Author | Fan Deng Reading · Woody forest
Anchor | Fan Deng Reading · Polaris
Interpret the trailer
Meet · Meet your unknown self in the book.
Good evening to all book lovers, welcome to the reading column "Encounter" produced by Fan Deng Reading.
Lu Xun once said that there were only two writers he admired the most, one was Dante who wrote the Divine Comedy, and the other was Dostoevsky.
Today I would like to share with you the great work that brought Dostoevsky a worldwide reputation - "Crime and Punishment".
In 1860, a Russian writer was drawn to a murder while reading a compilation of criminal cases in France.
A young law student kills an old woman in order to grab money.
After his arrest, the youth wrote poems and memoirs to defend himself, saying that he was not an ordinary criminal, but a warrior who fought against social injustice and was a victim of society.
The writer was deeply touched by this and decided to adapt it into a novel.
At this time, the writer may not have thought that this novel would push him to another peak in the literary world six years later, making him a figure with Tolstoy's name.
This writer is None other than Dostoevsky.
And this masterpiece that condenses his profound ideas is "Crime and Punishment", which was rated by the New York Times as "the world's top ten literary classics".
The writer Dostoevsky sketches out the good and evil of human nature, crime and punishment through the analysis of the inner world of a murderer in great detail.
Some people say: "Crime and Punishment" writes through the dark side of human nature that everyone knows, but dare not say.
It allows us to peek into a kind of evil in the human heart in the gap between good and evil, that is, to overestimate ourselves and underestimate human nature.
Overestimating capacity leads to disaster
Raskolnikov is a law student.
Because of his family's poverty, he had to drop out of school early and rely on the help of his family to survive.
He wanted to get a job based on his knowledge, but the interviewer saw that he was dressed in shabby clothes and immediately threw him away.
He was unable to pay the rent, but the landlady pressed so hard that she even cut off his meals.
In a desperate dilemma, Raskolnikov came up with a "theory of value".
He believes that there are two kinds of people in human society, one is mortal and the other is extraordinary. Extraordinary people, like Caesar and Napoleon, can clear all necessary obstacles for higher purposes.
Raskolnikov, on the other hand, considers himself a member of the ranks of "great men".
To test this, he plans to kill the ugly rich, steal the money they have obtained from exploiting the poor, and distribute it to the poor who have suffered a lot.
The plan excited him immensely, and he felt as if he had become Superman, declaring war on this ugly world.
A month later, as planned, he killed the old woman who was a loan shark and was usually harsh and mean to the poor.
But after killing people, Raskolnikov fell into a deep fear.
He found that "killing" did not make him a great man.
On the one hand, he was always worried that things would be revealed, and did not dare to use the stolen money to help the poor;
On the other hand, he can never escape the deep self-condemnation, even if he kills people he thinks are harmful to society.
As a result, Raskolnikov fell into a long period of pain and struggle.
In fact, Raskolnikov's suffering, from the moment he considered himself a "great man", was as irreversible as the gears of fate.
The poet Lu Quan once said: "Always think of yourself as a pearl, and there is always the pain of being buried." ”
Once a person is too arrogant, he will become impetuous and make unclear judgments about many goals, resulting in things beyond his ability.
Just like Raskolnikov in the novel, he obviously does not even have the ability to run his own life, but unrealistically fantasizes about becoming a great hero who robs the rich and helps the poor.
In life, those who take themselves too seriously are often too overestimated by their abilities.
They are immersed in their own woven dreams, empty-eyed and pretentious.
As everyone knows, when ability is not worthy of ambition, dreams will only become shackles on the body.
The higher you lift yourself, the worse you will eventually fall.
Overestimating the location, rarely favoring the people
The ancient Greek philosopher Tres once said, "The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself." ”
In reality, what makes people suffer is often not a defect in ability, but the inability to recognize their own position.
In the novel, Lu Ren, who has a wealthy family, is such a type of person.
Luren is Dunya's fiancé.
But he chose to get engaged to Dunya, not out of sincerity, but out of a dirty idea: marrying a wife from a poor family is more conducive to manipulating the other party.
After learning that Dunya had agreed to the marriage, he was even more convinced of this belief.
He then swung to the house of Dunya's brother, Raskolnikov, thinking that the other party would treat him with great respect.
Without thinking, Raskolnikov did not take him seriously.
Frustrated, Lu Ren became resentful and wrote a letter to Dunya and her mother.
In the letter, he portrayed Raskolnikov as a bad guy and framed him for having an improper financial dealing with a prostitute.
He also blackmailed Dunya, saying that he did not want to see Raskolnikov at the dinner that night.
However, Lu Ren still overestimated his place in Dunya's heart.
At first, Dunya only considered marrying Lu Ren so that her brother could continue his studies.
