“But here begins a new account,… It might make the subject of a new story.” Write a 250 word proposal for this sequel suggesting a title and outlining the future of Raskolnikov. Be sure to make his final dream a central part of the action or serve as a central theme of your own creation.
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Raskolnikov has spent his years in prison prey to conflicting emotions. On the one hand he has not forgotten his corrosive bitterness that, when tested, he proved merely an ordinary man. On the other hand, he feels the tug of Sonya’s love and his own strange, almost involuntary repentance.
Leaving prison, he and Sonya travel west and find themselves in a world transformed. Cholera is sweeping the country; the dead can be seen in the fields. The rain came to early and rotted the grain. Everyone is starving. The peasants, who once revered their “little father,” rage against the Tsar and turn on one another. Even the church, the beloved institution of a pious people, cannot contain the popular rage. People rob the church vessels and the covers of icons, and priests who object are murdered.
Raskolnikov revels in the anarchy. In this new world, he need not murder to be extraordinary. Here there are no rules, so instead of trying to create chaos in order he fights to create order in chaos. Still an outlier, but this time on the side of the angels, Raskolnikov takes up weapons to defend the desecration of a church and kills one of the rioting peasants, a fat, red-faced, drunken creature.
Sonya is horrified as she watches Raskolnikov delight in his newfound power. But she wonders if it can be divine will.
Trial and Conviction
The sequel will play with the terms trial and conviction as the story commences with three years of Raskolnikov’s sentence remaining. With Sonya’s help, Raskolnikov has been finding redemption through love and God, and has created new relationships with his fellow prisoners who finally see him worthy of Sonya. However, the arrival of a new prisoner will challenge all of his progress.
A young, handsome member of the intelligentsia is exiled for writing and distributing radical works. This charismatic character soon begins to embody the virus in Raskolnivov’s final dream of Crime and Punishment, spreading ideas of individual improvement and self-interest that he claims will lead to a utopist community. With his intelligence and charm, the young radical begins to gather a following, while Raskolnikov, afraid to see his belief’s tested, attempts to combat this virus with his new convictions of redemption and piety. An internal struggle takes place in Raskolnikov as he finds it difficult not to question his newly acquired beliefs even as he preaches them. The climax comes in his debate whether or not to kill the radical, as Raskolnikov believes that he now does have the right motive this time. But does he really believe it? Is he just trying to be an extraordinary man by any means?
The story will take place within the confines of prison, a controlled area filled with people who represent the “naturally bad” Dostoevsky encountered, and will show that acting in their self-interest cannot lead to a Chernyshevskian utopia.
This novel would focus on the effects of ideology and people’s blind faith in their own dogmas. Therefore, I suggest this sequel’s title to be Victims of a Plague, after Rasolnikov’s dream in the Epilogue (Trichina was my first choice, but Sasha swiped it first! I guess great minds think alike, huh?).
The first part of the novel would detail Raskolnikov’s steady transition back into society, first in his interaction with his fellow inmates and then in his release in society. Although his life has changed in that moment with Sonya, he still remains a quiet, contemplative man who keeps mostly to himself. He is gradually more or less accepted in the gulag, although he never becomes as loved as Sonya.
Raskolnikov grows to appreciate nature more and more, and even begins to appreciate his life of hard, honest labour. When he finally gets out, he marries Sonya and moves to a nearby town where Sonya has already established herself as a well-like character and begin a simple life. Razumikin and Dunya move to a neighbouring village, and the two couples visit each other often.
Once they get to this life, however, it is apparent that Raskolnikov and Razumikin are no longer the fellow students they used to be. Ruzumikin, who has already finished his studies and become a professor, is a cynical and rational member of the intelligentsia, embracing many of the utilitarian views which Raskolnikov had in his ideals. Now, Raskolnikov is content to be a simple labourer. Their views soon clash to the extent that Dunya and Sonya must make extreme efforts to prevent a Russian skandal.
