Comparing Identity In Crime And Punishment And Invisible Man
Blindness and self-discovery
The search for one’s identity is multi-faceted in its very nature. It is a combination of complex personal, ethical and social beliefs resulting from one’s idiosyncratic experiences. Self-discovery is key in reaching one’s true potential but often times it is hindered due to societal oppression and deception. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment represent the characters’ struggles to find themselves despite the “difficulties of fulfilling [themselves] as individuals under specific cultural, historical conditions” (Bowser). While both novels explore the subject of identity and individuality, Invisible Man is a story of a young black man …show more content…
Ordinary people are the law-abiding citizens whereas supermen are not bound by any laws as they govern their lives based upon their own ideals. Raskolnikov’s believed the supermen must “sanction bloodshed in the name of conscience” (Dostoyevsky 229) and that great inventors and creators cannot submit to the laws that are meant for the ordinary. In order to achieve something new, the superman must defy the rules of law and commit crimes if he thinks it is necessary. He justifies all the murders he commits by regarding them as necessary for the greater good of the world that he lived in. By constructing the aforementioned theory, Raskolnikov established himself as a “superman” or above the ordinary people. He realized that “it was no longer possible for him to address these people” (Dostoyevsky 103) because his self-proclaimed and deceptive identity caused him to isolate himself from his society and gave rise to feelings of superiority over his peers. As seen in the case of Invisible Man, Raskolnikov becomes blind to those around him because he refuses to see past the theory that he has conjured in his mind. Eventually Raskolnikov’s blindness becomes an “agent through which [his] pride is chastened and his imaginative eye is opened to a more charitable and empathetic view of his fellow man” (Brothers). Consequently, Raskolnikov decides to later counter his theory and produces every effort to prove it wrong by realizing that he is in fact, not a
The search for one’s identity is multi-faceted in its very nature. It is a combination of complex personal, ethical and social beliefs resulting from one’s idiosyncratic experiences. Self-discovery is key in reaching one’s true potential but often times it is hindered due to societal oppression and deception. Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment represent the characters’ struggles to find themselves despite the “difficulties of fulfilling [themselves] as individuals under specific cultural, historical conditions” (Bowser). While both novels explore the subject of identity and individuality, Invisible Man is a story of a young black man …show more content…
Ordinary people are the law-abiding citizens whereas supermen are not bound by any laws as they govern their lives based upon their own ideals. Raskolnikov’s believed the supermen must “sanction bloodshed in the name of conscience” (Dostoyevsky 229) and that great inventors and creators cannot submit to the laws that are meant for the ordinary. In order to achieve something new, the superman must defy the rules of law and commit crimes if he thinks it is necessary. He justifies all the murders he commits by regarding them as necessary for the greater good of the world that he lived in. By constructing the aforementioned theory, Raskolnikov established himself as a “superman” or above the ordinary people. He realized that “it was no longer possible for him to address these people” (Dostoyevsky 103) because his self-proclaimed and deceptive identity caused him to isolate himself from his society and gave rise to feelings of superiority over his peers. As seen in the case of Invisible Man, Raskolnikov becomes blind to those around him because he refuses to see past the theory that he has conjured in his mind. Eventually Raskolnikov’s blindness becomes an “agent through which [his] pride is chastened and his imaginative eye is opened to a more charitable and empathetic view of his fellow man” (Brothers). Consequently, Raskolnikov decides to later counter his theory and produces every effort to prove it wrong by realizing that he is in fact, not a