“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.
Seven years later, an older, humbler man walks away from the prison, returning to his home in Saint Petersburg with Sonya. Raskolnikov has a rough, warm smile and a deeply appreciative laugh. Sonya is quiet and saintly, always working hard to do everything she can for her husband. Raskolnikov is still quiet and contemplative; he and Sonya live together silently, expressing more with gestures and posture than with words.
Things have changed in St. Petersburg greatly since he left. Marxism and socialism was on the rise. He watches the students and understands the boiling, transforming philosophies inside them. Raskolnikov has moved beyond this state of change, now completely at peace with who he is and with firm ideas of the world.
Raskolnikov sits alone in his study, as Sonya brings him dinner but leaves, knowing immediately to leave him alone. For years in the Gulag, Raskolnikov thought, not in the ways of his youth, instead organizing and reworking his life in order with a altogether new philosophy. Finally, after settling in Saint Petersburg, Raskolnikov is ready to write. The book has become ingrained in his mind word for word, ready to be put on paper. Years later, he would be given a teachers position for his ideas. The world will hate him and love him at the same time. His ideas will scare, anger, pacify, even destroy and create. Now all there is for him to do is write, and he does, beginning with the words…
Check out go/roulette! Leave some notes on the forum, or comment on our video podcasts – what is helpful about the site and what isn’t?
“He did not even know that a new life would not be given him for nothing, that it still had to be dearly bought, to be paid for with a great future deed…” (551).
Raskolnikov’s future in a sequel would mirror Crime Punishment: the great future good deed is needed to balance out the bad from the murders. This matches Raskolnikov’s lack of remorse in some ways, as future good balancing a small bad is his rationalization for killing the moneylender and Lizaveta in the first place. Raskolnikov’s dream ties into this exact rationalization; a plague of rationalism that is sweeping across Europe and into Asia is infecting everyone with strife and civil war. No one can agree upon what is good and what is evil, and Raskolnikov’s great future deed in a sequel is fighting against this plague and seeking to define good and evil. He returns to university, and although his background is still in law he chooses to pursue theology. After eight years of suffering in Siberia, Raskolnikov still does not understand and has not humbled himself from conviction (520). Raskolnikov struggles with his own belief, but pursues his studies nonetheless as he explores his resurrection in love with Sonya. He writes one article in particular, which intrigues a certain priest, who might end up as a martyr for the Christian solution. But with his story, a new account begins… The title of this sequal would be Сын, Отцом и Святым Духом (The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit).
Raskolnikov, over time, fully convinces himself that he is in love with Sonya. She continues to visit him as she had in the beginning for the next five years, and others’ love for her within and around the prison has only grown during this time. But Raskolnikov has yet to come to terms with the evilness of his crime: “now what do they find so hideous in my action?” Despite his growing love for Sonya, he continues to have dreams of a devastated Europe, and has all but conceded to the other inmates’ accusations of his godlessness.
Such is Raskolnikov when Sonya comes to visit him one day during his fifth year of imprisonment, informing him that she is pregnant. With this information comes a change in Raskolnikov’s perspective: No longer does he dwell solely on himself, but begins to outwardly worry about Sonya, bribing guards and others outside the prison walls in order to make life as comfortable for her as possible. During this time Raskolnikov reads the Bible passionately, but is unable to convince himself of the rationality of a being superior to the human elite.
Sonya gives birth to a baby boy in late winter, and the last year and a half of Raskolnikov’s sentence is spent in immeasurable joy, knowing that he will soon see the child he has come to love even more than Sonya. But along with happiness comes despair as the child grows, for Raskolnikov is unwilling to pass his pessimism on to a new generation. As the family prepares to return to Petersburg at the end of the sentence, Raskolnikov feels frustratingly unable to maintain his child’s purity, spiraling into a condition of manic desperation to understand the value of life. The results of this attitude on his family, and his final dramatic act of godless anguish are divulged in the final book of the trilogy.
