Rodrigo’s Comments (group member since Oct 18, 2025)

Rodrigo’s comments from the The Year of Dostoevsky (2024) group.

Is this group still actively discussing Dostoevsky? I just finished Demons, though I've read Crime and Punishment, The Brothers Karamazov, The Idiot, and Notes From Underground, and would love to talk about all of them.

Someone mentioned Sonya from C&P and she's an incredibly strong powerful, really, it seems Russia can create a particular kind of woman that no other country can. An extremely selfless creature that is forever ready to forgive, and to give itself up to the world for the sake of others, forever unshakable in their faith. I remember Sonya's reaction to Raskolnikov's confession of murder, how her prescription for such a wounded soul (wounded soul because Dostoevsky, more than any priest, shows that every sin you commit is really a sin against yourself) is to repent before the public and before God--kiss the earth! I remember also Raskolnikov's exile to Siberia and the slow manner in which Sonya and God entered his heart, how he broke down finally and Sonya immediately knew that her man had found redemption. Powerful.

There's two related women to that character that I have seen so far: the unnamed soon-to-be prostitute from Notes From Underground and Darya Pavlovna (Dasha) from Demons. The former is not really Sonya in spirit but I think is a proto-Sonya because, if you think about it, NFU is kind of a proto-Crime-and-Punishment. The civil servant that is smart enough to measure his position in relation to the world but not smart or willful enough to act against his inertia and the deep understanding that his vegetal state comes from his own green thumb. Very similar to Raskolnikov and his "Napoleon vs louse" inner conflict, no? The self-awareness runs thick in both. So, the little lady is Sonya only insofar as her role and intellect were expanded in Crime and Punishment as was the case for the civil servant that gave way to Raskolnikov.

As for Dasha, maybe I'll talk about it in another comment if the community is still active.