Reflective Statement During the discussion, several ideas were raised around the key ideas of Crime and Punishment, focusing primarily on the concepts of dreams and setting. Before the discussion, I thought that Raskolnikov differed from society in some way and was often portrayed as crazy in his dreams/hallucinations. I also thought that St. Petersburg was a dirty and shameful city located somewhere in Russia. Subsequently, I learned that in reality Dostoyevsky used dreams to show Raskolnikov's different perspective on the world and that St. Petersburg is truly a beautiful city (where the rich live) located in the west of the Russia. Raskolnikov committed murder because he believed that the money he could earn from it would allow him to redirect wealth to several other poverty-stricken people, which is an allusion to socialism. However, his dreams show that he actually committed the murder because he had a different sense of reality and believed himself to be extraordinary. Dostoyevsky uses this to show that people who differ from social norms are often punished and labeled as inhumane. He tries to show this in Raskolnikov's dreams by showing how Raskolnikov sees the world. He is characterized as disobeying the law and resisting social norms, and instead he is characterized as a more progressive figure because he cares about the well-being of women, whereas common society does not . The ideas discussed regarding context also helped me understand some of the author's craft in the novel. The fact that St. Petersburg is a Western city that tries to emulate parts of Europe (especially France) shows how cut off it is from the rest of Russia and populated by the rich. This caused the book to become middle of paper......overall, they help Dostoyevsky highlight issues with societal norms (like the treatment of women) and allow him to further develop the characterization of Raskolnikov. and Svidrigailov. The technique implemented in dreams even allows Dostoyevsky to show how different realities collide because each character has a different interpretation of what is right and wrong within society. Ultimately, it proves that the characters' individualistic principles clash with those of societies, and as a result, the characters are punished for their differences. This latter idea gives the reader the impression that alternate characterizations and realities must be overwritten and eliminated so that the system is not corrupted. Work cited Dostoyevsky, Fyodor. Crime and punishment. 1866. Trans. Constance Garmett. New York: Bantam-Random, 2003. Print.