Failure + Failure = Failure Without God's Help

For most of the time I spent reading Crime and Punishment, I was nervous and depressed, it didn't uplift me in any way. I was angryat Raskolnikov and his strange and fickle behavior, but nervous for him getting caught as the murderer and frustrated at the same time that he wasn't confessing. It was an emotional roller coaster.

But, by the end of the novel, I really felt that I got to know each of the characters on a personal level and I was able to connect with them. I feel that I identified with Dounia and Sonya the most, not just because they are women, because Razhumhkin was a close runner up, but because they were strongest. Dounia didn't take crap from anyone, and would not allow herself to be pushed around by a man who wasn't going to treat her right. Sonya, who is so sweet and timid and quiet, not outwardly strong, but she has such inner strength and selflessness that it's hard NOT to love her.

I'm not quite sure how this book and these ch

aracters fit with my big blog question other than that Raskolnikov pretty much failed in the biggest way possible, and then failed some more. He failed so many times and let down so many people without any redemption. Until the epilogue.

All the things that he had done previous to that one moment when he finally realizes that he loves Sonya are erased in his renewal. That was definitely my favorite part because it is so reminscent of all of the sinners Jesus has brought back to him, in spite of all the horrible, evil acts they have committed.

So maybe this book does relate after all, illuminating the religious piece of my question. We will continue to fail without any hope for success unless we turn ourselves over to God; he is the one who can give us our redemption.