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.

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 drin

In conclusion, Dostoyevsky and Hallie were two different people with two different views of evil. One is a true story, while the other is a novel. Though, human hatred is a common feeling, it can be conquered by religion and true love. Raskolnikov found religion and love through Sonia. While, Le Chambon found religion and love through their own tried and trusted beliefs. Philip Hallie’s childhood and wartime experience, his plunging into the horror of the Holocaust, led him to view human nature and the human condition as an ongoing story of pitiless and abusive power crushing and drowning whatever good might spring up here and there in the world (Crawford).

Andre Trocme was the pastor in this little village. He was “The Soul of Le Chambon” as one refugee put it. He started off as a wealthy child born on Easter day. His family just knew that he would become a leader. He told Magda, his wife, that they are to live in poverty and to help people. At the beginning of the war, he helped to build a school. The Vichy government wanted the schools all throughout France to raise the flag, but Trocme refuses to do so and he also refused to ring the bells of the temple. Though the government never found this out, it was Le Chambon’s way of protesting. Petain, the Vichy government, sent Georges Lamirand, the minister of youth for the Vichy government, into Le Chambon in order to group all twenty year old boys to go into camps for eight months. The children were so excited to see a man of such power. A few days later, the chief of police sent for a list of all Jews that were staying, or hiding in the village. Trocme refuses to give such a list. That Saturday night was very busy; the boy scouts were busily trying to hide all of the Jewish refugees into the surrounding woods of Le Chambon.

Raskolnikov goes to the police station and confesses to the murders. He asks for his mother and sister to pray for him. After confessing, Raskolnikov is sentenced to eight years in a Siberian prison. Sonia goes with him faithfully. Raskolnikov finally realizes his love for Sonia.

In his novel, Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s perspective on evil behavior is greatly affected by one’s surroundings and personality. At the beginning of the novel, Raskolnikov has sheltered himself in his dingy apartment. He lives in a poverty stricken area where crime is of the norm. It is his surroundings that make him think he can do it. He doesn’t frame someone else for the murder, on the contrary, he tells many times of how he killed the woman. But, no one seems to believe him. The most striking feature of the book, is to be found in the analytical account of the states of mind of the half-crazed criminal, who cannot keep away from the very officials who were trying to get on his track, and who cannot refrain from discussing the crime he is trying to hide (Neilson). The motive for this hideous crime is simply to rid society of this woman. He feels like she is no longer needed. How might one person do this? Could it have been that he was mentally disabled? Or, could he have been in the right mentality, and just gone insane considering he has locked himself in his apartment?

Trocme turned to the Quakers for help, a Religious Society of Friends. The Quakers were no nation’s friends and no nation’s enemies. Trocme convinced council members to open their doors and welcome the dangers that came w

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