The renewal of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov, in Dostoevsky's novel Crime and Punishment, is a complex and difficult character to understand. He believes himself superior to the rest of humanity, and therefore believes he has the right to commit murder. After killing Alena Ivanovna, an old pawnbroker, Raskolnikov finds that his supposed superiority has cut him off from other people. He exists in a self-created alienation from the world around him. Raskolnikov drifts through life, unable to participate in it anymore. It is only through Sonya that Raskolnikov is able to gradually regain his connection with humanity; she helps him understand that although he may not be superior to others, she loves him regardless. Although he finds it difficult to reject his theory that some individuals could commit acts not permitted to ordinary people, Raskolnikov admits that he is no such individual, that he is ordinary. Through this realization and Sonya's love for him he finds the strength to confess his crime and accept responsibility for it; this allows him to slowly begin to rejoin the world around him. It is initially difficult to understand why Raskolnikov plots to kill the old pawnbroker. Being a compassionate person, Raskolnikov finds the idea of ​​violence abhorrent. Contemplating the murder of Alena Ivanovna, he dreams of an incident from his childhood in which several peasants beat a horse to death. He is horrified by the senseless brutality and cruelty of the peasants; after Mikolka, the horse's owner, slams a crowbar into the mare and finally kills her, young Raskolnikov runs to the body, sobbing and kisses the mare, then tries to attack Mikolka. He asks his father, “Dad, why the… medium of paper… all about a man, about his gradual regeneration, about his slow progress from one world to another.” Although purchased at a high price, Raskolnikov has finally found inner peace. Works Cited Barnhart, Joe and Linda Kraeger. Dostoevsky on evil and atonement: the ontology of personalism in his master narrative. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1992. Cameron, Norman, trans. Freedom and Tragic Life: A Study of Dostoevsky. By Vyecheslav Ivanov. New York: Noonday Press, 1960. Dostoevski, Feodor. Crime and punishment. Trans. Jessie Coulson. Ed. Giorgio Gibian. New York: Norton, 1964. Gibson, A Boyce. Dostoevsky's religion. Philadelphia: Westmenster Press, 1973. Morsm, Gary Saul. "How to read. Crime and punishment." Commentary 1992 JuneO'Grady, Desmond. "The Lives of Dostoevsky: Apostle of Inner Freedom." Commonwealth November, 1994: 6-7.