Raskolnikov indeed began to read the gospel again and made it his habit to pray before going to bed. He learned to embrace life and everything that comes with it: his past, crime, punishment, pain, joy, and love. In this way he was preparing himself for a new way of life. While Raskolnikov was not sure, what role god and belief played in the coming of a new and purer generation, he knew deep inside, that his Sonechka would be one of the chosen people if the plague of his dream was to come. He wanted to promote this, her way of living not by philosophical discourses, but by quietly living as an example. And he did.
Seven years went by and the great deed became ever clearer to him. Against their earlier plans Dunechka and Razumikhin did not move to Siberia, but Sonya and Raskolnikov came back to St. Peterburg. His resurrection had been facilitated through Sonya’s love and every aspect of her simply, but pure and sincere approach to life and therefore his great deed was to involve similar aspects.
Raskolnikov got a chair at the local university and started to teach on how to reconcile a belief in certain teachings of the bible and the impossibility of proving god’s existence. He lectured and wrote with great passion and personal involvement. He never hid his past or denied the logical flaws that could be found in his teachings. But it was this inherently humane flaw in reasoning concerning his theories of god, love, charity and fools that made it so unbelievable accessible and relative to all other field concerning humans.
Raskolnikov lives out his years in Siberia in reasonable happiness, being newly religious and in love with Sonya. He is still incapable of fully seeing why his experiment was a failure and why he had no right to murder anyone, however, and although he finds it easy to treat Razumikhin and Dunya with affection from afar, when they do make good on their plan to move to Siberia, he finds himself slipping back into his old uncivil ways, sure that they can never understand him or his suffering as Sonya does. Razumikhin and Dunya continue to dote on him, of course, as does Sonya, as do his children, when he has children. Some years after he is released, he and Razumikhin are having a drink when they begin to be harassed by a group of newly-released convicts, some of whom bear grudges against Raskolnikov from his time in prison. Razumikhin, being hotblooded, quickly gets into it with them, and the fight escalates until Raskolnikov is forced to step in. He is severely injured in his attempt to save his friend. He lives out his days as a cripple, but this final great sacrifice has taught him that people like Razumikhin are the truly extraordinary men, and that his action of sacrificing himself for his friend was worth infinitely more than all his philosophizing and article-writing. Sonya, of course, proves to be an excellent caregiver for her husband, and they live out their days happy, although utterly destitute.
The title for the long awaited sequel to Crime and Punishment would have to be Recidivism and Execution. Raskolnikov and Sonya would return to St. Petersburg at the behest of Razumikhin in order to establish a publishing house. In order to make a profit the company publishes only pieces with a clearly observable utility so to capitalize off the growing amount of Bazarovs plaguing St. Petersburg with their indefatigable wit and unabashed narcissism. At first catering to this class of people would prove extremely advantageous and Razumikhin and Co. Inc. would reap the benefits. Yet Raskolnikov would soon become sickened into monomania by this continued deference towards everything that he once was, everything in modern society that led him to kill, everything that was Western, everything that was faithless. And one day he would have a dream in which a horse was to be beaten to death, except this time not by peasants, but by a pompous student who deduced by algebra that it was necessary for that horse to die in order to make fat and contented his own self. Despite noticing his downturn into delirium, Razumikhin, Sonya and Dunya all are unable to rest Raskolnikov from his old murderous ways. On a particular day, spent mostly fretting about the peculiarity of his new hat, Raskolnikov is approached by a student who is firmly convinced, to the point where no rational argument could be made to sway him otherwise, that the murder of an old pawnbroker some 10 years ago offered a huge economic boost to the city of St. Petersburg and should be commended as a great dead. After disposing of the young upstart Raskolnikov writes Svidrigailov on the walls of his apartment with his victim’s blood and promptly jumps out the window, yelling something about a spreading pestilence, and thoroughly convinced that for a man of faith there is no greater punishment than being forced to live in Svidrigailov’s paradigm – a bathhouse of egomaniac spiders that spin blindfolds from their own innards.