Later, after learning that the content of Lu Ren's letter accusing his brother was false, Dunya became even more disgusted with him.
In the end, Dunya decided to break off the marriage contract with him, and Lu Ren had to leave in sorrow.
He couldn't figure out why he had married Dunya as a wealthy businessman, and the other party was so "ignorant of lifting".
He was immersed in the overwhelming superiority of his money, power, and status before the other party, and always showed himself as superior, thinking that Dunya could not do without himself.
But in fact, what he thinks is irreplaceable is only dispensable in the eyes of others.
In contrast, in our lives, there is no shortage of people like Lu Ren:
In the workplace, some people are old and should think that the new people should be inferior to themselves;
In life, some people are good at a certain field, pretending to be in front of those who ask for advice, and flaunting their might;
They always think that others can't do without themselves, and they think that others are afraid of losing themselves.
But in fact, no one in this world is really inseparable from anyone. Without them, other people's lives would still be the same.
Haruki Murakami said:
"Self-righteousness is the scariest thing"
Once people cannot recognize themselves and overestimate their influence on their surroundings, they will only be blinded by a leaf, and they will not be able to see the mountains outside the mountains, the people outside the people.
To be a person in the world and not to take oneself too seriously is a kind of wisdom; not to take others too lightly is a kind of cultivation.
Only by recognizing yourself can you save yourself
After leaving the old woman's house, Raskolnikov developed a high fever and was in a coma for 3 days.
When he woke up, the police came to the door, but fortunately were not involved in the case.
But when he was about to leave the police station, he was frightened and fainted when he heard someone talking about the murder of the old woman.
When he woke up, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, worried that fainting at the police station would cause suspicion.
Under great pressure, the terrified face of the old woman before she died was like a nightmare, lingering in his mind.
He wanted to turn himself in and put an end to this ridiculous farce. But a car accident changed his mind.
An alcoholic was crushed by a carriage, and Raskolnikov sent him home.
During this time, Raskolnikov met the drunkard's daughter Sonia.
During the conversation, he learned that Sonia was not related to her stepmother and siblings.
After the death of her father, Sonya can completely leave and pursue her own life. But Sonia would rather sacrifice herself than shoulder the burden of caring for them.
Raskolnikov was very sympathetic to Sonia and gave her all his savings.
After completing this good deed, Raskolnikov felt that the guilt in his heart had dissipated a lot, and he seemed to have a new goal.
He gave up the idea of surrendering himself and continued to paralyze himself with that set of "value theories."
Soon after, the case progressed. An oiler picked up the old woman's earrings and mortgaged them, becoming the object of suspicion by the police.
But this only made Raskolnikov even more uneasy, because he knew that the oilsmith was a kind man.
Later, at the drunkard's funeral, Sonia was framed by Lu Ren and suffered a grievance.
But when Raskolnikov asked her if she might retaliate against Luren, Sonia firmly refused: "How can I decide the life and death of others?" ”
These words were like a bolt of lightning that struck Raskolnikov's heart.
Yes, no matter how ugly a person is, and no matter how grandiose reasons he has, no one has the right to influence the life and death of others.
Sonia's kindness awakened Raskolnikov.
He finally realized that he was not a great man, and that he could not change the reality of social injustice on his own.
Now, the only thing he can do is face his faults so that his soul can be redeemed.
There is a Spanish proverb:
"Self-knowledge is the rarest knowledge."
Only when people live a lifetime, only by correcting their own position, seeing their true level, neither overestimating themselves nor underestimating others, can they distinguish between right and wrong, and walk life smoothly.
Because the moment you realize that you are small, it may be the beginning of your strength.
Knowing ourselves is the practice of our whole life.
Write at the end
At the end of the story, Raskolnikov is tried in court and exiled to Siberia.
During the long years of exile, although the cold siberian wind was bitterly cold, the heavy physical work made him exhausted.
But in his heart, he was at peace like never before.
The author, Dostoevsky, through the path of redemption of a murderer, records the quagmire and suffering that the entire human civilization may have stepped into.
And this suffering may stem from our inability to see ourselves clearly.
There is a saying in the Tao Te Ching: "He who knows others is wise, and he who knows himself is wise." ”
See your own ceiling clearly, so that you will not sink in the distance;
Look down on your own weight so that you will not lose your way in complacency.
Many times, it is not the hardships of life or the impermanence of the world that bring us down, but the arrogance and arrogance hidden deep within us.
Throughout our lives, we have been competing with our own cognition.
Click "Watching" and encourage the book friends.
Author | Wood forest, with light and shadow to carve, with words to interpret.
Column Director | Come slowly
Typography | Zheng to the north
Image | The pictures in this article come from the Internet, and are invaded and deleted
Music | love