Dostoevsky A Cattle Creature Analysis

878 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Female inequality in literature

“A Gentle Creature” In this work of Dostoevsky, a young girl is transformed in her marriage to a middle-aged pawnbroker as he intentionally seeks to discourage any emotional relationship between them and instead forces her to conform to his expectations of wifely behavior. Even in the narrative of his confession, she remains unnamed and exists only in relation to him, thus being further denied her individuality outside the content of the narrative itself. Similarly, his behavior towards the girl revolves around demanding her submission to his own internal desires while neglecting her personality and spirit, thus creating an unequal relationship in a situation in which she is already financially and socially dependent on him. The pawnbroker …show more content…

Initially, the pawnbroker is pleased to discover that the girl is proud because “proud women are particularly good when - well, when you’re no longer in doubt about your power over them” (680), which leads him to pursue her as an object and a challenge rather than as a human being. As she adjusts to his controlling nature, she begins to engage in an unexpected power struggle through which her idealism clashes with his materialism. Exercising her autonomy through audacious behavior, the young girl stamps her feet and leaves the apartment unescorted, astonishing the pawnbroker, but not to the degree that he drops his facade of nonchalance and changes the relationship between them. Instead, he continues to underestimate the lengths that his young wife will go to defy his will, which results in her meetings with Yefimovich and her homicidal episode in which she holds a revolver to his head. Because she does not follow though, the pawnbroker believes that “[he] had conquered and she was conquered forever” (695), falsely interpreting her mercy to mean that she has finally accepted her subservient position in their

Show More
Related

  • Cattle Brings Us To Our Enemies Chapter Summary

    1506 Words  | 4 Pages

    In his book “Cattle Brings Us to Our Enemies”, McCabe does a 16-year stint in East Africa, specifically in Northern Kenya, doing research on the Turkana. He does this through STEP, the South Turkana Ecosystem Project. In “Cattle Bring Us to Our Enemies”, McCabe follows four families through his years in Kenya and notes how they live in a very demanding environment. He uses ecological data to analyze how and why the Turkana people make decisions about their everyday life. McCabe focuses on four main areas of study: how the Turkana survive and adapt to a stressful environment by nomadic pastoralism, how the techniques used to extract resources and manage livestock modify the environment, the effects of the environmental and cultural practices have on

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Cowboy And His Cow By Edward Abbey

    282 Words  | 1 Pages

    In "The Cowboy and His Cow" speech, Edward Abbey delivered a furious talk based on his personal experience.Abbey began by talking about the childhood dream of becoming a cowboy, so consistently I expected him to write about how and why the cowboy is a child's legendary hero and how a child idolizes them for all the kindness they appear to do. Instead, Abbey began tearing down the praised cowboy by making the people realize the issues that the cowboys and their cattle have brought.

    Read More

  • Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime And Punishment

    1920 Words  | 4 Pages

    As Rodya analyzes Luzhin’s character, he realizes that intellect unrestrained by moral purpose is dangerous due to the fact that many shrewd people can look right through that false façade. Luzhin’s false façade of intellect does not fool Rodya or Razumikhin, and although they try to convince Dunya into not marrying Luzhin, she does not listen. Rodya believes that Luzhin’s “moral purpose” is to “marry an honest girl…who has experienced hardship” (36). The only way he is able to get Dunya to agree to marry him, is by acting as if he is a very intellectual person, who is actually not as educated as he says he is. This illustrates the fact that Rodya knows that it is really dangerous because he knows that people can ruin their lives by acting to be someone they are not. Rodya also knows that people will isolate themselves from others just so that no one will find out their true personality. This is illustrated in through the fact that Luzhin tries to avoid Dunya and her mother as much as possible. The way he writes his letter, exemplifies his isolation, for Luzhin does not know how to interact with society. He has no idea how to write letters to his fiancée and his future mother in law. This reflects on Rodya’s second dream because he is unable to get Dunya married off to a nice person. He feels isolated from everyone else because his intellect caused him to sense that Luzhin is not telling the truth about his personality. However, it was due to his lack of moral purpose that Rodya berates his sister’s fiancé. He is unable to control himself, and due to his immoral act of getting drunk, Rodya loses all judgment and therefore goes and belittles Luzhin. Although Rodya’s intellectual mind had taken over and showed him that Luzhin wa...