Revival – A Sequel
The convict spent six years, three months and eleven days reacting to one dream. When Raskolnikov woke on the morning of his release, he woke with a galloping heartbeat, for he had suffered through it again: a world of chosen men, where any boundary could be crossed at will – a world, he had long realized, of his own creation.
When he left through the fortress gates, he stood for a moment outside the walls, staring down the linear village streets. Raskolnikov entered the prison a lean man, and he exited a lean man, but there was a difference. Before he was like a feather. Now the man stood pondering his destiny outside his former prison, seeming to all the world like a human thorn. And so he was.
He was not, however, what one might call a changed man. He was still petulant. He was still quick to pride. But he walked somehow more slowly, less erratically than was his former prowl; his features had hardened with age, but his brow was softer, less focused. His eyes were still bright, but did not rove so much. And there was the silence.
He was silent as he returned with Sonya to her modest house, which sat at the top of a small rise overlooking the river. She too was silent – time too had crystallized her delicate features, worn out the skin around her eyes. They sat at a small table, at first alone, then she moved over to perch on his knee. He smirked, squeezed her hand, and looked around for a moment, then out the window. Suddenly, he seized her cheeks and kissed her forehead and held her face, looking at her in the eyes. He removed his hands, but kept looking into her eyes.
“I’ll be needing that capital Razumikhin sent. I intend to establish a school. Somewhere. I have had too many dreams Sonya, dangerous dreams, to allow others to live through them as well. It is horrific. It is not life. This is life.” He squeezed her hand slightly.
The next morning he awoke well-rested, and stared at the ceiling awhile, when suddenly the icon at the corner caught his eye. He smirked and closed his eyes for a moment:
“Good morning.”
Redemption
Raskolnikov is almost convinced of God’s existence in prison, but the impression made by his feverish dream and the thought of his crimes haunts him. His thoughts are so muddled that he cannot think of anything clearly. He thinks over his crime and his motives. Were his ideas so devoid of truth? After seven long years of imprisonment, he takes up residence in St. Petersburg with his wife Sonya. He is fairly happy with his new freedom, and though he still regrets his murders, Lizaveta’s murder in particular, he manages to live with himself day by day. Slowly he begins to understand his dream. The plague that makes men listen only to their own rationale was the sickness he had. He thought too long alone to make good decisions. Logic and reason cannot provide guidance for a man; man has to be lead by something different entirely. The only thing Raskolnikov can think of to guide him in a new and better life is his love for his family. For years he lives solely for his family, raising Nestor and Vasilii his two bright boys. He decides to work with Razumikhin and Dunya on the publishing house and they manage to do pretty well for themselves. Life is good, and he finds solace in his family. He even forgets for a time his transgression. However, by chance he recognizes his own mortality after getting into a minor accident with a carriage. Remembering the fate of Marmeladov, he is struck with terror at the thought of being parted from his family. Once again he finds the need to reevaluate the meaning of life and eventually becomes devoutly religious. Finally, Raskolnikov feels that he has redeemed himself and he is able to live out the rest of his days peacefully.
Is a One Foot Ledge Enough?
“In this world most of us are content. We are content to be ordinary and we are content to live our lives within the constrains of that confession. It is this contentedness with the unexceptional that defines most of mankind. My dear Raskolnikov is not one of those men. He instead exudes an innate desire to elevate himself beyond that which is commonplace in our existence. He has always been a genius, but I admit, used to be one of the most incorrigible nuisances of my acquaintance. Stubborn, taciturn, unsocial, and unpleasant in all regards. And then he erred. He fell as only those who have known great heights can fall. But enough of that. It is all in the past and eight years can do everything to change a man’s temperament. Rodya, my dear Rodya, is a changed man. What inner light in him as used to only flicker with brief demonstrations of virtue is now a steady blaze. I say this with evidence from my own eyes of his recovery… and yet I cannot help but harbor some tiny doubts. There is shadow in him yet.
