Crime and Punishment Symbols from the text: The symbol of the cross is prominent in the novel, and represents the burden of suffering that Raskolnikov, as well as the other virtuous characters in the novel, must bear. This suffering can be seen as sharing the common grief of humanity and giving of oneself to others, and thus furthering life. Characters such as Luzhin, the old pawnbroker and Svidrigailov, who live selfishly and so reject this …showed first 75 words of 869 total…

…showed last 75 words of 869 total…and superficial, as though it had not actually happened to him...Life replaced logic, and in his consciousness something quite different now had to elaborate and articulate itself. 10) This is the beginning of a new story, though; the story of a man's gradual renewal and rebirth, of his gradual transition from one world to another, of his acquaintance with a new reality of which he had previously been completely ignorant. http://www.novelguide.com/crimeandpunishment/