    Read More

  • Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

    1760 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dostoevsky first presents Smerdyakov, in The Brothers Karamazov, in Book 3 of Part 1. The author divulges details of the conception of the fourth son of Fyodor Pavovich Karamazov. Late on a September evening, a drunk Fyodor, by modern standards, "rapes" a homeless woman. Stinking Lizaveta, the victim of Fyodor's violence, was a legend in the town. Regardless of her unattractive and dirty appearance, her poverty, and homelessness, the townspeople regarded her with sympathy and compassion. Fyodor, on the other hand, treated Lizaveta as an insubordinate who was undeserving of even an ounce of respect. He and his friends mock her. He, then, rapes her. And, as if these actions are not cruel and offensive enough, he vehemently denies any of it happening. Later, when Lizaveta gives birth to Fyodor's illegitimate son, it is Grigory and Marfa who take the boy in, baptize him, and decide to raise the child. The townspeople mistakenly credit Fyodor for taking the dead woman's child into his house. All of these disturbing actions on the part of Fyodor are cause for his punishment.

    Read More

  • Theodicy and Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

    2495 Words  | 5 Pages

    The problem of reconciling an omnipotent, perfectly just, perfectly benevolent god with a world full of evil and suffering has plagued believers since the beginning of religious thought. Atheists often site this paradox in order to demonstrate that such a god cannot exist and, therefore, that theism is an invalid position. Theodicy is a branch of philosophy that seeks to defend religion by reconciling the supposed existence of an omnipotent, perfectly just God with the presence of evil and suffering in the world. In fact, the word “theodicy” consists of the Greek words “theos,” or God, and “dike,” or justice (Knox 1981, 1). Thus, theodicy seeks to find a sense of divine justice in a world filled with suffering.

    Read More

  • Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    First, Dostoevsky gives the reader the character, Raskolnokov. He is the main character, whom Fyodor uses to show two sides of people their admirable side and their disgusting side. He loves Raskolnokov, which is why Fyodor uses Raskolnokov’s point of view throughout the whole novel. Personally, Fyodor dislikes some of his qualities but understands that all people are plagued with some bad traits, and that Raskolnokv is trying to make emends for some of his wrong doings, i.e. the murder of the pawnbroker and her sister. He knows that what he did was wrong and is willing to suffer for his crime, and he does throughout the whole book with his constant depression. Dostoesky believes in punishment for your crimes, this is why he shows Raskolnokov suffering through most of the novel, to show his great love for penance. Dostoevsky likes the kind giving nature of people; this is why he portrays the main character as a kind, gentle, and giving, person. Often, Raskolnokov thinks only of others benefits such as when he helped Katerina by giving her all his money for Marmelodov, as well as his caring about what happens to his sister with her marriage to Luzhin. Raskolnokov hates Luzhin’s arrogant and pompous attitude, which reflects Dostoevsky’s animosity of the same qualities in people in the real world.

    Read More

  • Social Contradictions in Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from the Underground

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    This man is the absolute opposite of everything society holds to be acceptable. Here is a man, with intelligent insight, lucid perception, who is self-admitted to being sick, depraved, and hateful. A man who at every turn is determined to thwart every chance fate offers him to be happy and content. A man who actively seeks to punish and humiliate himself. Dostoyevsky is showing the reader that man is not governed by values which society holds to be all important.

    Read More

  • Animal Farm By Robert Lake Analysis

    484 Words  | 1 Pages

    Culture is expressed through a variety of different ways, from clothing styles to lifestyles to faithful traditions. It can also have a deep impact on the viewpoints of those around you, whether negatively or positively. No matter how a person goes about their everyday life, they can rise above the expectations of their culture to change the world around them. Culture does not have to be the basis of every thought, word, or deed of a person.

    Read More

  • Book Report On Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov

    3107 Words  | 7 Pages

    Because he has no respect for himself, he can have no respect for others, either.

