Alienation: The Fall of Man through the Breaking of Moral Law
Is it possible to attain or remain in a state of true happiness when you break a moral law? To many of us, road signs have been handed down through the generations and are posted clearly as the 10 Commandments delivered to us through Moses. These commandments are generally viewed as religious moral laws, but can they be viewed also as natural laws of morality for all to heed regardless of religious belief? Consider the chaos if we inverted their intended meaning, remove the word ‘not’, and apply ‘Thou Shall Kill’ or ‘Thou Shall Commit Adultery’, as new commandments. Would these new commandments conflict with natural laws of morality?
The story by Andre Dubus, “Killings”, and Anton Chekhov, “The Lady with the Pet Dog”, show alienation as a horrible consequence we can suffer when a moral law is broken. In the story, “Killings”, Dubus reveals in detail, the alienation Matt and Ruth experience after Matt executes the revenge murder. In Chekhov’s story of “The Lady with the Pet Dog”, Anna and her lover, Dmitri, become familiar with alienation after they begin their extra-marital affair. The stories are completely different, however, the authors carefully guide us on a journey into brokenness and deep sadness, only to witness a deeper tragedy of self-imposed imprisonment: Alienation. Alienation caused by grave wrongdoing.
Dubus and Chekhov give us insight to the effects of breaking a moral law by directly showing us how we can be impacted when we commit murder or commit adultery. Breaking moral law is shown to alienate us in ways we may not straightforwardly anticipate. In both stories, the protagonists are alienated from any notion of a supreme being. This is shown extensively through setting, tone, and action showing how the protagonist hide from their surroundings, especially from the events that are occurring or are about to occur.
In “Killings”, Matt’s alienation from a supreme being begins within him at the time he begins to carry a gun, a gun that he must conceal, else face possible prison time. Matt’s friend Willis points this out when he asks, “You got a permit?”, when Matt responds that he doesn’t, then Willis seems to warn Matt, “… you could get a year for that” (85), directly pointing out to him he’s breaking a law. Matt knows that for, “He had always been a fearful father” (88), and even though he still demonstrates a respect for nature and a love for his family, he now behaves indifferently about the potential consequences.
The first and most evident example of alienation and isolation in the novel is Len...
Connie, a stereotypical fifteen year old girl, views her life and her family with dissatisfaction. Jealous around her twenty-four year old sister, June, despite June’s outward plainness, and tense around her irksome mother, Connie escapes to the mall with her friends. She and her clique of friends feel like they own the place, and the rest of the world: “Everything about her had two sides to it, one for home and one for anywhere that was not home…” (1-2). The sense of freedom intoxicates them.
Suffering and its role in Crime and Punishment are centered on Raskolnikov, his “infinite love” for Sonia, and the “repay[ment for] all her sufferings” (542). Sonia, the eighteen-year-old stepdaughter of Katerina Ivanovna, does not want to be sucked into prostitution but is forced to because of the living conditions her family is faced with (17). The situation that Raskolnikov believes Sonia to be in fosters the misconception that she is just as bad as he, thus he confronts her about it. Raskolnikov does not realize that his shallow thoughts add to her suffering and he takes her for granted until she becomes ill (540). Sonia’s suffering is final pivot that turns Raskolnikov’s perception of an ubermensch. Now, it is Raskolnikov turn to pay for his new life, the life that will only come after “great striving, [and] great suffering” (542).
When he realizes that his wife Ruth is becoming ill, he begins to think of killing his son's murderer. His eldest son has already expressed the desire for revenge, saying, "I should kill him" (1123). Ruth is forced to see the murderer on a near daily basis, which is "killing her” (1124). This cannot only be a revenge killing, else he would have been planning the killing far before Ruth became ill. Matt desperately wants to protect his family. Yet throughout the children's young life, he has forced himself to maintain control, "relief was his only acknowledgement of his fear" (1128), and allow his children some space. How difficult it must be to maintain control when your youngest son is beaten simply because he loves the woman, Mary Ann, presented as a good woman, though perhaps unfaithful to an abusive
Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment begins with Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov living in poverty and isolation in St. Petersburg. The reader soon learns that he was, until somewhat recently, a successful student at the local university. His character at that point was not uncommon. However, the environment of the grim and individualistic city eventually encourages Raskolnikov’s undeveloped detachment and sense of superiority to its current state of desperation. This state is worsening when Raskolnikov visits an old pawnbroker to sell a watch. During the visit, the reader slowly realizes that Raskolnikov plans to murder the woman with his superiority as a justification. After the Raskolnikov commits the murder, the novel deeply explores his psychology, yet it also touches on countless other topics including nihilism, the idea of a “superman,” and the value of human life. In this way, the greatness of Crime and Punishment comes not just from its examination of the main topic of the psychology of isolation and murder, but the variety topics which naturally arise in the discussion.