I have found scribblings; I know it isn’t right to pry, but I leave it to God to judge me in this matter. Always they are torn and blackened almost beyond being read, but from these fragments I have collected I am troubled. I will say only that they include such phrases that remind me of his darker days, with new ideas of an even more sinister nature. But it is nothing! Of course it is nothing. My Rodion is healed, and our lives now lay before us with all the expectations of a blissful family life. My Dunya is convinced of his recovery, and it is she that knows him best. I too know that Rodya could never revert to his former transgression, but still I cannot shake the notion that he will not be contented with our tranquil existence. As long as these black writings of bells and calamity and death persist, I hope my friend will forgive me for observing him. I intend to keep watch, and am wary of any sign he may slip into his old habits.”
The Search for Remorse
Raskolnikov and Sonya fall into a rhythm of Bible study and quiet understanding of their need for one another throughout his final seven years in Siberia. Raskolnikov’s love for Sonya illuminates his inner desire to live, leading him to care more carefully for himself. Just before his sentence is finished, Sonya informs Raskolnikov that she has become pregnant.
Rasknolikov, Sonya and their unborn son return to St. Petersburg where Dunya and Razumikhin have settled with their two children. For the next two decades, the family lives in harmony, raising their children with love and support.
However, with their son’s departure from their home to join the Russian army, Sonya decides it is time to reveal her deepest secret. Their son is, in fact, the child of another former prisoner from their time in Siberia. With this revelation, their son sets off to find his father and Raskolnikov travels to Moscow despite Sonya’s greatest efforts to convince him to stay.
In Moscow, Raskolnikov spends weeks brooding and reflecting without a home or proper care. He finds a bridge, reminiscent of the bridge he stood uncertainly upon almost thirty years prior, and jumps to his bloody death. With his suicide, Raskolnikov finally finds the inner peace and retribution for his brutal murder of two innocent women.
Love and Prosperity.
Raskolnikov serves out the rest of his seven years in Siberia in peace. In his dream he acts like those too ennobled to be infected. Raskolnikov comes to oppose the traits of the “infected” of his dream in personality; in other words he becomes more intellectually humble, less arrogant. He learned that truth is often contained within others, not only himself. By giving up certain thoughts and patterns of thought, he is able to avoid his previous self-destructive impulses. Within this new mental framework, Raskolnikov puts behind his disdain for the other inmates, who slowly begin to warm towards him.
With six years left in his sentence he marries Sonya with only a solitary prison guard attending the service. Razumikhin and Dunya are meanwhile in Petersburg running their own publishing company and raising a humble family. Once Raskolnikov’s prison sentence is over, having been invigorated by eight years of air, air, air, he and his pious bride decide to stay away from the devilishly suffocating Petersburg and start their own farm out in the country with a loan from Razumikhin.
Raskolnikov leads a humble life, raises two children: a boy named Semyon and a daughter named Lizaveta. The absolutely picturesque and God-fearing life Raskolnikov leads with Sonya is entirely antipodal to the darkness and atheism of his previous life as represented in Crime and Punishment. He is in fact, living out the fairy tale after the nightmare.
The story would begin with memories of Raskolnikov in Siberia, very detailed vivid memories of what he suffered through. The sequel would be his re-integration back into the Russian society in Saint Petersburg. Once returning from Siberia he would revisit his article on the Ubermensch and rewrite and edit the article for his personal use. He will return to live with Sonya and would the sequel would unravel their relationship together. Raskolnikov will seek to teach at the university but is afraid that his Ubermensch ideas will resurface. His dreams of the Gulag and the murders will mix together and cause him restless nights as he tries to become a functionally society member.
