The struggle between crime and punishment Reading this book makes you sick because from beginning to end you observe how psychological forces devour the thoughts and actions of their victim, finally forcing him to confess the 'horrible crime he committed. The story is basically the struggle between Raskolnikov's Napoleon-übermensch theory and his conscience which makes him confess his crime. Dostoevsky's genius lies in describing how Raskolnikov struggles in his thoughts and actions. His thoughts become increasingly disjointed and desperate, and his actions show that he has a growing need to escape the uncertainty of sentencing, to talk about the crime, to confess, and to suffer for his crime. It's even funny at times the extent to which Raskolnikov sometimes gets confused in his bungled but yet to be discovered crime. Here later the police calls for a routine visit: "But this is unheard of!" I've never had anything to do with the police! And why should it happen today?". he thought, tormented by indecision. "Oh, Lord, at least let it end soon!" He could almost have knelt down and prayed, but he laughed at his impulse; he must place his trust in himself, not in prayer. He began to dress quickly. "If I'm finished, I'm finished!" It's all one. . .I'll put my sock on!' he suddenly thought, "it will rub even dirtier and all the stains will disappear." But as soon as he had put it on, he dragged it away in horror and disgust. Porfiry is a master of psychological forces that, he knows, will overwhelm Raskolnikov slowly and steadily. He trusts that laws are not simply handed down to us, but that they characterize human nature and must be followed. It seems to be the ultimate… the center of the card… it is not just an existential battlefield for individual desires and interests fighting each other without any real underlying moral structure, but that there is hope for a social, moral fiber and faith in eternal things. It's a 20th century-like book with a positive twist, still relevant today. This book was also Russian through and through. You get a nice piece of an interesting time in Russian history (after the liberation of the serfs) and the philosophy and thinking that was going on at that time. St. Petersburg is a truly unique city and Russian culture is unique. This book captures a piece of both. "All I can say is it almost finished me. It was like having a disease." -- Robert Louis Stevenson on reading Crime and Punishment. Works cited: Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and punishment. Trans. Constance Garnet. New York: Modern Library, 1950.