e that one-in-a-million who could change the world, excusing his crime for the greater good. The murder of the putrid Alyona Ivanovna was a destruction of the present. That is not to say that Rodya enjoyed killing Alyona, but that, according to him, her death was necessary in order for society to progress. Rodya becomes very afraid and ill, however, and never disburses the money to those on the streets, instead hiding it under a rock. The evil was eliminated so that good could be done, which, once the money was hidden, would not occur. Raskolnikov was unable to improve society from his deed, rendering him an ordinary man. Being ordinary, Rodya was overcome with grief and guilt. His sickness did not go away, and he lived on the verge of insanity. The pinnacle of Raskolnikov’s desolation comes as he bows down at the crossroads, an act which he earlier mentioned to be of an ordinary, ashamed man. After turning himself in and being expelled to Siberia, Raskolnikov still does not realize fully that he is not extraordinary. Raskolnikov believes that, since his murder should have been allowed, the courts were the party at fault. “Oh, how happy he would have been if he could have blamed himself!” comments the narrator. After suffering so much guilt, though, Rodya does finally understand his commonness and realize his goal is unattainable. “‘…many of the benefactors of mankind who snatched power for themselves instead of inheriting it ought to have been punished at their first steps. But those men succeeded and so they were right, and I didn’t, and so I had no right to have taken that step.’” With the realization that he is ordinary and the original goal thus impossible, his self-destruction stops and he can heal with Sonia.Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons compare the ideas born to each generation. Evgeny Vasilich Bazarov is a nihilist, or one who refutes society’s s...