The two friends are stirred up even more when an article is published by a Razumikin that religion is pointless and that man should not believe anything but his own reasoning. Many people in the village are affected by this, and there begins a frenzy, in which disagreements based on different forms of reasoning culminate in physical brawls and sometimes, death. The climax would culminate in an internal struggle within Raskolnikov to choose between his old, philosophical, Peterburgsky self and his current, simple, Sibersky self.
Soon, Razumikin is killed in a duel after a passing insult spurred a quarrel. Raskolnikov cannot stand it anymore, and, in an intense relapse, kills both Razumikin and himself with a pistol. In the end, it was the industrial pistol that undid the chain of spiritual events that the simple axe had started.
Regret and Re-fall
In the epilogue, Raskolnikov’s dream, at one hand, can be perceived as a retrospective summary of the causes to Raskolnikov’s criminal instincts and illness; on the other hand, it can be a prophetic vision of Raskolnikov’s future challenges on his way to redemption. The sequel would then starts with an intensification of Raskolnikov’s uneasiness towards his regenerative potential. Raskolnikov also meet a new friend, an extremely intelligent prisoner who turns out to be the son of the next door neighbor of Razumikhin and Dunya. The prisoner is a fanatic follower of Raskolnikov’s theory of Extraordinary Man. In fact, the prisoner actually undertook the ambitious task of expanding Rasklonikov’s theory for scientific experiments and social practices, as part of his graduate thesis. Then the sequel would devote several hundred pages in elaborating the prisoner’s ideologies and experiments, and how he eventually arrived at Siberia. In short, the prisoner’s unshaken devotion and intelligence towards the Extraordinary man theory rekindle in Ralsolnikov former senses of his latent superman potentiality, as well as his self-inflation and self-reliance; his recovery of his former attitudes is furthermore reinforced by the message in the dream where “everyone was to perish, except for certain, very few, chosen ones.”(547) Raskolnikov and the prisoner both believe they belong to the “chosen ones.” At the same time, Raskolnikov starts to neglect Sonya, which then creates many opportunities for a very very handsome and religious guard from the camp who has fallen in deep love with Sonya. The guard is also a hopeless romantic who always approach Sonya in the most courteous and respectable fashion. The two realized that they share many interests in common, especially their love for God. Nevertheless, Sonya stays loyal to Ralskokniov. However, Ralskolnikov once caught the two reading Bible together, and with many other similar incident, his false impression of Sonya’s infidelity, along with many misunderstanding, cynicism and jealousy ultimately plunge him into despair. Hence, he re-falls back to his former self.
Rebirth and Reality
The final seven years of Raskolnikov’s imprisonment fly by, as if no time has passed at all. On Raskolnikov’s last day, a few guards and prisoners, of whom established quite friendly relations with Raskolnikov, all offer their best wishes for he and Sonya, and indicate their wishes to visit the couple in the future.
Life looks bright for Raskolnikov and Sonya as they soon wed and move into an apartment near Dunya and Razumhikin. Sonya has a child (Bonapartkov) within their first year in mutual freedom and Raskolnikov starts to enjoy the idea of being the provider for a family. He will be the Extraordinary Man for his most beloved. To make money Raskolnikov begins writing. However as the years progress Raskolnikov struggles and is troubled by his inability to publish. Such fools are making a fortune and he still must practically beg for ever ruble. He begins to have doubts about whether he is one of the “chosen” or if he is actually just like the rest of society affected by “pestilence.” It was easy not to think about this fact in the last seven years of prison, as he just assumed everyone to be those “not chosen”. After a lengthy novel is rejected for the third time, Raskolnikov solemnly decides that he is fact delusional and not extraordinary after all.
He decides what is best for his family is suicide, as he mistakenly believes he is just the source of constant disappointment for them. He has finally overcome the fears Svridrigailov was able to. The novel ends with Raskolnikov standing over the river prepared to jump, but then noticing a bible on the shore that has been vandalized and sliced in two. An axe lays by the bible’s side. Raskolnikov hesitates.
