The Conflict Between the Individual and the State and the Grammatical Fiction in Darkness At Noon "The Party denied the free will of an individual-and at the same time exacted his willing self-sacrifice." The obvious contradiction of the above definition of the Communist party is depicts the conflict between the individual and the State in Arthur Koestler’s novel Darkness at Noon. Koestler’s protagonist Nicolas Salamanovich Rubashov, devout communist and former leader of the Communist party, falls victim to his own system during the time of the Moscow trials. Accused and imprisoned for crimes he did not commit, Rubashov is forced to choose between the ideology he has faithfully followed for the past forty years of his life, or a new found sense of self, which he calls the "grammatical fiction".During the beginning of Rubashov’s solitary incarceration, he begins to doubt the infallibility of the Communist regime, and for a time, views himself independent from the Party. Rubashov’s pulling away from Communism is evident in his conversation with the examining magistrate, Ivanov, during his first hearing. Rubashov addresses Ivanov’s collective viewpoint with the developing views of his own:"Your argument is somewhat anachronistic," said Rubashov.
"As you quite rightly remarked, we were accustomed always to use the plural ‘we’ and to avoid as far as possible the first person singular. I have rather lost the habit of this form of speech; you stick to it. But who is this ‘we’ in whose name you speak to-day? It needs re-defining. That is the point."Apart from the Party, Rubashov no longer functions as part of the Communist unit, but rather as an individual.
Within communist doctrine the individual is only a piece of a larger system, and for the true communist the pronoun ‘I’ is not even part of his or her vocabulary. Rather, the personal ‘I’ is replaced by ‘we’, which represents the Party. The significance of Rubashov’s statement is that even his speech patterns, a physical manifestation of one’s subconscious, display his self-detachment from the Communist Party in that he has lost his ability to associate with the communist We. Over and over Rubashov is tormented by the idea "I shall pay", an unrest due to his uncertainty about the foundation of Communism he has placed himself on. Shortly after his first hearing he writes in his diary "The fact is: I no longer believe in my infallibility. That is why I am lost.
These core values that Communism are built on are based on these principals: what is best for the state is best for the individual, the state is all-important, and the state fulfills everyone's needs. These ideas manifest themselves in the abolition of personal rights, the exultation of the working class, the rampant and extreme nationalism, and the development of phrases that are meant to inspire nationalist fervor. The aforementioned values and examples starkly contrast Ayn Rand's views on humanity. She regards humanity as being inherently free, and she believed the restriction of this freedom is what turns men into animals. During his speech to his comrades after his argument with Kira about Leo, Alexei refers to the counterrevolutionary peasants that attack the Communists as "wild beasts... They were beasts run a muck, beasts crazed with miser," (407) and he believed that this was caused by the removal of their freedom.
...vent and conclude how ‘the history of the Short Twentieth Century cannot be understood without the Russian revolution and its direct and indirect effects’. (Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 84) To some the revolution may not seem as important, to Hobsbawm it is a pivotal moment in the history, as it ‘changed the world… in the way that [no one] expected. (Hobsbawm, 1995, p. 83)
It was both this interesting plot and the philosophical nature of Dostoyevsky's writing, which initially attracted me to this book. It also features many themes and characters, as well as an effective setting. As a result, I will examine the literary techniques used in "Crime and Punishment" by Fyodor Dostoyevsky to convey the downfall and subsequent rise of the main character, Raskolnikov. I will begin by looking at how the setting formed Raskolnikov's character, and then discuss the structure and other characters of the novel. The setting plays a primary role in forming Raskolnikov's character.
... he would like to form a life with. This is something Lenina cannot comprehend; she tries to respond to John’s feelings with acts of sexuality. John is troubled by her inability to express comparable feelings to his; the interaction between John and Lenina exemplifies the shortcomings of members of the World State propagated by the controlling Marxist government.
Dostoevsky was made aware of the problems with Nihilistic ideas while he was exiled in Siberia. Crime and Punishment was Dostoevsky’s first attempt at a psychological analysis of a person’s inner struggles to rationalize this radicalism. Raskolnikov represents that intelligentsia and is being used by Dostoevsky to portray and warn against succumbing to these ideals. Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov’s life to illustrate the implications and applications of this Nihilist to the public and then expands upon it in Demons.
