Post group reports here

Below are the instructions I gave the class this morning. Post your group findings here and we'll discuss them more fully next week (though we may be short some people due to AP exams).

Hope you got the 2004 multiple choice exam. To give you the full experience, I'm going to post three essay questions from a recent exam just after I publish this one.

Dostoevsky was aware of two structural elements that could shape his narrative

· fabula: the time sequence of action

· siuzhet: the artistic manipulation of the narrative

So Raskolnikov’s encounter with the pawnbroker, with Marmeladov, with the young girl on the street—the letter from his mother—the dream—the mention of Razumikhin—the daydream of an oasis—all have significance.

Today, in groups:

· Finish what we started with Raskolnikov. Gather and note evidence that serves to answer the question: “Who best represents the true Raskolnikov—the cynical one who rues his acts of kindness and care, the brutal Mikolka who beats the horse, the innocent child who kisses the beaten horse?”

· Examine Marmeladov and his “confession.” Develop a comprehensive catalog of the man’s character. Is he good or bad? Why and how does he fail? Why the elaborate speech and the details of his degradation? He seems to enjoy some aspects of it (note his prediction that Katerina will drag him by his hair: his anticipation of it and his reaction when it does happen). Does he wish to “crucify” himself? Looking ahead to his death, is there anything significant by way of siuzhet

· Examine Pulcheria’s letter to her son. What do we learn of her character and her relations with her son by its wording and expression? What is her real assessment of Luzhin, and by what means does she convey it? Rodion engages in a rambling soliloquy that expresses his ultimate reaction and policy. What are they?

· Why does he determine to visit Razumikhin only after “that” is finished?

· Why the nasty smile when he finishes the letter? How does his encounter with his sister and mother upon their first meeting in St. Petersburg echo his tears and his smirk?

· What is the significance of the “waking dream” of the oasis that precedes his feverish preparations for murder. He winds up late for the murder that, in part because of the overheard conversation, he believes is predestined. Why is he late? What does this “dream” signify.