This new story would detail the reasons why Dostoevsky, like Gorky after him seems to shout, BE GOOD TO CHILDREN!
In the opening scene, little Rodion sits on the bank of a river holding a long, thin wooden boat. On the hull the paint is almost entirely worn. The vessel fits easily in his slight, strong hands as he prepares to place it into the water. The sail broke off long ago so it no longer exactly sails, per-say, but it floats. To Rodya, it races. On Sundays, when his mother and baby sister accompany him to the Neva, he drops his treasure neatly into the river before racing ahead fifty or one hundred to watch the current bring it down the bank. With an easy smile and light step he casts his net into the river to retrieve it. This is his favourite routine of the week–the letting go of the boat even more fun than the capturing. Though they would never admit it, is is also the favourite pastime of Pulkerina and Dunya– for his mother the joy of watching her son release, chase and wait and for Dunya the panorama of colour and the easy, understandable pattern of retrieval.
This scene directly contrasts with what happens next, a scene which reflects the dream of the horse’s murder and offers an explanation for the elemental change in Raskolnikov that produces his hypochondria.
Now, as a ten-year-old, Rodya helps clean the stable stalls on his uncle’s farm, located just outside of Petersburg. It gives him a way to harness his energy, get to know his father’s brother and learn the ways of life. But one morning, as his uncle is out of managing the farm’s finances, Rodya carries wheelbarrows full of horse manure into the field behind the barn. As his shoulders tense to accommodate the length of the wooden handles, he exits the barn. Lifting his eyes at the sun to guess the time, he witnesses something. Two peasants, bent over a recently new-born calf, pitchforks in hands, pin the animal down. The baby cow lifts its already wide neck to avoid the sharp stabs and cries out. The two men watch the third as he disembowels and dismembers the poor animal.
Later, Rodya will learn that his uncle was an unjust boss, but by that time this crime will serve to haunt his memory and produce in him a fear only a ten-year-old can imagine.
I thought Raskolnikov’s redemption and liberty in prison would produce a state must like the one of innocence before the murder of the calf. A return to innocence.
Title: Death and Disability
Raskolnikov receives word through Sonya that Razumikhin has done well as a publicist and translator, chiefly because he happened to timely translate some key criticisms and supports of Marx’s Communist Manifesto from German into Russian. Dunya continues to help in translations, look after home affairs, and manage the capital that has been quickly, though unexpectedly amassed by Razumikhin’s and her hard and honest work. Razumikhin and Dunya do not travel Siberia, having firmly established a profitable business.
Raskolnikov has already undergone the “crime and punishment”, that is to say he has repented and found forgiveness of God. The relationship between himself and his creator has been resolved in the solitude of Siberian labor camps. However, the changing nature of relationships with others continues to challenge his world view. He refuses to believe that in translating works of socialist thought Razumikhin and Dunya could become chained to capitalism with their successful business and lose their connection with him. He questions family and friendship and human interaction, similar to how he challenged interaction between man and his creator in C&P.
Raskolnikov struggles with the purity of Sonya’s faith in fellow man. Her simple deeds continue to receive highest praise from his fellow convicts, but he cannot rationally determine why. Jealousy intermittently plagues his reasoning.
Three months later, two thirds of his camp dies of tuberculosis, including some of the prison staff, with whom he has begun close relations. Sonya cared for and fed primarily Raskolnikov, since he also suffered from consumption but managed to survive, albeit with drastically damaged lungs. He is unable to walk independently. Sonya also cared for the other prisoners as she could, comforting them with extra food. Sonya suddenly fell ill and died of consumption.
Raskolnikov remains crippled and struggles in cultivating and accepting relationships with other people.