He will learn the importance of God and religion because the crosses are what kept him going in the Gulags while being away from Sonya. Rodya will be happy with his changes, happy with Sonya and slowly work his way to forgetting about his crimes and their punishment. He is awarded a position at the university and begins to teach younger students better ideologies than what he had at their ages.
Reconciliation
Raskolnikov was released after a fairly uneventful stint in Siberia—the hard labor contributed to both a physical and mental hardening. Our protagonist began reading Sonya’s Bible and remembered his intellectual passion, growing intellectually sounder each day. Indeed, he emerged from the work camp a revived man. Once back in St. Petersburg, Raskolnikov resumed his education, publishing several articles along the way, while Sonya remained quietly devoted to her husband and issues of morality. While they escaped from the past relatively unscathed, a palpable absence remained steadfast in the chemistry and conduct of the lovers. Raskolnikov’s articles were received with generally honorable praise, excepting a reliable group of extremist theorists with a penchant for perverting the academic’s words into absolutist tracts promoting radically violent ideologies. Thus, the hero never made it to the highest of the scholarly elite, but, rather, hovered just beneath with his good ideas and lovely prose—the type of prose that university first year students adore, while third years recognize its actual hollowness. Raskolnikov and Sonya have lived happily together, generally enjoying what the days offer. Their ultimate dissatisfaction is perceptible only in an overarching, retrospective work such as this, but, truly, what is the point of such works if not to illuminate the grand motifs and themes of life, those themes that do not exist in experience but in contemplation?
Mending
The sequel begins in Petersburg. Sonya has given birth to a son who is now five years old. Though Raskolnikov has largely come to terms with his former criminal exploits, he still struggles with them from time to time. The family lives on the income Raskolnikov procures from the publishing house he establishes with Razumikhin. They don’t live in the squalor Raskolnikov was used to formerly, but they are not completely comfortable. He again struggles with the desire to return to his education, but circumstances keep getting in his way.
One day, when Raskolnikov has been thinking particularly deeply about his crime, there arrives a knock on the door. He is rather irritated, but answers the knock anyway. There stands a young man about 23 years in age. This man is clearly agitated and demands of Raskolnikov whether or not he is the author of the article in the man’s hand. He is holding Raskolnikov’s article.
Raskolnikov sees that the youth’s eyes are wild and invites him in. It is clear that he should not remain out in the street with others. Raskolnikov sees the danger of the situation. The youth is possessed by the ideology and is unpredictable and explosive in his talk and movements.
Somehow, Raskolnikov calms the boy and convinces him to come back again soon. The two begin meeting regularly and Raskolnikov gradually dissuades him from following in his own path. The curing at least one victim of the virus is discussed after the fact.
Atonement
The sequel to Crime and Punishment would focus largely on the time that Raskolnikov spends in Siberia with Sonya. It would end with his release from prison camp as a changed man; just as Crime and Punishment ended with his entering prison camp a changed man (from his original state at the beginning of the novel). It would be, as Dostoevsky hinted at, a story of renewal, and redemption. Raskolnikov would, through hard labor and interactions with the other prisoners see the end of the road he was heading down. His dream already hinted at that; at a world where everyone thinks they are the “superman”. But his dream did more than just that; it showed a world in which there were actually “supermen”, from the ashes of the old world order arose a new, better mankind, just as Raskolnikov will emerge from prison camp as a better man. Sonya will obviously play a critical role in the sequel as the mirror to Raskolnikov. She will show him the way, but at the same time be redeemed herself. Razumikhin and Dunya will both start off in the book as morally superior to Raskolnikov, but by the end will have been left behind as Raskolnikov finds what it is that he has now spent two novel looking for.
Сверхчеловек (Übermensch)
The excruciating years of labor ahead of Raskolnikov at the end of Crime and Punishment become much more bearable once he accepts Sonya and realizes that she, and not Svidrigailov, is in fact his counterpart. Back in Saint Petersburg, Raskolnikov, with Sonya at his side, has trouble reintegrating into the metropolitan society. Dunya, who had thoroughly read Raskolnikov’s essay on his theory of the übermensch, takes it upon herself to revise her brother’s theory. With the help of Razumikhin, she writes the “correction” of Raskolnikov’s essay, a redefinition of the übermensch, which is essentially a biography of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov.
