Every time I go to write one of these blog posts I'm stuck on repeat. I almost feel bad for anyone that reads these. I;m sure they are thinking, "Oh, now there she goes again about the same damn things." But it's just how I feel about the writing and every time a couple days go by without reading it I somehow forget what was so frustrating about it, so when I go to read again I'm frustrated all over again. Although, it does come with the territory seeing as I am just an easily annoyed person. I will give you an entirely different reason for my frustration though. This time it wasn't how her wrote it or the teasing Dostoyevsky does about future events, this time it was actually what he wrote.
In the beginning, before all these major events happened and we were just really being introduced to the characters, I wondered and we even discussed in class, if all of these was just about the money. I really stuck to this thought for a long time, but as we got deeper into the characters thoughts and reasoning, it seemed like it was more about love. To be honest I still think the emotions play a bigger role than finances. But here we find ourselves reading about Dmitry, who to be honest, has lost it and is just desperate for a little reassurance of his own humanity, arrested for his father's murder. A murder, I just don't believe he committed.
I just had a thought. We can all just blame this on Katerina. Not that I dislike her really, it's just that why did she have to entrust that sum on Dmitry in the first place. I suppose it was just wishful thinking on his part. But had she not given him the money then he would have never have went away and spent the money and then felt like a louse for doing it and try his hardest to return it. But then that's just wishful thinking on my part. I've never been particularly fond of Dmitry to be honest, but he just is very unfortunate. I don't know why he is so secretive about the money anyways. He really just made it worse for himself, as I suppose many people in his position would.
So I realize I didn't delve greatly into the events, but after reading this I kind of just sat back a moment and recapped on the opinions I have formed and abandoned over the course of this class and I would hate to have to form a circle and come back to disliking Dmitry more and money playing a bigger role than it ought. Despite my complaint I really have enjoyed this reading and I shall be glad to get back to it for next week. I can't believe we are almost done!
7 comments:
I think it's interesting that you mention a shift from money to love to money again. It seems that money is such an emotional thing for these characters that I'm not sure if much has changed throughout the book so far. I think for Grushenka especially, it has always been about money. Like she said in this last reading, she never loved Fyodor or Dmitry. And I think conversely, money only matters so much for Fyodor and Dmitry because there was hope for buying Grushenka's love.
I like that you think it is more about emotion than money. I can see that. But if it is, it is still a bit confusing. I cannot trust the emotions of any character in this story, with the exceptions of the Elder and Alyosha. It seems that every time a character expresses emotion it is exaggerated with drama. Off of that note, I found this book frustrating as well. I blogged about how I didn't like that the only focus of the investigation was the 3000 roubles. It just seems to me other events should be investigated.
You're right that emotions play an important role in the text. for Dmitry it is clear that he embraces his emotions and uses them to guide his actions. In many respects the entire "Karamozov clan" seems to be guided through the channeling of their emotional leanings. In comparison I have found that the other supporting characters of the text are increasingly driven in their actions through their self-interest or their background.
The book seems to be about two of the most important vices to humans. Love and Money. Most of life's strife or happiness can be tied to these two things in some way. I think that ultimately Dostoyevsky is commenting on this, and his intertwining of the two, demonstrates how love and money can get so caught up in one another. Katerina and her giving Dmitry the three thousand; Fyodor saving another three thousand for Grushinka. Its almost as if money and love are treated as parallel in this novel. Or at least Dostoyevsky is making a comment on how they are ranked the same in society. I think its really interesting and something I hadn't really put together before. I'm interested in seeing if this duality persists.
I agree that money and emotions may be presented by Dostoyevsky as on equal footing in this novel, for the most part. In some instances we hear mainly about the money and then in others t is all about who loves who or not. Well, I would say that the events concerning money and love seem to be very similar. Both are fleeting at times and at others are all consuming. Also, it is extremely difficult to keep track of the actual amount of money going around in this novel and who has it and who doesn't and why. Love is the same way. Does Grushenka love Mitya or not? Does Mitya love Katerina or not? Does Katerina love Mitya? How about Alyosha and that girl he claims he will marry? Money and love are so confusing!
I would like to know more about the importance of money in the Russian culture during the time Dostoyevsky wrote this novel. Perhaps he’s commenting on the central theme that money is power, control, and ultimately happiness. With money playing such a central role in this text (along with love) I feel like Dostoyevsky has to have some purpose of writing about money in this way. I hope we get to talk about this theme more in class.
In a different novel called A Happy Death by Albert Camus, the issue of the best way to live and how one can die a happy man plays a central role. Behind these questions lies an examination of the idea of money as a means necessary to free up the time of a man to let him live life as he sees most fit, but does the guilt as to how one earns this money have any affect. in this case, the man killed for the money to live out his dreams and that is where I will leave you with this food for thought...
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