Sonya's_Purpose

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is the story of Raskolnikov, a young murderer, struggling to merge and balance his intellectual and caring personalities. Sonya is the compassionate, charitable aspect of Raskolnikov's character and is the redemptive figure for Raskolnikov's humanity. The emphasis is that man cannot separate the humane aspect of his life from the intellectual aspect. Whatever man does must be done in terms of the betterment of general humanity. Sonya is quiet, timid, and easily embarrassed, but she is also extremely devout and devoted to her family. Her sacrifice of prostituting herself for the sake of her family is made even more poignant by the fact that it would not be necessary were her father able to control his drinking habit. Initially scared of the half-delirious Raskolnikov, Sonya, in her infinite capacity for understanding, begins to care deeply for him. She is not horrified by his crimes, but rather, concerned for his soul and mental well-being and urges him to confess. Instead of shunning him or informing the police, she simply tells him, “Suffer and atone for your sin . . . that’s what you must do” (399). Raskolnikov thinks of her, at first, as a fellow transgressor, someone who has stepped over the line between morality and immorality, just as he has. But there is a crucial difference between their transgressions Raskolnikov is unwilling to acknowledge: she sins for the sake of others, whereas he sins for no one but himself. When he confesses his heinous crime to her, she weeps in sorrow for him and begs him to save himself by confessing. “Go at once, this minute, stand at the crossroads, bow down, first kiss the earth which you have defiled, and then bow down to all the world and say to all men aloud, 'I am a murderer!' Then God will send you life again” (399). Dostoevsky's point here is by setting himself apart from society and God, Raskolnikov is destroying his own spirit. He is not allowing himself to function as he was made to function, and a house divided cannot stand. Raskolnikov cannot survive as a man in a world turned about and disrupted beyond recognition by his act of violence and societal dissent. Raskolnikov cannot survive without Sonya's aid, but neither could Sonya have been redeemed if Raskolnikov had not come along in need of redemption himself; she would have continued on the road to perdition from which her charitable impulses tore her. Dosteovsky shows the cruelty of inner struggle and the fact that this struggle can only be won through the power of grace and redemption. Sonya struggles with the opposite forces warring within her. On one hand, she is the epitome of wisdom and holiness, and on the other she is the base tool of men's lust. This flagrant contradiction cannot stand; Sonya must choose one path. This mélange of sin and piousness cannot survive as a coherent whole. The bedlam of Raskolnikov's emotions and guilt drives him to confess with the aid of Sonya, and with his aid Sonya flees her depraved life and seeks a higher level of existence in Siberia. After years in prison, Raskolnikov finally understands how much he needs Sonya. “Those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life. They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other” (520). The ultimately fallen man can only be understood by the ultimately fallen woman. The theme of mutual redemption is best seen through the eyes of an Eve and an Adam, and Dostoevsky uses that idea to great effect. He shows even the lowliest of the lost are loved by the Father and by their sufferings gain merit. Secondly, he demonstrates the fact that they too can be redeemed and can function as instruments of grace. But most importantly, he warns that without man’s own attempt to transcend his sinful nature, he will fail. Every man is Raskolnikov, every woman is Sonya. The key is to strive to achieve the perfection lost to man, unreachable without God. Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. Trans. Constance Garnett. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2007.