C&P: Memorial Repast Gone Very Wrong: Part 5

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

***Open discussion of Part 5 below, no spoiler marks needed. Be sure you have read through Part 5 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 5 discussions:

1) What did Katerina Ivanovna hope to gain by forcing her children to perform in the streets?

2) What do you predict Svidrigailov will do with the information he knows about Raskolnikov?

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:

Svidrigailov discloses to Raskolnikov that he has been eavesdropping on Raskolnikov and Sonya's private conversations.

GO!

[Michelle, Overrun By Pets]

Katerina Ivanovna was always fixated with the disparity between her childhood upbringing and her living conditions as an adult. She was in complete denial about her current socio-economic status and built up false ideas about her level of nobility. Falsities include everything from the degree of assistance from the government she should be entitled, to Luzhin knowing her father. I was very saddened by the children being forced to sing and perform in the street. It seemed a ploy for Katerina to get attention for imagined injustices and conspiracies against her. I wasn't sure if this situation was exacerbated by grief from the loss of her husband, or her own serious ailments.


I am worried that Svidrigailov's will finagle a way to bind himself to Dunya by blackmailing Raskolnikov. I hope he does donate monies to Katerina's orphans, but am very concerned this will mean very bad things for Raskolnikov's dear sister. I am looking forward to seeing what comes next in this particular plot line.


My favorite quotes included: "The black serpent of stung vanity had sucked all night at his heart."

"I'm not going to get married just for the sake of furniture!"

"...frippery skirt-swishers.."

"..you vile Prussian chicken-leg in a crinoline!"

"But in spite of all the interruptions, he spoke sharply, calmly, precisely, clearly, firmly. His sharp voice, his convinced tone and stern face produced an extraordinary effect on everyone."

"Then I learned, Sonya, that if one waits for everyone to become smarter, it will take too long...And then I also learned that it will never happen, that people will never change, and no one can remake them, and it's not worth the effort!"


My favorite words included:overexpansiveness, trousseau, scrofulous, vulgarians, miscreates, cesspits, lorgnette, chevalier, pettifogger, pathos.


My favorite character this section is the very strange, yet commendable Lebezyatnikov. I was very impressed with how he stood up for Sonya and called out Luzhin as the despicable bastard he is during the memorial meal.

[Andrew, Wound Up]

Katerina: Over and over life has lowered Katerina's station in life. I think that (in addition to generally being crazy) she wanted to show the elite their vulnerability to failure. She hoped that she could guilt her past peers into supporting her family through a pension.

Svid's Goals: I can think of two things that Svid wants: a wife OR spiritual (spectral!) forgiveness for killing his wife.

Raskolnikov could potentially provide forgiveness directly with his theories of acceptable crime. In this scenario Svid gets invited into the Genius Murderers Club and both of them go through life as happy homiciders.

A wife is more difficult - but I think that Svid was making a play for Sofya as soon as he moved into the neighboring apartment. In this scene he gets Raskolnikov to agree to convince Sofya to become Svid's wife.

Quotes: Nominated for it's audacious drama: The black serpent of stung vanity had sucked all night at his heart. The great bard would be proud of that.

She plucked out one whole side of my whiskers.

I will not be coming to your pancakes ... I mean, memorial meal. Hahaha.

Look who she's brought! Clowns! Sluts!

Pyotr whining: No miss, that is not nice! Followed later by the narrator's comment that Pyotr Petrovich felt things were going badly.

It somehow became clear to everyone at a glance that he really knew what it was all about and that the denouement had arrived. Times of changed, most people wouldn't even know a denouement nowadays if it bit them in the arse.

I wanted to kill without casuistry.

Frenzied?: "Simply in a frenzy. That is, Sofya Semyonovna's not in a frenzy, but Katerina Ivanovna is; however, Sofya Semyonovna's in a frenzy, too. And Katerina Ivanovna is in a complete frenzy.

Words and insults: scrofulous; vulgarians; "We negate more!", lorgnette; andventuress; directress; pettifogger; you sausage maker; you vile Prussian chicken-leg in a crinoline; calumny; "I hope you may find a cure for your wits, and your weak-sighted eyes."; "Oh, meanness!".

Character: "The public." Oft mentioned, I love how faceless groups crowd into corners of the novel where even the involved characters can barely fit. Clearly someone needed to invent television!