A paragon of realist literature, Fyodor Dostoevsky deftly exposes nihilism in his novel, Crime and Punishment, published in 1866. Its protagonist, Rodion Raskolnikov, is intelligent yet bitter and unfeeling, having denounced his morality and bonds with society. He embodies the qualities of nihilism, the desertion of all emotional and ethical concerns. This philosophical doctrine is historically ubiquitous, particularly with the Nihilist Movement, one of Imperial Russia’s Great Reforms, and the growing apostasy and atheism of postmodernity; both instances aptly highlight the abandonment of virtue, individual and societal.
The conflict between good and evil is one of the most common conventional themes in literature. Coping with evil is a fundamental struggle with which all human beings must contend. Sometimes evil comes from within a character, and sometimes other characters are the source of evil; but evil is always something that the characters struggle to overcome. In two Russian novels, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, men and women cope with their problems differently. Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment and the Master in The Master and Margarita can not cope and fall apart, whereas Sonya in Crime and Punishment and Margarita in The Master and Margarita, not only cope but pull the men out of their suffering.
Within the tortured mind of a young Russian university student, an epic battle rages between two opposite ideologies - the conservative Christianity characteristic of the time, and a new modernist humanism gaining prevalence in academia. Fyodor Dostoevsky in the novel Crime and Punishment uses this conflict to illustrate why the coldly rational thought that is the ideal of humanism represses our essential emotions and robs us of all that is human. He uses the changes in Raskolnikov's mental state to provide a human example of modernism's effect on man, placing emphasis upon the student's quest for forgiveness and the effect of repressed emotion.
The central theme of Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky deals with conformity’s role in society. Dostoyevsky uses conformity to make Raskolnikov mentally ill and eventually turn himself in to face the punishment for his crimes. Religion influences every character in the book, but none more ardently than Raskolnikov. Understanding religion’s role as a force for conformity in Crime and Punishment provides a powerful insight into character motives and, furthermore, philosophical influences.
The theme of alienation has been depicted by two different characters in a resembling series of events. The two protagonists were alienated by their peers, inflicting negative consequences they must undergo. Both characters are finally pushed to alienating themselves rather than being alienated. In conclusion, the struggles both characters undergo are practically identical to one another. They have experienced alienation in such similar ways that you must ask yourself: are all those who suffer from alienation alike in more ways than one?
In the stories “To Set Our House in Order” and “The Lamp at Noon” the authors are both able to effectively communicate that alienation is self-inflicted, while using multiple different techniques. As a result it becomes apparent that each author can take a similar approach to the alienation of a character in the story yet develop the theme in a unique way.
The Art of the Chekhovian Language escapes from the personal intentions. Reality is neither embellished nor blackened, altered or "signified" through a restrictive conceptual vision.
Throughout the stories the environment and the settings have been used to enhance the theme and mood within both stories. The writers managed to create interesting, imaginative and dynamically strong stories of isolation and alienation, and the impact was powerful on the reader.
Isolation is defined as the state of being in a place or position that is separated from people, place or things. Many people identify with a desire to be isolated, despite science saying that people’s natural instinct is to gravitate toward others. Studies have shown that isolation is not good psychologically. Isolation can be voluntary or involuntary; however, whether it is with a human or an animal species, physical touch, communication, and emotional connection is necessary to survive in everyday life. In a number of literary works, isolation is seen as a theme among characters who are sick, mentally ill and those who are incarcerated to name a few. In the literary works we have read in this unit, the isolation of the protagonist, whether voluntary or
Human contact is considered to be one of the worst elements of life to be deprived of. In nearly all prison systems, isolation is the punishment given to inmates who commit the worst offenses. It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that such reclusiveness is the theme of many literary works and essays. In one, a man insists a wall be kept up between himself and his neighbor, all because of his father’s mantra. In another, there 's a young woman, murdered brutally in the street, while all of her neighbors watch in horror, but make no move to help. There 's also a young family that, after moving to Spain, discovers just how welcoming and friendly and inclusive the Spaniards are compared to their home country. All three