Repentance, Karma, and Back Again
The officials watching over Raskolnikov have reported a changed man. Raskolnikov has become a calm, harmless, poetic, and peaceful man. He has begun to preach to fellow criminals about finding an inner satisfaction and acceptance. His days are spent reading the Bible, meditating, and praying. His change of character results in an early release from prison.
Immediately, upon Raskolnikov’s release, he marries Sonya. Together, they have two children, Vladimir and Lizaveta. Raskolnikov pursues involvement with the church. With the involvement, he realizes God intends for him to become a priest. Within a few years, Raskolnikov has become a priest. His two children are beautiful and brilliant and he continues to love Sonya more and more each day. The community has fallen in love with their priest. He has transformed so many bad souls and done so much charitable work.
One day, while Sonya is at the market, she gets stabbed. She is rushed to the hospital. Sonya is on the verge of death, but before she dies, she tells her nurse, “Tell Raskolnikov to forgive.” When Raskolnikov arrives, Sonya is already dead. He is in such a disarrayed state that he never lets the nurse tell him what Sonya’s last words were.
Raskolnikov holds a funeral for his wife, but cannot come to grasp with what has happened. His mind begins to unravel. He begins have dreams about killing Sonya’s murderer. Unfortunately, nobody has any idea who the murderer is. Raskolnikov decided that the only way to proceed is to kill anybody he thinks may be the murderer.
Within one month, Raskolnikov has murdered seven people. He has no idea if any of them were Sonya’s murderer. He has become crazed by the idea of killing Sonya’s murderer. He is doing it for her. Raskolnikov has stopped caring for his children. He no longer works, so to provide at least food, he has Lizaveta become a prostitute. Raskolnikov rarely showers or eats, he constantly drinks and walks around the streets screaming and yelling and killing.
The sequel to Crime and Punishment, is the story of Raskolnikov’s life in the gulag year two through year seven. He has already turned his corner from the punishment he went through in the course of Crime and Punishment, and now he has come to acknowledge and accept Sonya’s love. But throughout the second book he will come to enjoy life more, and become closer to his fellow prisoners. Before coming to accept his place in the gulag, “he came to be surprised most of all by the terrible and impassable abyss that lay between him and all these people. It was as if he and they belonged to different nations” (545). However, once he is able to come to terms with his relationship with Sonya, and understand that she will always be there and is worth living for, he will begin to “love life” the way the other prisoners seem to. The second book is then the story of this transformation, where he no longer sees himself as so “extraordinary,” and can slowly begin to relate to other prisoners, even becoming friends with them and becoming able to talk about Sonya with them. There will of course be tensions along the way, as this will not be a smooth transition, but the book will conclude with Razumikhin and Dunya’s arrival in Siberia and their astonishment in the positivity and emotion he shows, even as a man who has been imprisoned for years.
The title of the new story shall be: Wisdom and Revelation. It details the journey of redemption that Raskolnikov commenced in the epilogue of Crime and Punishment. His work in the gulag is symbolic of his labor each night to find true meaning in the Bible and Sonya’s faith. Dostoevsky’s religious dogmatism gets its chance to truly shine in this novel, which serves as a blueprint for those lost in their independent moral quandaries. Raskolnikov’s dream of the destruction of humanity through self-righteousness is a hellhound nipping at his heels as he struggles to achieve true understanding of the universal truth and morality accessible through faith. Sonya serves as a chaste guardian angel. The novel contains a lot of dialogue between Sonya and Raskolnikov as the latter seeks enlightenment in faith and the sort of dative-case contentment in powerlessness demonstrated by the former.
About halfway through Raskolnikov’s sentence, Razumikhin and Dunya move out to live with Sonya. Dunya gives birth to a son and a daughter — Raskolnikov is deeply moved by his newfound sense of love for and connection to not only Sonya, but his young niece and nephew. He dreams of correcting his “error” by starting his own family and teaching them conscious virtuousness. The book is reminiscent of the Book of Revelations, and ends with Raskolnikov’s completion of his sentence and reunion with Sonya, representative of the achievement of a new heaven and earth.
