Evil in Crime and Punishment and Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed.
Two different men from two different centuries, show the effects of evil on human nature. Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Crime and Punishment, tells a story of a young student plotting and carrying out the murder of two people. It is a fictional story of how a man becomes delirious from his own evil thoughts. On the other hand, Lest Innocent Blood Be Shed written by Philip Hallie, is a book about a little town in France, Le Chambon. In this town, the residents save hundreds of Jewish refugees from the Nazis. The book shows the evil side, the Nazis and the good side, the residents. .
Summary: Crime and Punishment.
In Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov, a student in Russia, is both disturbing and caring. For about one month in his little dingy apartment, he is plotting the murder of an old pawnbroker woman, who he feels has no real purpose in life. The act of murder itself disgusts Raskolnikov; he doesn't seem to know if it is the right thing to do. Raskolnikov meets Marmeladov, a drunken government clerk. Marmeladov tells Raskolnikov his whole life story, about his abusing wife and how his daughter, Sonia, became a prostitute to support his drinking habit. Raskolnikov takes Marmeladov home, he feels so bad for his newly found friend, and he leaves all the money he has on the windowsill. Shortly after this encounter, Raskolnikov receives a letter from his mother; it seems his sister, Dunia is to be married in St. Petersburg. This angers Raskolnikov; he decides to break off the marriage. On the way to visit his only friend, Razhumikin, Raskolnikov decides not to visit his friend. Instead, he falls asleep in a grassy knoll and dreams a horrible dream. He dreams him and his father are passing in front of an old tavern. As they are passing the entrance, groups of people come outside. They climb into a horse drawn wagon. The old horse cannot pull the people on the wagon.