To anyone who wants to make a difference,
In my High school English class our teacher made my class pick out of a couple of “Classic books”. At first I was disappointed, all the books I was interested in were already chosen. I ended up getting stuck with the “Classic” Crime and punishment. I say “Classic” because how on earth is anything that is that hard to read considered a “Classic”?! Anyways, In the beginning of the book we learn that the main character, Raskolnkov Is a man living in extreme poverty and he is a hypochondriac alcoholic. Rask is so poor that he comes up with this idea that he should kill the pawnbroker to get away from owing her money! What a great well thought out plan, huh? Yeah, not exactly. Rask ends up killing the pawnbroker then her sister comes in wondering what’s going on and he shoots her too! Everything goes downhill from there but the most important thing is how Rask begins to act/ feel after he commits a crime.
Personally, I connected with this book more than I ever thought I could. The main character, Rask is easy to connect with! He comes from such a dark hole of poverty. He is so poor that it effects his everyday lifestyle, like it does mine. I live alone with my disabled mom who can’t work and I can’t maintain a steady job because of my Mental illnesses and I’m only 16 so I can’t Imagine how Rask feels. Sometimes, like Rask my mom can’t pay bills. This causes us to Pick and choose what bills we will be paying this month… - DON’T TELL ANYONE THIS! Promise?...Okay good… Sometimes I steal things like toothpaste, chap stick, dog treats for my dog because I can’t afford it. Luckily, though I never owe months and months and months of bills like he did. However, I understand where he is coming from… do you?
In the real world there are LOTS of people in poverty. Way more than you may think! And a lot of families in poverty commit crimes to try to get out of their situation. Studies show that if you struggle to pay your bills and don’t know where your next meal is going to come from, you are more likely to be incarcerated. Also, there is a lot of proof that Crme follows Poverty. People who are poor or in poverty often commit crimes to either make money, or purposely go to jail. (Which honestly is pretty smart…) At least jails are warm and at least they have food… even if its crappy food! Personally, I think poverty happens a lot more often than some people think! I’d rather be in jail than the side of a highway… Right?
I guess what I am trying to say is that I want people to think differently about poverty. I want to show people that poverty is truly a scary thing! And it’s worse than most people think. Also, I want to start conversation on how to make poverty a lesser issue! And I really want people to know that not all criminals are bad. Sometimes they are just lost and scared. Wouldn’t you be?? Poverty is such a horrible thing… what if every man in poverty killed people in order to get money. We would be in a lot on danger!
Crime and punishment is less about crime and more about the punishment. Meaning, when Rask killed the pawnbroker and his sister he began to punish himself mentally. Mentally it messed Rask up! This book is about how sometimes in life you have to do what you have to do to survive BUT with that said Crime is still a crime and when you commit a crime bad things happen. That may just mean guilt and sorrow or it could mean jail time and sorrow, etc. Crime and punishment go together like Peanut butter and jelly. You can’t commit a crime without feeling some kind of punishment in my opinion.
In the end poverty is something that needs to be fixed. Poverty turns into crime and crime turns into mind games and sorrow. All of the above are boring, stupid and should even exist! This book is a deep read that will make you stop and say “Wow I never thought of it that way!” this book makes you think! It’s a roller coaster ride for your heart and it’s a great read. Which I am pretty sure why it’s called a classic… Rask was in poverty and he made a mistake and he will never stop paying for his mistakes… not literally though, cause he is broke!
