequent banishment to Siberia unchanged.
But I share your sentiment here - is faith truly the only way out? I cannot say. For many it is, even if it takes the form of new and improved mental shackles. For others, it might be something else. But for all of us? I cannot say. The only thing I agree with Mr. Dostoevsky is a try to distill his thoughts into the idea of "Life creates suffering, suffering leads to absolution". As in pain being a great motivator for us to work through our self-harming ways and to maybe, eventually, be able to accept all of ourselves - our strenghts and our failures.
When I first got in touch with the works of Dostoevsky, it didn't mean much to me. Too long, to many layers, too nihilistic. Only since last year, after going though a couple of very painful revelations of myself, his quote from my first answer truly hit home. I wish this moment of mental agony unto nobody - and yet, it feels like this is something all of us humans have to go through.
But enough of my sermonizing - forgive me. I made it into something personal, since it is so very close to my heart. Let me just thank you for having this little discourse with me - I very much enjoyed it and hope to read more of you in the future!
Seek heaven through violence.
(1) Not uncommon, as we still can see today - very smart people make very stupid decisions, and worst of all, they often affect others, all the way up to entire states. It needs a lot of intelligence to create something as terrible as a totalitarian state.
by 4:30 AM; ; Report
You know, all this talk reminded me of this 3 page story I wrote over a year ago. I didn't originally write it in english, and I merely auto translated it by google documents just now, so it might sound a bit off. It's not that good of a story. I wrote it just to vent my feelings in a way. There are many things I don't agree with anymore, but I'm still gonna leave the link to it here.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q6kGIqAO94uIKN8kLhEILXIWfGa77CaAiNj0_JVQIX0/edit?tab=t.0
by Ivan; ; Report
Why, thank you! That ist very kind of you to share your work. Especially if it fees that raw. I, too, have works like this, but I tend to keep them for myself - my yellow book of wrath has to endure much, sadly.
But back to your story: I see why the works of Mr. Dostoevsky has a lot of pull to you. He, too, speaks as raw and as merciless about emotions.
I sense a lot of pain in your text. It is not my place to ask you about anything of your personal life. Just know that if you need an open ear, my inbox is open, okay?
Seek heaven through violence.
by 4:30 AM; ; Report
Thank you. You seem like a very nice person. I'm in a better place now. I struggled with a lot of things at that time. I used to identify as a woman back then. In my native language, the first person is gendered in some instances.
I wrote the story completely with the first person being masculinum. I struggled a lot to accept that I was transgender, because I went to a catholic school, and I essentially tried to force myself to believe in God as well, because maybe I can find hope within God?
I didn't. I tried hiding everything under a lid. It didn't end in a serious suicide attempt. I wasn't very smart when it came to pharmaceutics, and how they affect the human body. There were more things in addition to my overall suffering, but I think I'm already getting too personal. xd
Lately I mostly write poems, but I have some future ideas for some more serious stories, but I don't know if I will ever get to them or not. I'm kind of curious, what have you written? Could you share some work of yours? :-))
by Ivan; ; Report
I saw your friend request - thank you for this! I feel honored~
In regards of my works: only two things exist on this platform, but I plan to expend upon it. We shall see what my brain brings forth when the nights are long - sleeplessness is a good friend of mine, hence my name.
Seek heaven through violence.
by 4:30 AM; ; Report