Trichina
Almost seven years have passed, and Dunya and Razumikin have arrived after much anticipation to the village of the Siberian gulag in which Raskolnikov is serving the final weeks of his sentence. The couple is joined by their only child, a thin, six-year-old boy named Rodion.
Finally, Raskolnikov is released from the gulag and makes his way home. Rodion, who has heard much about his uncle through the revered speech of his parents, finds the man that he finally meets despicable. Here he was told of a hero—a man who courageously saved children from a burning house—yet prison has bent the man into meek, careful, and relatively ordinary being. The adults are overly eager for Raskolnikov’s arrival, and he finds their overexcitement stifling. Everyone constantly fawns over Raskolnikov, yet in the process ignores Rodion.
Time passes— a week, a month, a year, maybe more— and the family ties are slowly disintegrating. Raskolnikov, who felt such a deep passion for Sonya during the time of their separation, slowly realizes that her quiet nature is unbearable to him. He fears that God will punish him, however, for rejecting his angel. Therefore, Raskolnikov constructs an alternate reality for himself, removing himself from those who love him. Dunya and Razumikin are coming to grips with their lives in Siberia, and as a result, combined with a strained relationship with Sonya and Raskolnikov, the couple is regretting the move. Rodion hates Siberia, but no one listens to his constant complaints.
One night, Rodion has a dream of a land of total chaos— plague, arguments, fire, famine, and, most importantly, rampant murder. He sees so clearly the image of a man beating a woman with the blunt end of an axe. He wakes up the next morning not in the frenzied state of what a normal child would experience, but with complete calmness. He cannot shake the image of the single murderer, but it speaks to him, and he knows what must be done.
Rodion confronts his sleeping uncle the next night with one of the kitchen bread knives. Sonya continues to sleep but Raskolnikov wakes up as the boy approaches, sees the knife in his hand, but makes no move to defend himself: he knows that it is the will of God. Rodion stabs his uncle in the chest repeatedly without a sound, until his uncle has ceased to move. He draws the knife from Raskolnikov’s body, and slowly walks outside as the sun is just beginning to rise. Rodion smiles at the sun, and stabs himself straight in the heart in a final act of personal redemption.
This Crime and Punishment sequel would be known as Torment and Redemption. In Crime and Punishment, we see how committing a crime leads to Raskolnikov’s punishment throughout the novel. However, this sequel would show how Raskolnikov emerges from his 8 year sentence in Siberia to start a new life. The novel would begin with Raskolnikov in his final days in the gulag. We would see him working hard during the day and reading at night, seeing Sonya every afternoon. He would be beloved by his fellow prisoners for his humility, intelligence, and patience.
On his last night of captivity, Raskolnikov will have a dream about going up the stairs to kill Alyona Ivanovna. When Raskolnikov approaches the door, Alyona allows him to enter. However, instead of proceeding with the murder, Raskolnikov drops to his knees in front of the unpleasant woman and begs her forgiveness. He looks up and finds himself staring into the face of Sonya, who is smiling down at him.
Raskolnikov is set free that morning. He proceeds to move in with Sonya, who is living with Razumihin and Dounya in the town bordering the gulag. Sonya and Raskolnikov marry. Raskolnikov, Sonya, Razumihin, and Dounya found a school in the gulag town for the children of the families that have moved to Siberia to be close to their imprisoned loved ones. At first, the population is resistant. Fearful families do not wish for their children to be away for too long. However, through Raskolnikov and Sonya’s persuasive skills and Razumihin and Dounya’s excellent teaching, the school becomes a great success. In the end, Raskolnikov and Sonya marry. After their first kiss as husband and wife, Raskolnikov pulls back and finds himself facing Sonya’s smiling face, just as in the dream. Raskolnikov finally feels redeemed.