Being unable to return to the world of academia due to his past, Raskolnikov spends the rest of his life writing articles about his theories and ideologies, now influenced by the Gospels, all the while trying to get as close as he can to discovering the meaning of his life. None of his articles get published, and he dies of a cold ten years after he arrives in Saint Petersburg with Sonya, leaving her alone and with no money. Years after Raskolnikov’s death, Razumikhin finds his essays and articles in Sonya’s tiny apartment, and through much trouble manages to publish a few of them. With the little money earned by Raskolnikov’s writings, Sonya is financially able to lead a sad, lonely life for twenty years, until she dies of depression. Although she experienced years of happiness with Raskolnikov, or maybe because of it, Sonya continues to be, as Raskolnikov believed, the embodiment of the suffering of all humanity.
The Wanderer
After being released from prison, Rasknolnikov comes to realize that his dream during his imprisonment was true – that the virus of self-proclaimed truth has affected almost all of Russia. And the worst part about it is – everyone is happy. No one believes in anything, but because every moment is lived on the edge of the abyss, much of Russia cares deeply about constructing a beautiful life. There might not be any boundaries and all things are indeed permitted, but the Russian populous uses their personal freedom in an overwhelmingly optimistic manner.
In order to improve Raskolnikov’s health and to facilitate an easier adjustment to this changed world of Russia, he and Sonya decide to spend their first month after prison together, wandering in the forests of Siberia. They speak occasionally of love and happiness, but mostly Rasknolnikov remains silent. A few days before they were to leave the forest and return home, Raskolnikov and Sonya encounter a colony. It’s clear as day that they are training an army, and that the thousands of Russians who have flocked to this forest believe that the virus of joyful independence has actually led to a world where humans are imprisoned by things like compassion and respect. Though Raskolnikov and Sonya never enter the colony, the do meet one of its soldiers who is out hunting. He reminds them that true freedom means the eradication of all that is not free, and that true independence means an independence even from life itself. Raskolnikov is silent until they reach the outpost to be taken home to St. Petersburg; Sonya can’t stop weeping.
When they reach St. Petersburg, Raskolnikov drops Sonya off with Dunya and Razmuzkhin and begins stopping people on the street and conversing with them. He wants to understand what is so beautiful about this new life, why people are so much more content; for, Raskolnikov now senses a supreme mission – to teach that this type of freedom is not ultimate freedom, and to warn people of the impending war that could mean the end of that sort of freedom anyway.
Reflections
After the long years of exile in Siberia, Raskolnikov is finally free. But having been away from St. Petersburg for eight years, there’s no rush to go back. So he and Sonya decide to travel around Eastern Russia. They are so happy that Sonya is not pregnant and that they didn’t have children while Rodya was in prison, or else traveling would have been a hassle.
Traveling down southeast, they arrive at a little coastal town called Taganrog. By this time the Circassian War had ended, and they enjoyed the fresh air, sun and beach after the cold winters of Siberia. Raskolnikov finds a construction job, and Sonya becomes a temporary worker in a rich household. No one knows their history, but they are attracted to them through their kindness and generosity.
One day, Sonya returns home, stating that a young family friend of her employer’s household arrived recently, and tried to seduce her that day. Remembering Svidrigailov, a distant memory that still stirs feelings of disgust, Raskolnikov is determined to know who this person is. After much asking about, he gathers that the young man usually hunts early every morning.
He makes preparations, and sets out in the wee hours of the morning to confront the young man at the gate of the household. I’m not good at dramatic writing, so please allow me to summarize what happens: the young man turns out to be Pechorin. Raskolnikov wants to fight him, but Pechorin is not interested. They get into a philosophical talk, and Raskolnikov finds similarities to himself in Pechorin. They become “friends” – or as friendly as Pechorin can get with anyone, and resolve their difference. This happens after Pechorin leaves Bela but before he meets the narrator from “Hero of Our Time”.
