I am reading Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment. It's the first time I have read it and I am quite enjoying it. I am only a few chapters in, but already I am very interested in the outcome...
Part of the development of the characters that has taken place so far involves several women: Dounia, sister of the protagonist; the mother of the protagonist (whose name I am not currently remembering); Sonia, a prostitute; the lady who gives the protagonist money for various trinkets he pawns to her; Marfa, the wife of the strange guy who tried to get with Dounia and who turned out to be a decent person...
As Rodya, the protagonist, contemplates the letter informing him of Dounia's impending wedding, he comes to understand that women are capable of doing almost anything for the protection of their families. Sonia is a prostitute, selling herself for money on which her family can subsist - to avoid starvation, as Rodya says. Dounia, while getting married to the man she's with, is not very much different. The marriage is not for love, but for convenience and position and wealth. Rodya becomes angry when he discovers that this parallel is probably apt. These two women are doing what they feel like they have to do in order to survive.
It reminds me of Fantine - from Les Miserables.
Which leads me to the question I asked above - what are you willing to do to ensure the survival of your loved ones? Would you enter a life of servitude and humility? Would you sell that which is most pure and sacred in this world? Would you abandon your highest morals and ethics? And how much would it take to get you there?
I weep for a world in which these questions must be asked. Yet they are asked and answered in affirmative ways all over the world all the time.
I recently heard on NPR a discussion of prostitutes in a foreign country. The discussion centered around a young woman who willfully entered into this lifestyle in an effort to provide funds for needed health care treatments for her ailing mother. She decided to stay in the profession because of the easy money. She was attending school but was not interested in changing jobs in the short term.
What kind of a choice is that to make? Sell your body for food or shelter or health care?
And if these are the motives, is the action really a crime? Really? With whom does the fault lie?
Deep thoughts for a Friday AM...
Part of the development of the characters that has taken place so far involves several women: Dounia, sister of the protagonist; the mother of the protagonist (whose name I am not currently remembering); Sonia, a prostitute; the lady who gives the protagonist money for various trinkets he pawns to her; Marfa, the wife of the strange guy who tried to get with Dounia and who turned out to be a decent person...
As Rodya, the protagonist, contemplates the letter informing him of Dounia's impending wedding, he comes to understand that women are capable of doing almost anything for the protection of their families. Sonia is a prostitute, selling herself for money on which her family can subsist - to avoid starvation, as Rodya says. Dounia, while getting married to the man she's with, is not very much different. The marriage is not for love, but for convenience and position and wealth. Rodya becomes angry when he discovers that this parallel is probably apt. These two women are doing what they feel like they have to do in order to survive.
It reminds me of Fantine - from Les Miserables.
Which leads me to the question I asked above - what are you willing to do to ensure the survival of your loved ones? Would you enter a life of servitude and humility? Would you sell that which is most pure and sacred in this world? Would you abandon your highest morals and ethics? And how much would it take to get you there?
I weep for a world in which these questions must be asked. Yet they are asked and answered in affirmative ways all over the world all the time.
I recently heard on NPR a discussion of prostitutes in a foreign country. The discussion centered around a young woman who willfully entered into this lifestyle in an effort to provide funds for needed health care treatments for her ailing mother. She decided to stay in the profession because of the easy money. She was attending school but was not interested in changing jobs in the short term.
What kind of a choice is that to make? Sell your body for food or shelter or health care?
And if these are the motives, is the action really a crime? Really? With whom does the fault lie?
Deep thoughts for a Friday AM...
Comments