    Read More

  • Dostoyevsky ‘Notes from Underground’ Critique

    1600 Words  | 4 Pages

    “Notes from Underground” was published in 1864 as a feature presentation of his first 1860 issue “The Epoch”. “Notes from Underground” was written by the author during a time when he faced many challenges in his life. Dostoyevsky faced failure in the publishing of his first journal “Time”, his financial position was becoming weaker and embarrassing. Moreover, his wife was dying and his conservatism was eroded leading to a decline in his popularity with the liberal reading Russians and consequently, he became the focus of attack by the radical and liberal press (Fanger 3). Therefore, this research seeks to find how the author presents the aspect of “underground man” and how he approached Charles Darwin’s thoughts of man in “Origin of the Species”.

    Read More

  • Character Development in Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    1278 Words  | 3 Pages

    It is apparent that the love between Sonia and Raskolnikov plays a crucial role in Crime and Punishment, pushing Raskolnikov in a direction he otherwise would not have gone. Dostoevsky uses their relationship as a tool to develop the philosophical themes in the novel and prompt profound changes in Raskolnikov’s character. Through their love, Dostoevsky demonstrates the importance of human relationships in finding and maintaining happiness. He also seeks to condemn nihilism and disprove the idea that one cannot make one’s own meaning in life by having Raskolnikov adopt Christian existentialism and find his purpose through Sonia.

    Read More

  • Conflict in Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky

    652 Words  | 2 Pages

    Within the tortured mind of a young Russian university student, an epic battle rages between two opposite ideologies - the conservative Christianity characteristic of the time, and a new modernist humanism gaining prevalence in academia. Fyodor Dostoevsky in the novel Crime and Punishment uses this conflict to illustrate why the coldly rational thought that is the ideal of humanism represses our essential emotions and robs us of all that is human. He uses the changes in Raskolnikov's mental state to provide a human example of modernism's effect on man, placing emphasis upon the student's quest for forgiveness and the effect of repressed emotion.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Ernest Hemingway's 'Hills Like White Elephants'

    1628 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Iceberg Principle that Hemingway is so fond of, has already given rise to many discussions over the years. Giving away only a tip of it, Hemingway leaves us behind with a great amount of mystery in his stories.

    Read More

  • Analysis of Dostoevsky and Nietzsche's Literature

    5388 Words  | 11 Pages

    Friedrich Nietzsche once said, “Dostoevsky, the only one who has taught me anything about psychology.” The two writers share many similarities and differences. Dostoevsky clearly had an effect on the thinking of Nietzsche. The two would be considered both philosophers and psychologists. Both writers became prominent in the late 19th century in Germany and Russia respectively. Dostoevsky was noted for his Russian literary classics and would be responsible for a flowering of late 19th century Russian literary culture. His Russian contemporaries include Leo Tostoy and Anton Chekov. Dostoevsky’s most famous works include The Brothers Karamozov, The Idiot, and Crime and Punishment. Nietzsche is most famous for his philosophical works such as thus spoke Zarathustra. The two writers have many similarities in their philosophy. They both see a changing role in religion. Nietzsche and Dostoevsky also differ sharply on some other aspects of life. One of these being the differing views on the role of the fatherland. Nietzsche’s beyond good and evil and Dostoevsky’s crime and punishment are two works that can be compared and contrasted to show the similarities and dissimilarities of the two geniuses. The two men offer great insights in these books on morality and the affect it can have on the actions of the individual and the society as a whole.

    Read More

  • Analysis of The Darling, by Anton Chekhov

    1562 Words  | 4 Pages

    The story “The Darling” by Anton Chekhov, illustrates a woman that is lonely, insecure, and lacking wholeness of oneself without a man in her life. This woman, Olenka, nicknamed “Darling” is compassionate, gentle and sentimental. Olenka is portrayed for being conventional, a woman who is reliant, diligent, and idea less. Although, this story portrays that this woman, known as the Darling needs some sort of male to be emotionally dependant upon, it is as if she is a black widow, she is able to win affection, but without respect. Only able to find happiness through the refection of the beliefs of her lovers, she never evolves within the story.

    Read More

More about Dostoevsky A Cattle Creature Analysis

Open Document