Pechorin leaves after a few months, continuing to travel South and out of Russia in pursuit of excitement, and Raskolnikov stays for another year before traveling back to St. Petersburg and becoming a professor and leading philosopher of our time.
Honor and Satisfaction
Raskolnikov grows penitent in prison for his crime because he can see, according to his dream, where the world would be if everyone thought as he did; he reciprocates Sonya’s love, which is godly enough) and so gains the respect and admiration of his fellow inmates. Fortunately, such honor and pride does not go to his head. Meanwhile, as communicated to Sonya via the letters of Dunya and Razumikhin, the world outside of Siberia grows increasingly sardonic and selfish with the advent of beliefs along the lines of Raskolnikov’s article. People argue it is one of the most original responses to the existential and faithfulness crisis: withdrawal into oneself allows escape from these difficult questions (not to mention that it meshes well with Russian conceptions of fate and alcohol). Thus is Raskolnikov elevated, ironically, to Napoleon status even as alone in prison he grows truer, more equanimous, and respectful of a general moral code. At the climax of this story, Raskolnikov is released into this newly skeptical, dignified, self-centered, and classed universe; upon returning to Petersburg is seen as the hero of a movement. He is torn between Sonya’s goodness and leading a new faction of society, tempted to reinvigorate his old self and manner of thought particularly by the memory of his mother. Yet, he resists because of the love he not only bears but owes Sonya, who has sustained him through most terrible trials. Also, this fractious perspective is visibly sowing strife in the world, just as his dream predicted. He will marry Sonya under the auspices of his sister and Razumikhin, and becomes friends with Porfiry, to both of their surprise. Raskolnikov will become contented by and satisfied with the new, precious life he has been given. Neither his former nor present life was expected or earned, and when pride and pessimism do not get in the way, optimism in the world remains open to him.
After several years interned in Siberia Raskolnikov first hears rumors of revolution in both the Far East and West begin to trickle in. Political prisoners begin to try and sway the criminals into various camps of Westernizers, Royalists, Slavophiles, and Old Believers. Tensions begin to flare. Raskolnikov stays out of the conflict for the most part understanding and fearing his old ideas. However, when a riot breaks out and Sonya is killed, Raskolnikov becomes unstable once again. He begins to desperately search for some sense of stability in a world where all truth is personal, but he holds dearly to the cross Sonya gave to him as he went to confess. The riot results in an anarchic state being established in Siberia. Raskolnikov proceeds through each of the groups encountering ideas that he has seen before. Eventually, he finds himself attached to a group of Old Believers, where their single minded devotion to God and labor let him escape from the world and work the rest of his days in peace serving his lord…or self-immolation when the Tsar’s troops or communists come by to punish the raskolniki.
Life Everlasting
Raskolnikov comes back to Petersburg seven years after the conclusion of Crime and Punishment. He meets again with Razumikhin and his sister Dunya. They have had a daughter whom they have named after Raskolnikov’s mother, Pulcheria. Raskolnikov soon finds that the atmosphere of the Petersburg he left nine years ago no longer suits him. Nine years in Siberia has softened him, and he has lost the intensity of his earlier will. He wanders through Petersburg, not fully understanding the trends, the growing dissatisfaction of some of the people, and he feels the boiling of the coming revolution.
He attempts to hold a sinecure offered to him by Razumikhin but he soon loses all interest in it. Dissatisfied with Petersburg he decides to leave and to build a church. He builds one, which he keeps with Sonya. Sonya becomes something of a saint, by her presence alone she manages to draw pilgrims. Eventually the revolution comes and for a time they house and hide White Army members, but soon after they are killed and their church is appropriated by the Red Army.