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.
During Stalin’s regime, the individual Russian was the center of his grand plan for better or worse. Stalin wanted all of his people to be treated the same. In the factory the top producer and the worst producer made the same pay. He wanted everyone to be treated as equals. His goal to bring the Soviet Union into the industrial age put tremendous pressure on his people. Through violence and oppression Stalin tried to maintain an absurd vision that he saw for the Soviet Union. Even as individuals were looked at as being equals, they also were viewed as equals in other ways. There was no one who could be exempt when the system wanted someone imprisoned, killed, or vanished. From the poorest of the poor, to the riches of the rich, everyone was at the mercy of the regime. Millions of individuals had fake trumped up charges brought upon them, either by the government or by others who had called them o...
Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon depicts the fallacious logic of a totalitarian regime through the experiences of Nicolas Salmanovitch Rubashov. Rubashov had fought in the revolution and was once part of the Central Committee of the Party, but he is arrested on charges of instigating attempted assassinations of No. 1, and for taking part in oppositional, counter-revolutionary activities, and is sent to a Soviet prison. Rubashov, in his idle pacing throughout his cell, recollects his past with the Party. He begins to feel impulses of guilt, most especially in those moments he was required to expel devoted revolutionaries from the Party, sending them to their death. These subconscious feelings of guilt are oftentimes represented physically in the form of toothache or through day- or night-dreams. As his thought progresses with the novel, he begins to recognize his guilt, which emerges alongside his individuality. It remains in his subconscious, and it is not until Rubashov absolves himself through silent resignation at his public trial that he is fully conscious of guilt. By joining the Party, Rubashov allows himself to forget the questions of human nature and of his individuality. The nature of his guilt lies in this betrayal of his individuality.
Lydia Chekovskaya wrote about Sofia Petrovna and the transformation she had undergone to closely reflect the state of mind and changes experienced by citizens of the Soviet Union during that time. As people began to suffer from the purges and other hardships due to Stalin’s incompetence, their minds and logic, much like Sofia Petrovna’s, became impaired leading them to try their best to rationalize Stalin’s actions. They believed in the party wholeheartedly, but when they finally realized the wrongdoing of the party, it was far too late.
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 moral side of Raskolnikov's mind requires absolution in a Christian manner. This need obliviates his claim to be a Nietzschean superman, and illustrates that all humans have a desire for morality.
Anton: When I had gazed at the twentieth century Russia, I saw the storm of socio-economic change that took place in my transitioning country. I created a family on the edge of ruin, representing a nation on the brisk of revolution.
In his novel Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoevsky uses Raskolnikov as a vessel for several different philosophies that were particularly prominent at the time in order to obliquely express his opinions concerning those schools of thought. Raskolnikov begins his journey in Crime and Punishment with a nihilistic worldview and eventually transitions to a more optimistic one strongly resembling Christian existentialism, the philosophy Dostoevsky preferred, although it could be argued that it is not a complete conversion. Nonetheless, by the end of his journey Raskolnikov has undergone a fundamental shift in character. This transformation is due in large part to the influence other characters have on him, particularly Sonia. Raskolnikov’s relationship with Sonia plays a significant role in furthering his character development and shaping the philosophical themes of the novel.
The second section of The Communist Manifesto is the section in which Karl Marx attempts to offer rebuttals to popular criticisms of his theory of governance. These explanations are based upon the supposition that capitalists cannot make informed observations upon communism as they are unable to look past their capitalist upbringing and that capitalists only seek to exploit others. Though the logic behind these suppositions are flawed, Marx does make some valid points concerning the uprising of the proletariat.
...Russian society and social norms. The greatest reminder of this is found in the fact that Lopahkin, the man who Ranevsky once spoke to condescendingly, is now the family’s last hope for survival. Ironically enough, Lopahkin is often glancing at his watch, a reminder that time is changing, and a message that he, himself, is a testament to.
Raskolinkov’s beliefs transform from the beginning of the novel to the ending. His theory was never complete and to test his theory he commits the murder of an evil soul. The irony of this novel is Raskolinkov who though he was an extraordinary men, have the will to commit murder but not the power to live with the crime on his hands.