C&P: People Turned Weird: Part 2

[Andrew, Wound Up]

***Open discussion of Part 2 below, no spoiler marks needed. Be sure you have read through Part 2 before reading! Note: if this is your first visit to this topic I recommend you read this post about discussion ideas, then skip down and post your initial response, then read and respond to other people's posts.***

At the very least check in here when you finish this section and tell us if you are enjoying the book. I'll post specific discussion ideas below, along with some general topics we'll see repeated throughout the book.

Part 2 discussions:

1) Are Raskolnikov's symptoms in this section a reaction to the murders or is there a different cause?

2) Do you trust Razumikhin's motivations?

General Discussions:

1) Share your favorite quote(s) from this section.

2) Share your favorite word(s) used in this section.

3) Do you have a favorite or most intriguing character at this point in the novel?

Location reminder

If you are returning to this topic after having continued past this section, here is a plot reminder:

Raskolnikov feints. Wait, he does that all the time. He feints in his room after being brought there by Razumikhin and finding his mother and sister have arrived.

GO!

[Andrew, Wound Up]

Symptoms. I don't believe the symptoms have been caused by the crime. R almost slept all day before the crime. He probably caught some rat-borne illness while napping in the bushes.

R wants to blame the illness on guilt - I believe he is sufficiently cocky enough to believe he is stronger than the average flu.

Mentally R generally seems unstable - but that was true before he committed the crimes too. I think that he is going in and out of "oblivion" constantly, some type of fever haze. When the murders are brought up he is snapped sharply into reality but the after effect is that he expends too much energy and goes all woozy a few minutes later.

Razumikhin. I don't trust this bloke. Where did he suddenly get enough money to change apartments? Why is he "helping" R out so significantly?

Something about Razumikhin's actions seems slippery and insincere. It seems like he suspects R as a culprit in the murders and is toying with him. I wonder if R didn't make some type of confession during his multi-day blackout? I don't believe that Razumikhin has so perfectly solved the crime.

Quotes. Open the door, noodle, wake up!

But such despair and, if one may put it so, such cynicism of perdition suddenly possessed him that he waved his hand and went on. I suppose one may put it so since you just did. It is quite dramatic though.

A room at the police station was small and chock-full of the public. Egads, I've been in those rooms!

...she suddenly started to patter, like peas spilling in a pan. I jumped to Garnett to read Ilya's section - I found the accented German to be a bit too goofy in my translation. For example "I vill gedruckt" is translated as "I will show you up" by Garnett.

That house is like Noah's ark. Odd comparison for me. It seems to fit but not really - a precursor of "like a zoo"?

You chimney sweep! I love the insults.

Now, you've always maintained that I'm stupid: by God, brother, there are some that are stupider! Hmm, poor self defense there brother.

Not sure if this is translation confusion: It turned out finally that it wasn't Kharlamov's house at all, but Buch's - that's how sounds can confuse you!

Headgear, brother, is the foremost thing in an outfit, a recommendation in it's way. I love hats.

WTF of the section: United Pants of America. Garnett translates this phrase as United States of America so I truly have no idea what they are talking about (other than pants). I sense some pun that is untranslatable.

...lying can always be forgiven; lying is a fine thing, because it leads to the truth. No, what irks me is that they lie and then worship their own lies. I just don't know about R's logic.

I love ragamuffins. A ragamuffin was swearing at another ragamuffin, and there was a man lying dead drunk in the middle of the street.

Unintentional irony points for crushed Marmeladov: "A priest!" he said in a hoarse voice.

Words. Ruse; swill; scriveners; physiognomy; bedizened; cockaded; forte-piano (aka fortepian); effusions; charlatanism; scofflaw; winsome; insolent ragamuffin;

Character. Zossimov - almost solely for his awesome sick person food list: "Everything's allowed ... soup, tea ... no mushrooms, naturally, or cucumbers - well, and no need for any beef either, and ... well, but whats there to talk about that!" Apparently times have changed?

Wait, what about little Lidochka's exclamation to his sister "Run fas' as you can!" So adorable in the middle of horrible sad chaos.

OK, but really Raskolnikov for one specific scene: whispering silently towards Zamyotov. So awesome.

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

In section one the quote "But the question whether the disease generates the crime, or the crime somehow by its peculiar nature is always accompanied by something akin to disease, he did not yet feel able to resolve" speaks to the first question for me. I feel that Raskolnikov has a demanor/mentality/personality that allows him to commit the crime; section one quote "but he suddenly felt with his whole being that he no longer had any freedom either of mind or of will, and that everything had been suddenly and finally decided." I am not sure if this is related to mental illness specifically or to his fabricated ideology. I think some of the symptoms he displays in this section such as fainting, fever, rambling are due to having committed the crime. Overall, I think he miscalculated the effect the murder would actually have on him. He went in to the situation thinking that he would quickly recover from his "non-crime" and this has proven wholly untrue thus far.


I really want to like Razumikhin and trust his actions are pure of heart. I choose to believe that his overenthusiastic actions, where Rakolnikov are concerned, are coming from a place of good intentions. Raskolnikov did after all, make the first contact with Razumikhin and and clearly seemed to need help upon arriving at his apartment. I find Razumikhin delightful and very much enjoy his exceptionally passionate dialogue.


My favorite quotes include "He was a lieutenant, the police chief's assistant, with reddish moustaches sticking out horizontally on both sides, and with extremely small features, which, incidentally, expressed nothing in particular apart from a certain insolence."

"Such intimacies are hardly required of you, my dear sir, and we have no time for them, Ilya Petrovich interrupted rudely and triumphantly..." This very much reminded me of my job EVERY day, people insist on telling you the most private and obscure details.

"Not-at-all!! Ilya Petrovich pronounced somehow specially. Nikodim Fomich was about to add something, but, having glanced at the clerk, who was also looking very intently at him, he fell silent. Everyone suddenly fell silent. It was strange." I love the oddity and obvious discomfort everyone involved is feeling during this description.


"Now you've always maintained that I'm stupid: by God, brother, there are some that are stupider!"


My favorite words include: charlatanism, scofflaw, effusions, gedtruckt, noodle, ruse, scriveners, swill, physiognomy, pensively.


I really liked Louisa Ivanovna. Everything from her description "the bedizened reddish-purple lady, who remained standing as if she did not dare to sit down, though there was a chair beside her" to her awesome German accent "I did not haff any noise und fighting Mr. Kapitan , she suddently started to patter, like peas spilling in a pan, in brisk Russian, but with a strong German accent...". She made quite an impression on me for being a minor character in this section. Also, I couldn't help but be confused by her name which she shared with the deceased women.