Crime and Punishment Connections

To start, I hope my connections aren't too vague or off-point from my main topic of the various aspects of life and the meaning of life in general, since winter break stole about 3 weeks worth of recollection from me. A message I took away from Crime and Punishment is the fact that everyone will have to pay for their sins, one way or another. If you commit a crime, like Raskolnikov, no matter how atrocious the crime is, you will pay for what you have done. Sort of like Newton's third law, every crime has an equal punishment. Although some punishments aren't in the physical sense like a conviction, the mental burden suffered can be just as awful. In Raskolnikov's case, he eventually turns himself in to ease his mind from what he had done. He probably would have never been caught for his crime if he hadn't given so many signs to bystanders, but nevertheless he chose the path to his personal redemption. Another meaning I took away from Crime and Punishment is the belief in something bigger than oneself. Sonya has a very strong faith, and the moral boundaries of man are tested throughout the book with her and other characters like Marmaledov. These two ideas connect with my big question because they are very similar; the search for inner peace and the hope for life after death. One of the braod and important aspects of life is having faith; whether that be in a God or some other deity or just having faith that what you do is important, faith is what drives people. The search for inner peace connects to faith and my question (the meaning of life) because without a sound inner-self, the outer self will be out of whack. Like a Ferrari body with a Chevrolet engine, the Car may look good from the outside, but when you examine the inside it doesn't fit. I think that metaphor works nicely with the juxtaposition of inner/ outer self because my comparison of a Chevy engine and a Ferrari body doesn't technically imply that possessing either of those is negative. If the person being called the "Chevy" had an original body and engine, like a clear head and soul, then they would be deemed as "okay" by society. The Ferrari would also only be considered functional and healthy if it had all the right parts. A person has to find their own salvation because the parts that other people are looking for don't fit them. They have their own molds to fit, and like Marmeladov's final decision of suicide and Raskolnikov's decision to turn himself in, the outcomes may be drastically different, but not "wrong" in their own respects. So my main message here, pardon the car reference, is: if you are a Chevy, be okay with that. Don't try to stick a Ferrari engine somewhere it won't fit. And buy the premium gas, too.